ecently occurred in the I which not only startled he shock of an earthquake, with doubt and trembling any Christians throughout to the thoughtful mind east painful aspect of such is the death of the late The devout philosopher the face of so tragic an ist his deepest convictions shielding and sheltering over his faithful servants; es of simple-hearted, pious ve this dark mystery, not ned up to their compreught within the reach of fidence and faith. The sanity must be presented tian terms. For to them the Soul over the Body, considered nd Morals. By GEORGE MOORE, e Royal College of Physicians, London. Longman Co. 1846. 'artial Derangement of Mind in with Religion. By JOHN CHEYNE, y & Co. 1843. Body in Relation to the Mind. I.D. Second Edition. London: £7. AND RELIGION.* the Christian of high profession and attainments stands forth as one to whom they are but too apt to look as a living exhibition of all the possible influences of the Gospel. They want to know how it was that the plague did come nigh his dwelling, since the promise made to every one that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High is, that he shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty, who will, therefore, satisfy him with long life, and show him His salvation. The case was actually thus proposed to ourselves, as counterevidence against the world's estimate of the goodness of one of the highest literary attainments and piety of the last generation, who was cut off by a supposed "pestilence." And, moreover, the fact alluded to has something like a terrible charm to certain minds which, we may suspect, have to struggle with temptations of their own, for which they, too, would be glad to find an excuse in the force of outward circumstances, or constitutional tendencies of sufficient potency for secret justification. Having found it needful, for private reaSons, to investigate the causes of what appeared to us to be not religious eccentricities, but forms of insanity, in cases without which its marvellous powers will yield him no obedience. And to follow up these cases a few steps further, for the sake of illustrating the maxim, that man and his world are hedged in by laws so stern and unyielding, that in other instances they either enforce obedience or result in death-let us look at the ship, richly freighted with human life and material wealth, which steam, obeying its own laws, is urging over the unwilling seas, winds and waves fighting together against its progress in vain. What a glorious vision for him whose thoughtful mind is stored with materials for filling up the vast chasm between the Indian's first rude attempt to make a road on the waters and that gallant ship! On she sails, man's pride, and glory, and faith! An explosion more terrible than thunder shivers the goodly vessel into fragments. That fearful crash that shook the stout heart of every sailor on board-that momentary climax of human misery, too awful and too profound for words to body forth-the floating spars, the sole remains of that noble vessel-what do they tell us? They simply tell us that some one of the laws by which steam is hedged in had been violated, and that it exacted death in some of its most terrible forms as the penalty. our own immediate observit may be important, at cord them, not only in the g some wounded sufferer ker mysteries, but also of v rays of light upon the ofessional spiritual guide, we believe his best efforts will be misdirected, vain, roductive of further miske no pretensions to scige but such as we have obe careful study of profeswho have investigated the benefit of non-profesBut careful observation ced us, that without some this kind, the spiritual th incompletely equipped and difficult duties. Psys to its few votaries the he human mind; but it th the mysteries of its cone body; and yet it is quite ental operations are so esent upon bodily conditions, errations, greater or less, sfactorily explained but by kind of knowledge. For e body influenced by the nost know, but also the is influenced, in its proration, by the body, which ind. Hence Dr. Moore on the morality of the sto ged in by laws which are Median and Persian only -unalterable. But, further, a machine may not only be destroyed at once, but also damaged, and so become more or less unfit to fulfill perfectly its functions. Or, there may be latent evils at work, counteracting some one of its laws, but so slowly that the fatal issue comes on at last almost unperceived. Such has been the origin of the destruction of some steam machinery. There has been a weak or faulty part overlooked or undervalued, which was, however, contrary to the laws by which steam (to employ the phrase of another) "is hedged in ;" and when, in its certain march, the evil reached the prescribed degree, the engine was destroyed by the laws of its own steam. Men may t, but they can not alter ch the acorn becomes the 1 of the oak is cast on the sands on its shore, or exnosphere on a stone or on will not grow; because it 's which all these circumAnd similar remarks are ery organized body with or the fancies of man inSteam and the electric him, if he will first of all am will do his bidding, if e the constitution of that hinery, in which alone the is hedged in will permit d the electric fluid will cean, and carry his mespoles, if he will expend ting for it that machinery And this is strictly applicable to that organized machine which is hedged in with the unalterable laws of health and disease, of life and death--the human body. Not only will some sudden and palpable disaster-the knife thrust into the heartproduce instant death, but there are other evils, fostered either by ignorance or a willful violation of known laws, which will gradually, but as surely, prepare the body for premature destruction, or inefficiency, oked or disregarded mischief| asylum. This is thrown out for considera1-machine. For just as we tion, not because educated people in nechanical instruments laid general are altogether without this kind ess, because some law of their of warning knowledge, but because there had been gradually violated, is always a great moral difference between een human bodies premature- that general knowledge of a danger which as useless, for like causes, popular notions respecting it teach, and sick chamber or the lunatic that which arises from the accurate teachid the two cases are philo- ings of science. id not fancifully, parallel. ndeed, (if we may protract these introductory remarks, importance of the theme as there is no subject upon hinking men are content to uch ignorance, as the laws e in" the human body. Nos, we apprehend, can explain rtunes which have been so by the ignorant venders of nes to such confiding crowds We ourselves knew one of ul but ignorant class, who, g a handsome fortune by one ied prematurely, as his qualiattendant affirmed, through ice of the commonest laws of nach; and yet myriads had with theirs! We suppose must have had such cases in he penned the hideous scene which father and son, both tors, administered their poitudes, and destroyed them öllischen Latwergen. The Va Wagner that all this was done ance, amidst the gratitude of But the ethical bearings of our subject are, perhaps, the most important of all. The melancholy stories of insanity which have been connected with, and traced up to religion, demand such a clear statement of what insanity is, and does, or may occasion, as shall free man's noblest and best earthly heritage from so dreadful an accusation. And, fortunately, such statements have been made by those who were not only experimental Christians, but also experimental men of science; and on this subject we ourselves should not care to abide by the judgment of either the theoretic Christian or the theoretic man of science. We turn, in the first place, to the work which stands second at the head of this article. Dr. Cheyne, in his Essays, thus records his professional opinion: "That mental derangement may originate in superstition or fanaticism-by either of which, behind a visor of religious zeal, all sobriety of mind is invaded, to the interruption of social and domestic duties-will be understood by those who know that insanity, in the predisposed, may arise from any cause that excites, at the same time that it agitates, the mind. But that true religion which removes doubts and distractions, explains our duties, and reconciles us t den Gift an Tausende gegeben, to them, and teaches that all things work toin, ich muss erleben frechen Mörder lobt." gether for good to them that love God; and thus not only guides, but supports us, as we toil through the weary maze of life; which, in xperience of very many can every pursuit, demands moderation and method, rely-ailing bodies to similar-that true religion should be productive of inphysical laws. We have sanity, is not easily credible, and would require ed, therefore, whether some the clearest evidence."-Page 131. nowledge of the structure of body should not enter into tion. We think it was Milested, in his book on educay student should at least be nage his digestive organs; this, such elementary inforbe given as to the structure as would save many in after tampering with its functions with the certain penalty bethe mournful end of the the inmate of the lunatic Again, he elsewhere expresses himself thus: "We firmly believe that the Gospel, received simply, never, since it was preached, produced a single case of insanity; the admission that it has such a tendency ought never to have been conceded to the enemies of the Cross. We have granted that fanaticism and superstition have caused insanity, as well they may; nay, decaused by the terrors of the law; rangement of the mind may often have been but by the Gospel-by a knowledge of and trust in Jesus -never."-Page 144. mony of Dr. Moore is to puncture in the skin, in consequence of Thus we read: which he well nigh lost his life. From the time of his illness, from which he slowly recovered, it was observed that he was morose and selfish. The conclusion of this short history is remarkable. Several years afterward, the same individual came under the influences of godliness, and one of the first effects of this-the only principle of true reform-was an act of great generosity; and ever after his life was a course of gentleness and unostentatious benevolence. ion is a frequent cause of inreligion is the spirit of love, of a sound mind; ever active es and delights, and always ng manner, and in a decent ld notions, unmeaning super>ondage, unrequired and forceremonies which wayward ed for the liberty of God, bece and end in darkness."over the Body, p. 296. ngth of such testimony as l guide can confidently, and shrinking misgivings, any case occurring withrience to its true causes, tset casting aside the eleas encumbering it, howant or interested persons oduce it. It is the principle implied in this, that in other exhibitions bears out the opinion quoted with approbation by Dr. Moore, that "it has been said, and probably with truth, that food has a higher bearing on the mind than on the physical frame of man." It has been shown experimentally, that the mind can only exert its powers through the instrumentality of the bodily organs. If the nerves which convey sensation be compressed, there will be no perception of bodily qualities; if the brain be compressed, thought will be suspended; if the nerves of motion be compressed, the will can no longer command them. And from the doctrine deducible from such facts as these, it follows, that every fresh inroad upon the mind, every example of amentia, delusion, or insanity, is connected with some corresponding change in the condition of the body. Dr. Cheyne remarks, that he never saw a case of mental derangement, even when traceable to a moral career, in which there was not reason to believe that bodily disease could have been detected before the earliest aberration, had an opportunity offered for examination." And the same highly religious and scientific authority adds, "Not only does every deranged state of the intellectual faculties and the natural affections depend upon bodily disease, but also derangements of the religious and moral sentiments originate in diseases of the body." Hence it can be explained, that the sinking of despair is not more dreadful or extreme than the hopelessness which depends merely upon the disease of the nervous system. But what warnings are conveyed by such facts to him, who, instead of mastering his appetites, the indulgence of which is the fruitful parent of so many diseases, is mastered by them! ceeding to illustrate supeligious insanity, we will iritual condition is influers of the body. By ininfluences of food and nd, we soon discover the es for self-denial, and learn oncerning the nature and ponsibility. The comfort f the intellect, nay, the , manliness, and virtue of d greatly on our use of in the very means by the strength of the body, disorder its functions, we e either fortify or disable of course known, that the of man depends upon his ess known how much the pends upon the physical changes in the temper re introduced by physical example, which truly ilay be fairly accepted as ciple, and with this view es of the following mediIf the human body is distrefaction takes place, the uts himself, or if he has a in his hand, is in danger m the dead body a somequently destructive of life. , a medical gentleman, of amiable disposition, while dissection of a body, imn referred to through a Perhaps it may startle some to be told that even the conscience, which is popu larly su all inde affected howeve dispute indulge spirits, cotics, partly f mental juriously also kno tion by them in who w honest through last have seared Again system a changes. |