point of perfection be unattainable, my care, my endeavour, my attention shall not be wanting to get as near as I can. I will approach it every day; each hour some one shall be better for me. I will not be distanced. What cannot a good head, a good heart, strong muscles—of a firm Livingstonian fibre, a good fund of knowledge, accomplish? Perfection in the abstract may be unattainable; but what is called by the world perfection is attainable: but if not, what then? Are we to sleep as do others,— spend our time and talents in blowing soap bubbles? Indulgent reader, collect like the bee your store from every quarter, and while forming your mind, improve your manners-let us not forget the highroad through the head is through the heart; knowledge of the world is only to be acquired by reading men, and studying all the various editions of them. It is not wise to reject Dr. Livingstone, or any one on account of his uncouthness or inelegance of manners; for there is not unfrequently within the rough exterior of the cocoa nut, the milk of human kindness.

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Here is a sample of one of Dr. Chalmers' pathetic, deep, and pungent appeals delivered in the pulpit of Kilmany. Preaching on a sacramental occasion, he thus closed his discourse :- "Whatever there may be now, the days of St. Paul, at least, there were men who turned the grace of GoD into lasciviousness, and who ranked among the privileges of the Gospel an immunity for sin. And it is striking to observe the effect of this corruption on the mind of the Apostle; that he who braved all the terrors of persecuting violence; that he who stood undismayed before kings and governors, and could lift his intre

pid testimony in the hearing of an enraged multitude;— that he who, when bound by a chain between two soldiers, still sustained an invincible constancy of spirit, and could live in fearlessness and triumph, with the dark imagery of an approaching execution in his eye; that he who accounted not his life dear unto him, and whose manly breast bore him up amidst all the threats of tyranny, and the grim apparatus of martyrdom;-that this man, so firm and so undaunted, wept like a child when he heard of those disciples that turned the pardon of the Cross into an encouragement for doing evil. The fiercest hostilities of the Gospel's open enemies, he could brave; but when he heard of the foul dishonour done to the name of his MASTER by the moral worthlessness of those who were the Gospel's professed friends, this he could not bear. All that firmness which so upheld him unfaltering and unappalled in the battles of the faith, forsook him then; and this noblest of Champions on the field of conflict and of controversy, when he heard of the profligacy of his own converts, was fairly overcome by the tidings, and gave way to all the softness of womanhood. When every other argument then fails for keeping you in the path of integrity and holiness, O think of the argument of Paul in tears! It may be truly termed a picturesque argument: nor are we aware of a more impressive testimony in the whole compass of Scripture, to the indispensable need of virtue and moral goodness in a believer, than is to be found in that passage where Paul says of these unworthy professors of the faith-For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the

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enemies of the Cross of CHRIST; whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is their shame, who mind earthly things.'" Describing thus the Apostle's emotion, a flood of tenderness overwhelmed him, and he himself burst into tears.

In addition to this rich extract, with which we have taken a few liberties, we add-let each minister but cultivate as he ought the homework of his own peculiar vineyard, and then, spread and multiplied over the land, will the cause of our Church be ranked with the dearest interests of families, striking, as it were, by means of our parochial attentions, its thousand roots widely, to the remotest outskirts, and deeply into the bosom of every Church. All the gusts of sectarian violence will never overset our ark, if thus moored on the affections of the people; such is the omnipotence of love and charity, and the charm of sympathy, if fastened to a million of hearts by ligaments that cannot be dissolved, without undoing the constitution of humanity. Don't let it be said—the more a man resembles the Deity, the more will his conduct be censured by ignorance, partiality, and pride. Do not give the foes of religion cause to retort. There is no fitness between the profession and the possession. They know well religion ends, where persecution begins. The lowest may not be able to read our books, yet they can read our lives. The profoundest theologian and philosopher we have ever known-the late Rev. R. Hall, truly avers-If the people are expected to reverence an order, it must be from the consciousness of benefits received. If the clergy claim authority, it must be accompanied with a solicitude for

the spiritual interests of their flocks, and labour sustained. To enjoy at once both honour and ease, never fell to the share of any profession. If the clergy neglect their charge; if they conform to the spirit of the world, and engage with eagerness in the pursuit of ambition, or of pleasure; it will be impossible for any human policy to preserve them from sinking in public esteem. Look, says Spurzheim, at man in general, and see what a wretched state he is in, he requires to be treated almost as a child, and yet writers have told us that the world wishes for education. "Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie."

Many books have been written upon education,-whole libraries have been compiled, various institutions established, yet very little improvement has taken place. Can man be perfected by education, or can he not? Or shall he remain eternally as he is? In speaking of the perfection of man, I do not mean to say that man can, by any power whatever, create any one of the fundamental powers of the mind, because the number of them is determinate; but the question is, whether these powers can become more or less active, and whether they can be directed in a way likely to be the most useful to the individual? Man is a created being, and he must be studied in the same way as all other created beings-by observation.

Nature makes no exceptions to her general laws, although we wish to make exceptions much more frequently than is necessary. The subject may appear delicate: I shall insist upon it-man must be improved in many respects, as all other created beings. Are we sure to have good cattle-a good breed of any description, by

attending to certain conditions? But it may be asked-Are we sure of having good children? We can calculate in a general way that we shall succeed just as we like with animals, but can any one say I will have such and such children? We are the rulers of Nature; man knows we must submit to certain conditions, for he does not find that he can create; hence he submits to conditions. With respect to his own race, he thinks he is capable of making exceptions, and he is punished for his pride. The matter is delicate, but delicacy must yield, and be made subservient to truth, and I shall inquire only into the laws of creation. With respect to our being, we must submit to the will of the great Sensorium of the Universe; but we wish to become the masters. If an agriculturist wishes to cultivate plants, trees, and fruits, how does he proceed? Does he not train his trees, and place them in certain situations favourable to his purpose? and he is sure to succeed. The animals must be submitted to the same trials. Now it is certain that the whole constitution is propagated from parents to children. This is of paramount importance, of thrilling interest to the genuine philanthropist. The laws of propagation are not attended to. When they are, the perfectability of man will reach its zenith, and do more than has hitherto been done by all the institutions, and by all the teachers of the present or past ages, not only in respect to individuals, but families, and nations. The body has its laws, and if the manifestations of the mind depend upon the body, the laws of the body must be observed, if we wish to arrive at a perfection of form, or of the endowments of the mind. The ancient