CHAPTER SECOND.

LAWS OF THE MIND IN GENERAL.

§. 43. Existence of laws even in material objects.

And

If it should be said in respect to the main argument of the preceding chapter, that after all it is merely negative, and only assures us what the mind is not, without telling us what it is, we readily assent to this suggestion. we take this opportunity to repeat, what has been before intimated, our anxiety to avoid all inquiries, which may be either obviously frivolous in themselves, or which will necessarily, and from their very nature, elude the most careful search. That the mind is an existence, altogether distinct from what we term matter, was an accessible question, presenting a fair prospect of a satisfactory solution; but what the essence of the mind is, or what the mind is in itself, one man knows as much as another, all being equally ignorant. But it does not follow, because we are ignorant of our mental nature in some respects, we are, therefore, ignorant in all. On the contrary, if we are unable to penetrate into the interiour nature of the soul, we can, nevertheless, mark its operations, its growth, its results, and can distinctly point out some of the various laws by which it is governed. It is this last topic, to which we are next to proceed. It seems proper, however, before examining laws in their connection with and in their government of the mental action, briefly to consider them in their more obvious and general applications.

It requires but a slight examination of those works, which the Creator has so abundantly spread around us,. in order to satisfy ourselves, that every thing in nature has its rules. The motion, expansion; increase, diminution, and position of objects, and whatever else we express when we speak of the changes they undergo, are controlled by determinate principles. There does not appear to be any exception, whatever objects we may turn our inquiries to. We see the truth of what has been said, even when we direct our attention to those parts of creation, which make the least approach to life, symmetry, and beauty. There is a regularity discoverable in the composition and formation of rocks, and in their position; and the same unchangeable rule, that holds the immense sun in his orbit, prescribes and sustains the condition of the minute particles of air and water. In such other natural objects, as approach more nearly to symmetry and life, we witness increased indications of order; for instance in the growth of plants and trees; in the separation of the moisture, that is taken from the earth, and its distribution to the trunk and rind, to the leaves, flowers, and branches. But nothing more than this subjection to some fixed rule, this regular order, is meant, when we use the term Law, and when we speak in particular of the laws of nature.

Nor is this state of things otherwise than might be anticipated. That there should be an arrangement and orderly condition even of material things seems inevitably to result from the mere fact of the existence of a Creator, to whom they owe their origin. That higher and effective existence, which we denominate God, implies, in its very elements, a pervading inspection, a sleepless and inscrutable superintendence, which looks upwards and downward, within and around, wherever there is aught of time or space, of visible or invisible, of material or immaterial.

§. 44. Objection from the apparent disorders in nature.

It is sometimes objected to this view of the connection

and order of nature, that many things happen by chance; and it must undoubtedly be admitted, that such, in many cases is the appearance. Nevertheless this appearance is owing rather to the feebleness of our discerning powers, than to any thing actually existing in the objects, towards which these powers are directed. In other words, it is to be ascribed rather to the imperfections of the mind, than to the irregularities of nature.

The correctness of this solution of the difficulty in question may be inferred from the fact, that events, both natural and moral, which appear accidental and matters of chance to one, are perceived by another, who has more information, to be subjected to the orderly influence of laws. The man of science, merely in consequence of his different mental position, often takes a very different view of the same object from the man, who is without scientific knowledge; and what, in this respect, is true of individuals, compared with each other, may equally well be said of the men of any particular age, compared with the men of a succeeding age.. An ignorant generation will see mystery and danger, where an enlightened one will find neither. In the present age of the world an eclipse of the heavenly bodies is noticed without dismay, because it is regarded as one of the settled and permanent adjustments of nature; but Tacitus has informed us, what surprise, what doubt, and horror such an event could inspire in the days of Tiberius. A comet appeared in 1456; it was a period of great ignorance; every man looked on his neighbour with fear and astonishment, as if this strange sign in the heavens foreboded some great convulsion, some wreck of matter, or some subversion of empires.-But it so happened,that,in a subsequent age,this fearful visitant was carefully watched and noted by the English astronomer Halley. By means of his observations he not only proved, that it revolved round the sun, but was able to show its identity with the comets of 1531, 1607, and 1682; and of course that the period of its revolution was about seventy five years. He accordingly predicted, that it would return in 1753 or the beginning of 1759, which proved true.-Since

that time, the fears, that were connected with the appearance of these luminaries, no longer exist; men look upon them with different eyes; they regard them as permanent parts in the great arrangement and constitution of created things; not as the causes of terror and grief, but rather as the indications and proofs of infinite wisdom and power.

And then extending this train of thought yet further, if we mount upward from the intelligent being, which we denominate man, to those higher intelligences, which we know to exist with only an imperfect knowledge of the mode of their existence, how many of the secrets of nature may we suppose cleared up to them, which, yet remain mysterious to us! The obscurity, that rests on creation, diminishes more and more, as it is exposed to the investigation of minds of a higher and a higher grade, until we arrive at the mind of Omniscience, that embraces it with a glance, and every where beholds order, and truth, and harmony.

§. 45. Remarks of Montesquieu on laws.

These views do not profess to be novel; it is of more importance that they be found true; and it is some indication, that they are so, that similar sentiments, and expressed with the characteristic terseness and vivacity of that distinguished author, are found in the writings of Montesquieu. The passage is a fitting introduction to a Work, which with much reason is thought to have exerted an influence on Political, hardly inferiour to that of Locke's Essay on Mental Philosophy.

"LAWS, in their most general signification, are the necessary relations arising from the nature of things.、 In this sense all beings have their laws, the Deity his laws, the material world its laws, the intelligences superiour to man their laws, the beasts their laws, man his laws.

They who assert, that a blind fatality produced the various effects we behold in this world, talk very absurdly; for can any thing be more unreasonable than to pretend that a blind fatality could be productive of intelligent Beings?

There is then a primitive reason; and laws are the relations subsisting between it and different beings, and the relations of these to one another.

God is related to the universe as creator and preserver; the laws by which he created all things, are those by which he preserves them. He acts according to these rules, because he knows them; he knows them, because he made them; and he made them, because they are relative to his wisdom and power.

Since we observe that the world, though formed by the motion of matter, and void of understanding, subsists through so long a succession of ages, its motions must certainly be directed by invariable laws and could we-imagine another world, it must also have constant rules, or it would inevitably perish."

§. 46. Of laws in relation to the mind.

The remarks on the subject of LAWS, which have thus far been made, are of a general nature, although illustrated hitherto by particular reference to the material world.

If it be true, that matter has its laws, still more should we suppose, that the mind has; if every vapour in the atmosphere, moves in relation to some general princi+ ple, it might naturally be expected, that all mental acts also have their time, their condition, and their limits. And this conjecture is in various ways amply supported.

It could not long escape the notice of the inquisitive disposition of men, that, whatever might be the fact in other things, there are rules and laws of conduct; certain general principles, by which the intercourse and duties of men are regulated in all situations. The earliest of these, and such as were most general and necessarily antecedent to civil society, have been sought out, and embodied under the head of Natural Law. Then came the formation of the body Politic, and with it such new enactments as were suited to this new order of things; for man, whether alone or with others, has never existed nor is he able to exist without the guidance of some fixed principles.

The laws, which we now refer to, may be called in