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dcuotcii to literature, Science, anb Ctrl, tl)e Sons of temperance, ©bb jfcllouisl)ip, iilasonrn, anb (Sencral intelligence. VOLUME I. OBSERVATIONS ON THE GROWTH OF TIIE MIND. BY SAMPSON REED. Nothing is a more common subject of remark than the changed condition of the world. There is a more extensive intercourse of thought, and a more powerful action of mind upon mind, than formerly. The good and the wise of all nations are brought nearer together, and begin to exert a power, which, though yet feeble as infancy, is felt throughout the globe. Public opinion, that helm which directs the progress o events by which the world is guided to its ultimate destina tion, has received anew direction. The mind has attained an upward and onward look, and is sha king oil’ the errors and predjudices of the past. The structure of the feudal ages, the ornament of the desert, has been exposed to the light of heav en, andconun gazed at for its ugliness, as it ceases to be admired for its antiquity. The world is deriving vigor, not from that which has gone by, but from that which is coming ; not from the unhealthy moisture of the evening, but from the nameless intluences of the morning. The loud call on the past to instruct us, as it falls on the rock of ages, comes back in echo from the future. Both mankind, and the laws and princi ples by which they are governed, seem about to be redeemed from slavery. The moral and in tellectual character of man has undergone, and is undergoing, a change ; and as this is effected, it must change the aspect of all things, as when the position-point is altered from which a land scape is viewed. We appear to be approaching an age which will be the silent pause of merely physical force before the powers of the mind : the timid, subdued, awed condition oi the brute, gazing on the erect and godlike form of man. These remarks with respect to the present era are believed to be just, when it is viewed on the bright side. They are not made by one who is insensible to its evils. Least of all, are they intended to countenance that feeling ot self-ad ini ration, which carries with it the seeds ot prema ture disease and deformity; for to be proud of the truth is to cease to possess it. Since the fall oi man, nothing has been more difficult for him than to know his real condition, since every de parture trom divine order is attended with a loss °1 the knowledge of what it is. When our first parents left the garden of Eden, they took with them no means by which they might measure the depths ol degradation to which they fell ; no jdiai t by which they might determine their moral ongitude. Most of our knowledge implies rela tion and comparison. It is not difficult for one age, or one individual, to be compared with anoth er ; but this determines only their relative condi- Uon. H ie actual condition of man can be seen on y from the relation in which he stands to his immutable Creator ; and this relation is discov ered from the light of revelation, so far as, by con aiming to the precepts of revelation, it is permitted to exist according to the laws of divine TrVr* • * s not sufficient that the letter of the lie is m the world. This may be, and still mankind continue in ignorance of themselves. — ;,’, mu k st he obeyed from the heart to the hand.— fi / i r must be eat, and constitute the living w n * ™ len onl y the relative condition of the ‘°r o is regarded, we are apt to exult over other (Thu and other men, as if we ourselves were a 1 icrcnt order of beings, till at length we are en- jn the very mists from which we are state f being cleared. But when the relative state °f theworld ls justly viewed from the real °. me individual, the scene is lighted from - point of the beholder with the chaste light of humility which never deceives ; it is not forgotten that the way lies forward ; the cries of exulta tion cease to lie heard in die IMl'tll <)[ mm I p sion, andtlie mmJ, in whatever it learns of the past and tlie present, finds food for improvement, and not for vain-glory. O J As all the changes which are taking place in the world originate in the mind, it might be natu rally expected that nothing would change more than the mind itself, and whatever is connected with a description of it. While men have been speculating concerning their own powers, the sure but secret influence of revelation lias been grad ually changing the moral and intellectual charac ter of the world, and the ground on which they 7 O were standing has passed from under them, al most while their words were in their mouths- The powers of the mind are most intimately con nected with the subjects by which they are occu pied. We cannot think of the will without feel ing, of the understanding without thought, or of the imagination without something like poetry. — The mind is visible when it is active ; and as the subjects on which it is engaged are changed, the powers themselves present a different aspect. — New classifications arise, and new names are giv en. W hat was considered simple is thought to consist of distinct parts, till at length the philoso pher hardly knows whether the African be of the same or a dilferent species ; and though the soul is thought to continue after death, angels are universally considered a distinct class of intel lectual beings. Thus it is that there is nothing lixed in the philosophy of the mind ; it is said to be a science which is not demonstrative ; and though now thought to be brought to a state of great perfection, another century, under the prov idence of God, and nothing will be found in the structure which lias cost so much labor, but the voice “ he is not here, but is risen.” ls, then, everything that relates to the immor tal part of man fleeting and evanescent, while the laws of physical nature remain unaltered ? Do things become changeable as we approach the immutable and the eternal ? Far otherwise. The laws of the mind are in themselves as fixed and perfect as the laws ol matter; but they are laws from which we have wandered. There is a pliik isophy of the mind, founded not on the] aspect it presents in any part or in any period of the world, but on its immutable relations to its first cause ; a philosophy equally applicable to man, before or after he has passed the valley ol the shadow of death; not dependent on time or place, but immortal as its subject. Ihe light ot this philosophy has begun to beam faintly on the world, and mankind will yet see their own moral and intellectual nature by the light, ol revelation, as it shines through the moral and intellectual character it shall have itself created. It may be remarked, also, that the changes in the sci ences and the arts are entirely the effect of revelation. To revelation it is to be ascnbed, that the genius which has taught the laws ol the heavenly bodies, and analyzed the matciial world, did not spend itself in drawing the bow or in throwing the lance, in the chase or in war ; and that the vast powers of Handel did not burst forth in the wild notes ol the war-song- It is the tendency ol revelation to gne a light direction to every power of every mind ; and when this is effected, inventions and discoveries will follow of course, all things assume a different aspect, and the world itself again becomes a par adise. . , It is the object of the following pages not to be influenced by views of a temporal or local na ture, but to look at the mind as far as possible in its essential revealed character, and, beginning with its powers of acquiring and retaining truth, to trace summarily that development which is re quired, in order “to render it truly useful and happy, . . lt. is said, the powers of acquiring ana retaining truth, because truth is not retained without some SAVANNAH, GA., MARCH 1, 1849- continued exertion of the same powers by which it is acquired. There is the most intimate con ■ iif He iniij fill Hie iiE- This connect ion is obvious from many familiar expressions ; such as remember me to any one, by which is signified a desire to be borne in his or her affections—do not forget me, by which is meant do not cease to iovc; me—:et by heart, winch means to commit to memory. It is also oh vious from observation of our own minds ; from the constant recurrence of those objects which we most love, and the extreme difficulty of detaching ourown minds or the minds of others from a fa vorite pursuit. It is obvious from the power) of attention on which the memory principally de pends, which, if the subject have a place in our alfections, requires no effort; if it have not, the effort consists principally in giving it a real or an artificial hold of our feelings ; as it is possible, if we do not love a subject, to attend to it, because it may add to our fame or our wealth. It is ob vious from the never-fading freshness retained by the scenes of childhood, when the feelings are strong and vivid, through the later period of life. As the old man looks back on the road of his pilgrimage, many years of aetive life lie unseen in the valley, as his eye rests on the rising ground of his younger days ; presenting a beautiful il lustration of the manner in which the human mind, when revelation shall have accomplished its work, shall no longer regard the scene of sin and misery behind, but having completed the circle, shall rest, as next to the present moment, on the golden age. the infancy of the world.— The connection of the memory with the affections is also obvious from the association of ideas; since the train of thoughts suggested by any scene or event in any individual, depends on his own peculiar and prevailing feelings , as whatever e talers into the animal system, wherever it may arise, seems first to be recognised a s a part of the man, when it has found its way to the heart, and received from that its impulse. It is but a few years, (how strange to tell !) since man discovered that the blood circulated through the human body. We have, perhaps, hardly learned the true nature of that intellectual circulation, which inves life and health to the human mind. The ’ - affections are to the soul, what the heart is to the bod y. They send forth their treasures with a vigor not lesapowerful, though not material, throughout the intellectual man, strengtheningand nourishing ; and again receive those treasures to themselves enlarged by the effect of their own operation. Memory is the effect of learning, through what ever avenue it may have entered the mind. It is said, the effect, because the man who has read a volume, and can perhaps tell you nothing of its contents, but simply express his own views on the same subject with more clearness and pre cision, may as truly be said to have remem bered, as lie that can repeat the very words. In the one case, the powers of the mind have receiv ed anew tone; in the other, they are encum bered with a useless burden —in the one, they are made stronger; in the other, they are more op pressed with weight—in the one, the food is ab sorbed and becomes a part of the man; in the other, it lies on the stomach in a state of crude indigestion. There is no power more various in different in dividuals, than the memory. This may be as cribed to two reasons. First, this partakes of every power of the mind, since every mental ex ertion is a subject of memory, and may therefore be said to indicate all the difference that actually exists. Secondly, this power varies in its char acter as it has more or less to do with time. Simple divine truth has nothing to do with time. It is the same yesterday, to-day, and to-morrow. The memory of this is simply the development of the mind. But we are so surrounded by facts of a local and temporal nature; the place where, and the time when, makes so great a part of what is presented to our consideration, that the attri- | sometimes appears to have exclusive reference to ibute is mistaken for the subject; and this power in, tail, siiinlf spiii it liiwk to it. There is a power of growth in the spirit al man, and if in his progress we be able to ma k, as in the grain of the oak, the number of the yea s, this is only a circumstance, and all that is gain and would be as real if no such lines existed. Tie mind ought not to be limited by the short period of its own duration in the body, with a beginning and end comprising a few years; it should be poised on its own immortality, and what is learn ed, should be learned with a view to that real adaption of knowledge to the mind which result* from the harmony of creation; and whenever or wherever we exist, it will be useful to us. The memory has, in reality, nothing to do with time, any more than the eye has with space. As the latter learns by experience to measure the dis tance of objects, so the consciousness of the pres ent existence of states of mind, is referred to par ticular periods of the past. But when the soul has entered on its eternal state, there is reason to believe that the past and the future will be swal lowed up in the present; that memory and anti cipation will be lost in consciousness ; that every thing of the past will be comprehended in the present, without any reference to time, and every thing of the future will exist in the divine effort of progression. What is time? There is perhaps no question that would surest such a variety of answers. It is represented to us from our infancy as produ cing such important changes, both in destroying some, and in healing the wounds it has inflicted on others, that people generally imagine, if not an actual person, it is at least a real existence. We begin with time in the Primer, and end with reasoning about the foreknowledge of God. What is time ? The difficulty of answering the question, (and there are few questions more diffi cult,) arises principally from our having ascribed so many important elieets to that which has no real existence. It is true that all things in the natural world are subject to change. But how ever these changes may be connected in our minds with time, it requires but a moment’s reflec tion to see that time has no agency in them. They are the effects of chemical, or more pro perly, perhaps, of natural decompositions and reorganizations. Time, or rather our idea of it, so far from having produced any thing, is itself the effect of changes. There are certain opera tions in nature, which, depending on fixed laws, are in themselves perfectly regular; if all things were equally so, the question how long ? might never be asked. We should never speak of a late season, or of premature old age ; but every thing passing on in an invariable order, all the idea of time that would remain with respect to any object, would be a sort of instinctive sense of its condition, its progress or decay, But most of the phenomena in the natural world are exceed ingly irregular; for though the same combina tion of causes would invariably produce ihe same effect, the same combination very rarely occurs. Hence, in almost every change, and we are con versant with nothing but changes, we are assisted in ascertaining its nature and extent, by referring it to something in itself perfectly regular. We find this regularity in the apparent motions of the sun and moon. It is difficult to tell how much our idea of time is the effect of artificial means of keeping it, and what would be our feel ings on the subject, if left to the simple operation* of nature —but they would probably be little else than a reference of all natural phenomena to that on which they principally depend, the rela tive situation of the sun and earth; and the idea of an actual succession of moments would be, in a measure, resolved into that of cause and effect. Eternity is to the mind what time is to nature. We attain a perception of it, by regarding all the operations in the world within us, as they exist in Continued on forth page. NUMBER 1.