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L. S.

BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the twenty-first day of March, Anno Domini, 1831, & Co. of the said District, have deposited in this office the title of a Book, the title of which is in the words following, to wit:"The Flements of Mental and Moral Philosophy, founded upon Experience, Reason, "and the bible" the right whereof they claim as i roprietors, in conformity with an act of Congress, entitled "An act to amend the several acts respecting Copy Rights." , Clerk of the District of

PREFACE.

WHEN a philosopher has a new and curious piece of mechanism submitted to his inspection, if consistent with his profession, he begins to investigate these particulars. How is it constructed? For what purpose is it made? Is it in perfect order so as to answer the design of the contriver, or is it disarranged? If disordered, what is the process for rectifying it? How is it to be used, so as to accomplish the object for which it is formed? Who is its contriver? Is there any communication from him, to give any light on these subjects? If so, what information is to be obtained from this source? And what are the deductions of reason, from observation, and from the information given by the author of this contrivance?

Mind, is the most splendid, powerful, and astonishing contrivance, that ever engaged the attention of man; a machine with complicated faculties, that are eternally to exist and to act with sublime and ever increasing power. With it has come a communication, inscribed by the hand of the Divine Contriver, and stamped with the ensignia of his authority. In this record is revealed its origin, the object of its construction, the nature of its present operations, the mode by which the object of its contrivance can be secured, and the consequences which will result from pursuing, and from neglecting the mode pointed out.

In examining the works of Mental Philosophers, certain singular and painful deficiencies, cannot but be felt, by every

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