propositions. Primitive propositions (like primitive judgments) express the relations of concrete things. Language expresses our primitive judgments first in the form of primitive propositions: but by the aid of the faculty of abstraction, these judgments are gradually generalised, and then the corresponding propositions become general and abstract. Again, by the faculty of abstraction we separate the elements of a proposition in order to consider them separately: these elements are abstract ideas. Thus, in the development of the understanding, we begin with judgment; then follow propositions; and last of all we have abstract ideas: judgments are formed by the faculty of judgment, one of the original functions of the mind.

We have observed that primitive judgments expressed in language are called propositions, or it may be axioms. Now it is important to bear in mind that these abstract representative forms involve nothing more than what is contained in the primitive forms. When you tell a child (with your "subject, copula, and predicate") that "A rose is beautiful," you tell him nothing but what he previously knew and apprehended in the form of a primitive judgment; this is what you really do,-you show him how to express his primitive judgments in language, and thereby show him how he may give fixedness and precision to his intuitive cognitions; that is, how he may give to his silent thoughts and emotions “ a local habitation and a name."

The law regulating the acquisition of knowledge is this: we cognise the concrete before the abstract, the concrete being the simple, the abstract the difficult. Primitive judgments formed in connection with the sensations derived from concrete things, precede abstract representations and processes requiring the exercise of abstract judgment and reason. A child judges of the colour of an object before he has formed any abstract idea of colour; he judges of the relation of numbers before he has formed any idea of number apart from its concrete representations; he judges of form before he has any cognition of the abstract definitions of form, and so on. Primi

tive judgments form the basis of all our knowledge, whether of abstractions or of processes of reasoning. An axiom is an abstract expression of a primitive judgment formed in relation to the perception of actual objects ; these judgments exist in the mind and form the subjects of perfect cognition before they are regarded in their axiomatic form. Thus, for example, a child would not understand you, if you were to tell him, that two and three make five in consequence of the axiom, that the whole is equal to the sum of its parts; but he would think and reason in accordance with it if three objects › and two objects were placed before him in order that he might ascertain their sum.

Primary education begins with the culture of our intuitive perceptions; this culture chiefly consists, in affording occasions and stimulants for their development, and in fixing them in the mind by means of representative language: this is what we mean by the cultivation of the perceptive faculties. Hence object lessons, picture lessons, &c., constitute the best forms of early culture.

To enlarge on this subject, at present, is unnecessary, enough has been said to render manifest the general truth,—that the young mind, at every stage of its development, is more or less influenced by the culture of the primitive or perceptive faculties.

CLASSIFICATION OF THE FACULTIES OF THE MIND. The mind has INTELLECT, FEELING, and WILL. We think, we feel, we act, that is to say we have thoughts and feelings, and we have also the power of controlling our thoughts and feelings. Hence our internal phenomena comprehend INTELLECT, FEELINGS or EMOTIONS, and WILL. The ideal type of the human soul (the image of God) consists in the full and harmonious development of these three elements; the intellect, in this perfect state of development, is characterised by FREEDOM OF THOUGHT; the emotions by BENEVOLENCE or LOVE; and the will by UNRESTRICTED POWER. Under proper culture (with the blessing of God), the soul gradually assimilates

itself to this perfect state of development. It is true, that in the present world, we may never reach this ideal state of development, nevertheless we may be constantly tending towards it.

The strength and activity of a faculty depend on the force of the will which animates it; and in like manner, the character of our emotions is determined by the active force of the will. If we want to ascertain the stage of development of the intellectual and moral faculties we must look to the state of the will as regards its freedom: this is the true index to all the other operations of the mind. In infancy, when the faculties are feeble, there is little or no voluntary power; the mind is chiefly governed by instincts and intuitions. On the other hand, as we acquire more and more intellectual and moral power, so we gain more and more force of will. Our acts (intellectual as well as moral) are determined by actuating principles; that is to say, by motives, by habits, and by instincts. Our force of will and thought is evidenced by the character of our actuating principles.

Four distinct Stages of Development.

There are four phrases in our language which have reference to four characteristic or distinct stages of mental activity: I perceive the thing; I have a conception of the thing; I know or understand the thing; and I can prove the thing. The faculties called into operation in the first act may be named the PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES; those in the second, the CONCEPTIVE or REPRESENTATIVE FACULTIES; in the third, THE KNOWING FACULTIES or the faculties of the understanding; and in the fourth, THE REASONING FACULTIES. These four classes of faculties characterise four distinct stages of intellectual development. Co-ordinate with these four intellectual stages we have also four distinct stages of development of the emotions and will. The first intellectual stage is marked by a maximum of sensibility with a minimum force of will; the second by a diminution of sensibility with an increase

of the force of will; the third by a further diminution of sensibility with a further increase of the force of will; and the fourth by a minimum of sensibility with a maximum force of will. These four stages then respectively comprehend the condition of the intellect, the emotions, and the will; that is, of the whole mind. All the functions of the mind, more or less developed, exist in these different stages; at the same time it must be understood that one stage gradually merges into that which succeeds it. These stages of development separately exist under a condition of transition and assimilation. The commencement of each is marked by the birth of a new faculty which had previously existed only in a latent or embryo form. They are distinguished from one another by the peculiar activity of the faculty which characterises each; and they are mutually connected by the necessity of a certain amount of simultaneous action and development.*

The classification of the intellectual and moral faculties

*The following mode of representation may aid the conception in realising the mutual relations of these stages of development.

Human intelligence, in its different forms of development, is intermediate between the animal organism, the zero of intelligence, and the infinite. Between the zero of intelligence and the infinite there are four ascending stages, respectively continuous, but each joined to the one which succeeds it by an abrupt line of connection indicating the explicit development of a new power. At each step of the ascent, we approach the infinite and recede from the zero. At the base of these four ascending stages or platforms of development, we place the line which marks the level of the animal organism. Ascending from this base line, we have the first stage of development which marks the region of Intuition: somewhat abruptly this stage connects itself with the second stage of development, which marks the region of representation, and so on, until we arrive at the most elevated stage of human development, the region of thought and reflection, which continually approaches the line of infinite elevation without ever reaching it. However high human intelligence may rise in the region of thought, it must always be infinitely removed from the infinite intelligence, the image of God; but the first stage of human intelligence in its descent approaches nearer and nearer, until it is indefinitely near to the zero of intelligence, the animal organism.

here proposed, is distinctly exhibited in the following tabular forms,

I. CLASSIFICATION OF THE FACULTIES OF THE MIND AS A WHOLE.

2nd. Stage.

Sensation. Perception. Attention. Observation. Retention. Primitive judgment or intuitive perception.

The Conceptive or Representative. ¡Memory. Imitation.

Representative

faculties.

Conception. Imagination. Association. Recollection. Representation as exhibited in language. Primi. tive judgment associated with conception.