Nor is this all. Besides these three great types of government, many other intermediate forms are conceivable, and many such do in point of fact exist, and they are often excellently suited to the peculiar states of society which have called them into being. Yet, though so varied in form and manifestation, all these institutions are one in this, that each is a government, and all have for their object to form a bond of social security and peace.

But let us now make the third and last step in our progress. Passing from the intellectual world, and from man, the lord of this lower creation, let us contemplate for a moment the globe itself, and the creatures which inhabit it. What all but infinite variety is there here! and yet what harmony, what unity, along with it every where! Let us peruse the 104th psalm, which nothing can equal, either in a truthful description of the variety of the creation, or in poetic or picturesque beauty. In that inimitable composition, the variety displayed by every kingdom of nature, is brought before us in the very spirit of the subjects which are described, while, in the composition of the sacred hymn itself, also the same unity of spirit and variety of detail is beautifully preserved.

Treating of the richness and variety of the physical system, the inspired poet brings under our eye successively the heavens, stretched out like a curtain, the seas like a floor, the clouds like chariots, the wind like wings, the foundations of the earth fixed as if they should never be moved, the waters ever moving, ascending, descending, going, returning. Now, though such be the variety which the physical economy displays, the most recent discoveries of modern science all point to the conclusion, that all this rich and beautiful variety of the inorganic kingdom is composed of one and the same elementary substance or material principle. And it is no longer a matter of conjecture merely, that all the variety which

the Psalmist next brings under our notice,-valleys and mountains, river-courses and plains, day and night, sum-. mer and winter, the moon marking seasons by her variations, the sun knowing the time of his setting,-it is matter of demonstration, that all this variety results from the operation of a single law, is all embraced by the single principle of gravitation. In like manner, the variety of the vegetable kingdom, so beautifully touched by the Psalmist in the same divine hymn,—the full-grown cedar of Lebanon, the trees with leafy branches, where the little birds sing, and those yielding food, wine, oil, bread, and herbage, for the use of man, and grass for cattle,-all this exquisite variety is developed out of a single principle of life, a single organic tissue. It is, however, in the animal kingdom, most especially, that we find this beautiful and allpervading principle of unity of spirit in variety of form, most emphatically embodied. And here, too, let us not fail to remark the beautiful variety which the Psalmist brings under our notice in the same ode: The beasts of the field, the wild asses coming to quench their thirst at the shady brooks, while the small birds are singing among the leafy boughs over them, and the cattle browzing on the grass growing around, the wild goats climbing the steeps of the mountains, and the jerboas leaping among the rocks, the stork building her nest among the tops of the trees, while the young lions are roaring after their prey beneath. As to the sea, likewise, it too is full of the riches of creation. There are reptiles and fishes without number, creatures both small and great.

Such is the variety of creatures which, even in this short hymn, the Psalmist brings under our notice. Now, it is truly a beautiful result of modern science, that this vast, this all but infinite variety of creatures, so different in their forms, habits, endowments, are yet all built upon the same plan, after the same model; and are, in a word,

the same idea, beautifully, and all but infinitely varied indeed, but still the same idea. Such is the admirable unity of spirit, in variety of form and manifestation, which the creation of God displays, whatever side we

turn to.

And if such be the universal frame and economy of things, such the order of creation all over, all through, whether we look to the celestial intelligences leading their blessed lives under the immediate eye of God, or to the starry heavens celebrating, by their harmonious revolutions, the praises of the God who made them, or, from the beings above us, we turn and look to the things around us, whether the framework of the human mind, or of the human body, or of society, or of the animal, or of the vegetable kingdom, or of the world itself, which supports all this-if all over the works of God the order of things which He has established be not uniformity, but, on the contrary, an unity of spirit in a beautiful variety of form and manifestation, can we for a moment suppose that there is no place for such a state of things in the church? If the Father of all has instituted a certain order of things in His creation, and holds it out to our admiration every where in His works, both celestial and terrestrial, ought we not to expect that the frame of that society, which consists of His own elect, might be similarly constituted without offence? If He has so ordered His works, that even the world, where Necessity reigns, even the brute world, yields under His command out of its original unity, an admirable and all but infinite variety, can we for a moment suppose, that in that nobler sphere of His works where the principle of liberty comes into play, it is His will and design that all should be confined to a mere uniformity and iteration? If we see God giving such outgoings to His own liberty and intelligence as to produce above, below, and all around, an all but endless variety

of harmonizing institutions and objects out of the same materials, can we suppose, that after having given man a ray of that liberty and intelligence which is, as we see, ever tending, in this respect at least, to follow in His footsteps, and develope variety out of unity, He wills and designs, nevertheless, that in the church, which is emphatically His own kingdom, there should be nought but an absolute uniformity over all? Can we suppose it to be the requirement of Christ, that the church, which is his body, should consist exclusively in repetitions on all hands of the same member-that every part should present the same features, and an identity with every other part? Can we suppose it to be alone agreeable to Him, that the church, which is His temple, instead of being built of stones, fitted into every part, their form and sizes varying with their situations, should be composed of stones all similar to each other ? It is not thus, at least, that He dispenses the gifts of the Spirit in the church. But here our argument merges again into the testimony of revelation, which has been already considered.

Confining our attention at present exclusively to the analogy of nature, however, does it not lead us to conclude, that the form of the church, considered as a whole, or an entire institution in harmony with the will and design of God, is not to be expected to be an universal uniformity, but, on the contrary, an unity of spirit in variety of form and manifestation ? The analogy of nature, indeed, like all our other arguments, leads to a more symmetrical and orderly display of unity in variety than would be attainable by the union of all the evangelical denominations in the present day, as the beau ideal of the form of the universal church. But, looking forward to this as that which will be realized by a triumphant church, during an age of millennial glory, may we not safely infer from our argument, in reference to the mean time, that such unity

in variety as is possible to be attained, is still in harmony with the analogy of nature, and worthy to be sought after, and good if it were but realized ?

THE ARGUMENT FROM THE PRINCIPLES OF BEAUTY.

The idea of an absolute uniformity in religion once introduced into the mind, soon suggests a variety of sentiments, if not of arguments, in its own favour. Of these, one is the conceived beauty of such an uniformity. And, indeed, when we look around us, and become painfully impressed, as every one must, by the discords and antagonisms between sect and sect which now agitate and disturb the Christian world and arm the infidel, it is impossible not to feel that that which exists is extremely ugly, and that unity were indeed most beautiful in comparison with it. And thus far all is well. Unity is undoubtedly that which ought to be. That, for want of which all is going to ruin, as I have endeavoured to set But here it needs

*

forth in the first pages of this work. again to be repeated, that unity is one thing, uniformity another. Not but the substitution of the latter term for the former is to be expected; for the popular mind is, as has been already shewn, always materialist in its habits,* and, immediately after conceiving such an idea as unity, it tends to give a body and a form to that idea, and thus to degrade the holy and just desire of the soul for an unity in spirit in the Christian Church, into a gross demand in the imagination for uniformity every where, or a sameness of forms over all. And thus, in the popular mind, not accustomed to limit itself to accuracy of thought, unity in form, not unity in spirit, comes to be regarded as the beautiful in the church, and in the midst of such dis

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