of it without knowing it, and this consciousness is the mysterious light which shines upon the limits of the two worlds.

CHAPTER X.

THE MORAL SENSE-A FACULTY OF THE SOUL.

"La prémière idée de justice naït en nous, non de celle que nous devons mais de celle qui nous est due."

GUYTON-MORVEAUX; Sur l'Education.

MAN is the only one of all beings who is able to abuse his powers. Animals enjoy the gifts of nature, but only within the limits of their faculties: when once satisfied they stop and to establish universal order, God has willed that their desires should expire with their gratification.

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Man's desires, on the other hand, are so exorbitant that nothing can satisfy them, and he soon perceives the necessity of restraining them within bounds. This perception is the first revelation of the moral sense which is in him, and he proclaims it by regulations and commandments; first in his family, next in his tribe, then in the state. Such is the origin of human and political law, which is holy even when imperfect, for it testifies to our liberty by enchaining it, and to our reason by compelling us to obedience.

And so true is it that the nature of man requires these chains, that it is only beneath the supremacy of law that a people becomes civilised. The more perfect the law, that is to say, the greater scope which it allows to liberty within the bounds of reason, the more powerful and great does the nation become. Thus the prosperity of the masses is attached to the perfection of the political laws which arise

from the sentiment of our liberty, in the same way as the wisdom of the individual is attached to the developement of the moral sense which is in him.

Hence it follows, that the moral sense is not dependent upon our intelligence, and that it imperatively indicates to us what we must do in order to deserve happiness.

Do that which may render you worthy of happiness, says the philosopher of Koenigsberg. To render oneself worthy of happiness is to follow the only path which can lead us to happiness: it is the fulfilling of all the moral laws of our being.

Nevertheless, earthly happiness is not a necessary consequence of the fulfilling of these laws: the soul, which opens out this path to us, awaits then for a justice which is not of the earth: a reward which supposes a God.

It is thus that in seeking the end of the moral law, we meet with the only power which can realize its promises; and, consequently, at the first steps in this path we leave space and time. Our hopes overleap the bounds of creation, in order to raise us to the Creator.

The moral sense-a faculty of the soul. The first light which radiates towards God.

CHAPTER XI.

SENSE OF THE BEAUTIFUL-A FACULTY OF THE SOUL.

"On ne peut rien imaginer de si beau, de si grand, qu'on ne le trouve dans l'homme: que l'homme ne puisse même le produire quelquefois dans une pureté celeste."

JACOBI WOLDMAR.

THE type of the beautiful is immutable—eternal: it exists; for we have the consciousness and the love of it:

consciousness, to incline us to seek it; love, to render us worthy of contemplating it.

Enlightened by this internal light, our soul in vain exhausts all that surrounds it upon the earth: it passes from one world to the other, from the finite to the infinite, and stops dismayed at the feet of the Creator. In bestowing this faculty upon us, God has revealed himself to us.

Thus the sense of the beautiful makes its way through the darkness of our senses: it is a large breach in matter, of which all the perspectives open from earth to heaven, from time to eternity.

The sense of the beautiful—a faculty of the soul. The second light which radiates towards God.

CHAPTER XII.

SENSE OF INFINITY-A FACULTY OF THE SOUL.

"Il est donc vrai et je ne me trompe point en le disant, je porte toujours au dedans de moi, quoique je sois fini, une idée qui me represente une chose infinie."

FENELON, De l'Existence de Dieu.

EVERYTHING is transitory upon the earth; all speaks to us of our nothingness: life is composed of days which are no more, and the present is but the future which passes by. Still, if time were only to spare our reminiscences; but after the transports of joy and the pains of grief, indifference and oblivion supervene. Our existence is effaced even in our memory; we depart by piecemeal, and these portions detaching themselves day by day, disappear in proportion as we advance. Thus the past dies, the present vanishes, and the future is but a hope. A hope-O

mortal, this is thy greatness! Amidst this world of destruction, in the presence of death and oblivion, when all around thee perishes, thou hopest a life which will never end! The word eternity does not astonish thy soul: it responds to it by that of infinity, the sublime sentiment which detaches us from time and space, to transport us to the bosom of God.

It is because the sense of infinity exists in us, that nothing which is finite can satisfy our souls.

The horror of annihilation is a revelation of infinity.

But what is infinity? all my efforts to conceive it are useless. It is equally impossible for me to deny it or to understand it. What I know is, that out of infinity there is nothing, or, to express myself better, that all is in infinity. Guided by this feeble light, I lay down a number, to which I add other numbers; I fill immensity with my calculations.-Useless trouble! The sum constantly increasing, is only composed of finite things: I must always refer to its two extremes, the beginning and the end: but there, casting my eyes on this side and on that, I perceive no end, no beginning; that which the figures of arithmetic pursue without ever attaining, that which is before and after, that which is everywhere and always, constitutes infinity.

The sentiment of infinity gives us the idea of all that which cannot be attained by the senses: it realises for us the unknown.

God is infinity; it is God which thou seekest, O my soul, since nothing of that which is finite can satisfy thee here below. Thou detachest thyself from all the joys of earth, because all these joys have an end. Thou placest thy dependence solely upon this infinity, which is beyond all our passions, and which is at the same time thy hope, thy light, and thy satisfaction.

Thus, man is the point of union between nature and its Creator: all that which he experiences beyond his earthly desires is an announcement of eternity. It is by means of intelligence and love that nature arrives at him: it is by the sense of the beautiful and the infinite, that he arrives at God. The chain commenced on earth does not break, but ascends to lose itself in heaven.

The sense of infinity-a faculty of the soul. The third light which radiates towards God.

CHAPTER XIII.

REASON-A FACULTY OF THE SOUL.

"It is by reason that we discover the general rules of justice which ought to direct our actions."

SMITH'S Theory of Moral Sentiments.

I OPEN for the first time the "Republic" of Plato; all his ideas are new to me, and yet my soul experiences no surprise it recognises itself, if I may so say, in these high conceptions; it enters into them with transport, like a conqueror into his empire. And further, without any other assistance than its own light, it separates truth from error. There is in it a judge which weighs, discusses, and chooses; a judge which says, "Here is the good, there is the bad." This judge is reason.

Reason is the sentiment of truth, it is a revelation of wisdom and order. Sometimes it plunges into the world of transcendental truths; at other times it surrounds us with the plain notions of common sense-practical reason and pure reason. On the one hand, it estimates the ma