soundness of judgment and promptitude in action; but they make a bad figure in public speaking or reasoning. They are, indeed, possessed of a faculty more valuable than any thing that metaphysics or logic can furnish; but a due attention to these sciences might increase their usefulness, by enabling them to communicate to others the mental process which led to their decisions. A person of this description, according to a well-known anecdote, when appointed to a judicial situation in one of the colonies, received from an eminent judge the advice to trust to his own good sense in forming his opinions, but never to attempt to state the grounds of them. "The judgment," said he, "will probably be right, the argument will infallibly be wrong." When this strong sound judgment, and correct logical habits, are united in the same individual, they form the character of one who arrives at true conclusions on any subject to which his attention is directed, and, at the same time, carries others along with him to a full conviction of their truth.

We have, then, every reason to believe that, though there may be original differences in the power of judgment, the chief source of the actual varieties in this important function is rather to be found in its culture and regulation. On this subject there are various considerations of the highest interest, claiming the attention of those who wish to have the understanding trained to the investigation of truth. These are chiefly referable to two heads; namely, the manner in which the judgment suffers from deficient culture; and the manner in which it is distorted by want of due regulation.

I. The judgment is impaired by deficient culture. This is exemplified in that listless and indifferent habit of the mind in which there is no exercise of correct thinking, or of a close and continued appli

cation of the attention to subjects of real importance. The mind is engrossed by frivolities and trifles, or bewildered by the wild play of the imagination; and, in regard to opinions on the most important subjects, it either feels a total indifference, or receives them from others without the exertion of thinking or examining for itself. The individuals who are thus affected either become the dupes of sophistical opinions imposed upon them by other men, or spend their lives in frivolous and unworthy pursuits, with a total incapacity for all important inquiries. A slight degree removed from this condition of mind is another, in which opinions are formed on slight and partial examination, perhaps from viewing one side of a question, or, at least, without a full and candid direction of the attention to all the facts which ought to be taken into the inquiry. Both these conditions of mind may perhaps originate partly in constitutional peculiarities or erroneous education; but they are fixed and increased by habit and indulgence, until, after a certain time, they probably become irremediable. They can be corrected only by a diligent cultivation of the important habit which, in common language, we call sound and correct thinking; and which is of equal value, whether it be applied to the formation of opinions, or to the regulation of conduct.

II. The judgment is vitiated by want of due regulation; and this may be ascribed chiefly to two sources, prejudice and passion. Prejudice consists in the formation of opinions before the subject has been really examined. By means of this, the attention is misdirected, and the judgment biassed, in a manner of which the individual is often in a great measure unconscious. The highest degree of it is exemplified in that condition of the mind in which a man first forms an opinion which interest or inclination may have suggested; then proceeds to col

ect arguments in support of it; and concludes by reasoning himself into the belief of what he wishes to be true. It is thus that the judgment is apt to be misled, in a greater or less degree, by party spirit and personal attachments or antipathies; and it is clear that all such influence is directly opposed to its sound and healthy exercise. The same observations apply to passion, or the influence exerted by the moral feelings. The most striking example of this is presented by that depraved condition of the mind, which distorts the judgment in regard to the great principles of moral rectitude. "A man's understanding," says Mr. Locke, "seldom fails him in this part, unless his will would have it so; if he takes a wrong course, it is most commonly because he goes wilfully out of the way, or at least chooses to be bewildered; and there are few, if any, who dreadfully mistake, that are willing to be right."

These facts are worthy of much consideration, and they appear to be equally interesting to all classes of men, whatever may be the degree of their mental cultivation, and whatever the subjects are to which their attention is more particularly directed. There is one class of truths to which they apply with peculiar force,-namely, those which relate to the moral government of God, and the condition of man as a responsible being. These great truths and the evidence on which they are founded are addressed to our judgment as rational beings; they are pressed upon our attention as creatures destined for another state of existence; and the sacred duty from which no individual can be absolved is a voluntary exercise of his thinking and reasoning powers, it is solemnly, seriously, and deliberately to consider. On these subjects a man may frame any system for himself, and may rest in that system as truth; but the solemn inquiry is, not what opinions he has formed, but in what manner he has formed them. Has he approached the great inquiry with a sincere desire to

discover the truth; and has he brought to it a mind, neither misled by prejudice, nor distorted by the condition of its moral feelings;-has he directed his attention to all the facts and evidences with an intensity suited to their momentous importance; and has he conducted the whole investigation with a deep and serious feeling that it carries with it an interest which reaches into eternity? Truth is immutable and eternal, but it may elude the frivolous or prejudiced inquirer; and, even when he thinks his conclusions are the result of much examination, he may be resting his highest concerns in delusion and falsehood.

The human mind, indeed, even in its highest state of culture, has been found inadequate to the attainment of the true knowledge of the Deity; but light from heaven has shone upon the scene of doubt and of darkness, which will conduct the humble inquirer through every difficulty, until he arrive at the full perception and commanding influence of the truth;

of truth such as human intellect never could have reached, and which, to every one who receives it, brings its own evidence that it comes from God.

Finally, the sound exercise of judgment has a remarkable influence in producing and maintaining that tranquillity of mind which results from a due application of its powers, and a correct estimate of the relations of things. The want of this exercise leads a man to be unduly engrossed with the frivolities of life, unreasonably elated by its joys, and unreasonably depressed by its sorrows. A sound and wellregulated judgment tends to preserve from all such disproportioned pursuits and emotions. It does so, by leading us to view all present things in their true relations, to estimate aright their relative value, and to fix the degree of attention of which they are worthy; it does so, in a more especial manner, by

leading us to compare the present life, which is so rapidly passing over us, with the paramount importance and overwhelming interest of the life which is to come.

& II.

OF THE USE OF REASON-IN CORRECTING THE IMPRESSIONS OF THE MIND IN REGARD TO EXTERNAL THINGS.

THIS subject leads to an investigation of great and extensive interest, of which I cannot hope to give more than a slight and imperfect outline. My anxiety is, that what is attempted may be confined to authentic facts, and the most cautious conclusions; and that it may be of some use in leading to farther inquiry.

We have seen the power which the mind possesses of recalling the vivid impressions of scenes or events long gone by, in that mental process which we call conception. We have seen also its power of taking the elements of actual scenes, and forming them into new combinations, so as to represent to itself scenes and events which have no real existence. We have likewise observed the remarkable manner in which persons, events, or scenes, long past, perhaps forgotten, are recalled into the mind by means of association;-trains of thought taking possession of the mind in a manner which we often cannot account for, and bringing back facts or occurrences which had long ceased to be objects of attention. These remarkable processes are most apt to take place when the mind is in that passive state which we call a revery; and they are more rarely observed when the attention is actively exerted upon any distinct and continued subject of thought.