The Kansas herald of freedom., 1855-03-10
The Power of Mind.

strictly speaking, predicabie OF nothinS
but mind. We are exceedingly apt to
lose sight ofthis truth, in considering the
different phenomena of the natural world
We say that the storm, the lightning, and
the tornado are powerful; but where
would be their power were the Omnipo-
tent Mind to be withdrawn =? We say of
the man who isa giant in muscular strength
that his arm is mighty; but where is Its
power when the spirit takes its fight ?
That arm that was raised in terror is now
nerveless and innocent, and the insignifi-
cant worm proudly triumphs over it.
Power, like the mind to which it be-
longs, is indestructible. Physical disor-
ganization may impede its action, but it
cannot annihilatc it. There is power
even in the mind Of an idiot. 1t may be
fettered, like Sampson, with cords for a
season. but it only waits for proper time
the time that God has appointed
when, like him, it will burst those cords,
and rise with native, unobstructed free
dom.
But there is within us, in addition to
this locomotive power, one of a much
higher grade. Itis the power of thought
thought that gives to man dominion
over the beasts of the field, the birds of
the air, and the fish of the sea-thought
the mighty instrument that moves the af-
fairs of this world Look at its achieve
ments |! What has it not done? 1t has
embodied itself in language, and found
the means of its own preservation, so that
the thoughts of ages past become the
thought of this. 1t has triumphed over
the elements, and made them subserye
its own advancement. 1t has navigated
the ocean, and girted the earth in spite
of difficulty. 1t has leveled mountains,
elevated valleys, and brought the ends of
the world into neighborhoOd. 1t has tow
cred above the storm, scaled the heavens,
and, laying its hand upon the forked light
ming, has borne away in triumph its ter
rife fangs. Disdaining the tedious COM
munication by means of steam. and fly
ing away on magnetic wires. with light
ming speed, it has linked together distant
cities, and made them one. 1t has ana
lyzed and classified the rocks, the plants,
the birds, the water, and the fish, of the
present and of past ages. Not content
with exploring the surface, it has entered
the deep cayerns of the earth by the vol
cano's crater and investigated the phe-
nomenon of those great respirators of ma
ture, and determined the laws which reg
ulate the earthquakes shock; and thus,
with the familiarity of the schoolboy with
his ball, it calls the earth its own. The
deeds of noble daring which poets have
sung have been achieved, and sung, too,
by the power Of thought. 1t gives skill
to the sculptor's chisel. 1t is the orator. S
spell-binding influence. 1t is music $
melody, and the poets fire. Such is the
power of thought, and such its achieve
ments. What it is yetdestined to accom-
|plish we may not say. True, in some re-
spects it is limited; but in others its lim-
its, if il have any, have never yet been
found. Mind is on the advance. There
never was time when exulting science
gazed on more or brighter trophies than
at the present. And yet it may be, that
all that the wise have known as yet, in
comparison of what may still be known,
is as if they had been playing, as New
ton said of himself, with the pebbles on
the shore of the great ocean of truth
Yes, the march of thought is onward in
the direction of those unknown limits
And other generations, borne, on by it,
power TO higher stand than that of the
present, may talk of discoveries within
the field of their vision which do no
come within the range of ours.
Such is the power of all. One may
bury it up, or, by energetic and patient
application, call it forth, and give it wing,
for almost any flight. 1t may require
long days and years of unremitting labor
but the result, when science shall brin.
her trophies, and lay them at his feet. anc
the exultant heart shall swell with rapture
more noble than that of the hero of the
battlefield when his eye surveys the
achievements ofh his valor, will repay hin
for his toii.-Rev. ". T. HaHosc.