of my time? Does it help me or hurt me in the process of self-cultivation ? Is it a relaxation or a temptation? Does it relieve or dissipate my mind? Is it perfectly innocent? And if innocent now, will it be so by and by; or if innocent to my neighbour, is it so to me? And how is it with regard to this fashion? Is it only one of the varieties of taste, or is it in itself preposterous? Can I afford to adopt it? Will a compliance with one of the caprices of the day be of no injurious consequence to my health, my real comfort, or my fortune? And, finally, will a participation in any engagement, amusement, or fashion, which is presented to me by the consent of those about me, make me less respectable in my own eyes, and less worthy in the sight of the omniscient and omnipresent Judge ? Considerations of this sort we should bring before us very often in our intercourse with the world; for if we do not, we shall be very apt to slide into that easy, careless habit above mentioned, and be ready to receive whatever comes with the broad seal of society affixed to it, and join in with a multitude, whichever way they are flocking. That the want of that reflection and discrimination, the importance of which we have been urging, is quite a common want, may be perceived in the conversation of numbers, who, from the way in which they talk, evidently entertain the conviction, that there really is no authority above and beyond the general voice and example, and no such duty as that of examining, for themselves, the validity of the world's law and the propriety of an established usage, before they consent to them, and obey them. It never seems to have entered their heads that a custom of fair repute is a thing to be questioned or sifted, or compared with any thing else; and by the unsuspecting, definitive manner in which they say 'It is the fashion,' you see that their meaning is the same as if they had said, "It is right, and of complete and final obligation.' Hence it is that old practices are suffered to continue, till some who are wiser than others take up the task of examining them, and then it is found, perhaps, and acknowledged, that these practices had been preying on the vitals and drinking up the life-blood of the community. Was not this the case with many of the details, for instance, connected with the prevalent vice of intemperance? Twenty years ago, nobody thought of inquiring into and arraigning the custom of display ing and using a variety of spirituous liquors at all times, in all forms, and on all occasions, before dinner, and with dinner, and after dinner, and in the evening, and just before bedtime, and for all meetings of men, even those which solemnized the obsequies of the dead. Though the mournful victims of excess were everywhere about us, no one thought of tracing the ruin, in part, at least, to the simple fact, that the means of excess were everywhere about us, too, thrust into our way, and by ourselves thrust into the way of others, as an indispensable mark of hospitality and kindness, wherever we could turn. This was the universal custom, and therefore, as in our sleepy, dreaming state we concluded, it was all right. But presently some of us woke up, and woke others up, and we began to see that it was all wrong, and that it was a mistake to have supposed that the general practice could have ever made it right. Thus it has been with all past reformations, and thus it will probably be, in time, with some present practices, which we think we must follow, or at any rate allow to exist, because they have never been probed and investigated. Hereafter they will be tested, and their vanity or iniquity be fully revealed, and they will be discountenanced and repudiated. Then it will be found that the circumstances of society have been changed, and how changed? Changed, we answer, by the reflections of the thoughtful, the examinations of the discerning, the comparisons instituted by the wise and good between the ways of the world and the laws of reason and of God. Some men have changed the habits and practices of other men, and there is a better general example than there was before, and this is a change of circumstances. Thinking men, and virtuous and religious men, owning a supreme law, have taken circumstances into their own hands, and have changed them. If they had been left entirely in the hands of the unreflecting and the vicious, of those whose only law was the law of passion or of custom, they would never have been changed, except from bad to worse, and from one folly to another. The first step in the treatment of circumstances, then, is the cultivation of a habit of thinking, examining, and comparing for ourselves. With this habit to befriend us, we shall be little likely to follow the multitude to do evil blindly, because it will be a usual inquiry with us, whither they are going, what is the direction of their path, and where will be its end. In the second place, having measured the general example or custom by the eternal standard, and found it deficient; having examined circumstances by the true and steady light, and determined that they are corrupt and baneful, it becomes our duty to act up to our convictions with courage and per severance. It is no easy thing to withstand the general rush of long perverted opinion; no easy thing to face out reiterated discharges from the battery of ridicule; no easy thing to be content to be called singular, and visionary, and romantic, and millenial; no easy thing to dare the hazard of being dragged into the newspapers. But all this must be done and dared, if we are going to do our duty as good members of society and opposers of vicious practices and customs. Then we must sometimes be ready to appear to be interfering with the rights and domains of others, observe that we say, appear to be interfering, for really to interfere with them, is a sin great enough to vitiate the merit of our best intentions. But the hosts of wickedness, the tempters of youth, the doorkeepers of the house of death, when they see their base interests in danger, are always ready to talk of their rights, and place themselves in the predicament of injured and persecuted citizens. And what are their rights? the rights, we mean, about which they make all this pretension? They are, almost universally, rights to do wrong, which, to say the best of them, are very imperfect rights. And why may not an honest man, who feels that his happiness is going to wreck all about him, through the exercise of such rights, say to those people, "Sirs, I do not recognise your rights. You have no right to entice away, by the preparation of the most dangerous blandishments, from duty, from happiness, from home, and from me, those who are dearer to me than life. You have no right to sell poison and death to my children, even for the support of your own. And if I can find a way, a legal way, of breaking down the intrenchments which you call your rights, my wrongs call on me to take it, and I shall take it. Be virtuous, sirs, be honorable, be innocent, and then your rights will be perfect ones, and no one will be disposed to molest them, no one can take them away." If true Christian courage will prompt some to go forward, and say such things, the same courage should prompt others to support them and countenance them. And it must either 37 VOL. XIV. N. S. VOL. IX. NO. III. be an unworthy temporizing, or a strange mode of reasoning which could allow us to hold back, and leave the bold few alone. For our own poor part, we hope we shall always have the heart and mind to say in behalf of those who now or at any time are boldly and lawfully advancing any real, generous reform, here or elsewhere, we hope we shall always have the heart and mind to say, in public and private, in the pulpit and in the closet, for our own sake and for our children's sake, "God speed them, and God bless them!" But we must be prudent, considerate, rational, and careful, surely, as well as courageous. If we are not, indeed, our courage will probably be of small avail. We have already said, that abuses, customs, fashions, and prevalent notions must be examined; and we can hardly do this without acquiring thoughtfulness, and a habit of looking at things on all sides. A restless, meddlesome, prying temper, never at ease, and never suffering others to be at ease, is not the best calculated for changing circumstances and effecting improvement. There are some who are fond of busying themselves with the private and domestic concerns of their neighbours; who intrude their advice, and perhaps their embarrassing help, where they are not asked, and are not wanted; who like to get up an excitement, if it is only to have something to do, to show themselves, or to get their names printed. This petty, meddlesome disposition, ought to be discountenanced, as it commonly is. It is very different from the judicious, energetic, brave spirit, which arrays itself against evil circumstances, and alone can resist them with any permanent success. And finally, the very best rule, as a universally applicable one, for the resistance of evil circumstances, is, the silent and steady opposition to them which each one who pleases may manifest in his own behaviour and life. There are those, singular as it may seem, who are exceedingly sensitive to the extravagances and follies of the times, and declaim much against false notions and absurd fashions, and yet go along with them all, in their own practice, exactly the same as if they were entirely pleased with them. Such conduct as this, is not only no help, but a great hindrance to improvement. We must be reformers and puritans at home. Let a man take care of himself in the first place, and of those over whom he has a natural and just influence in the second place, and his and their life will of itself be of incalculable benefit to the good cause. If a fashion or custom appears to you a bad one, follow it not, adopt it not, keep it away from your own doors, let it not take a seat by your own hearthstone, and then your own resistance, your own simplicity, your own prudence, must have some influence, and if they should have none, you and yours will be blameless of the great offence, and that surely is something, is everything, to creatures holding themselves accountable to God, and looking for a righteous judgment. [For the Christian Examiner.] ART. II. A Chapter of Intellectual Philosophy. The Final Cause of the Inequality between our Powers of Conception and Execution. THAT discontents and inquietudes make an inseparable part of our present lot, is proverbial. That these discontents and inquietudes are expressly designed to accomplish results magnificently good, and are, therefore, to be regarded as blessings instead of curses, is quite generally overlooked. One source of disquiet has not, I apprehend, attracted its due share of attention, namely, the disproportion existing between our intelligent and our active nature. This disproportion is very striking. It fixes a great gulf between our reason, which sees, and our will, which exe cutes. In the wisest and It is, too, a universal disproportion. best of men, the power of performance lingers far behind the faculty of perception. Fast and far as they may climb the heights of excellence, not the less above them may they behold 66 Alps on Alps, on mountains mountains rise." The principle holds as well in small things as in great. How earnestly soever we strive to execute our purpose, to clothe our conception in visible form, when it stands up completed before us, we are smitten with disappointment. We do not own the work of our hands to be a fair represen - |