COURTSHIP. PART I. "All thoughts, all passions, all delights, Are all but ministers of Love, And feed his sacred flame." Coleridge. A CELEBRATED French writer, one of the Voltaire school of philosophy, asserts, in a work of his written to invalidate the truths of revealed religion, that 66 man was cast upon the earth by chance." This assertion he makes previously to commencing a long train of reasoning in support of his views upon the subject; and thus, in the most flippant, and flimsy, and barefaced manner, he attempts, by a dash of the pen, as it were, to dispose of the great important question, "How was man created ?" He asserts, indeed, that man was cast upon the B earth by chance, as though he were a fungus, or species of mushroom, sprung from its surface, to perish and be no more; but in sight of the wonders of the Creation, how such a monstrous idea could have entered the cranium of a human being is really astonishing! "Olives there, heaven, beneath thy dread expanse, One hopeless, dark idolater of Chance, Who, mouldering earthward, 'reft of every trust, And call this barren world sufficient bliss." Campbell. Throughout the whole of the universe there is evidently design of formation displayed even in most minute portions of animate and inanimate things, all tending to show the power, and the goodness, and the wisdom of the Great Architect who called them into existence, and bade "The spangled heavens, a shining frame, Their Great Original proclaim, For ever singing as they shine, The hand that made us is divine." Addison. Man, then, was not cast upon the earth by chance; for there is sufficient and overwhelming testimony to prove that he was wonderfully fashioned by his Maker, in his own image, for the wisest and most noble purposes, to have dominion over every living thing, to love his Creator, and to do his duty towards Him and his neighbour, so that he might enjoy everlasting happiness in another and a brighter sphere. But God saw that man wanted a helpmate; he therefore created woman to be "bone of his bone" and "flesh of his flesh," and in creating her He gave to man the greatest blessing on the face of the earth. Even in Paradise what would Adam have been had not woman been formed to hold sweet converse with him and share his enjoyments? ""Till Hymen brought his love-delighted hour, Campbell. How extremely beautiful is the language of Milton when he makes Eve, "with perfect beauty adorned," thus say to Adam: "Sweet is the breath of Morn, her rising sweet, |