In former times, craft, under the name of religion, availed herself of these mental illusions, and extorted gifts of lands and gold from the terrified, perhaps most guilty sufferer, in order that his peace with the church (so miscalled) might be made, and masses said for the repose of his soul. He was taught to buy his entrance into heaven--not with the Pearl of great price--not by presenting before the Judge of all mankind the merits and the atonement of the Messiah, but by founding a monastery, or by adding to its treasures and domains. His faith was placed, not on the promises of God in Christ, but on the promises of a mere mortal at best--yes, a mortal, who knew that while he promised he was weak as other men; In concluding our observations upon the sense of sight, we may refer to a few striking passages in Scripture, of great force, and well calculated to excite reflection. "He that formed the eye, shall he not see?"[13] No secrets are hidden from God; no, not the secrets of the heart, for these are written on a tablet which he, and he alone, can read. May our prayer be, "Let the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my Redeemer!"[14] "Enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified."[15] In the sight of God, we speak figuratively, all men are sinners, and as sinners condemned; but God will not enter into judgment with those who, by faith in the atonement, looking to the Saviour, as the Israelites looked to the brazen serpent in the wilderness, turn away from their wickedness, and become examples "of the believers, in word, in conversation, in faith, in purity." [13] Psa. xciv. 9. [14] Psa. xix. 14. [15] Psa. cxliii. 2. 2. _Hearing._--What we call sound, noise, or tone, is a mental appreciation of the effects of the tremulous or vibratory motions of the particles of an elastic fluid, such as air or water, on the auditory or acoustic nerves of the internal ear. Sonorous vibrations are produced by the concussion of hard bodies, by the bolt of lightning, by the vibrations of stringed instruments of music, by the forcible current of air thrown into the tubes of wind instruments, and by the air driven from the lungs through the organs of voice in reptiles, birds, and mammalia. There are, indeed, few movements, few collisions, few atmospheric disturbances, which do not excite those tremulous wavelets of atmosphere, those oscillations, which produce in us the sensation of sound. In fact, during the day, the sense of hearing is as perpetually employed as is that of sight; yet, strange to say, from the impressions made through the medium of both these senses, we can so far abstract the mind, and throw it upon its own internal reflections and operations, as to see without discrimination, and to hear without attention or notice.