a regulation of the passions is universally acknowledged, nay, is experimentally known, to form the happiness of man; whilst an impetuous gratification of them necessarily produces human laws and human punishments, as checks to those dangerous convulsions which might otherwise ensue. That such treatises have not always been productive of good effects, must be attributed to that radical defect which attends every system that does not take christianity for its basis. The exuberance of passion has been, no doubt, repressed by the reason and reflection of the wise. A Plato or a Socrates may be allowed, perhaps, in some sense, to have subdued themselves. But what must have been the case of those who were no philosophers? How must the ambition of uncontrouled greatness have raged! how must the rude behaviour of savage life have run wild with barbarity! Peter the great, emperor of Russia, made a law, that if any nobleman beat, or illtreated his slaves, he should be looked upon as an insane man, and a guardian should be appointed to take care of his person, and of of his estate. He had one day struck his chief gardener without any reason. The gardener, a man of great sensibility, was so afflicted at it, that he took to his bed immediately, and died in a few days. Peter, hearing of this, exclaimed, with tears in his eyes, "Alas! I have civilized my own subjects, I have conquered other nations, yet I have not been able to civilize, or to conquer myself *." 66 They are not human laws, but the laws of religion, which can effectually controul the passions, and civilize the heart. It might have been said to Peter the great, when he transgressed the law which he had made himself, "These ought ye to have done, and "not to leave the other undone." To obtain this conquest of a man over himself, he must not, like an injudicious warrior, exert a powerful army to gain a few unimportant provinces: he must at once march to the strongest fortress, and take possession of the capital. To endeavour to suppress a few vices only which lurk within ment, Seward's Anecdotes of distinguished Persons. Supple the the folds of the human heart, is to leave behind an unconquered country which will harass and disconcert the schemes of the assailants. It is the whole nature of man which must be brought into subjection. And this, under the present circumstances of human life, can only be effected by religion. This observation may be considered as universally true, because there is no other principle which equally applies itself to the different orders and distinctions of men. The high and the low, the learned and the illiterate, as Paul and Barnabas observed to the people of Lystra, are men of like passions with one another. Some universal law, therefore, it is likely, would be applied by the great author of our common nature, to regulate and improve them. This law is revealed by the gospel, and is communicated to every child of man by the religion of Jesus Christ. Even the Lawgiver himself was made subject to the affections of human nature, that he might shew us how to apply them with advantage to the human soul. But 66 But that which renders religion superior to all other motives in the conquest of the passions is, that it is not subject to the imbecility or indecision of reason. We are no longer at liberty to indulge some passions, while we renounce others; to cherish feelings at the expence of morality; to love the offence, while we detest the offender. No. "The word of God is quick and "powerful, and sharper than any 'two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing "asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of "the thoughts and intents of the hearts." The declarations of scripture are express and infallible; they will the salvation of all mankind, and they point out the true method to accomplish it. The religion of Christ carries conviction with it; and whilst it subdues every irregular inclination, it nourishes those finer feelings of the soul, which prove its alliance with a more perfect state of existence. Men of every character and of every degree of information, may, under the influence of religion, learn the true use of |