oC Dr. Spnrzhehn's demonsLrallve Course of Lectures 



the meaning of many parts of the Christian revelation, the sense 

 of v.'hith was nejirly lost or very inadeciuately comprehended. 



Lea. 13. With respect to the nuitual influence of the fa- 

 ■culties, the difterence between the organs and the conditions 

 imder which they act must be considered. There are four con- 

 siderations relative to mutual influence ; first, every faculty in 

 everv individual is modiiied, not only in different individuals but 

 also in the same individual ; in like manner different parts of 

 fliflerent animals arc modiiied iu the five senses, and also in the 

 faculties of the mind ; habitivenes, constructiveness, destructive- 

 liess, &c. are niodified in all animals ; some birds construct their 

 ircsts according to circumstances ; others have their singing 

 powers modified and different from those of the same species ; 

 spmc tastes are peculiar ; various idiosyncrasies, &c. The sam.e 

 diversity takes place in the mind. Some comprehend or uhder- 

 stand matters when the facts are duly arranged ; in others the 

 faculties tliemseivcs are modified. Two mothers having equal 

 affection for their children, but one ha%ing more dcstnicliveness 

 and less benevolence than the other, will treat them very differ- 

 ently. Maternal love never acts alone ; if a mother shows a par- 

 tiality for one child, it is not that she has no affectiot\ for the 

 others, but because this favourite is the most congenial, the most 

 similar to her own disposition. Here size is not sufficient to 

 determine the accions ; destructiveness hcv.'cver pronnlicnt is 

 modified by benevolence, justice, veneration, &c. in various de- 

 grees. Self-love is not in itself bad; in the man who esteems 

 justice, feels benevolence and veneration, it is very good as it 

 respects onlv those qualities either in self or others; but self-love 

 without benevolence, the forehead low and little faith, venera- 

 tion, or justice, is very bad. Vv'e may thus discover whether jus- 

 tice be predominant or feeble in legislators. \"eneration alone 

 without energv produces credulity and superstition, one who will 

 worship anv thing that is offered to him. When veneration is 

 prominent and the posterior j^arts of the head projecting, it pro- 

 duces more than piety, it makes an inquisitor, (th.e Professor 

 exhibited a real portrait of ouc,) who will murder his fellov.' nien 

 io^ the glory of God ! A true Christian minister has the fore- 

 head verv large, posterior very small. Tiie intellectual faculties 

 are also modified ; thus, among musicians one has a genius for 

 poetical or ideal, martial, piiilosophical, or tender music. An 

 author or writer with coveliveness is a plagiarist; without bene- 

 volence forms a satirist, with benevolence it is not satirical. 

 The faculty of language never acts alone j it belongs first to na- 

 tions and then to individuals of a nation. One nation has more 

 feeUug and peculiar ideas than another. Individuality is the first 

 4?yeloped faculty ; nouns and verbs ave the first words used by 



childr?}), 



