“ So intimately related, however, are these two objects of human investigation, that a knowledge of the one cannot be obtained but through the medium of the other. The operations of mind cannot be carried on without the intervention of external objects; for if the material universe had never existed, we could never have prosecuted a train of thought; and the beauties and sublimities of external nature can be perceived only by thinking beings, without the existence of which, the material universe would remain like a mighty blank, and might be said to have been created in vain. ”

“ If it be possible that any one now exists in the literary world, who has devoted his life to the sublimest investigations of science, and has taken the most extensive views of the arrangements of the material world, and yet who remains doubtful as to the existence of a Supreme Intelligence, and of an eternal state of destination ”

“ Of these two departments of science, the intellectual universe is, in many respects, the most interesting and important.-For, in so far as our knowledge and researches extend, it appears highly probable, if not absolutely certain, that the material universe exists solely for the sake of sentient and intelligent beings-in order to afford a sensible manifestation of the great First Cause, and to serve as a vehicle of thought and a medium of enjoyment to subordinate intelligences. ”

“ The human mind, after it has received notices of such stupendous scenes, naturally longs for a nearer and more intimate inspection of the grandeur and economy of those distant provinces of the Creator's empire; and is apt to imagine that it would never weary, but would feel unmingled enjoyment, while it winged its flight from one magnificent scene of creation to another. ”

“ We have the strongest reason to believe, that the distant regions of the material world are also replenished with intellectual beings, of various orders, in which there may be a gradation upwards, in the scale of intellect above that of a man, as diversified as that which we perceive in the descending scale, from man downwards to the immaterial principle which animates a muscle, a snail, or a microscopic animalcula. ”

“ Hence we may learn, that the highest attainments in science to which any one can arrive, though they may expand the range of his intellectual views, will not ensure to their possessor substantial and unmingled enjoyment, while his heart is devoid of benevolent affections, and he is subjected to the influence of degrading and immoral passions. ”

“ While we remain in our sublunary mansion, our investigations into the world of mind, must, therefore, of necessity, be confined to the nature and attributes of the Uncreated Spirit, and to the faculties of our own minds and those of the sensitive beings with which we are surrounded. ”

“ I shall content myself with stating the following illustration:-We dwell in an obscure corner of God's empire; but the light of modern science has shown us, that worlds, a thousand times larger than ours, and adorned with more refulgent splendors, exist within the range of that system of which we form a part. ”

“ That the moral relations of intelligent minds, and the temper and conduct corresponding with these relations, are essentially connected with the happiness of every rational agent, might be made to appear from a variety of cases, in which the reversing of certain moral laws or principles would inevitably lead to disorder and misery. ”

“ It is not involved in the same difficulties and obscurity which have perplexed the philosophy of the intellect; and there are certain principles which may be traced in relation to this subject, which apply to all the rational intelligences that God has formed, however diversified in respect of the regions of the universe which they occupy, and in the extent of their intellectual powers. Above all, the subject is more intimately connected with the present and future happiness of man than any other which comes within the range of human investigation ”

“ These faculties, as they constitute the instruments by which all our knowledge, both human and divine, is acquired, have employed the attention of philosophers in every age, and have been the theme of many subtle and ingenuous speculations; and they, doubtless, form an interesting subject of investigation to the student of intellectual science. ”

“ It has also unfolded to our view other systems dispersed throughout the voids of space, at immeasurable distances, and in such vast profusion, that our minds are unable to grasp their number and their magnitude. Reason and revelation lead us to conclude, that all these worlds and systems are adorned with displays of divine wisdom, and peopled with myriads of rational inhabitants. ”

“ We are surrounded, on every hand, with minds of various descriptions, which evince the faculties of which they are possessed, by the various senses and active powers with which they are furnished. These minds are various, in point of intellectual capacity and acumen, from man downwards through all the animated tribes which traverse the regions of earth, air, and sea. ”

“ Hence it appears, that, previous to our inquiries into the nature and relations of mind, it is necessary, in the first place, to study the phenomena of the material world, and the external actions of all those precipient beings with which it is peopled ”