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The Free Mind

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 7, 1870

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 35, No. 25.

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The Free Mind.

BRO. SMITH: If you deem best, please send forth the following noble words of that profound statesman, Channing. They breathe the spirit and power of present truth in pointing out true moral worth; and no appreciative mind can fail to be benefited by their careful perusal. H. G. B.
“I call that mind free, which masters the senses; which protects itself against the animal appetites; which penetrates beneath the body, and recognizes its own reality and greatness. I call that mind free which escapes the bondage of matter; which instead of stopping at the material universe and making it a prison wall, passes beyond it to its Author, and finds in the radiant signatures which the universe everywhere bears of the Infinite Spirit, helps to its own spiritual enlargement.”
“I call that mind free, which sets no bounds to its love; which recognizes in all human beings the image of God and the rights of his children; which delights in virtue and sympathizes with suffering wherever they are seen; which conquers pride, anger, and sloth, and offers itself up a willing victim to the cause of humanity.”
“I call that mind free, which is not passively framed by outward circumstances; which is not swept away by the torrent of events; which is not the creature of accidental impulse, but which bends events to its own improvement, and acts from an inward spring, from immutable principles which it has deliberately espoused.”
“I call that mind free, which protects itself against the usurpations of society, which does not cower to human opinion, which feels itself accountable to a higher than man's, which respects a higher than fashion, which reverences itself too much to be the slave or tool of the many or the few.”
“I call that mind free, which through confidence in God and in the power of virtue has cast off all fear but that of wrong doing, which no menace or peril can enthrall, which is calm in the midst of tumults, and possesses itself though all else be lost.”
“Finally, I call that mind free, which, conscious of its affinity with God, and confiding in his promises by Jesus Christ, devotes itself faithfully to the unfolding of all its powers, which transcends the bounds of time and death, which hopes to advance forever, and which finds inexhaustible power, both for action and suffering, in the prospect of immortality.”