And this

God's attributes, that all sound theology consists. truth, of which we have spoken, is at the very foundation of the whole misssionary enterprise.

*

I wish now to beg your attention to one more conclusion, which, as those who hear me are young men, and as we are parts of a young nation, cannot but sink down deep into our minds, and I would hope may happily influence our own selfdiscipline. It is, that in the life of individuals and of nations, the provision of the materials of originality, experience, and power in the character, is confined for the most part, to a particular and an early period.

"The CHILD is father of the MAN."

Our great modern poet has put this great truth into a child's ballad, but it is for men to reflect upon. In the development whether of individuals or of nations it is true. The early studies of genius are wrought into the mind like beautiful pictures traced in sympathetic ink, and they afterwards come out into view in the influence they exert in all the mind's productions. The first studies of Rembrant affected his after labors; that peculiarity of shadow, which marks all his pictures, originated in the circumstance of his father's mill receiving light from an aperture at the top, which habituated that artist afterwards to view all objects as if seen in that magical light. What is thus true in the course of individuals, is as true, on a vast scale, in the development of the literatureand character of nations.

Now our practice of the science of self-culture and self-discipline is to too great a degree extemporaneous and late; nor do we sufficiently avail ourselves of others' experience. It is certainly important to discover what has been the nourishment of other minds, and then to apply your knowledge. It is not certain that the same discipline, through which Burke or Coleridge passed, would be as good for other minds as for theirs; but there must have been some qualities in their mental culture, some processes in their growth and development, which, discovered and applied by us, would be useful. For example, if Mr. Coleridge tells us that in early life he found in certain rare and neglected volumes, some trains of thought that set him powerfully to thinking, you may be quite sure that the same

* Delivered as an address before the Society of Inquiry on Missions in Amherst College.

excitement would be favorable to a susceptible and growing mind now. But it may happen that the seed which will grow in one patch of ground will not in another. You may raise a good crop of potatoes where you cannot raise wheat, and the soil that will bear a wheat crop one year, will do better laid out in corn and melons the next. Now nature seems to require something the same alterations in the cultivation of mind; at any rate, there is no monotony. An age of great classical erudition may be succeeded by an age of deep philosophy, or these both by an age of physical science and rail-roads; and you may not be able, without difficulty, to trace the laws or causes of this change. If you cut down a forest of pines, there will spring up in its place a growth of the oak or the maple. So in the world's mind there are the germs of many developments, to which external accidents may give birth, some in one age, some in another. There is a singular analogy between the goings on of life in the natural and in the moral world, and nature many times suggests lessons which she does not directly teach. Nature is suggestive in her teachings; and so is the word of God; and so is every thing that in its teachings at the same time awakens and disciplines the mind.

But there is a period, after which even suggestive teachings. and suggestive books lose their power. There is a germinating period, a period in which a good book goes down into the soul, as a precious seed into a moist furrow of earth in the spring, and germinates; a new growth springs from it. It is different from knowledge; it becomes the mind's own, and is reproduced in a form of originality; its principles become seeds in a man's being, and by and by blossom and fructify. This, I say, is a particular period, and it does not last. A man who has passed it may read the same book and know it perfectly; the acquisition of knowledge goes on through life; but knowledge as life, knowledge as the creator of wisdom, not so. It is all the difference between an oak set out, and one that grows from the acorn. I have in my mind some volumes which have exerted a refreshing and inspiring power over many young minds, but with older ones the power does not seem to exist; it is like putting a magnet to a lump of clay. Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; and so, except a good book fall into the soul and die, it abideth alone; and the time in which a good book thus dies in the soul, is particular, and analogous to the springtide of the seasons. An ear of corn may

122 The Religion of Experience and that of Imitation. [1844.

fall into the ground and die in midsummer; but it will not be reproduced; and just so with books and principles in men's minds if the sowing of them be deferred till the midsummer or autumn of the soul, though they may enrich the soil, they will not produce a harvest; there may be the green blade, but the full corn in the ear you will never see.

So also it is with the seeds and habits of our piety; our character and attainments, not only in this world, but in eternity, will be the fruits of the germination of divine things in our souls

NOW.

Let me pray you, therefore, to take care of the germinating period of your being; for when you have passed through it, though you may have the same books to read, and the same means of study, they will not affect you as they once would. There is a tide in the deep souls of men, as well as in their affairs, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; and if you omit it, the loss and the misery will be yours. Suffer me now to leave your minds beneath the influence of one more aphorism from the wisdom of Lord Bacon. "For if you will have a tree bear more fruit than it hath used to do, it is not any thing you can do to the boughs, but it is the stirring of the earth, and putting new mould about the roots, that must work it." And if we might add one recipe as to the sort of mould you would do well to apply, we would say, take the study of Butler's Analogy, South's Sermons, (avoiding his hatred of the Puritans,) Bacon's Advancement of Learning, Burke's Character and Works, and (bating his erroneous views of the atonement) Coleridge's Friend, and Aids to Reflection. This is but a single formula; you well know the catalogue might be greatly varied and enlarged; and different men will put down different authors, according to their own idiosyncracies. But we speak now of suggestive works; and the Latin proverb is worth remembering, Beware of the man of one book.

ARTICLE VI.

DIVINE AGENCY AND GOVERNMENT, TOGETHER WITH HUMAN AGENCY AND FREEDOM.

By the Rev. Leonard Woods, D. D., Prof. Theol. Sem., Andover, Mass. AMONG those who have accustomed themselves of late to metaphysical discussions, we cannot but observe various degrees of intellectual strength, and various aspects of intellectual character. Some there are, whose inclination towards philosophical investigations manifestly goes beyond their strength; who show at once, whenever they meddle with metaphysical subjects, that they have mistaken their employment; and who are likely to involve themselves, and perhaps others too, in error or in perplexity, according as they engage more or less in metaphysical inquiries. They may possess great activity of mind in other respects. They may be good reasoners, when their reasoning relates to other subjects. But the fact is,-and it is a pity they do not know it, that they have not the patience, the acuteness, the power of analysis and discrimination, which are essential to constitute a metaphysician. Of course, they cannot be expected to arrive at right conclusions in regard to the more difficult questions in mental science. They do not comprehend the meaning of those questions. They do not understand what is to be done, or how to do it, or when it is done. There are others, who possess more intellectual acumen, but who fall into mistakes, because they have not proceeded far enough in their inquiries. Their decisions are erroneous, because they are premature. They may have been engaged in metaphysical studies a few months, or a few years. But the result of sober contemplation for twenty or thirty years would in all probability be more conformed to the truth, if they should be so happy as to be kept from committing themselves to the support of the wrong side of controverted subjects.

But there are many in our community, who have nothing to do with a metaphysical form of speaking or thinking, who do yet receive, practically and devoutly, the very same truths, which Edwards, and those who agree with him, deduce from meta

physical considerations. And there are not a few ministers of the gospel and intelligent private Christians, whose own happy experience leads them, as a matter of course, with but little study, clearly to understand and firmly to believe the profoundest principles of mental science; who can at once solve questions which elude the grasp of a merely speculative understanding, devoted ever so long to laborious investigation.

Finally, there are those, and this number is by no means small, who unite the benefit of long and patient philosophical thinking with devout feeling; who are clear-sighted metaphysicians, and active spiritual Christians; and who, through divine grace, are unmoved by any of the winds of doctrine which carry about unstable minds; who always stand firm, how many soever may waver.

I have recently endeavored to take a careful, though a cursory view of what has been done, and what is now doing in regard to the class of subjects which I shall bring into view, and to see what are the results of the thinking and reasoning which have been going on during the last thirty or forty years; to see what is the fruit of metaphysical investigations among ministers and other literary men, in regard to the more difficult subjects in ethics and theology,-what advances have been made, and what truths, before unknown, have been discovered, and where we are now. After all the scenes through which I and my brethren have passed,-after the variety of changes which have taken place around us, and the variety of schemes, arguments, and opinions, which have occupied and sometimes agitated our minds, I wish, if I can, to ascertain where we now stand, and I shall take some special care to ascertain where I myself stand. I have sometimes found a man, who could not tell decidedly what his opinion was, and who has shown that he had no decided opinion. If it is otherwise, I have wished, with permission, to exhibit some proper evidence of it. I do not, however, touch upon this point, because I am desirous of obtruding myself or my opinions on the attention of the public, but because there is no way for a writer to deal honestly with his fellow-men, but to let them know just what he himself believes, together with the reasons of his belief; and because I suppose I may be able in this way to do something to confirm the faith of my younger brethren; and also because I am willing to inform those, who have labored to establish a new and different set of opinions, that while I