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SPECIAL PUBLIC EVILS.

[Part VI.

in idea. The admiration of perfect wisdom and goodness, forwhich we are formed, and which kindles such unspeakable rap-ture in the soul, finding in the regions of skepticism nothing towhich it corresponds, droops and languishes. Revelation, bydisplaying the true character of God, affords a pure and perfectstandard of virtue ; heathenism, one in various respects defective ;the skepticism of late times, which excludes the belief of all su-perior powers, affords no standard at all. According to thissystem, human nature knows nothing higher or more excellentthan itself. All above and around it being shrouded in darkness,and the prospect confined to the tame realities of this life, virtuehas no room to expand itself; nor are any excursions permittedinto that unseen world, the true element of the great and good,by which it is'fortified with motives equally calculated to satisfythe reason, to delight the fancy, and to impress the heart. Asthis part of the subject, however, has been illustrated elsewhere,it will not be enlarged upon in this connexion.*

2. Modern infidelity not only tends to corrupt the moral taste ;it also promotes the growth of those vices which are the mosthostile to social happiness. Of all the vices incident to humannature, the most destructive to society are vanity (egotism), fe-rocity, and unbridled sensuality ; and these are precisely the viceswhich infidelity is calculated to nourish.

That the love, fear, and habitual contemplation of a Beinginfinitely exalted, or, in other terms, devotion, is adapted to pro-mote a sober and moderate estimate of our own excellences, isincontestable ; nor is it less evident, that the neglect or exclusionof devotion must be favorable to pride. The criminality ofpride will not, perhaps, be very readily admitted ; for, thoughthere is no vice more opposite to the spirit of Christianity, yetthere is none, which, even in the Christian world, has, undervarious pretences, been treated with so much indulgence.

There is, it will be confessed, a delicate sensibility to charac-ter, a sober desire of reputation, a wish to possess the esteem ofthe wise and good, felt by the purest minds, which is at thefarthest remove from arrogance or vanity. The humility of anoble mind scarcely dares to approve of itself, until it has se-

* See above, pp. 65 - 67.