INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. GENERAL VIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION OF HUMAN | path, and the next oppressed with remorse for the Man compared with the lower animals-Opposite phases of his character―The world seems constituted on the principle of slow and progressive improvement-Light thrown by geology on the physical history of the globe before the creation of man-Death and reproduction existed long before his creation-The world arranged so as to afford him every inducement to cultivate and exercise his understanding-Power of man to control and turn to account the capabilities of the physical world-Barbarism and civilisation compared-Progressive improvement of man apparent from history-Reasons for anticipating a vast future increase of the happiness and intelligence of the race-Mental philosophy hitherto very imperfect-Do the physical and moral worlds contain within themselves the elements of amelioration, or is human improve ment to be expected from spiritual influences?—The capabilities of physical and human nature have hitherto been ignorantly undervalued-Errors of theologians on this subject-Light thrown upon the question by phrenology-Constitution of the human mind, and its adaptation to the external world, blinked in the Bridgewater Treatises-Natural laws, physical, organic, and moral -The independent operation of these, very important in relation to the moral government of the world-The present work not hostile to religion-Philosophy and revelation cannot be at variance -Physiological preliminaries of moral and religious conduct must exist before preaching can produce its full effects. In surveying the external world, we discover that every creature and every physical object has received a definite constitution, and been placed in certain relations to other objects. The natural evidence of a Deity and his attributes is drawn from contemplating these arrangements. Intelligence, wisdom, benevolence, and power, characterise the works of creation; and the human mind ascends by a chain of correct and rigid induction to a great First Cause, in whom these qualities must reside. But hitherto this great truth has rather excited a barren though sublime admiration, than led to beneficial practical results. Man obviously stands pre-eminent among sublunary objects, and is distinguished by remarkable endowments above all other terrestrial beings. Nevertheless, no creature presents such anomalous appearances as man. Viewed in one aspect, he almost resembles a demon; in another, he still bears the impress of the image of God. Seen in his crimes, his wars, and his devastations, he might be mistaken for an incarnation of an evil spirit; contemplated in his schemes of charity, his discoveries in science, and his vast combinations for the benefit of his race, he seems a bright intelligence from Heaven. The lower animals exhibit a more simple and regulated constitution. The lion is bold and ferocious, but he is regularly so; and, besides, is placed in circumstances suited to his nature, in which at once scope is given and limits are set to the gratification of his instincts. The sheep, on the other hand, is mild, feeble, and inoffensive; but its external condition also is suited to its constitution, and it apparently lives and flourishes in as great enjoyment as the lion. The same remark applies to all the inferior creatures; and the idea which I wish particularly to convey is, that their bodily organs, faculties, instincts, and external circumstances, form parts of a system in which adaptation and harmony are discoverable; and that the enjoyment of the animals depends on the adaptation of their constitution to their external condition. If we saw the lion one day tearing in pieces every animal that crossed his A death of his victims, or compassionately healing those whom he had mangled, we should exclaim, what an inconsistent creature! and conclude that he could not by possibility be happy, owing to this opposition among the principles of his nature. In short, we should be strikingly convinced that two conditions are essential to enjoyment; first, that the different instincts of an animal must be in harmony with each other; and, secondly, that its whole constitution must be in accordance with its external condition. When, keeping these principles in view, we direct our attention to Man, very formidable anomalies present themselves. The most opposite instincts or im pulses exist in his mind; actuated by Combativeness, the moral sentiments being in abeyance, he is almost Destructiveness, Acquisitiveness, and Self-Esteem, a fiend; on the contrary, when inspired by Benevolence, Veneration, Hope, Conscientiousness, Ideality, and Intellect, the benignity, serenity, and splendour of a highly elevated nature, beam from his countenance, and radiate from his eye. He is then lovely, noble, and gigantically great. But how shall these conflicting tendencies be reconciled? And how can external circumstances be devised that shall accord with such heterogeneous elements? Here, again, a conviction of the power and goodness of the Deity comes to our assistance. Man is obviously an essential and most important part of the present system of creation, and, without doubting of his future destinies, we ought not, so long as our knowledge of his nature is incomplete, to consider his condition here as inexplicable. The nature of man has hitherto, to all philosophical purposes, been unknown, and both the designs of the Creator and the situation of man have been judged of ignorantly and rashly. The sceptic has advanced arguments against religion, and crafty deceivers have in all ages founded systems of superstition on the disorder and inconsistency which are too readily admitted to be inseparable attributes of human existence on earth. But I venture to hope that man will yet be found in harmony with himself and with the condi tion in which he is placed. I am aware that some individuals, whose piety is entitled to respect, conceive, that as the great revolu tions of human society, as well as all events in the lives of individuals, take place under the guidance of the Deity, it is presumptuous, if not impious, to endeavour to scan their causes and effects. But as the Creator has bestowed faculties on man, it is presum able that He governs him in accordance with them, and their constitution implies that he should investigate creation. The young swallow, when it migrates on the approach of the first winter of its life, is impelled by an instinct implanted by the Deity; it neither knows the causes that prompt it to fly, nor the end to be attained by its flight. But its mental constitution is wisely adapted to this condition; for it has no powers stimulating it to reflect on it self and external objects, and to inquire whence came its desires, or to what object they tend. Man, however, has been framed differently. The Creator has bestowed on him faculties to observe phenomena, and to trace cause and effect; and he has constituted the external world to afford scope to these powers. We are entitled, therefore, to say, that it is the Creator himself who has commanded us to observe and inquire into the causes that prompt us to act, and the results that will naturally follow; and to modify our conduct according to the discoveries which we shall make. To enable us to form a just estimate of our duty and interest in the rational occupants of this world, | the general law of nature, which bids all to eat and we may inquire briefly into the constitution of external nature, and of ourselves. The constitution of this world does not look like a system of optimism. It appears to be arranged in all its departments on the principle of slow and progressive improvement. Physical nature itself has undergone many revolutions, and apparently has constantly advanced. Geology seems to show a distinct preparation of it for successive orders of living beings, rising higher and higher in the scale of intelligence and organisation, until man appeared. be eaten in their turn, is shown to have been co-ex- Let us now contemplate Man himself, and his adaptation to the external creation. The world, we have seen, was inhabited by living beings, and death and reproduction prevailed before Man appeared. The order of creation seems not to have been changed at his introduction: he appears to have been adapted to it. He received from his Creator an organised structure, and animal instincts. The brain is unquestionably the workmanship of God, and there exist in it organs of faculties impelling man to kill that he may eat, to oppose aggression, and to shun danger-instincts which clearly imply a constitution of external nature, corresponding to that which we see existing around him. Man, then, apparently took his station among, yet at the head of, the beings that inhabited the The globe, in the first state in which the imagination can venture to consider it, says Sir H. Davy,* appears to have been a fluid mass, with an immense atmosphere revolving in space round the sun. By its cooling, a portion of its atmosphere was probably condensed into water, which occupied a part of its surface. In this state no forms of life, such as now belong to our system, could have inhabited it. The crystalline rocks, or, as they are called by geologists, the primary rocks, which contain no vestiges of a former order of things, were the result of the first consolidation on its surface. Upon the further cooling, the water, which, more or less, had covered it, contracted; depositions took place; shell-fish and coral insects were created, and began their labours. Islands appeared in the midst of the ocean, raised from the deep by the pro-earth at his creation. He is to a certain extent an aniductive energies of millions of zoophytes. These islands became covered with vegetables fitted to bear a high temperature, such as palms, and various species of plants, similar to those which now exist in the hottest parts of the world. The submarine rocks of these new formations of land became covered with aquatic vegetables, on which various species of shellfish, and common fishes, found their nourishment. As the temperature of the globe became lower, species of the oviparous reptiles appear to have been created to inhabit it; and the turtle, crocodile, and various gigantic animals of the Saurian (lizard) kind seem to have haunted the bays and waters of the primitive lands. But in this state of things, there appears to have been no order of events similar to the present. Immense volcanic explosions seem to have taken place, accompanied by elevations and depressions of the surface of the globe, producing mountains, and causing new and extensive depositions from the primitive ocean. The remains of living beings, plants, fishes, birds, and oviparous reptiles, are found in the strata of rocks which are the monuments and evidence of these changes. When these revolutions became less frequent, and the globe became still more cooled, and inequalities of temperature were established by means of the mountain chains, more perfect animals became its inhabitants, such as the mammoth, mega. lonix, megatherium, and gigantic hyena, many of which have become extinct. Five successive races of plants, and four successive races of animals, appear to have been created and swept away by the physical revolutions of the globe, before the system of things became so permanent as to fit the world for man. In none of these formations, whether called secondary, tertiary, or diluvial, have the fossil remains of man, or any of his works, been discovered. At last, man was created, and since that period there has been little alteration in the physical circumstances of the globe. mal in his structure, powers, feelings, and desires, and is adapted to a world in which death reigns, and generation succeeds generation. This fact, although so trite and obvious as to appear scarcely worthy of being noticed, is of importance in treating of Man; because the human being, in as far as he resembles the inferior creatures, is capable of enjoying a life like theirs: he has pleasure in eating, drinking, sleeping, and exercising his limbs; and one of the greatest obstacles to im provement is, that many of the race are contented with these enjoyments, and consider it painful to be compelled to seek higher sources of gratification. But to the animal nature of man, have been added, by a bountiful Creator, moral sentiments and reflecting faculties, which not only place him above all other creatures on earth, but constitute him a different being from any of them, a rational and accountable creature. These faculties are his best and highest gifts, and the sources of his purest and intensest pleasures. They lead him directly to the great objects of his existence-obedience to God, and love towards his fellow-men. But this peculiarity attends them, that while his animal faculties act powerfully of themselves, his rational faculties require to be cultivated, exercised, and instructed, before they will yield their full harvest of enjoyment. The Creator has so arranged the external world as to hold forth every possible inducement to man to cultivate his higher powers, nay almost to constrain him to do so. The philosophic mind, in surveying the world as prepared for the reception of the human race, perceives in external nature a vast assemblage of stupendous powers, too great for the feeble hand of man entirely to control, but kindly subjected within certain limits to the influence of his will. Man is introduced on earth, apparently helpless and unprovided for as a homeless stranger; but the soil on which he treads is endowed with a thousand capabilities of pro"In all these various formations," says Dr Buck-duction, which require only to be excited by his inland, "the coprolites" (or the dung of the saurian telligence to yield him the most ample returns. The reptiles in a fossil state, exhibiting scales of fishes and impetuous torrent rolls its waters to the main; but other traces of the prey which they had devoured) as it dashes over the mountain-cliff, the human hand "form records of warfare waged by successive genera- is capable of withdrawing it from its course, and rentions of inhabitants of our planet on one another; and dering its powers subservient to his will. Ocean tends over half of the globe her liquid plain, in which *The description in the text is extracted chiefly from "The Last Days of a Philosopher," by Sir Humphrey Davy, 1831, p. 134, no path appears, and the rude winds oft lift her waon account of its popular style; but similar representations may ters to the sky; but there the skill of man may launch be found in several recent works on Geology—particularly “A the strong knit bark, spread forth the canvass to the Geological Manual, by H. T. De La Beche," the Penny Magazine of 1833, in a very instructive popular form; and Sedgwick's gale, and make the trackless deep a highway through Discourse on the Studies of the University of Cambridge, third the world. In such a state of things, knowledge is edition. Mr Lyell, however, in his Principles of Geology, vol. i. truly power; and it is highly important to human ch. ix., controverts the doctrine of a progressive developement of plants and animals. beings to become acquainted with the constitution life, but that we should take the dignified and far more delightful station of moral and rational occupants of this lower world. If the physical history of the globe clearly indicates progression in an advancing series of changes, the civil history of man equally proclaims the march, although often vacillating and slow, of moral and intellectual improvement. To avoid too extensive an inquiry, unsuitable to an introductory discourse, let us confine our attention to the aspects presented by society in our native country. and relations of every object around them, that they may discover its capabilities of ministering to their own advantage. Further, where these physical energies are too great to be controlled, man has received intelligence by which he may observe their course, and accommodate his conduct to their influence. This capacity of adaptation is a valuable substitute for the power of regulating them by his will. He cannot arrest the sun in its course, so as to avert the wintry storms, and cause perpetual spring to bloom around him; but by the proper exercise of his intelligence and corporeal energies, he is able to foresee the approach of bleak skies and rude winds, and to place himself in safety from their injurious effects. These powers of controlling nature, and of accommodating his conduct to its course, are the direct results of his rational faculties; and in proportion to their cultiva-selves to war. They fought battles during the day, and tion is his sway extended. Man, while ignorant, is in a helpless condition. But let him put forth his proper human capacities, and he then finds himself invested with the power to rear, to build, to fabricate, and to store up provisions; and by availing himself of these resources, and accommodating his conduct to the course of nature's laws, he is able to smile in safety beside the cheerful hearth, when the elements maintain their fiercest war abroad. Again: We are surrounded by countless beings, inferior and equal to ourselves, whose qualities yield us the greatest happiness, or bring upon us the bitterest evil, according as we affect them agreeably or disagreeably by our conduct. To draw forth all their excellencies, and cause them to diffuse joy around us to avoid touching the harsher springs of their constitution, and bringing painful discord to our ears-it is indispensably necessary that we know the nature of our fellows, and act with a habitual regard to the relations es,shed by the Creator betwixt ourselves and them. Man, ignorant and uncivilised, is a ferocious, sensual, and superstitious savage. The world affords some enjoyments to his animal feelings, but it confounds his moral and intellectual faculties. External nature exhibits to his mind a mighty chaos of events, and a dread display of power. The chain of causation appears too intricate to be unravelled, and the power too stupendous to be controlled. Order and beauty, indeed, occasionally gleam forth to his eye from detached portions of creation, and seem to promise happiness and joy; but more frequently, clouds and darkness brood over the scene, and disappoint his fondest expectations. Evil seems so mixed up with good, that he regards it as either its direct product or its inseparable accompaniment. Nature is never contemplated with a clear conception of its adaptation to the purpose of promoting the true enjoyment of the human race, or with a well-founded confidence in the wisdom and benevolence of its Author. Man, when civilised and illuminated by knowledge, on the other hand, discovers in the objects and occurrences around him, a scheme beautifully arranged for the gratification of his whole powers, animal, moral, and intellectual; he recognises in himself the intelligent and accountable subject of an all-bountiful Creator, and in joy and gladness desires to study the Creator's works, to ascertain his laws, and to yield to them a steady and a willing obedience. Without undervaluing the pleasures of his animal nature, he tastes the higher, more refined, and more enduring delights of his moral and intellectual capacities, and he then calls aloud for Education as indispensable to the full enjoyment of his rational powers. If this representation of the condition of the human being on earth be correct, we perceive clearly the unspeakable advantage of applying our minds to gain knowledge of our own constitution and that of external nature, and of regulating our conduct according to rules drawn from the information acquired. Our constitution and our position equally imply, that the grand object of our existence is, not that we should remain contented with the pleasures of mere animal At the time of the Roman invasion, the inhabitants of Britain lived as savages, and appeared in painted skins. After the Norman conquest, one part of the nation was placed in the condition of serfs, and condemned to labour like beasts of burden, while another devoted them in the night probably dreamed of bloodshed and broils. Next came the age of chivalry. These generations severally believed their own condition to be the permanent and inevitable lot of man. Now, however, have come the present arrangements of society, in which millions of men are shut up in cotton and other manufactories for ten or twelve hours a-day; others labour under ground in mines; others plough the fields; while thousands of higher rank pass their whole lives in idleness and dissipation. The elementary principles, both of mind and body, were the same in our painted ancestors, in their chivalrous descendants, and in us, their shopkeeping, manufacturing, and money-gathering children. Yet how different the external circumstances of the individuals of these several generations! If, in the savage state, the internal faculties of man were in harmony among themselves, and if his external condition was in accordance with them, he must then have enjoyed all the happiness that his nature admitted of, and must have erred when he changed; -if the institutions and customs of the age of chivalry were calculated to gratify his whole nature harmoniously, he must have been unhappy as a savage, and must be miserable now; if his present condition be the perfection of his nature, he must have been far from enjoyment, both as a savage and as a feudal warrior; and if none of these conditions have been in accordance with his constitution, he must still have his happiness to seek. Every age, accordingly, has testified that it was not in possession of contentment; and the question presents itself, if human nature has received a definite constitution, and if one arrangement of external circumstances be more suited to yield it gratification than another, what are that constitution and that arrangement? No one among the philosophers has succeeded in informing us. If we in Britain have not reached the limits of attainable perfection, what are we next to attempt? Are we and our posterity to spin and weave, build ships, and speculate in commerce, as the highest occupations to which human nature can aspire, and persevere in these labours till the end of time? If not, who shall guide the helm in our future voyage on the ocean of existence? and by what chart of philosophy shall our steersman be directed? The British are here cited as a type of mankind at large; for in every age and every clime, similar races have been run, and with similar conclusions. Only one answer can be returned to these inquiries. Man is evidently a progressive being; and the Creator, having designed a higher path for him than for the lower creatures, has given him intellect to discover his own nature and that of external objects, and left him, by the exercise of that intellect, to find out for himself the method of placing his faculties in harmony among themselves, and in accordance with the external world. Time and experience are necessary to accomplish these ends, and history exhibits the human race only in a state of progress towards the full developement of their powers, and the attainment of rational enjoyment. As long as man remained ignorant of his own na. ture, he could not, of design, form his institutions in accordance with it. Until his own faculties became the subjects of his observation, and their relations the objects of his reflection, they operated as mere instincts. He adopted savage habits, because his animal propensities were not at first directed by the moral sentiments, or enlightened by reflection. He next assumed the condition of the barbarian, because his higher powers had made some advance, but had not yet attained supremacy; and he now manufactures, because his constructive faculties and intellect have given him power over physical nature, while his avarice and ambition are predominant, and are gratified by such avocations. Not one of these changes, however, has been adopted from design, or from perception of his suitableness to the nature of man. He has been ill at ease in them all; but it does not follow that he shall continue for ever equally ignorant of his nature, and equally incapable of framing institutions to harmonise with it. The simple facts, that the Creator has bestowed on man reason, capable of discovering his own nature, and its relations to external objects; that He has left him to apply it in framing suitable institutions to ensure his happiness; that, nevertheless, man has hitherto been ignorant of his nature and of its relations; and that, in consequence, his modes of life have never been adopted from enlightened views of his whole capacities and qualities, but sprung up from the instinctive ascendancy of one blind propensity or another-warrant us in saying, that a new era will begin, when man shall be enabled to study his constitution and its relations with success; and that the future may exhibit him assuming his station as a rational creature, pursuing his own happiness with intelligence and design, and at length attaining to higher gratification of his whole faculties than any which he has hitherto enjoyed. 66 | designed, from the first, the whole results which these qualities, constitution, and circumstances, are calculated in time to produce. There is no countenance given to atheism by this theory. On the contrary, it affords the richest and most comprehensive field imaginable for tracing the evidence of Divine power, wisdom, and goodness in creation. The other hypothesis is, that the world was perfect at first, but fell into derangement, continues in disorder, and does not contain within itself the elements of its own rectification. If the former view be sound, the first object of man, as an intelligent being in quest of happiness, must be to study the elements of external nature and their capabilities; the elementary qualities of his own nature, and their applications; and the relationship between these. His second object will be to discover and carry into effect the conditions-physical, moral, and intellectual-which, in virtue of this constitution, require to be realised before the fullest enjoyment of which he is capable can be attained. According to the second view of creation, no good can be expected from the evolution of nature's ele ments, these being all essentially disordered; and hu man improvement and enjoyment must be derived chiefly from spiritual influences. If the one hypothesis be sound, man must fulfil the natural conditions requisite to the existence of religion, morality, and happiness, before he can reap full benefit from religious truth: according to the other, he must believe aright in religion, and be the subject of spiritual influences independent of natural causes, before he can become capable of any virtue or enjoyment; in short, according to it, science, philosophy, and all arrangements of the physical, moral, and intellectual elements of nature, are subordinate in their effects on human happiness on earth, to religious faith. It appears to me extremely difficult to reconcile these conflicting views. The inquiry next naturally occurs, What has been the cause of the human race remaining for so many ages unacquainted with their own nature and its relations? The answer is, that, before the discovery of the functions of the brain, they did not know how to study these subjects in a manner calculated to at- The theologians who condemned the natural world, tain to true principles and practical results. The lived in an age when there was no sound philosophy, philosophy of man was cultivated as a speculative and and almost no knowledge of physical science; they not as an inductive science; and even when attempts were unavoidably ignorant of the elementary qualities were made at induction, the manner in which they of human nature, and of the influence of organisation were conducted was at variance with the fundamental on the mental powers the great link which connects requisites of a sound philosophy.* In consequence, the moral and physical worlds. They were unaceven the most enlightened nations have never pos- quainted with the relations subsisting between the sessed any true philosophy of mind, but have been mind and external nature; and could not by possibewildered amidst innumerable contradictory theories. bility divine to what extent individuals and society This deplorable condition of the philosophy of hu- were capable of being improved by natural means. man nature is strikingly and eloquently described by In the history of man, they had read chiefly of misery Mons. de Bonald, in a sentence translated by Mr Du- and crime, and had in their own age beheld much of gald Stewart, in his Preliminary Dissertation to the both. They were, therefore, naturally led to form a Encyclopædia Britannica. 'Diversity of doctrine," ," low estimate of human nature, and to expect little says he, has increased from age to age, with the good from the developement of its inherent capabilities. number of masters, and with the progress of know- These views appear to me to have influenced the inledge; and Europe, which at present possesses libra- terpretations of Scripture which they adopted: and ries filled with philosophical works, and which reckons these, having once been entwined with religious senup almost as many philosophers as writers; poor in timents, have descended from generation to generathe midst of so much wealth, and uncertain, with the tion: in consequence, persons of sincere piety have aid of all its guides, which road it should follow; for several centuries been induced to look down on Europe, the centre and focus of all the lights of the this world as a wilderness, abounding with briars, world, has yet its philosophy only in expectation." weeds, and noxious things-and to direct their chief attention, not to the study of its elements and their relations, in the hope of reducing them to order, but to enduring the disorder with patience and resigna、 tion, and to securing, by faith and penitence, salvation in a future life. It has never been with them a practical principle, that human nature itself may be vastly improved in its moral and intellectual capacities, by those means which Physiology and Phrenology have recently opened up to us; or that human nature and the external world are adjusted on the principle of favouring the developement of the higher powers of our minds; or that the study of the constitution of nature is indispensable to human improvement; or that this world and its professions and pursuits might be rendered favourable to virtue, by searching out the natural qualities of its elements, their relationship, and the moral plan on which God has constituted and In our own country, two views of the constitution of the world and of human nature have long been prevalent, differing widely from each other, and which, if legitimately followed out, would lead to distinct practical results. The one is, that the world, including both the physical and moral departments, contains within itself the elements of improvement, which time will evolve and bring to maturity; it having been constituted by the Creator on the principle of a progressive system, like the acorn in reference to the oak. This hypothesis ascribes to the power and wisdom of the Divine Being the whole phenomena which nature, animate and inanimate, exhibits; because, in confering on each part the specific qualities and constitution which belong to it, and in placing it in the circumstances in which it is found, He is assumed to have * See System of Phrenology, third edition, p. 40. governs it. Some philosophers and divines having attaining it when enlightened and properly directed. failed to discover a consistent order or plan in the The baneful effects of ignorance are every where apmoral world, have rashly concluded that none such parent. Three-fourths of the mental faculties have exists, or that it is inscrutable. It appears never to direct reference to this world, and in their functions aphave occurred to them that it is impossible to com- pear to have no intelligible relation to another-such prehend a whole system without becoming acquainted are Amativeness, Philoprogenitiveness, Combativewith its parts :-though ignorant of the physiology of ness, Destructiveness, Constructiveness, Acquisitiveman, of mental philosophy, of the philosophy of ex-ness, Secretiveness, and others; while the remaining ternal nature, and of their relations, these authors fourth are calculated to have reference at once to this have not perceived that this extensive ignorance of life and to a higher state of existence-such are Bethe details rendered it impossible for them to compre- nevolence, Ideality, Wonder, Veneration, Hope, Conhend the plan of the whole. Hence they have in- scientiousness, and Intellect. While the philosophy volved themselves in contradictions; for while it has of mind continued a purely abstract theory, moralists been a leading principle with them, that enjoyment and divines enjoyed an unlimited privilege, of which in a future state is to be the consequence of the be- they largely availed themselves, of ascribing or denyliever attaining to a holy and pious frame of mind in ing to human nature whatever qualities best suited this life, they have represented the constitution of the their several systems; but now the case is different. world to be so unfavourable to piety and virtue, that Organs cannot be added to or displaced from the men in general, who continue attached to it, cannot brain by the fancy or the logic of contending disputattain to this right frame of spirit, or act habitually ants or sects; and philosophers and divines must herein consistency with it. They have not had philosophy after study human nature as it exists, and accommosufficient to enable them to perceive that man must date their views to its actual qualities and relations. live in society to be either virtuous, useful, or happy; To guide and successfully apply the former class of that the social atmosphere is to the mind what air is faculties to the promotion of human happiness, it apto the lungs; and that, while an individual cannot pears indispensable that the faculties themselves-the exist to virtuous ends out of society, he cannot exist physical conditions on which their strength and weakin a right frame of mind in it, if the moral atmosphere ness, inertness and vivacity, depend—the relations eswith which he is surrounded be deeply contaminated tablished between them and the external world, which with vice and error. Individual merchants, for ex- is the grand theatre of their action-and, finally, the ample, cannot act habitually on Christian principles, relation between them and the superior faculties, if the maxims of their trade be not Christian; and if which are destined to direct them, should be known; the world be so unfavourably constituted that it does and yet, scarcely any thing is known in a philosophinot admit of the rules of trade becoming Christian, cal and practical sense, on these points, by the people then active life and practical religion are naturally at large. If I am correct in saying that these faculopposed to each other. Divines have laboriously re- ties, by their constitution, have reference to this world commended spiritual exercises as means of improve- alone, then useful knowledge for their guidance will ment in this life, and of salvation in the next; but be afforded by the philosophy of this world; and the have rarely dealt with the philosophy of this world, wisdom which is to reduce them to order, will receive or attempted its rectification, so as to render these important aid from studying the constitution which exercises truly efficacious. Their minds have been it has pleased the Creator to bestow on them, and the infected with the first great error, that this world is relations which he has seen proper to institute beirremediably defective in its constitution, and that tween them and the other departments of his works. human hope must be concentrated chiefly on the next. His wisdom and goodness will be found to pervade This may be attributed to the premature formation of them. He has bestowed on us intellect to discover a system of theology in the dawn of civilisation, be- his will, and sentiments disposing us to obey it, in fore the qualities of the physical world, and the ele- whatever record its existence is inscribed; yet little ments of the moral world, and their relationship, were of this knowledge is taught to the people by divines. known; and to erroneous interpretations of Scripture, Knowledge of the constitution, relations, and capain consequence, partly, of that ignorance. bilities of sublunary things and beings, is indispensable also to the proper exercise and direction of the superior powers of the mind. In all ages, practical men have been engaged for three-fourths of their time in pursuits calculated to gratify the faculties which have reference to this world alone; but, unfortunately, the remaining fourth of their time has not been devoted to pursuits bearing reference to their higher faculties. Through want of intellectual education, they have been incapable of deriving pleasure from observing nature, and have not been furnished with ideas to enable them to think. Owing to the barbarism which pervaded society in general, there has been no moral atmosphere in which their superior sentiments could play. Ambition, that powerful stimulant in social life, has not been directed to moral objects, but generally the reverse. The hours, therefore, which ought to have been dedicated to the improvement of the higher portion of their faculties, were either devoted to the pursuit of gain, sensual pleasure, or ambition, or spent in mere trifling amusements and relaxation. There was no decided onward purpose of moral and intellectual advancement abroad in the secular occupations of society; and the divines who formed public opinion, so far from discovering that this disorder was not inherent in the constitution of nature-and that Christianity, in teaching the doctrine of the supremacy of the moral faculties, necessarily implied the practicability of a state of society founded on that principle— fell into the opposite error, and represented the world as deranged in all its parts, and incapable of rectification by the developement of its own elements; and Now, if the discovery of the philosophy of mind, founded on the physiology of the brain, is to operate at all in favour of human improvement, one of the most striking effects which it will produce, will be the lifting up of the veil which has so long concealed the natural world, and its capabilities and importance, from the eyes of divines. To all practical ends connected with theology, the philosophy of nature might as well not exis#: With few exceptions, the sermons preached a century ago are equal, if not superior, in sense and suitableness to human nature, to those delivered yesterday; and yet, in the interval, the human mind has made vast advances in knowledge of the works of creation. Divines have frequently applied scientific discoveries in proving the existence and developing the character of the Deity; but they have failed in applying either the discoveries themselves, or the knowledge of the Divine character obtained by means of them, to the construction of any system of mental philosophy, capable of combining harmoniously with religion, and promoting the improvement of the human race. This, however, Phrenology will enable them one day to do. In surveying the world itself, the phrenologist perceives that the Creator has bestowed definite qualities on the human mind, and on external objects, and established certain relations between them; that the mental faculties have been incessantly operating according to their inherent tendencies, generally aiming at good, always desiring it, but often missing it through pure ignorance and blindness, yet capable of |