mena of the mind itself. The points which
have been stated, as arising out of the impressions of every sound
understanding, challenge the assent of all who believe in a present and
presiding Deity,--a being of infinite power and wisdom, and of perfect
purity. With him who calls in question this sublime truth, we have no
common feeling, and no mutual premises on which an argument can be
founded. We must therefore leave him to sit in solitary pride, while he
views the chaos which his fancy has framed, and strives to reconcile the
discordant elements of a system, in which there are effects without a
cause, and harmony without a regulating power; and in which the mind can
perceive no element of credibility, consistency, or truth.

With this slight outline, therefore, we must quit a subject of the
deepest interest, but which belongs rather to the theologian than to the
inquirer in mental science;--and proceed briefly to investigate the
means by which the condition of the moral feelings, which has been the
subject of the preceding observations, may be promoted and cultivated as
the regulating principle of the whole character. Two views may be taken
of this point, which, though they harmonize with each other in practice,
are to be considered in their philosophical aspect as distinct.

The restoration of man from a state of estrangement, anarchy, or moral
death, we are taught in the sacred writings to refer to a power from
without the mind,--an influence directly from God. We have seen the
various considerations derived from the phenomena of the mind, and our
impressions of the divine character, giving to this great doctrine a
probability which claims the assent of every correct understanding. But,
without in any degree losing sight of the truth and the importance of
this principle, the immediate object of our attention, as a branch of
mental science, is rather the process of the mind itself, by means of
which a habitual influence is produced upon the whole character. This is
a compound operation which may probably be analysed in the following
manner. It seems to be composed of reason,--attention,--and a
modification of conception. The province of Reason is to examine the
truth of the statements or doctrines, which are proposed to the mind, as
calculated to act upon its moral feelings;--and, upon this being done in
a correct manner, must depend the validity of the subsequent parts of
the mental process. This being premised, it