Phrenology. 83 



moral and religious influence ; but, on the contrary, if the science 

 be true, it indicates in a manner most important, where and how 

 to exert the discipline of self-control as well as the right and power 

 of controlling others. This discovery will, indeed, without phre- 

 nology, be made in the progress of the experience of the individual, 

 but it may be at too late a day. Health, conscience, fortune and 

 honor may have been sacrificed, when, had the point of danger 

 been early made known, and the course of safety seasonably in- 

 dicated, the peril might have been shunned or averted, and peace 

 and security insured. 



But, the Christian will anxiously enquire, is our safety then 

 to depend on our own imperfect knowledge and resolution in 

 performing our duty ? We answer, that however ignorant and 

 weak we may be, there can be no doubt that our Creator has 

 placed us here in a state of discipline, and that we are under 

 bonds to him to perform our duty, despite of evil influences from 

 within, and of temptations from without. If, however, phre- 

 nology will enable the anxious parent to understand the powers 

 and capacities, with the prevailing afl'ections and propensities — it 

 cannot but influence the destination and pursuits of the child, 

 while it will also indicate the course of discipline and treatment. 



But all this will not avail, without superior influence flowing 

 from the Creator himself, through his divine revelation, which is 

 the charter of our hopes, and our supreme moral guide in life. 

 If there be in any instance, an unhappy cranial formation, surely 

 it does not diminish, but, on the contrary, it enhances the neces- 

 sity of a prevaihng heavenly influence to illuminate that which 

 is dark, to strengthen the weak faculties, subdue the wild animal 

 propensities, and purify, by a holy efiiciency, the moral senti- 

 ments and afl'ections. 



Rehgion can therefore do, what phrenology cannot alone eflect. 

 Phrenology undertakes to accomplish for man, what philosophy 

 performs for the external world ; it claims to disclose the real state 

 of things, and to present nature, unveiled, and in her true features. 



As science and art build upon the laws of nature, and borrow- 

 ing materials from her, proceed to construct all the machines and 

 edifices and various physical furniture of refined civilization, so 

 phrenology, if successful in developing the real powers, afl'ections 

 and propensities of man, furnishes to revealed religion, in the best 

 possible state, the subject upon which through the spirit of God, 



