idea of exalting it, or of raising it from the darkness and superstition in which it may be immersed."
"Such was my argument against my opponent," continued Philimore, "who strongly persisted he had quite as good a chance of being fit for Heaven as those who were ever seeking to form acquaintance with, or gain a knowledge of that Infinite and Eternal Being and his ways, with whom he supposed his principles of Faith and a life of external piety merely, were alone necessary to insure him an introductory passport to His throne."
"Sad perversion of the mental powers," answered the Doctor, "to leave them thus unemployed, unexercised. Why should not every organ of the human mind, receptive of the attributes of Deity, be cleansed of its dross? why, in purifying the more interior regions of the affections, should we not also refine and enlighten our understandings? and why thus willingly turn aside and close the ears, because the system that would enlighten us is not drawn from the source and channel of that fountain at which we have hitherto drunk?"
"Alas! so it is, Doctor; how often have I heard the knell rung in my ears—the generally received opinion shall be mine; that upon which wiser
