In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

462 APPENDIX [MJ. characters and the specific differences of things. And tllis leads to a lUal1llCr which is in many instances remote from the oommon usc of 91)eech, and therefore must be of mmc difficult conception." (Book ii. sec. 2. pp. 102, 103.) It is truly to be l'egretted that an author who has written so justly on this subject, should within a few l)agcs so stri~ kingly exemplify the C1'l'Or9 he has been treating of, by indulging in a declamation against Logic, which could not oven to himself have conveyed any distinct meaning. When he says that a man who hac1 learned Logic was (( qualified, without any other kind of knowledge, to defeml any position whatever , however contradictory to common sense;" and that H that art obsol'verl the most absolute indifference to truth and orror/) he cannot mean that a false conclusion could be logically pl'oved from true premises; since, ignorant as he was of the subject, he was aware, and has in another place distinctly acknowledged, that this is not the case; nor could he mean merely that a false conclusion eould be proved from a false premiss, since that would evidently be a nugatory anel ridiculous objection. He seems to have had, in truth, no meaning at all; though like the authors he had been so ably cl'iticising, he was perfectly unaware of the emptiness of what he was saying;. [M,] Part III. Chap. II. § 8. p, 306. {' Moses stretched forth his hand, and the waters wel'e divided , ali.{l became a wall unto the children of Israel, on the right hand ane1 on the left. Moses smotc the roek with his l'od, ancl the waters flowed withal, and the children of Israel wel'e refreshed in the wildel'lless, and were saved fl'OIrl death. But what was thcre in the arm of Moses, that the sea should obey it and stand still? 01' what in the rod of Moses, that it should tum the flinty rock into a living fountain? Let me freely, though reverently, speak to you of the })atl'iareh Moses. He was indeerl great, because he was indeed good, in his gene- APPENDIX [M]. 463 ration. But except in the matter of his goodness-except in his superior faith and trust in his Maker-except in his more ready obedience to the holy desires which the Spirit of the llOl'd inspired into his soul, he was no more than the rest of t}U\ Israelites, and the rest of men. IJike them, like us, like every human heing that is born of woman, he was compassed with in£rmities, and tried with affiictions, and s11bject to terl 'or, and sUl'rounded with sorrow. Of himself he was able to do nothing, but all the mighty acts which he did, he did be. causc (it was God which worked in him both to will and to do of his good l)leasure,' and because Moses did not I'esist the will of God, or neglect or abuse the power with which he was endued. If to the Jew God was very libcral, we have the promise of his bdoved Son, that to Christians, in all spil'itual and necessary things, he will be still more so. Over the WOl,}d without us he will perhaps give us 110 power-because we are 110t called upon to save a peoIJla. But we are called upon to save ourselves) and he will give us a power over the rebellious world that is within us. Stretch forth but your hands in faith and sincerity to God, and sUl'ely he will separate between you and your lusts. He will divide the tumultuous sea of your passions, and open for you a way to escape from your enemies into the land of eternity. He will cause the waves thereof to stand still and harmless on your right hand and on Y0ul' left, and make you to walk in safety aml unhurt through the overflowings of ungodliness) which, without l1is control~ ling al'lll, would have drowned your souls in perdition and deBtl -nction. Bc y6 never so faint and weary in thc wilderness ofsin, yet if in humility you smite upon yOUl' broost, and say, God be merciful to me a sinner I he will melt the stony heart within you, and turning it into a fountain of piety and }o'¢'eof love to man and...

Share