religion from indulging the professors of science with freedom of religious opinion, than there is to science from that freedom of scientific opinion which our divines at present enjoy, and of which no one desires to deprive them. There was a time when Hippocrates was in physic, and Aristotle in logic, what the Westminster divines now are in divinity. But I do not be-lieve that even the dissentient professors will be so consistent with themselves as to desire to revive the once undisputed authority of those ancients.

"I shall not protract this letter, already too long, by noticing some paltry arguments addressed to the fears of their colleagues, for the possible consequences to the University of the course recommended by the majority. I have endeavoured to justify that course on principle, and to show that the principal arguments urged against it are arguments opposed to the spirit of our day and generation. If in this I have been at all successful, there will be no need to enter into the discussion of those visionary and theoretical alarms. I trust the majority will not be easily frightened by these or any similar bugbears, from the excellent and solid position which they have so wisely assumed; but that they will be reinforced by petitions from the other three universities, and will succeed in removing these shackles of the seventeenth century from our academical institutions of the nineteenth.-I am, &c.

EDINBURGH, Nov. 18. 1843.

PHILELEUTHEROS."

THE MIND.

How wondrous, how complicated, how incomprehensible, is the human mind! how deeply seated its affections, how high its aspirations!

It is the source of the purest joys, the profoundest griefs of life; it is the world of self, the possession alike of the prince and the beggar, the child and the philosopher.

Every where is the mighty influence of mind exerted; age after age we see new additions to its power,

energy and progress; each generation advances, and each individual is continually adding to his own store.

Imperceptibly does it steal on; growing, swelling, from a small stream, till it pours resistless, a mighty torrent, bearing before it tyranny and oppression, and resolving all things into their proper elements.

It has made greater conquests than the proudest warrior that ever trod the earth in his glory, or surveying lands that had been wrested from others by injustice and wrong. Greater than the physical power of man is the victory of mind over matter: it has caused revolution and reformation: it breathes a warm and living influence through ages, when the body that enshrined it is no more.

There is no mind that has not done its work on earth, and a great one, either for good or evil; society is formed from the thoughts of the past; the evil and the good which now exist in the world have all had their origin in some human mind: words spoken in the past exist in the present, and live with us still in their endless modifications: if one mind less had existed, we should never have been what we are, for each sentiment uttered, has had its influence on our own character: As each step we take, though in an imperceptible manner, moves the globe, so, in the same proportion, each resolution we form, influences all futurity.

What is this wonderful influence we feel within us? What is it that we call mind? It seems that we have a set of faculties and feelings whose seat is in the brain, and that these are governed by the will, which is a separate power, a sort of guardian over the rest; the whole of these faculties and the will that guides them, constitute the mind, and in the proper balance and regulation of the whole depends happiness: for the mind does not consist of the intellect alone, but the moral sense of rectitude, the affections, and the varied emotions and aspirations which we experience, are included in it. Yet all these would not constitute the individual free mind, without the feeling of personality or existence: it is this wonderful perception, this surpassing conviction, that is the living principle of mind.

It is the sense of self-being that influences all purely

human actions, whether it animates us for the good of others, or fills the bosom with the feeling of personality and individual gratification; without it, the mind might exist, but we could not; all minds would be resolved into one, as the spirits of past ages melt into unity, the farther we are removed from them, and the less we know of the individuals that composed them; this feeling is the living spark which kindles the whole flame of genius, it burns with such intensity in some minds, that it influences every power, and incites to every action by which the individual may live in fame, or in the memory of his race. But this is its least noble office; when properly cultivated it leads to the love of, and the belief in immortality, and those in whom it exists, can never believe in extinction; it leads them to do all in their power to merit a future existence, and with this high belief carried out in their lives, they can never fall into the evil and vicious practices of the world. The resources of the mind are exhaustless: when the world looks dark and gloomy, when all seems forbidding without, then it can turn upon itself, and find society in communion with its own thoughts; there are treasures hidden from all eyes, stores of knowledge which yield ever new delight to their possessor.

The mind is always society for itself, when accustomed to this secret converse; but how deep is its solitude in sorrow and temptation, when it struggles alone, with no heart wherewith to sympathise! when the heavy sense of loneliness oppresses it with a feeling of desolation that nothing else can give. Oh! if the mind has its pure joys, it has also its deep sorrows, its seasons of blank and dreary gloom!

The mind has powers which yield an ever new delight and refreshment; imagination is a pure and constant pleasure to its possessor; by its aid beauties spring every where; how the spirit leaps joyously when roving among scenes of its own creation! how beautifully perfect are the visions which it presents; though its joys are impalpable, they are not the less real. Beauty in a thousand forms presents itself before the mind, sorrow is deepened, and pleasure is heightened by this creative and wonderful power. Imagination

may be called the sun light of the mind; without it, outward scenes lose their attraction, the veil of darkness is drawn over nature, and weariness steals away the joy of life; with it, the humblest lot may be rendered blessed, and beauty may dwell in the dreariest scene; it adds a fresh charm to all that is lovely, and where it existed not before, it creates it. And the mind is the shrine of blessed hope, that lightens all griefs, and casts its smile into futurity, which illumines the path of life like a shining light, and through the gloomy clouds of grief, pours an enlivening ray to cheer, and to encourage.

Memory, too, here takes up her abode, recalling by the aid of her magic mirror times long gone by, the scenes of happy childhood, the trials, joys, and disappointments of life, smoothing down the bitterness of sorrow, and heightening departed joys, by taking from them the stings which grieved us then, but which can no longer wound: it recals the images of friends, and treasures up their features faithfully, and when death has bereft us of those we love, by its aid they live with us still, and in our solitary hours appear before us as sweet visions which beckon us on to their own resting place. The powers and resources of the mind are so varied and numerous, that it is impossible to find two individuals alike; each possesses his separate characteristics, and from each, every other may gain infor

mation.

Surpassing and wonderful as is the mind, there is a Power above it, more incomprehensible and spiritual, which rules and guides our immortal nature, and the more the mind advances and enlarges its powers, the more it comprehends and appreciates the beauty, the perfectibility, and the grandeur of that immortal and indestructible essence, which is the heritance of every human being in another state of existence.

LIVERPOOL, Dec. 1843.

C. S. C.

SLAVERY IN AMERICA.

WE feel happy in recording the following Address, with its subjoined signatures, from the Unitarian Ministers of Great Britain and Ireland, to their Ministerial Brethren of the Unitarian Churches in the United States of North America. It is an address which carries with it its own commendation. It is dictated in the spirit of Christian love, and breathes affection and good-will to all men. We might have wished, perhaps, that it had expressed more strongly and indignantly the Christian reprobation which every practical disciple of the universal Saviour must entertain against slavery in all its shapes, whether exercised towards the white man or the black; or whether manifested in feudal bondage, or aristocratical and class distinctions. We might have wished too, probably, that May and Pierpont, and other living advocates of the rights of all the children of God had been named as well as those of the illustrious dead, but the movement is so truly in the right direction, and actuated by the right spirit, that we quarrel not with these omissions. We wish all our brethren had looked on it with kindred feelings, and attached their names to this expression of faith and hope, knowing, as we are persuaded we do, their oneness with us in detestation of oppression in We miss some hoform. every noured names from the list, which are usually first and foremost in all labours of love; it is not for us to attempt to account for their not being there; we are satisfied they feel justified in their own minds for not giving their sanction to this Christian appeal; but we feel it a duty to express our deep regret on account of this fact. We fear it will be made an occasion by many to represent the advocates of the Fatherly character of God as divided in sentiment as to the rights of the great human brotherhood; as indifferent to the flagrant infraction of Christian justice and benevolence of which the slaveholders are guilty; as careless of the wrongs of the slave, and as inimical to the rights of humanity. We are thoroughly persuaded of the falsehood of such inferences, but the world, unacquainted with the parties,