MENTAL AND CORPOREAL. , 281 



the medium of language. To him therefore this 

 blessed attribute exclusively belongs, and which 

 in itself points out the line of distinction between 

 man and all other animals. Had it been denied 

 to him, of what avail would have been those 

 other noble qualities which have been so bene- 

 volently implanted in his nature? They would 

 only have rendered him more sensible of the 

 forlornness of his situation, by depriving him of 

 that mutual communication of ideas from which 

 alone the best friendships of his nature are deri- 

 ved ; by which the confidence between man and 

 man is preserved, and his wants reciprocally 

 expressed, and supplied ; the mind is expanded 

 in every direction that can call forth its energies, 

 or enlarge its powers; and through whose agency, 

 the bonds of society are kept in that due tone, 

 by which alone the moral principle can preserve 

 its influence, amidst the opposing conflict of 

 human passions. 



But if man has derived so much consequence 

 from the attributes we have already detailed, how 

 much higher does he rank, and with what in- 

 creased dignity does he not appear, when the fa- 

 culties of his mind in all their comprehensiveness, 

 are contemplated; when his moral qualities are 

 found to give tone to the actions, which his intel- 

 lect suggest; and when his mental and moral 

 attributes combine (independently of a religious 

 feeling natural to man) to produce those elevated 



