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MISCELLANEOUS COMMUNICATIONS
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Untitled Article
( 269 )
Miscellaneous Communications
MISCELLANEOUS COMMUNICATIONS
Untitled Article
by the mind , or arbitrarily imposed by mistake , and subsisting merely in our own perceptions . And again , if any thing intervenes and makes a sensible impression it will sometimes put a stop to the for . mer train of ideas and introduce
new ones into their room , or awaken our minds when at rest to activity and reflection . These are the common rules by wbich the operation of the mind is conducted , and these are the principles b y which we may trace most of our thoughts to their first spring . But there seems to be an exceptionable phenomenon which
cannot easily be accounted for this way ; for when the attention is relaxed , or entirely lost , other thoughts , quite foreign to the subject that had been uiuler consideration , will intrude and leave us ignorant of the cause tba . t could have so unseasonably excited them .
They need no further definition , for even the most studious and close thinker is not an entire stranger to them ; but if they frequently recur they are certain signs of an uncultivated , careless ,
and irregular mind . It is the peculiarity of these to be instantaneous , seemingly unconnected , and often uncommon . And if together with these qualities they contain a noble sentiment of piety ,
they arc sometimes taken tor supernatural suggestions ; but if they can be tolerably well accounted for another way , there will be no need of having recourse to this supposition . Perhaps the nature of the subject will not admit of a
Untitled Article
The Suggestion of Instantaneous Thoughts accounted for upon Natural Principle s * ( Delivered at the Academy , at Daventry , October , 1778 . ) By the late ^ . ev . Benjamin Davis , of Eveshani . There are many mysteries
relating to the human mind whicht always have been , and probably , in the present state of imperfection , ever will remain , inexplicable ; among these might be classed its nature and the particular man . uer of its operation . We can only in general , by consulting our consciousness , know thai there is a power lodged
within us capable of reflection and improvement , and by attention , we can observe the rules by which us ordinary functions are performer ! ; but by what necessity the mind submits to any laws for the production of thoughts we are at a loss to conceive .
Considering these as matters of speculation , the chief advantage resulting from the study of these general rules , though we may be utterly ignorant of their essential tendency , is , that they may throw
light upon some subjects that have a relation to them . We know that in general by closely attending to any subject we advance step by step from one thought to another , and that the preceding
suggests the following : thus are our ininds exercised in a continual succession of ideas . At these times there is either a natural or a forced connection between them ; i . e . either inherent ia the things themselves and justly 'apprehended
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1814, page 269, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2440/page/13/
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