I860.] 



THE SOUTHE 



RN PLANTER. 



683 



ceive ideas independently of our will. I 

 may, for instance, be looking out of my win- 

 dow, and see a man shot down, and a year 

 afterwards recollect the circumstance. I 

 have thus involuntarily acquired an idea. 

 Impressions thus received, when powerful 

 and painful, will recur again and again, and 

 influence our conduct through life. 



Now, if our knowledge of an external 

 object was limited to the moment of percep- 

 tion, and was extinguished forever with the 

 fading sensation which gave it birth, if we 

 had no memory of past impressions, then we 

 should be creatures utterly incapable of rea- 

 soning or reflection. But we are so consti- 

 tuted that the knowledge derived from with- 

 out lives within us. All our past impres- 

 sions are secured to us. They are associated 

 together according to certain laws, which 

 have evidently been contrived with the 

 most admirable adaptation to our wants, so 

 as to bring again the knowledge previously 

 acquired by the senses at the very time 

 when its return is the most profitable. "A 

 burnt child fears the fire," for example. 

 Hence we are ever expanding ourselves over 

 the long series of our past sensations, for 

 memory is the mind relapsing into a former 

 state, and the use of reason becomes more 

 and more apparent, as these sensations from 

 the external world are increased in number 

 and variety. 



How beautifully are the upper and lower 

 extremities of a tree organized with refer- 

 ence to the earth and atmosphere ! The 

 fibres on the roots and the leaves on the 

 branches — how different in form and color ! 

 Yet both are absorbents beautifully adapted 

 to the media in which they develop. In 

 like manner is the organization of man 

 adapted to the material creation spread 

 around. His eye is beautifully adapted to 

 receive the light, his ear is formed for the 

 reception of sound ; his body, in fact, is an 

 apparatus most exquisitely contrived to ren- 

 der him sensible to the nature of external 

 things. Hence, Nature is the great teacher. 

 In childhood we are the most passive and 

 impressible. We spend life in a state of 

 constant and curious excitement. We are 

 perpetually stimulated by the presence of 

 new objects, and every hour brings with it 

 stores of facts and natural appearances, the 

 rich materials of our future knowledge. 

 Nature is pouring in instruction at every 

 avenue of sense. As we advance in years, 

 we become familiar with common objects, 



and \>ur attention is naturally drawn away 

 from the discovery of what is new to the 

 study and examination of that which is old. 

 The vast variety of phenomena which have 

 made an impression on us are brought under 

 review, and the feverish astonishment of 

 childhood gives place to the color of manly 

 contemplation. Then commence those first 

 attempts at generalization, which mark the 

 dawn of science in the mind, and from the 

 lessens of the past we now draw the mate- 

 rials of our future wisdom. 



Every wind and rain-drop has helped to 

 mould the character of this tree. And it is 

 a great truth, which well deserves to be re- 

 garded, that not only the peculiarities of 

 their organization, but the circumstances by 

 which they are surrounded, form those end- 

 lessly diversified varieties of human charac- 

 ter which we meet with in our passage 

 through life. Like the different trees of 

 a forest, the individuality of men is the re- 

 sult of the controlling influence of peculiar 

 laws of organization and the circumstances 

 in which they are placed. 



The tree unfolds from the seed and runs 

 through all the various phases of its life, ac- 

 cording to peculiar laws which are inefface- 

 able, and can never be set aside by circum- 

 stances, adverse or otherwise. And, like 

 the trees and flowers, human nature exists 

 under a vast variety of form. We differ 

 from each other, not only in our features, 

 but in our tastes and modes of thought. 

 These differences of character are constitu- 

 tional, the result of the operation of those 

 peculiar laws of life which have governed 

 us from the commencement of existence. 

 The variety of talent and disposition is a 

 wise and benevolent provision of Nature. 

 It brings men together. It enables them to 

 be of service to each other, and thus strength- 

 ens the bonds of mutual dependence, re- 

 spect, and good-will. Since, then, human 

 nature is so constituted, it shows not only 

 ignorance and narrowness of mind, but a 

 want of courtesy and even common sense, 

 to cherish unkind feelings towards any man 

 for a mere difference of opinion, or a want 

 of sympathy with us in our favorite pur- 

 suits. On the contrary, charity and forbear- 

 ance are indicative of a mind enlightened, 

 expanded and noble. It is an endorsement 

 of the fact that its possessor appreciates 

 freedom. We cannot all think alike. There 

 are natural antipathies and mutual attrac- 

 tions. If the former were not a reality, the 



