Lectures to Sabbath School Teachers on Mental Cultivation; Delivered at the Odeon, in Boston, September, 1838

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1839. Excerpt: ... THE CULTIVATION OF THE MIND. A More interesting assembly I have never been called to address. It is not a collection of individuals seeking after selfish interests and preferments; nor yet is it a classof aged persons, whose day of action has nearly gone down; but it is an assembly of the young and the middleaged, yet in the full freshness and vigor of their powers, who have turned aside from their ordinary pursuits to train up the rising generation for the everlasting kingdom of God. Sensible of the greatness and the difficulty of your work, you have come up hither to inquire how you may best qualify yourselves to perform it. Earnestly have I wished, while attempting to prepare for this occasion, that some more competent person had been selected for the task. But such as I have been able to produce, in the short time which I could devote, I freely commit to your indulgent consideration. The most valuable of all created objects is the human mind. It is the crown of this creation, and that for which, subservient to the divine glory, the world was made. Unlike all other created objects under the skies, it was made in the image of God; is the eye of the universe; is capable of knowing and worshipping its Creator; is destined to survive the wreck of time and live forever; is capable of an eternal progression in knowledge; is the accountable subject of a righteous moral government; and is endowed with capacities for moral happiness or misery, to be enjoyed or suffered as long as the throne of righteousness shall endure.. Its eternal destiny is to be determined by its moral character; and its character is formed during this period of probation, and, according to the Scriptures, is to be unalterably fixed, as to any radical change, as soon as the seal of eternit...