of cultivated taste, in all that relates to the little arrangements of domestic life, the ornaments of the exterior, and interior of a dwelling, the pursuits of hours of relaxation and amusement, the modes of social intercourse, the nice perception of proprieties in habits, manners, modes of address, and the thousand little every day incidents of life, will throw an undefined and nameless charm around, like the soft light of heaven, that without dazzling, perpetually cheers.

CHAPTER X.

THE WILL.

It is the power of choice, which raises man to the dignity of an intellectual and moral being. Without this principle, he would be a creature of mere impulses and instincts. He would possess susceptibilities of happiness, desires to be excited, and intellect to devise and discover the modes of securing enjoyment; but without some governing principle, the soul would be led captive with each successive desire, or be the sport of chances, whenever conflicting desires were awakened. But He who formed man in his own perfect image, left not his work without this balance power, to regulate the complicated springs, of so wonderful a machine. Man is now not only the image of his Creator, in being the lord of this lower world, but is like him, in being the lord and governor of his own powers of body and of mind. Being furnished with various capacities of enjoyment, he is surrounded by objects which will minister to these susceptibilities, and thus desires are awakened. As one species of enjoyment after another is gained, by the developement of various men

tal powers, the causes of desire are increased. Every thing which has been a source of enjoyment, becomes an object of desire, and this is always proportioned to the amount of enjoyment, which, in past experience, each object has secured.

But the constitution, both of mind and of the world is such, that it is impossible in the nature of things, for the soul to gain every object which is the cause of desire. There is a constant succession of selections to be made, between different modes of securing happiness. A lesser good is given up for a greater, or some good relinquished altogether, to avoid some consequent pain. Often also some painful state of mind is sought as the means of securing some future good, or of avoiding some greater evil. Thus men endure want, fatigue, and famine, to purchase wealth. Thus the nauseous draught will be swallowed to avoid the pains of sickness, and secure the enjoyment of health; and thus the pleasures of domestic affection will be sacrificed to obtain honour and fame. The whole course of life, with man, is a constant succession of such decisions of the mind between different modes of securing happiness, and of avoiding pain.

Desires are excited at view of objects, which have been causes of enjoyment; the intellect judges of the amount of enjoyment which each will purchase, and of the pain which is to be encountered; and the will decides which of these objects shall be secured. Those objects which excite desire are called motives, and desires themselves also are called motives. Thus food is said to be the motive which stimulates the famishing to seek it, and the desire for food is also called the motive of activity.

It has also been shown, that all enjoyment to the mind is derived from one or more of seven different sources. A person is often placed in such circumstances, or is of such a character, that there are periods when he is obliged to choose for a whole life which shall be the leading object of happiness to

which others shall be subservient. Thus there have been periods in the history of individuals, when in the quiet bosom of domestic happiness, they have heard the calls of ambition and fame. In such a case, to gain fame and honour, the pleasure from interchange of affection must cease, or if this is retained, fame and honour must be lost. Often the mind in such emergencies has been thrown into most agonizing distress, while the conflict of deciding was going forward. At length the will decides, the purpose of life is fixed, and henceforth either the gratification of love or of ambition becomes the governing purpose of life. In other cases the mind is brought to a stand in reference to the great object of existence, in regard to a future state of being, and the question to be decided is, shall happiness be found in gratifying certain other desires, or shall the governing purpose of the mind be obedience to God, thus securing the happiness of conscious rectitude, and of being the cause of happiness to others. At such periods too, the mind is often distressed and harassed, but when the will has once decided, the after life will show what has become the governing desire, though eternity alone will unfold the results of the choice.

It has been shown in a previous article, how the succession of our thoughts is regulated by the leading desire of the mind. When any object has been selected as the source from which the mind will gain happiness, immediately all conceptions which are discerned by the intellect as fitted to secure this object, become vivid and distinct, and recall other associated objects. Among these new combinations, desire again makes vivid all those conceptions which aid in securing the object sought, and thus the train of thought is regulated by the will. For the will decides which modes of enjoyment shall be secured, and when this is done, every object of conception which will aid in securing this purpose becomes vivid, and recalls its associate conceptions.

Some writers have made no distinction between will and

desire, but consider every emotion of desire, an act of the will. But this leads to singular confusion in language, and is in fact contrary to the experience of every mind. Every person has been conscious of the existence of strong and long continued desires, which the mind did not choose to gratify, because some evil, or the loss of some greater good would be the consequence.

CHAPTER XI.

HABIT.

Habit is a facility in performing physical or mental operations, gained by the repetition of such acts. As examples of this facility gained in physical operations, may be mentioned, the power of walking, which is acquired only by a multitude of experiments; the power of speech, which is a slow process of repeated experiments at imitation; and the power of writing, gained in the same way. Success in every pursuit of life is attained by oft repeated attempts, which finally induce a habit. As examples of the formation of intellectual habits, may be mentioned, the facility which is gained in acquiring knowledge, by means of repeated efforts, and the accuracy and speed with which the process of reasoning is performed after long practice in this art. As examples of the formation of moral habits, may be mentioned, those which are formed by the exercise of self-government, of justice, veracity, obedience, and industry. After the long practice of these virtues they become such fixed habits, that it is much more easy and natural to practise them, than it was before such habits were formed. On the contrary, the indulgence of indolence, pride, envy, selfishness, and deceit, forms habits of mind which are equally manifest and powerful.

The happiness of man in the present state of existence, depends not solely upon the circumstances in which he is placed, nor upon the capacities with which he is endowed, but almost entirely upon the formation of his habits. A man might have the organ of sight bestowed, and be surrounded with all the beauties of nature, and yet if he did not form the habit of judging of the form, distance, and size of bodies, all pleasure and all use from this sense would be destroyed. The world and all its beauties would be a mere confused mass of colours. If the habits of walking, and of speech, were not acquired, the faculties, and the circumstances for employing them, would not furnish the enjoyment they were made to secure. It is the formation of intellectual habits by mental discipline and study, also, which opens the vast resources for intellectual enjoyment that otherwise would be forever closed, and it is by practising obedience to parents that moral habits of subordination are formed, which are indispensable to our happiness as citizens, and as subjects of the Divine government. There is no enjoyment which can be pointed out, that is not, to a greater or less extent, dependant upon the formation of habits, and upon this, all increase of happiness is equally dependant.

The formation of the habits depends upon the leading desire or governing purpose, because, whatever the mind. desires the most, it will act the most to secure, and thus by repeated acts will form its habits. The character of every individual depends upon the mode of seeking happiness selected by the will. Thus the ambitious man has selected the attainment of power and admiration as his leading purpose, and whatever modes of enjoyment interfere with this, are sacrificed. The man of pleasure, seeks his happiness from the various gratifications of sense, and sacrifices other modes of enjoyment, that interfere with this. The man devoted to intellectual pursuits, and seeking reputation and influence through this medium, sacrifices other modes of enjoyment to