objectors would say, to assert that all things connected with man are destined to ultimate extinction. His reason is independent of time, and has that in it which belongs to eternity. All must see this in regard to the incontrovertible truths established by science; many see it in tuitions of the mind, and others in doctrines of religion supposed to be divinely revealed. It is often added, that it is fortunate for man that, amid the constant change going on in the phenomenal world, a permanent reality does exist, on which he can lay hold-eternal truth.

It would be careless to overlook the importance of this counter-statement. About the permanence of truth there can be no question. Whether it be obtained by observation, generalization, or deduction, verified by experiment and proof, we may safely assert that such truth will last as long as the human mind remains constituted as it is. But does that entitle us to claim eternal duration for any truth? No one believes that the human race will last for ever. There is a probability amounting almost to a certainty, that neither man nor his dwelling-place will exist beyond a certain, though it may be a very large number of years. Now, when the human race shall have ceased to exist, would it be correct to say that the truths cognized by the human mind. will survive it? This could only be maintained by

an idealist, who should place their continued existence in some extra-mundane Eternal Mind-as that of God-which may be an article of faith, but hardly of reason. Moreover, if true propositions can exist after all the minds which could affirm them have disappeared, why should they not exist before the phenomenal appearance of those minds? Can we consistently say that the propositions of Euclid existed in the Carboniferous era? If so, why not assert that all the truths yet to be discovered in the remote future exist at present? There is no question that things undreamt of in the philosophy and science of to-day, will be trite commonplaces two or three thousand years hence. But are they truths now or yet? Not only they are not, but the great probability is, that if they were expressed in words now, they would be denounced as wild and danger

ous errors.

So that it is still legitimate to say that even truth exists for a time, while we admit that verified truth will have a duration co-equal with that of the human race.

It is to be observed, that the only truths that belong to this permanent class, are the truths of simple observation, or of rigorous scientific inference. They have always been few in number, if compared with the multitude of propositions held to be true

by the mass of mankind. They are now increasing with unprecedented rapidity, owing to the great development of the scientific spirit in modern times. They obviously stand quite apart from the truths supposed to be derived from divine revelation. The latter differ from them both as to the method by which they were obtained, and especially in their durability. Lengthy as may seem the existence of the great religions of the world when measured by our small scale of chronology, yet their transitory, not to say ephemeral, character, is manifest to reflection, and even to observation. Go where we will on the earth's surface, we find traces of bygone men— of their tombs, of their ashes, their temples-which testify to the former existence of religious beliefs now extinct. These beliefs embodied the most precious and profound of all truths in the devout conviction of those who held them, but they were so far from permanent that often they move the wonder and even the laughter of after-ages. Perishable as are brick, stone, and marble, they have outlived in countless instances the faiths which once wrought them into majestic architecture in their own honour. Temples often survive their creeds by thousands of years. Wind, rain, and frost disintegrate the roof and the walls of a shrine with more or less rapidity, according to climate; but they are

by the mass of mankind. They are now increasing with unprecedented rapidity, owing to the great development of the scientific spirit in modern times. They obviously stand quite apart from the truths supposed to be derived from divine revelation. The latter differ from them both as to the method by which they were obtained, and especially in their durability. Lengthy as may seem the existence of the great religions of the world when measured by our small scale of chronology, yet their transitory, not to say ephemeral, character, is manifest to reflection, and even to observation. Go where we will on the earth's surface, we find traces of bygone men— of their tombs, of their ashes, their temples-which testify to the former existence of religious beliefs now extinct. These beliefs embodied the most precious and profound of all truths in the devout conviction of those who held them, but they were so far from permanent that often they move the wonder and even the laughter of after-ages. Perishable as are brick, stone, and marble, they have countless instances the faiths which once

into majestic architecture in their mples often survive their creeds by Wind, rain, and frost disintehe walls of a shrine with more

ding to climate; but they are