Knowledge and Intellectual Habits considered.

is this species of selfishness cherished and manifested. In Christian communities, there are to be found persons who, with ample means of doing good, perform no act of beneficence. Penurious feelings and parsimonious habits are No record their dishonourable distinctions. of their beneficence is ever to be discovered. They lay up treasure for themselves, but are "No man liveth to not rich towards God. himself," is a Christian maxim which they entirely subvert. The deception must be great, and the illusion strong, which can permit persons whose cherished habits are those of covetousness, to regard themselves as examples of In the Christian law, Christian influence. there are no compulsory statutes, as in the Hebrew code, which can be enforced to induce compliance with its requirements; but no temporal sanctions are to be compared with those which furnish the professors of Christ's religion with motives of conduct. Where those sanctions are acknowledged, it is reasonable to expect the proof of their efficiency. But how shall it be believed that a professor of the Christian Faith is living in the expectation of being united with those "who have done good," and who "shall come forth to the resurrection of life," whose temper and whose acts are a negation of benevolent principles, and who, with ample means of doing good, lives in selfishness, the slave of avarice? Why should there be any hesitation in pronouncing upon his character as "condemned already?"

From the Imperial Magazine. KNOWLEDGE AND INTELLECTUAL HABITS CONSIDERED IN RELATION TO HUMAN LIFE.

1. THOSE ancients deserved praise who claimed for the human soul the honours of immortality and moral dignity, which had nearly faded from their view. It was their lot to sound with some little success the deep of speculation, that they might find solid ground for their anchor; and they sought a sheltering haven, where, protected by the shores of truth, the vessel of their forebodings and anticipations might remain in security. We therefore contemplate Socrates, Plato, and their followers, with respect; because their philosophy directed the soul, steeped in the bitterness which distils from decayed bodily strength and beauty, to the fountains whence flow streams of mental excellence,-even knowledge, wisdom, temperance.

The enlightened Christian knows well how vast were the deficiencies in their knowledge. It has been said that the Christian faith is the perfection of human intelligence. This is certain, that Revelation alone could divulge the truths whose influence sanctifies and elevates the mind; and that the comparative perfection to which human intellect can attain in the present stage of existence, was not discovered until He stood upon the earth, who is the way, the truth, and the life. It might, therefore, seem useless in the present age to discourse on mental cultivation, since the means, duty, Rel. Mag.-No. 6.

545

and effects of improving our understandings
are so manifest; but observation shows, that
however manifest, they are not always com-
pulsory; and it is often important to bring to
our minds known truths, that their impress
may be deeper. For this reason, the following
observations on some of the motives and influ-
ences of intellectual culture and habits may be
acceptable. The effects of knowledge and in-
tellectual habits are not separated in these re-
marks, because the habits referred to are ac-
quired in the pursuit of knowledge.

2. Amongst the various lessons which man
is taught by the economy of the natural world,
the necessity of employing his faculties upon
the proper subjects of their operation, in order
to promote his happiness and exalt his nature,
is not the least important. Animals of the in-
ferior kinds have internal mechanism, which
ministers to their vital energy; but they must
seek the perfection to which they are destined
to arrive, from sources external to themselves.
They have pastures in which to riot or repose,
and their various instincts are met at every
turn of their course; otherwise, the energy
would cease to command, and the mechanism
to obey. The eternal Creator has ordained,
that they should thus be connected with his
other works, and has introduced them into cir-
cumstances to which their very being has a
necessary relation." Who hath sent out the wild
ass free? or who hath loosed the bands of the
wild ass? whose house I have made the wilder-
ness, and the barren land his dwelling. The
range of the mountains is his pasture, and he
searcheth after every green thing."

If we consider the planetary system, of which the earth is a part, we see the same principle of connexion exemplified in another and more extraordinary manner. Take, for instance, the circumstances which relate to our earth. Has she light and heat, and seasons, in herself? The answer to this question Yonder golden orbs, whilst they perpoints to a source whence those blessings flow upon us. form their illustrious rounds, each with its proper motion, according to certain laws, in certain periods, and beam mildly in the eye of man, are connected by invisible links of friendly attraction, and go on their way rejoicing in mutual fellowship.

Another example of the dependence of one part of nature on another, is presented in the vegetable world. Faith drops into the ground seeds which are expected to spring up, and to become the children of a fruitful season; and warmth, moisture, and the virtues of the sult. ground, are all necessary to produce such a re

It is thus with man. He possesses natural intellectual powers; and these must be exercised upon those means of improvement, those objects of attention with which he is environed, that they may be confirmed and matured. These powers may, indeed, by reflection, be themselves subjects of meditation; but in this case fancy places them at a distance, and they are viewed as separate, independent, and almost external objects of contemplation. Man has natural sensibilities; and these must be brought into contact with all that is excellent, whether in material forms, or the productions 3 Z

bears the same relative superiority to ignorance. Genius and wisdom, when known and proved, claim universal homage from men of their own day, as well as from those who shall come after. This has been carried so far, as sometimes to injure truth. The influence which great names have on the multitude is well known: they are so many points of suspension, from which the chain of public opinion depends; it is possible for a celebrated man, by a single aphorism, to wield the passions and the judgments of the majority. What man, however, but he whose spirit soars to the heaven of invention, or wholly possesses some rich paradise in the region of unbounded science, can dare to pretend to such distinctions?

of intellect, that the mind may imbibe nourish-demned vice as such. Superior knowledge ment. In fact, all objects in nature, with which we are acquainted, are encircled and penetrated by an energy which communicates, through the medium of contemplation, an increase of development to our faculties; and there can be no doubt, that mental strength is acquired by bringing each rational power to act upon worthy subjects, for which it is fitted. If we were to trace the progress through which a curious, attentive, and well conducted mind rises from infancy to maturity, we should discover that a rich soil, into which that mind struck root, amassed from every fertile and available spot in the field of being, was continually being gathered around it; this fed its early growth, until it gradually attained a good degree of elevation, and spread its green and young branches; and this also continued to nourish and ripen its strength, until, standing at length in full luxuriance, it dropped its blossoms and fruits.

3. As we are taught by experience the necessity of seeking mental improvement in the exercise of our mental faculties, so that improvement is a sufficient reward for the toil required. For even if man's natural disposition had a tendency to sleep in careless apathy, and view every object with indifference, yet the prospect of some approximation towards the intellectual heights which he may ascend, ought surely to animate his wishes, and prompt his exertions, for so noble and happy a condition.

4. The circumstances in which an accomplished mind has been placed, as it acquired its treasures, and passed through every step of the accumulation, must certainly assist in forming the general character. Many of the difficulties which dismay an individual who is about to enter on a new and untried path of study, are illusive; when arrived at, they can scarcely be perceived. The circumstance which makes their appearance so formidable, is that they are viewed prospectively in combination, and array themselves as an assemblage of obstacles in simultaneous opposition; whereas it is for the most part necessary to combat only one at a time; and the natural powers, reinforced by means which most can command, may pass forward from successive conquests over every opponent, until they look back upon the field as complete masters. Now this habit may affect the conduct in other things; it may arm with steady resolution and unabated exer

enterprises of life. This is one instance in which a man's active tendencies may be wrought upon by his intellectual habits.

The consciousness of possessing extensive knowledge is also an urgent motive to mental cultivation. He who sees a combination of wheels and axles, and who knows the manner in which they are arranged, and the principletion against seeming and real difficulties in the from which the effect of a given power acting on the machine is calculated, has an internal satisfaction in the mastery which his mind holds over the object before him: he is conscious that his penetration has detected the contrivance of another's ingenuity. Such is not the case with him who is wholly ignorant of the causes which yield so much pleasure to the former: the machine appears to be comparatively of little excellence to him, if he views it only as an assemblage of material parts; or it will strike into his heart the mortifying regrets of ignorance, if he be compelled to admire without knowledge. This ignorant person, with respect to inward satisfaction, bears an inferiority to the good mechanician, equal to that which distinguishes a man, to whom every thing in nature is a mysterious agent, acting in a manner and for a purpose completely unknown, from him who is "in various nature wise.'

It is farther to be noted, that admiration and respect have always been rendered as a farther tribute to noble intellectual endowments, among all nations that have emerged from the shadows which barbarism and superstition, intercepting the light of science, throw upon the human mind. What an acute prelate has said concerning virtue compared with vice, may be applied to knowledge compared with ignorance. He thinks that virtue, cæteris paribus, will always prevail against vice; that mankind have ways reverenced virtue as such, and con

Causes of mental excitation exist in the scenes of nature. There is a state of mind characterized by calm enjoyment, and it is produced when the faculties repose with complacency upon certain objects, as the eye reposes. and would fain linger for ever, on grand or beautiful prospects. We may take an instance An indescribable sensation steals over an ob server, when, on a splendid night, he sees the moon travelling in quiet majesty through heaven; his delight seems as capacious and interminable as the "blue profound" in which the host of the sky perform their circuits, and his spirit rises to dignity when he beholds the glory of the material world. Such pleasure is not violent, but gently diffuses itself in "ambrosial rills" over the imagination. On the other hand, there is a state of mind characterized by more tumultuous joy. A storm in its most fearful commotions, the violence of breakers foaming around the shore, gleams of lightning athwart midnight darkness, and the thought that these instruments of terror may be pointed to effect desolation, are among the causes of that intense feeling which combines pleasure and dread.

The soul is thus influenced through the senses; and it is therefore important to a rational being, that this particular causation be controlled by judgment, and that it have no al

Knowledge and Intellectual Habits considered.

liance with ungoverned affections. The mental polity should be founded on laws, distinguished, like the moral laws of religion, by wisdom, goodness, and power; thereby possessing, in their construction, the benefit of all that is prudent in reason, virtuous in affection, and resolute in self-denial and active exertion. Moreover, since the perfection of his being is the end proposed to himself by a wise man, all his exertions in the sphere of religion and intellect, he rejects what debases, as inconsistent with this desire, which, as by magnetism, trembles to its attracting pole-the Supreme Good. In this is the advantage of a well-regulated understanding, that its light beams upon the forms of excellence breathing around, whilst it detects in their lurking places the hideous monsters of an erroneous philosophy, which makes nature minister to impiety, substitutes vice for virtue, and defrauds common sense of its just conclusions.

For these and other reasons, it is evident that a man's moral and intellectual principles are, if I may so express myself, like mathematical co-ordinates, by which the path of his behaviour may be ascertained, that his temperament may, by intellectual causes, (to be found in the nature of his studies, and the method according to which he pursues them,) be confirmed, modified, or counteracted; and that the ordinary tone of his feelings, the principles on which he admires, likes, judges, or censures, take some footing on the basis of his intellectual habits.

It

5. We may consider farther, that this men-
tal discipline has an influence on society, as
well as the individuals to whom it is immediate-
ly applied. The pleasure derived from litera-
ture is a branch which sympathy takes from
erudition, and engrafts into social life.
grows quickly under the warming and cherish-
ing rays of friendship, and appears most vivid
in the light of beneficence. Intellectual tastes,
which rise into magnitude with scientific at-
tainments, and are often the fruits of retired
contemplation, diverge from the mind where
they exist; they give part of their own charac-
ter to society by assimilation, and ever seeking
accessions of strength from kindly and conge-
nial sources, and shrinking with sensitive dis-
like from rude ignorance, they mould with
silent, but strong control, the partialities and
antipathies of social life.

Partiality and antipathy seem to be natural
genera, under which most of the different spe-
cies of human habits may be arranged; for it
is seldom that absolute indifference paralyzes
the human constitution, and closes the avenues
through which external influence makes its way
to the heart-these feelings may be excited
in the breast by every object which can be pro-
posed to our minds, whether animal, moral, or
intellectual; and if it be asked,-Why man is
placed under such an economy? a solution of
the question may be given in the words of the
great Locke: "We may find a reason why
God hath scattered up and down several de-
grees of pleasure and pain, in all the things |
That environ and affect us; and blended them.
together in almost all that our thoughts and
senses have to do with; that we, finding im-
perfection, dissatisfaction, and want of com-

547

plete happiness, in all the enjoyments which
the creatures can afford us, might be led to
seek it in the enjoyment of Him, with whom
there is fulness of joy, and at whose right hand
there are pleasures for evermore."

Each individual of the human race must be
considered as the centre of a sphere; and as
the rational beings within that circumference.
exerting attractive or repulsive powers on all
As this applies to every rational being, within
the sphere of each individual, it is evident, that
in the world an infinite number of desires and
respective influences. This being the case,
aversions cross each other, and mingle their
social happiness, which was rescued from the
diffuses a fragrance through the habitations of
scattering of " Eden's first bloom," and which
trol over the passions. And these breathe
mortality, can only be perfected by a wise con-
in the elements of desire or aversion; for
they imbibe with thirsty vehemence every
sweet draught that sparkles in pleasure's cup,
and care not for the consequences of such
which is not easily provoked, by sternly re-
luxury; or they violate that heavenly charity
buking from their presence every subject of

their dislike.

The

There is no power that charms with so much interest as friendship, which, in many instances, owes its birth to a coincidence of paridem nolle, id demum firma amicitia est." tialities and antipathies-" idem velle atque to rapture, were not annihilated by the death sympathies which swelled the soul of Cicero of his friends, but reached even to their immortality. He exclaimed with enthusiasm,-"O rum concilium cætumque proficiscar; cumque præclarum diem, cum ad illud divinum animoex hâc turbâ et colluvione discedem! proficiscar enim non ad eos solum viros, de quibus ante dixi, sed etiam ad Catonem meum.'

If, therefore, mental culture and intellectual tastes affect our partialities and antipathies, they affect our social existence; and it will readily be granted, that men do not lose who is an Archimedes in his closet will retain their intellectual in their social character. He of fortune, as that philosopher did amidst the his individual character amidst the concussions sacking of his native city; when he enters into company, he is still a mathematician, and each been treated by the poet, or the man whose subject of discussion, however it may have only gift is common sense, when it arrives at him, is made subservient to the peculiarities of his taste.

Mental associations were not wanting at the
which doubtless called to their recollection the
banquets of the ancients. The love of song,
deemed high and noble endowments, reigned
magnanimity of heroes, and what were then
among the guests. Homer paints their dispo-
sition, when he describes Ulysses, entertained
by king Alcinous, as professing with how
much delight the bard thrilled his soul.t
Αλκίνοε κρεῖον παντων ἀριδείκετε λαῶν,
Ητοι, μεν το δε καλόν ακουέμεν ἐστιν ἀοιδου
Τοιουδ', οἷος ὁδ ̓ ἐστι, θεοῖς ἐναλίγκιος αὐδην.

* Cicero de Senectute, c. 23.
+ Hom. Od. Lib. 9. e. 2.

Thus the interesting strain elevated their spirits to rapturous sentiments; imagination spread a warm and exhilarating hue over their festivities, and made the place of convivial meeting a rendezvous for mental delights.

ture's scenery, gives a winning charm to every visible object.

Perhaps the sway exerted over social life by intellectual peculiarities, and prepossessions of soul, in all their shades of difference, cannot be better illustrated than by the literary history of Johnson and his contemporaries. The flowing care which perfects and harmonizes the

gene

Now, he whose enlightened understanding has been often engaged in an inquiry into the works of that Being whom it is so important to love and fear; in scrutinizing the uses to which those works were destined by that great Eternal: in discovering their connexion with each other; and in admiring the superintendwhole,-will see the radiance of each grand, wise, and merciful attribute, beaming from all the creation of God. Thus, those principles may be strengthened in him, if he have them; or they may be generated, if he have them not: his own hallowed impressions will give testimony to the words of sacred writ, in reference to Jehovah-For that thy name is near, thy wondrous works declare. Whatever excellencies may be derived to the mind from the richness of nature's diversified scenes and operations, wondrous as they are to human understanding, and demonstrating, as they do, the invisible power and godhead of Him who made them all; in a Christian, those excellencies converge to a focus of piety, as rays of moral light, controlled by the medium of spiritual religion: you shall know a pious man almost as well by hearing him discourse on philosophy, as by hearing from his lips accents of thanks

of soul" never ceased to accompany and ferti-
lize their career, obstructed occasionally by the
weeds, often indeed dense and unyielding, of
human imperfection. Reader, trace in your
fancy the great moralist as he issued from his
abode, after his breakfast at a late hour of the
day, and directed his steps to the house of a
friend. Is religion the subject of conversation?
Then you cannot avoid thinking yourself in a
cathedral, and that you see the spirit of ortho-
doxy in palpable form, chasing away the remon-
strances of unconvinced opposition. We know
that such a man could not live without influ-
ence. The elements of his mind possessed
energy sufficient to transmute others, to whom
were allotted less natural decision, and who
willingly resigned the trouble and responsibility
of judging for themselves. Sophistry melted be-
fore the heat of his penetration; and it rarely
happened, that evident truth, which must
rally, and will at last prevail, courted his friend-giving and adoration.
ship in vain, and was compelled to retire cha-
grined at the refusal. His intellectual powers
met those who denied revelation, with stern
and uncompromising firmness: the snails of in-
fidelity drew in their boasted and terrible horns,
and hid their slime at the slightest touch of his
honest rebuke. He was indeed followed in
his course by the admiration and imitation of a
numerous class; some of whom, perhaps, fear-
ed the inflictions of the Herculean club which
criticism put into his grasp, and his mighty
strength wielded; and many of whom tender-
ed that veneration, which was doubtless the
genuine tribute of unbought and generous na-
ture. Many of his sayings and sentences are
fraught with strong fascination; they are like
so many formulæ, by which students who
range themselves under his standard are ac-
customed to verify their own moral calcula-
tions.

6.. I will conclude with a few remarks on the effect which intellectual causes may have on piety, as a particular medium through which they influence the human character.

The noblest principles that can regulate the intelligent mind, are, the love and fear of God. If these principles exercise continual sway over our affections, rendering our hearts at all moments obedient to their holy impulses, affording strength of resolution to abstain from impurity, and imparting unconquerable energy in carrying to their results "all holy desires, and all good counsels," then indeed are we renewed, exalted, and useful. The love of God has a delightful effect on the aspect of human life, on the prospects which anticipation paints, and fond hope believes, and even on those fearful accidents of mortality at which the heart would melt; as the sun in the firmament, whilst spreading a garment of light over na

From the Christian Review.

X. Y. Z.

THE PROCESS OF HISTORICAL PROOF EXEMPLIFIED AND EXPLAINED; with Observations on the peculiar Points of the Christian Evidences. By Isaac Taylor. London: Holdsworth, 1999. Ir would be a curious and interesting inquiry, to examine how far the human mind is bindered from the discovery of truth by its inherent and unavoidable defects, and how far it is thwarted in the pursuit by the clog and weight of its prejudices and obstinacy. Although there can be no doubt, that, when our frame lost its primeval glory and brightness, the mind shared fearfully in the change; yet we believe, so far as truth is an object of human reason, the greatest and most general hindrance to its discovery are the passions of individuals or the conventional prejudices of society; the one bribing the heart into hostility, and the other leading the judgment an unresisting and willing captive. We would consider a disbelief in Christianity, then, as to its historical truth, in the same manner as we would any other error common to mankind; and we would have the causes which lead to it brought to the same test, and made to undergo the same examinstion.

There is not, perhaps, a single truth, which the generality of mankind recognise, to which some opponents might not be found: there is not, we may almost confidently affirm, one principle on which society is established, or which is allowed to be a principle of right conduct for either princes or their subjects, which was not obstinately controverted before it w

the offerings which pilgrims of all ages and countries have presented to it. But the time is gone by when that insult could be offered to human reason, which declared truth to be of the same nature with this monster, or as inca

Originator of the mighty scheme, which gives importance to its smallest circumstances, and form and substance to the very shadows that flit along our paths.

admitted to be so. Nor is this opposition of prejudice to truth confined to abstract principles: it has been equally great in regard to that which comes by testimony, and under the shape of historical narrative. The doubts which have been entertained respecting well-pable of being distinctly contemplated and deauthenticated facts, the pains which have been fined. Philosophers, if such there still exist, taken to pervert the clearest testimony of his- who pretend we are floating in a sea of uncertorians, and the misrepresentations which some tainty, in an interminable ocean, whose tides of their best substantiated documents have suf- no skill can calculate; or who would teach us fered, are incontrovertible proofs of the ten- that there are no more fixed, unalterable laws dency there is in mankind to resist truth, of being and its contingencies, than there are wherever resistance is possible; to conceal it foundations for their own phantasies-philosounder their own errors, whenever error is fa- phers of this class have long ceased to venture vourable either to their profit or their vanity; their opinions abroad; and, however, misunand to make the slightest possibility, that sup- derstood, or unwillingly received, it is univerports their prejudices, outweigh the strongest sally acknowledged by all, except fools and and best-connected probabilities that contra- madmen, that there is something which may dict their wishes. This is found exemplified, be called Truth; that there is a measure of as well in the writings of pretended philoso- right and wrong; a necessary connexion and phers, as in the doubts and misapprehensions order in all the parts of the moral system: cerof the world at large. Voltaire evinced his tain discoverable mediums of comparison beprejudice against moral and historical truth in tween two opposing propositions; and an etergeneral, as well as against the truth of Chris-nally fixed and comprehensive purpose in the tianity; and his observations on the passages of Herodotus that came under his review, prove how little he was willing to argue with fairness and controversial honesty, and how still less he was qualified to decide on many of But, while men are thus compelled to admit the points upon which he dared to pronounce that there is such a thing as truth, and that, with the most magisterial authority. To show, when rightly pursued, is discoverable; they moreover, to what an extent we may carry our are equally obliged also to profess themselves doubts, and support them with an apparently desirous of finding it; and of being ready to sound scheme of reasoning, the "Historic admit its value, and judge all things by its Doubts" of Horace Walpole afford a good il- standard, when they have been successful in lustration, and very clearly prove how far we their search. Once then, convince a man, or may err, on the contrary side, in resisting vul- a set of men, of having come to very false degar prejudices, or in combating the too facile cisions in any of the ordinary subjects of inquicredulity of mankind. Doctor Whately's ad- ry; of their having suffered their judgments to mirable jeu d'esprit, "Historic Doubts rela- be warped by hasty preconceptions, or their tive to the History of Napoleon Buonaparte," minds biassed by irrelevant considerations; shows also how easy it is to argue in the most and you convince them of contradicting the plausible manner against the best known and universal professions of mankind, if they peraccredited facts; and the well-known Essay of sist in defending their positions: or, if they the eloquent Burke in favour of Natural So- give them up, they infallibly prove to themciety proves the same truth in respect to the selves that there are certain traits in the husurest principles of human action. Finding man character which indispose it to the recepthis, then, to be the case, and that every opition of truth, and that, filled with the passions nion has its opponent, and every narrative its and dispositions which generally occupy men's sceptre; the doubts and prejudices which in- hearts, they are ill calculated to decide with duce men to reject Christianity may be found regard to the truth or falsehood of any system existing, with different modifications, and in whose pretensions are like those of Christianidifferent forms, among every class of dispu- ty. Whether disbelief, therefore, proceeds tants, and in connexion with every question either from indifference or obstinate prejudice; that can be started. They are not the pecu- from the levity of the mind, or the corrupt liar offspring of a religious system, or of a his- passions of the heart; a thousand parallel cases tory on which that system depends; but result of such error or prejudice may be found in the from a vitiated disposition of mind, whose manner of men's judging on the ordinary queswillingness to err is flattered and confirmed by tions that come before them. And as a man, the passions or selfishness of the heart. Some while unshaken in self-confidence, and unconuseful rules, we think, may be gathered from vinced of any particular mistake in his reasonthe observation of this similarity in the whole ing, will strongly resist all attempts at impocircle of human prejudices and errors;-rules sing on him any thing that is out of the line of which may in some measure assist the defen- his own immediate observation; so, when he ders of Christianity, however attacked, or has been taught to see how erroneous his against whatever adversaries they have to pre- jndgments are, wherever his interest or feelpare their armour. Truth is simple, unvary-ings are concerned, he must be dull or wilfuling, and individual: error is of all forms, and ly blind indeed, if he do not at once see, that, made up of all heterogeneous and monstrous ele- before deciding on the truth or falsehood of ments a huge idol, which was set up on the Christianity, his mind and feelings have to site of Babel, whose face looks every way, and undergo a discipline, and submit to a certain whose disproportioned limbs are adorned with chastisement and examination, to put him in 5