ted to the entire constitution of our being; and the highest effort of human wisdom is inadequate to the execution, or even the conception of the slightest improvement in the exquisite mechanism of those organic functions, from the harmonious play of which we derive the abiding consciousness and the full enjoyment of our animal existence. The same perfection of organic structure pervades the infinite and incomprehensible variety of animal life, throughout every portion of the universe within the scope of our most extended observation. All the orders of being below humanity accomplish unerringly the specific objects for which they were designed. It is from those attributes alone, which constitute our proper humanity, that we derive the fearful power of transgression; and with it that responsibility for the appropriate exercise of our intellectual and moral faculties, which necessarily results from the relation of the creature to the Creator.

7. All degrees of animal and vegetable life below humanity, are created originally perfect; with powers, faculties and instincts adapted to the peculiar scale of being they are destined to occupy-neither requiring nor admitting cultivation-and incapable by the very constitution of their nature of transcending or violating in any essential respect the fundamental conditions of their existence. Man alone of all the inhabitants of our planet, is created with the power of improving indefinitely his condition-of transgressing by a voluntary effort of his will, the laws of his being, and of counteracting, if we may be allowed to use the expression, so far as he himself is concerned, the benevolent design of his Creator, in the bestowment of the high privilege of an intelligent existence. With him alone the work of education and the formation of character commences in early infancy, and is susceptible of continued pro

gress through all the subsequent stages of life. He alone possesses that indestructible germ of being which we term the soul or spirit-the badge of his proper humanity-the pledge of his immortalitythe distinctive characteristic of his high nature. The external avenues of communication with the world of matter and of mind are possessed by him in common with the inferior animals. The rays of light are conveyed to them, as to him, through the medium of the eye: the vibrations of the air which constitute sound, are communicated through the same organs of hearing: the same faculties of touch, of taste and of smell, are conferred upon them by an organization substantially similar to his own; and each of these senses are possessed by various species of the animal creation in greater perfection, and with a more extended scope of action than by him. Most, if not all the perceptive faculties-those which take cognizance of the forms, hues, dimensions and localities of external nature-which discover and discern existences-note events as they occur-recall impressions and furnish the various materials for the exercise of reason and judgment in man, are possessed by the brutes; and in them their various functions are regulated by an unerring instinct.

As the animal organization approaches in complexity and perfection to the human, the sphere of intellectual action is proportionably expanded, and the range of the propensities and affective emotions, with which it is also endowed, elevated and enlarged. These propensities and emotions likewise correspond in a considerable degree to those of man. It is the same animal instinct in both which prompts to anger, violence, strife and carnage: the same in both which incites to deception, concealment and theft: the same in both which induces a disregard of the interests and feelings of others, and a concentration of every

energy upon self: the same in both which impels to covetousness and cunning,-in short, the same in both, which in its unregulated and unrestrained action has emphatically

'Brought death into the world, and all our woe.'

In the brute creation these propensities subserve a wise and specific purpose: they are restrained within impassable bounds: and their exercise constitutes the ultimate end and the greatest happiness of their possessors. Upon man too, these propensities were conferred by Omniscient Wisdom for the attainment of beneficial ends: but upon him was bestowed a higher and nobler order of faculties to which they were designed to be subservient, and by which they were intended to be restrained; and that impassable barrier which renders transgression and its fatal consequences physically impossible to the brute, finds no place in his mental or moral organization. The higher attributes of his being-the capacity to reason and to decide by an intelligent appreciation and comparison of conflicting motives, objects, ends and aims the power of widening the sphere and dispersing the mists of his intellectual vision-and of so disciplining his moral sense as to render his conduct practically subservient to the will of his Creator, and in harmonious accordance with the design of his existence-these belong to man alone: and their exercise to a greater or less extent, or their total neglect, and the abandonment of the reins of intellect, judgment and conscience to the guidance of the passions, and the impulse of circumstance, determine the character and shape the destiny of each individual of the human family.

9. In this power, resulting from the union of the spiritual and material portions of our being, and in the consequent responsibility which its exercise in

volves, consists the highest and noblest attribute of humanity. The intellectual and moral faculties of our nature cannot assume and retain a stationary position. There is no mental equilibrium, in which knowledge, and the various passions and emotions can rest, undisturbed by any impulse or preponderance from without or within. In the cultivation and discipline of our mind, in all its complicated relations, we must continually advance, or we shall be irresistibly compelled to recede. We have no alternative, other than a progress in virtue, in knowledge and in goodness, on the one hand, and a failure on the other, not only to accomplish that full measure of happiness and enjoyment designed by the Creator in our formation, but in any considerable degree to apprehend the end and object of existence itself, or to avoid the innumerable calamities physical and moral, incidental to ignorance and error. In what manner then, may we best discipline our whole nature, so as to accomplish to the greatest practicable extent the will of our Creator-fulfil the objects and purposes of our being-cultivate and develope the various faculties of our mind-and fit ourselves for usefulness and enjoyment in the circumstances which surround us, and the respective stations in which it may be our fortune to be placed?

CHAPTER II.

PHYSICAL, INTELLECTUAL, AND MORAL CULTURE.

1. In our endeavors to ascertain the true mode of developing the powers and faculties of the mind, with a view to a systematic education of the whole of our compound nature, it is first of all necessary to acquaint ourselves with the fundamental principles of that nature. On no subject has a greater diversity of opinion prevailed, than on that of the nature and essence of the human mind; and on no subject, certainly, have the materials for observation been more ample and abundant. In addition to the consciousness which each intelligent individual possesses, of the operations of his own mind, a vast field of instruction is daily presented in the conduct and character of others, and an inexhaustible repository of facts illustrative of this great subject exists in the annals of history. And yet if we may, even now, be permitted to congratulate ourselves upon the possession of an enlightened and practical philosophy of the mind, the period is quite recent since a thorough analysis of its various faculties, and a satisfactory elucidation of its nature and powers, ceased to be a desideratum in the acquisitions of science. Metaphysicians, it is true, have abounded in every age; and as intelligence and civilization have advanced, a perceptible progress has been made in psychological inquiries; while the frequent revolutions which the opinions of scientific men have undergone, and the varying and even opposite standards which have from time to time prevailed, have afforded the most conclusive evidence, that the solid foundations