whose kind providence he traced all human blessings; and maintained, that the omniscient and omnipresent Deity knows everything, and observes every secret thought and action of mankind. And hence our duty to wsrship him with all our powers, (mind, might and strength,) and one, that he most punctually performed, both in public and private; and sincerely believed, that God made especial, divine revelations of himself to his sincere petitioners; and that his holy spirit warned them of evil and aided them in virtue. He taught that man cannot purchase, but must merit, the favor of God; and that, by a blameless life, which is the truest and best service of the Deity: And hence his efforts to abrogate all sacrificial worship, to which his countrymen were obstinately inclined, and to which he became himself an offering. He considered prayer, essential to a virtuous life, and taught his disciples thus to pray. Father Jupiter," (the Grecian name of God) "give us all good, whether we ask it or not; and avert from us all evil, though we do not pray thee so to do," (or do not name particulars.) "Bless all our good actions, and reward them with success and happiness." He believed in the existence of an immaterial, immortal human soul, of divine original, and eternal destination; and connected with Deity by consciousness and reason. The improvement of mind he considered of paramount importance; and self knowledge its first department; and that he who knew all things else, except himself, was still a fool. He distinguished the soul, as sensible and reasonable; or, as we should say, propensitive and rational.

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The soul's immortality he deduced from its dignity, its vitalizing energy, its activity in sleep, and from the nature of God from whom it is derived. He viewed death to the good, as but a transition to a better life, of which his hope was confident and clear, and wherein, he thought, with rapture, of meeting the virtuous of other ages. He was fearless of death and judgment, in the consciousness of having labored after truth, and struggled for virtue; but believed the souls of wicked and licentious men were sentenced to unutterable woe, in a place for the especial retribution of impenitent wickedness. He made religion the foundation of morality: And that, as God wishes men to be virtuous, they should therefore be so. He believed that happiness depended, solely, upon the performance of duty; and the desire of it, he considered as but one of the various motives to the performance of virtue; and thus established an intimate connection between virtue and religion. He had the highest conceptions of the dignity of virtue; and declared dominion over the senses, (propensities) to be the highest state of freedom; and that virtue, only, is true wisdom: Whilst on the contrary, he deemed vice identical with insanity. See this allegorized in the three first Gospels, Mat. S, 28, Mark 5, 2, and Luke 8, 27. His yet unsystemized morality was founded upon the only true metaphysical basis, "Do what the Deity" (or His proxy, Conscience) "commands thee," And though he mistook somewhat the character and function of Conscience; he made it an indispensable attribute of the human soul, as a judge and director

between right and wrong. He held, that human practice is qualified by human knowedge; and that, therefore, perfect knowledge would, infallibly, insure perfect happiness. He defined virtue to be the striving to make one's self and others as perfect as possible, and reduced it to the two great principles, Temperance and Justice; the former embracing duties we owe ourselves; the latter, those we owe to others. He defined temperance to be dominion over every sensual impulse; and this he regarded as the basis of all other virtues, and indispensable to the proper exercise of Conscience and Knowledge. He held injustice to be one of the greatest evils; and that perfect justice should be rendered equally to friends and foes; and that men should render obedience to the laws of their country, however unjustly they are administered; and that the golden mean (or middle way between the two extremes) should be carefully observed in every thing.

Thus, you are presented with a summary of a Notice of the great Grecian moralist, to be found in the American Encyclopedia, under its appropriate hend; and in which, you can recognize, even at the distance of nearly 23 centuries the great moral luminary-the undoubted prototype of Philo's Christ, who caught its brilliancy, and, as brightened too by Plato's fire, and further burnished by the allegorical inspiration of the Jew, thence reflected its broad and radiant bril liancy, over Europe and the world.

We will pass, without further comment, from Socrates to other equally veracious, and scarcely less

important, testimony; and firstly, call Coufucius, the Chinese prophet, and not less ancient than the Greek, to tell what he once thought and taught, of moral principle. And thus he testifies.

That temperance, justice and the minor virtues are indispensable to the happiness of society. That riches, pomp or luxury should be contemned, while the magnanimity, and greatness of soul, which make men incapable of dissimulation and insincerity, should be carefully encouraged: And that a life of reason is incomparably preferable to a life of pleasure, or sensuality. That man possesses a reasoning soul, which he derived from Tien, (God) and that its cultivation and improvement is the highest and most useful employment of man; and as thus improved, should be actively employed, in the improvement of others: And, in order to insure success, in the project of social regeneration, each individual should begin with himself, and thereby add the weight of example to that of precept. We should, first, become that, which we would have others to be; and acquire an indelible love of virtue, and hatred of vice. That a mean, between the two extremes, should be invariably observed, which is the essence of practical virtue. Norare we willing to dismiss our Chinese witness, until he shall have spoken a single sentence, in his own impressive manner. "I am a man," said he, "and cannot exclude myself from the society of men, and consort with beasts. Bad as the times are, I shall do all I can to recal men to virtue; for in virtue are all things, and if mankind would but once en brace it,

and submit themselves to its discipline and laws, they would not want me or any body else to instruct them. It is the duty of a good man, first to perfect himself, and then to perfect others. Human nature, came to us from heaven pure and perfect; but in process of time, ignorance, the passions, and evil examples corrupted it. All consists in restoring it to its primitive beauty; and to be perfect, we must reascend to that point from which we have fallen. Obey heaven, and follow the orders of him who governs it. Love your neighbor as yourself. Let your reason, and not your senses, be the rule of your conduct: for reason will teach you to think wisely, to speak prudently, and to behave yourself worthily upon all occasions." And here we find an antique brilliant, that has been lately dug from out the long since, mouldering relics of a former time; but which, with little burnishing, reflects the plainest image of the Gospel.

Omitting Plato, to whom our Hypothesis has, heretofore, presumed to refer, though indirectly, the origin of Christianity, we next call up the Stoic Zeno, to tell what he had learned, three hundred years before the Christ, the Living Word, was born of Philo's brain, or else adopted from the Zend Avesta.

Of Zeno and the Stoics we learn, that philosophy is the way to wisdom, which is itself the knowledge of human and divine things, and that virtue (or morality) is its practical application to the affairs of social life. That man should aim at divine perfection, as the only way to insure a virtuous life. That Reason governs (or should govern) the whole soul. That