according to his faith in the divine covenant-' Do this, and thou shalt live.' Thus things come under the influence of the human will, as the will itself is exercised in relation to God and God's laws, physically and mentally considered. Thus prayer itself, as a mode of cultivating man's heart and conscience, as well as understanding, is an essential part of the science of man, or true anthropology. Man is made to pray; and when he asks to be directed in will, thought, purpose, and working, he does not ask God to alter His laws, but that the way, the means, and the power to obey those laws may be vouchsafed. And all experience demonstrates that man does not ask in vain for divine interference, that he may be both directed in the right course, and be preserved from the consequences of wrong-doing, when that is discovered and repented of. Man wants to be assured both of forgiveness and of help, and he gets both by prayer, when from his heart he says, Our Father, Thy will be done. The man of prayer does not merely pray; but he feels the connection between ora, adora, labora, and waits, worships, and works while he prays, for a man carries his heart with him into all his actions. Prayer is the necessary consequence of faith in God's parental character as revealed by the Divine Man. And the very existence of the human will, capable as it is of resisting the laws alike of physical and moral well-being, requires a supernatural interference for his recovery from sin and its effects. But to measure the degree of supernatural interference necessary to demonstrate the power and presence of the Divine Being, under the conditions of man as a creature to be saved by God from the results of sin, it would be necessary to know all the laws of spiritual existence, and how far those laws operate both within and beyond the sphere of natural law. What man calls a miracle, such as the resurrection of our Lord-a fact as well attested as any in history-might, in

the science of higher intelligences, be regarded as only the natural consequence of the conditions under which man was to be saved. We would limit omnipotence by our incredulity, and our ideas concerning the laws by which the Almighty must operate. But, in truth, we have no knowledge of the laws which determine the actions of our minds and wills. Nor can we say how far the freedom of a creature's power to choose may be necessary for the full manifestation of the Creator's power. But this we know,-our mental constitution demands the outgoing of our hearts towards God, in prayer, for the supply of power to endure, to act, to hope, to expect good from Him who is good, and the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. The brain of the mightiest intellects would be the first to fail under the burden of forecasting thought, if not sustained by faith in the fulfilment of their aspirations for love and knowledge beyond this narrow sphere of life. Are not all great thinkers praying hard, according to their light, in all their efforts to work for ends they never attain on earth? The desire for more light is itself in the nature of a prayer heard and answered by the Mind that can alone enlighten man; and the utterance of our hope of immortality is but the expression of a desire that grows stronger as we consciously draw nearer to the grave. Reason believes in the fulfilment of that desire as a demand upon our Maker, implanted in our nature by Himself, and the Christian has a further warrant for his confident hope, in the faith that is the assurance and the substance of the thing hoped for, since it is a full reliance on His promise and spirit who is Himself our eternal life. He alone lives to the high purpose of man's being, who lives and endures as seeing Him who is invisible. Let us say, then, 'Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.'

CHAPTER VII.

IRRITABLE BRAIN, INSANITY, ETC.

MANY terrible nervous diseases are but the natural disturbance of a bad conscience. Such a course of conduct before God and man as secures approval of heart, will often cure such diseases without the aid of the physician. The cordial of daily duty properly fulfilled, is the proper remedy. How often have we seen the haggard hypochondriac, both in hut and mansion, cured of all his anomalous maladies by a true view of religion, and by the activity which springs from it! The terrors that haunted his darkened spirit have been dissipated by the light of Heaven; his shaken nerves have been tranquillised, and the peace of faith has brought new brightness into his eye; a pleasant buoyancy has lifted his heart, and a resistless impulse of good-will has diffused a healthful vigour through every fibre and every feature. So powerful is the habit of a man's faith on his person, that sagacious physicians often correctly infer the religious state and persuasion from the patient's appearance.

any

That bodily disorder which favours the manifestation of the mind in an insane manner may be produced by of our passions, when unrestrained by a holy understanding; the best blessings may thus be converted into curses-the best gifts into the most injurious agents. Some say religion is a frequent cause of insanity. No;

true religion is the spirit of love, of power, and of a sound mind; ever active in diversified duties and delights, always busy in a becoming manner and in decent order. But the wild notions, unmeaning superstitions, spiritual bondage, unrequired and forbidden rites and ceremonies which wayward men have substituted for the liberty of God, begin in disobedience and end in darkness. It is strange fire in the censer, which brings down the flaming vengeance, and opens a quick passage to the infinite abyss, that seems beyond the reach of the creating Light.

Excessive employment of the body, and that anxiety which springs from too earnest a pursuit of our own wills, are, when acting together, exceedingly likely to disorder the organism of the mental faculties; and whether one be truly religious or only superstitious, the result will be the same; because excess of any kind is a direct infringement of the invariable law of God.

Delirium may, in a weakened and wearied state of the brain, arise either from mental stimulants or from mental sedatives. In either case, the same effects follow, as the organisation is so disturbed that it consents not in due order to the force which, in its proper condition, is formed to actuate it—namely, the soul. To make a mental exertion when the brain is wearied or unduly excited, is only to aggravate disorder, and endanger the fine fabric thus violently acted upon. Men often weary themselves to distraction from a false sense of duty, and the tendency of this fast, fastidious, and delusive age is to inthral the soul for the sake of appearances. Thus it is that persons of mental determination, under the force and pressure of urgent business, instead of yielding to the indications of weariness, continue to work on till delirium takes the place of healthy attention. The secretary of an extensive and useful institution, for

instance, suffers from bad health; his mind and heart find no rest at home; at this juncture the directors call for accounts, and a multitude of correspondents are urgent for replies. He finds some one of these agents is guilty of defalcation. He grows miserable; his digestion fails, he appears flushed and flurried, his head aches, he can scarcely connect his thoughts, his hands tremble, he uses wrong words both in speaking and in writing; he retires, and immediately begins to connect the feeling of his own inability to attend to business with the idea of robbing his employers, and at length fancies that he is the defaulter by whose case his mind has been excited. He confounds his own faults and temptations with what he knows of the guilty person, and, haunted by the worst consequent phantoms, he becomes intolerable to himself, and feels as if called on to expiate his crime by destroying his life with his own hand. His pious habit still prevails, and he executes the horrible deed in calm and devout resignation to what he deems the will of Heaven. This is a true case, and is no uncommon result of disobedience to the natural law, which insists on our seeking rest when wearied, and submitting patiently to infirmity as our daily portion.

All disobedience to the Divine laws, whether natural or moral, must, of course, be inevitably followed by suffering and disorder; nor can any one who exposes himself to its causes be exempt, unless by miracle, from insanity or hallucination, so long as mind acts through matter, and manifests itself in keeping with its condition.

Remarkable intellectual energy is so often associated with enthusiasm or intensity of mental character and extravagance of conduct, that it has become a proverb: -'Great wit to madness is allied.' And probably the excessive activity of mind sometimes springs from actual disorder of brain, although the habit and education of