XXX INTRODUCTION. 



us, which often generates a restless desire in 

 the mind to gain information concerning 

 the causes and origin of those things per- 

 ceived by them ; now this is the result of 

 thought, and thought is no body, and though 

 the thinking essence inhabits a body, yet 

 we cannot help feeling that our thoughts 

 are an attribute of an immaterial substance. 

 Thought, discursive and excursive thought, 

 that is not confined to the contemplation of 

 the things of earth, things that are imme- 

 diately about us, but can elevate itself to 

 heaven, and the heavenly bodies, not only to 

 those of our own system, but can take flights 

 beyond the bounds of time and space, and 

 enter into the Holy of Holies, and contem- 

 plate Him who sitteth upon the cherubim, the 

 throne of his Deity. Thought, that not only 

 beholds things present, however distant and 

 removed from sense, but can contemplate the 

 days of old and the years of many gene- 

 rations, can carry us back to hail with the 

 angelic choirs, the birth-day of nature and 

 of the world that we inhabit ; or looking into 

 the abyss of futurity, can anticipate the 

 termination of our present mixed scene- 

 chequered with light and darkness, good and 



