ten miserable when every outward circumstance of their lot is apparently prosperous and gratifying. And they are sometimes happy in circumstances of great apparent distress. They enjoy a considerable preponderance of delight amidst poverty, pain, and reproach.

If there be, as undoubtedly there may be, and probably there are, in the immense universe, beings in rank and order greatly superior to mankind, their chief excellence, so far as we are competent to judge, must consist in the degree in which they possess this wonderful power. Their more extended comprehension of mind recollects more of the past, and anticipates more of the future, than our imperfect faculties enable us to grasp; and, therefore, their complex feelings, whether of pleasure or of pain, must be far greater than ours. And their capacity for intense and permanent happiness or misery must be in similar proportion.

There is ONE Being in the Universe who beholds all things, past, present, and

to come, in one comprehensive survey. Of his absolute perfection we can judge only by analogy to our own limited capacities and powers. He looks at once through all created existence, and sees the whole course of events taking place in regular succession, at their appointed season, in conformity to that great and glorious plan, which was arranged by infinite wisdom at the suggestion of infinite benevolence and which being carried into effect by almighty power, cannot in any part of it fail of success, and must ultimately terminate in the grand result which it was his sovereign will to accomplish, the virtue, order, and happiness of all his rational creation. In his eye, therefore, evil itself is absorbed in the immense preponderance of good which it is calculated to produce : and the great Creator, when he surveys his works, pronounces them all good; declares that all are correspondent to his sublime and magnificent idea; and in the sure prospect, the clear and distinct view of that infinite mass of happiness which

will be the ultimate result of his infinitely wise and benevolent operations, he is at all times infinitely happy.

This power of the mind, in the degree in which it is communicated to mankind, is of the greatest use to them; and particularly, as it has an obvious and direct tendency to convert a mixed into a simple state, a state in which good prevails over evil, into a state of pure, unmixed felicity. For, in proportion to the comprehension of the mind, will be the degree in which the ideas and feelings will coalesce; and pain, as far as it extends, abating, or rather, if we may so express it, melting down into enjoyment, will leave an excess of pure and unmingled gratification.

Hence it happens, that in proportion as we advance in life, while the exercise of the intellectual powers is continued, enjoyment becomes more permanent, and continually less dependent upon the occurrences of the instant. The merchant, who has long been habituated to an alternation of losses and profits, but who, upon the

whole, is gaining considerably, thinks lightly of any occasional loss which he may sustain, though it should be of large amount; for his judgment is formed, and his feelings regulated by what he is likely to gain upon the balance. Thus, in a state of mixed enjoyment, in which pains are combined with pleasures, the experienced mind does not upon every painful occurrence give way to dejection; but, comparing its losses with its gains, recollecting what is passed, and looking forward to better things which are still future, it bears afflictions with fortitude and serenity, and supports with firmness a weight of suffering which, if impressed alone, would overwhelm the heart in despondency.

Persons who are advanced in life bear infirmity and pain, losses and bereavements, with a degree of firmness and tranquillity which astonishes the young, who being conscious of the impatience which they should feel in similar circumstances, are apt to conclude that life itself, under such privations and bereavements, ceases

to be desirable. But, making some abatement for the obtuser feelings of age, it is this wonderful power which affords the true solution of the problem. The mind in its progress through life withdraws itself more and more from the effect of present impressions. It converses more with the ideal world, with its hopes and fears, with its reflections and anticipations. Thus by degrees it comes to depend upon the present instant for a very small proportion of its joys and sorrows. And unless the immediate sensation, whether of pleasure or pain, be unusually intense and permanent, it soon blends itself in the mass of other ideas and internal feelings, and makes but little alteration in the general state and tenor of the mind.

The natural and necessary tendency of the discipline of life is, to produce this spirituality of mind. A person of common understanding cannot advance far in life, without gaining a considerable degree of superiority over present impressions, and acquiring a habit of regulating his conduct