ng knowledge by
the common and the moral senses. In the attainment of physical good,
Nature leaves men, as she does the lower animals, in a great measure to
themselves, under the guardianship of the common sense; but, in respect
to actions that are morally good or evil, she deals with them in a much
more solemn and dignified manner. A transgression of the laws of the
natural or common sense, is, without discrimination and without mercy,
visited with present and corresponding punishment; plainly indicating,
that with respect to these there is to be no future reckoning;--while
the trial and final judgment of moral acts are usually reserved for a
future, a more solemn, and a more comprehensive investigation.

Another inference which legitimately arises out of the above
considerations, as well as from the facts themselves, is, that religion
and morals are really intended to be the chief object of attention in
the education of the young. This is a circumstance so clearly and so
frequently pointed out to us, in our observation of Nature's educational
processes, that no person, we think, of a philosophic turn of mind, can
consistently refuse his assent to it. The facts are so numerous, and
the legitimate inferences to be drawn from them are so plain, that
pre-conceived opinions should never induce us either to blink them from
fear, or deny them from prejudice. These facts and inferences too, it
should be observed, present themselves to our notice in all their own
native power and simplicity, invulnerable in their own strength, and, in
one sense, altogether independent of revelation. They are, no doubt,
efficiently supported in every page of the Christian Record; but,
without revelation, they force themselves upon our conviction, and
cannot be consistently refuted. We state this fearlessly, from a
consideration of numerous facts, to a few of which, selected from among
many, we shall, before concluding, very shortly advert.

In the first place, it is obvious to the most cursory observer, that
moral attainments and moral greatness are more honoured by Nature, and
are, of course, more valuable to man, than the possession of either
intellectual or physical good.--Nature has, to the possessor, made
virtue its own reward, in that calm consciousness of dignity,
self-approval, and peace, which are its natural results; while, even
from the mere looker-on, she compels an approval. On the contrary, we
find, that the highest intellectual