operating with mighty power, and Christians are awake to a sense of their obligations, and the world seems to lose its hold, in a degree, upon the hearts of men, and God's living truth is felt upon many a conscience in all its supremacy and majesty, and if we were to judge from what appears, we should suppose that the whole surrounding community would soon be converted; but at another and no very distant period, we find that the voice of prayer and thanksgiv ing, of anxious inquiry, and ingenuous contrition, and humble hope, is hushed, and the world has gained its accustomed ascendancy in the hearts of men, and Christians are slumbering over their obligations, and sinners slumbering over their danger, as securely as ever. But a little while since,

when we inquired in respect to the spiritual state of the church, we were told that God was there, by the most marked tokens of his grace; but when we inquire now, we get the painful answer, that all is still in the valley of vision around, and no breath from on high seems to be coming over it. We do not mean to intimate that every revival is followed by such a state of declension, or at least, by so great a degree of it: but we are sure that it cannot be a matter of doubt with any body who has been accustomed to observe the religious condition of our country, that there is a painful degree of instability attending it; and that though great good is often accomplished in a short period, yet Christians too often soon become weary of well doing, and by their own neglect of duty, are left for a long time to spiritual barrenness and insensibility.

The spirit of all these publications is the spirit not only of an active, but an enduring and growing piety. The great object at which they seem to aim is, to induce every Christian to discharge every duty at the right time and in the proper place; and this surely is the most effectual guard against a fickle and inconstant religion. He who does this, cannot fail to be in the fear of God all the day long, and to let his light shine before men in every variety of circumstances. If all our churches were to do this, we might reasonably expect to be blessed with an uninterrupted revival; and instead of having occasion to mourn over protracted seasons of religious indifference, every month and every week would yield its number of converts, and would furnish fresh reason to the Christian gratefully to exclaim, "What hath God wrought!"

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Finally: These publications are eminently adapted to the state of the times, as they are peculiarly fitted to form, after the scriptural model, the character of the young. It is not easy adequately to estimate the importance of proper moral and religious culture, as it respects the rising generation. There is every thing in the aspect of Providence to indicate, that we are on the eve of changes which are to have a most important influence on the moral renovation of the world; and that the degree of rapidity with which this great work is to advance, must depend much on the next succeeding generation. In a little while the great moral and benevolent machinery of the age must pass into the hands of those who are now passing through the stages of childhood and youth who then cau estimate the importance of the character which they form, in view of the fact they are so soon to become the earthly guardians of all the great and holy interests of the church, as well as to guide and control the various movements of civil society. The system of means by which the world is to be evangelized is yet but partially arranged; and it will devolve upon our children in a great measure to perfect that which we have only begun ; to devise new methods of benevolent action, and to give greater harmony and efficiency to those already in existence. The destiny of our own country especially, both political and moral, is deeply involved in the character of the generation that is immediately to succeed us; for as our population is so rapidly extending, nothing but a most efficient moral influence can keep us from sinking under our own weight; and where shall we look for such an influence a few years hence, if it be not from those who are now in the morning of life? We know of no works better fitted to imbue the minds of the young with a proper regard for religion, than those which have been under review in this article; for while they contain the most important truth, and much of it peculiarly adapted to the period of youth, they are written in a style strongly marked by vivacity and beauty. We cordially commend them to the attention of this interesting class of readers, not doubting that in proportion as they are read, and pondered, and reduced to practice, our youth will acquire dignity and elevation of character, and our country and the world have occasion to hail them as a generation of benefactors.

ART. VI.

PHILOSOPHY OF THE MIND.

BY LEONARD WOODS, D. D..

NUMBER III.

THE language sometimes used in books and in common discourse implies, that man is entirely under the control of his will; that his volitions guide and regulate all his bodily and mental powers. According to this representation, the will possesses the chief attribute of a despot, and man is very much in the condition of a slave. Be it so, that the master that governs him is his own will. If the power of that will is absolute, and subject to no limitation or check from truth or reason, who can be sure that it will not exercise as severe and merciless a despotism over him, as any power extraneous to his mind? And would not any man think it a less calamity to be subject to an absolute despotism that is distant, than to one that is always near; to a despotism without, than to one that is within?

Instead, however, of enlarging upon this point, I shall make it my object for the present, to ascertain what is the fact respecting the power of the will, in regard both to the body and the mind. The office of the will must be considered an important subject in the theory of mental philosophy; it is important too in a practical view. For if any one attributes to his will an agency, either more or less extensive than actually belongs to it, he will be liable to hurtful mistakes in the regulation of his own mind aud conduct.

But how is the kind and extent of power belonging to the will to be determined? Clearly, by an appeal to our own experience and consciousness. No hypothetical or a priori reasoning can be relied upon. We ought never to inquire what power we should suppose the will would have, or what power it must have, in order to make man a responsible agent. Any such inquiry might lead us to conclusions materially at variance with the truth. Our whole inquiry is, what do we learn from consciousness and experience? Accordingly, every man is qualified to investigate the subject under consideration as far as his own experience extends.

There may be questions relative to the power of the will, on which a person of little experience, or one who has not been duly attentive to the operations of his own mind, will not have the means of forming a correct judgment; as a man having only a partial acquaintance with the phenomena of magnetism or electricity, is incompetent to judge respecting the operations of the magnetic or the electrical power, in any cases which have not fallen under his notice, and if he should attempt to judge, he would in all probability mistake. Suppose now a question arises respecting the power of the will in cases in which I have had no experience, or in which I have neglected to learn the proper lessons of experience. Here I am an incompetent judge; and if I would form a just opinion, I must avail myself of the requisite knowledge of facts by referring to the experience of others. This view of the subject is of special importance, and is suited to check the overweening confidence of some who have had but a very limited experience, and have withal been too little observant of the operations of their own minds.

I will endeavour to remember these remarks myself; and though I must of necessity proceed in this discussion primarily on the ground of my own experience and consciousness, I will readily admit, even at the age of threescore years, that my experience and consciousness may, in some things, be defective. The voluntary power belonging to me may not have been so perfectly developed, as in some others; or if it has been, I may have failed to notice its developments so carefully, or to recollect them so exactly, as others. And it may, perhaps, be suitable for every man to admit also, that the faculty of will, as found in him, may have less original power, and less acquired expertness, than in others, so that no one may be able to come to a right conclusion on every part of mental science, without availing himself of the experience and consciousness of his fellow-men. This is the case, we well know, in all parts of physical science. How long and attentively soever, any man may have observed the course of events in the natural world; he will find himself, in many cases, totally unable to judge from his own personal knowledge, what the laws of nature are, and so will be obliged to supply the defects of his own experience by the experience of others. In the study of natural science, men do this constantly and freely, and why is it

not the dictate of modesty, and of wisdom too, that something like this should be done in relation to our present subject? If the facts which have occurred in our experience, are not sufficient to teach us the whole extent of power belonging to the will, why should we not gladly avail ourselves of any well attested facts, which have occurred in the experience of others? If by diligent, persevering exertion, any of our fellow-men have obtained a more perfect control over their thoughts, feelings, and actions, than we have, would it not be manifestly unjust for us to deny, that the will may attain to a higher degree of power than it has attained to in us? Why might we not as well say, that the understanding is not capable of being enlarged beyond the narrow limits to which ours has attained?

It will be kept in mind, that I use the words will and volition in the restricted and exact sense in which they are used by Locke, Reid, Abercrombie and others. Volition, according to Locke, "is an act of the mind exerting that dominion which it takes itself to have over any part of the man, by employing it in, or withholding it from any particular action." Or more briefly, according to Reid, "it is the determination of the mind to do, or not do, something which we conceive to be in our power." This determination relates to a variety of mental, as well as bodily action.

I shall now pursue the inquiry, what power belongs to the will? I begin by saying negatively, the will has no power to alter the laws of nature, either in the material or spiritual world. For example, gravitation is an established law of all material bodies, and we have no power by our volitions to set aside or modify this law, or to direct or vary any events which stand related to it, except by availing ourselves of its influence. What man in his senses ever attempts to do this? Again, it is a law of nature that vegetables spring up and grow from seeds, under the influence of heat and moisture, and that animal life is sustained by food, and destroyed by continued abstinence, or by poison; and who has power, by an act of the will, to make it otherwise? I give these as examples. The same is true as to the laws of the spiritual world. It is a law of the mind, that the ideas of sensible objects are first excited by having those objects presented to the senses; that knowledge, in the higher sense, is acquired by study; that the regular action of mind requires a sound state of the brain, &c. Now we have no