I. acquisitions of natural science. The relation between LETTER the Creator and the creation is indestructible. The one will be everlastingly the cause of the other, and that cannot but be the effect of His causation. No changes of mind in ourselves, no lapse of time, no accumulations of human experience, no extension of our mathematical or physiological investigations can abolish this connection, nor preclude its consequences. As He lives and reigns, so He thinks and acts. He rules what He has made; and all that has been framed by Him are continually affected by His existence, His mind and His government. It is therefore of unceasing importance to us to become as fully acquainted with Him as possible; and to learn His will and purposes, His wishes and ordainments, as far and as largely as we can attain to the perception of them. These acquisitions can be realised only from the sources which He has provided for this purpose to us, and these will always be His works, His ways and His express communications. The study of these will constitute that branch of human knowlege which we may justly characterize as DIVINE PHILOSOPHY subject dear to the human mind in all ages, however inefficient the talent may have been to explore or explain it. It was obviously a frequent theme in the meditations and conversations of Socrates.2 It 2 Xenophon has transmitted some of these to us, as well as Plato; and in one passage says of Socrates, He thought that the gods took care of mankind, and not in the way many suppose, who imagine them to know some things only, and not others; for Socrates believed that they are conscious of all things; those said and done, and those also which are wished in silence; that they are every where present, and that they give suggestions to men concerning human affairs.' Añoμ. 1. i. c. 1. On this feeling, he exclaimed to Aristodemus, O my I. LETTER was a favorite one with his pupil Plato, and repeatedly gleams out amid the mazes of his colloquial dialectics. The Pythagoreans, the Stoics and the new Platonists of Alexandria discover to us the same desire of examining and discussing it; and it obtained no small portion of Cicero's diversified attention. But all these great men shew us the continuity of the will, rather than any success in accomplishing it. They wanted too much further knowlege, both human and Divine, to make any progress in the sublime inquiry. They all, like our Milton, felt its value; but they had not the means, or the opportunities, which we possess of more satisfactorily contemplating it.3 It is, then, for us not to neglect the advantages which we have above them, but, imbibing their spirit, to apply ourselves to do what they were unable to effectuate. Divine Philosophy ought now to be studied by us, as carefully and as generally, as natural philosophy evidently is. Numerous minds are zealously engaged upon this, and are inviting others to imitate their example. Never before has it been so much or so successfully attended to. It is even taking the form of annual festivals and theatrical exhibitions, in order to concentrate and stimulate the public attention to its merits and pursuits. good friend! consider, that as thy mind within thy body governs it as it chuses, so that understanding which is over us all, disposes of every thing as it pleases.' Ib. c. 4. 3 The lines of Milton are familiar to us: How charming is DIVINE PHILOSOPHY ! Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose, And a perpetual feast of nectared sweets, COMUS. It has begun in this respect a rivalry with our LETTER political animations; and the new activity and display seem to be as popular, as we will hope the result will be advantageous. At all events, it is an honor to the present age, that it is so zealously directing itself to the study and promotion of the natural sciences. They enlarge the mind and intellectualize the life: they raise us above inferior gratifications and pursuits, and are the true materials for forming that divine mind within us which many of the illustrious ancients aspired to, but which cannot be attained until we cultivate the divine philosophy of things, in conjunction with the natural. It is this which, to use the words of Dr. Young, will enable us To rise in Science, as in bliss ;- To read Creation: read its mighty plan- Our poet, indeed, despairing of our making the We LETTER Some superfluities that we would prune, pours out I. many a noble effusion,— 'Lorenzo! these are thoughts that make Man, Man; The wise illumine; aggrandize the great.'". Let us, then, cultivate these elevating inquiries. Let us apply as assiduously as our individual inclinations or opportunities may lead or dispose us to all the branches of natural philosophy; but let a due portion of our care be given to exalt and crown these with divine philosophy: either will be incomplete without the other. Let us study them in friendly conjunction, and we shall find that what is natural, will be enlightened and more endeared to us by its grander companion. What subject can be better fitted to the spirit within us, that awaits those glorious destinies which Plato exhibits his master as delighting to contemplate; and which lessons and promises that he could never know, have brought within our power personally to secure!" "Night Thoughts. He continues, with a fine enthusiasm: How great, while yet we tread the kindred clod- Enlarged, ennobled, elevate, divine! To prophesy our own futurities ! To gaze, in thought, on what all thought transcends! As far beyond conception, as desert; Ourselves, th' astonish'd talkers, and the tale! Night 6. 6 Is the soul like what is divine, or like what is mortal? What is divine is born to govern, but the mortal substance to obey. Which of these does the soul resemble? 'O Socrates, it is clear that the soul must be the divine, and the body the mortal element. 'Yes, Kebes! the soul is most like the divine, the immortal, the intelligent I. Divine philosophy should be regarded as a science, LETTER and be treated as the physical sciences are; the facts which relate to it should be carefully searched for, and as carefully reasoned upon. We shall then find that it is truly a science, and the most exhilarating of all that we can select to be the subject of our pursuit. It has really all the characters of a science, and will be seen to be so, and will become more visibly such, in proportion as it is studied in this aspect, and in the same mode, and with the same caution, assiduity and judgment with which our analytical or chemical investigations are conducted. We most justly apply the term science to the knowlege we have collected and arranged of those departments of nature, where the phenomena are the result of such a scientific disposition or causation of things as to have a visible relation with each other; to be governed by some common laws, to be arrangeable under a distinct classification, and to be reducible to rational principles, which are steadily followed in connected and successful operation. Such results are evidence of a contriving and presiding mind, and are what intelligent agency alone could produce. When effects or events occur telligent; the one in form, and the incorruptible; and when it goes from hence, it passes to another place, like itself, excellent and pure, tho now unseen; to Hades, and truly, to a good and wise God:' (Tov αγαθον και φρονιμον θεον.) He repeats this idea: 'Will it not, then, go to something like itself; to the Divine? To that which is divine, immortal, and wise? Certainly; and coming to it there, it will exist in happiness, free from error, ignorance, fears and passions; yes, it will indeed pass the rest of its time with the gods themselves: μera Oɛwv diaɣwga.' Plato, Phed. c. 21. |