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heroes. Hence we learn how desirable it is that persons suffering from any strong emotion, or mental disorder, should refrain from those bodily motions which express it, and endeavor rather to divert themselves by adopting some action of an opposing kind; since otherwise they may yield to the indulgence of embodying their feelings in action, until the feelings themselves are prolonged into physical habits, and, by mismanagement, actually become confirmed into mad

ness.

CHAPTER VII.

ASSOCIATION.

WE draw rational motives of thought and action from experience through our senses. We become conscious of our own existence, and the existence and character of other beings, by their impression upon ourselves. Sensation is the exciting cause of ideas and of sentiments. We, however, interpret impressions according to a law implanted in our souls. Thus, if a child see an angry face, it need not be told what it means; and one who looks on an infant lovingly is intuitively met with a responsive smile.

Man, without possessing senses superior to the brute, is endowed with a far nobler faculty of perception, by which he associates thoughts with objects, and thus nature is representative to him of something higher than itself. We conceive from what we perceive, and that is far more than we can see, hear, or handle.

The human mind is so constituted, that every present object that awakens interest also suggests others, and by the law of association excites the remembrance of the past or the hope of the future; and, as both memory and anticipation are brought into exercise by our intellect, in relation to our own experience, we necessarily compare idea with idea with regard to probabilities for or against ourselves, and those in whom we are concerned. It is, indeed, the business of reason to consider causes and effects in their bearing upon minds, and therefore all rational research is but an inquiry into the design of things, with reference to conscious beings, and hence our feelings, in connection

with objects, will be generally influenced by our sense of the importance of those objects in the economy of existence. In short, the full revelation of Deity is in humanity.

All truth is really experimental to us; and before we can fully believe any thing, we must perceive its relation not only to the senses but to our souls. Our faculties are all associated with reason, and therefore we infer from things perceived to things possible, and that because we can compare and combine ideas analogically; hence, from space we infer infinitude-from time, eternity-from ceaseless effects, the unbeginning Cause. Wherever we turn the eye, there infinitude begins. We look into the limitless heavens, and feel that time is but eternity, measured to our conceptions by the everlasting revolutions of suns and planets; and perceive that the wonderful beauty and beneficence seen in the adjustments of the celestial mechanism are not due to extraneous influences, but to a Power that operates also in our own being, since we find that our intercourse with each other is governed by the visible laws of Heaven, and our daily experience springs from the correspondence of our frame-work with that of the boundless skies.

The very power which excites our imaginations, and conveys to our minds a sense of loveliness or majesty, suggests also some moral truth, because every thought has some personal relationship, and induces a desire to reciprocate the emotion we experience with some other being. We scarcely behold an object in nature, or receive an impression which interests our hearts, without thinking of some one who might enjoy it with us, or the expression of whose feeling and knowledge might not enlarge our own conceptions or increase our confidence, and thus tend to fill us with still happier emotion. This social tendency, in all the operations of our minds, indicates that physical exist

ence, in all its parts, was designed for moral ends, in keeping with those laws of our minds by which we are drawn into fellowships with each other, while we feel ourselves to be equally the dependents of that Providence, to which we ought to look in adoration and in gratitude, as the source of good, and as our only guardianship from evil. In short, we shall discover, if we seek the truth, that morality and religion are essential to the right use of our faculties, even in relation to things that perish, and much more so in regard to those thoughts which are awakened in our minds by the constitution of our senses, in correspondence with the outward world, and which abide with our perceiving, reasoning, believing spirits, forever. There arises not in our intellect a single conception of beauty or sublimity, or an idea of good or evil, but from the adaptation of the wonders of this universe to the soul, as a being capable of loving truth, because it is the manifestation of the All-wise, who confers on us tastes and sensibilities correspondent with the properties of nature, and renders them all, when rightly exercised, subservient to our advancement in social happiness and the bliss of worship.

The laws of association are those of our bodies as well as our minds. Our nervous systems, and indeed our whole natures, are constituted in a two-fold relation to all objects: the one, as they influence our understandings; and the other, as they move our wills. Our emotions act on our intellects, and our intellects re-act on our emotions; and our habit of mind and nerve is determined by the manner in which our desires are engaged, for if we do not perceive the beauty of moral truths, and are not governed by the love of them, we must be actuated altogether by instinct and sensation. Whether the impression received by the mind be purely mental in its origin, as in a conviction from rational induction, or whether it be the mere idea of

an outward object, it equally operates on the soul, and, so far as it continues to possess the attention, promotes the formation of our mental character. Whatever affects the organs of sense, affects the thinking being, and every thought that passes through the mind modifies the nervous system, and tends to render habit "unalterable. Sensation and thought alike influence habit, and as the soul is engaged either in pleasing itself with the passing impressions of sense, or reflecting on ideas, so we are becoming either more sensual or more rational. The only method of preventing our entire subjection to sensual influences is to imbue the mind with moral principles, and to fix attention upon those facts which reveal to us the moral government of the Creator in relation to the consciences of men. If we yield not to truth, we shall to delusion.) All appearances deceive us, except as they are interpreted by reason in reference to the designs of God. The pillar of cloud and of light which led the Israelites to safety, drew the Egyptians to destruction. The former recognized the Divine hand; the latter saw only a natural phenomenon.

If we would arrive at ends worthy of immortal beings, the daily course of our conduct requires to be regulated on spiritual principles; for if our common sympathies be not pre-engaged and governed by right reason, we shall be the slaves of a thousand successive masters. If we decide not for ourselves, by choosing our associations, on the dictates of a wise and informed will, our circumstantial associations will altogether determine our lot for us. To be free, we must judge whether we will obey the right or the wrong; and in order to this freedom, good and evil must be clearly presented to our consciences. But how can we know the nature of things, without instruction? If good and truth are not communicated, evil and error will be. But there is nothing in sights and sounds of themselves

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