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But, above all, man was endowed with reason and thought, in order to contemplate the works of God, and to prepare himself for eternity. What are other objects in life compared with this?

Sir John Sinclair.

In reason we may consider these four degrees; The first and highest is the discovering and finding out of truths; the second, the regular and methodical disposition of them, and laying them in a clear and fit order, to make their connexion and force to be plainly and easily perceived; the third is the perceiving their connexion; and the fourth, the making a right conclusion. These several degrees may easily be observed in any mathematical demonstration; it being one thing to perceive the connexion of each part, as the demonstration is made by another; another, to perceive the dependance of the conclusion on all the parts; a third, to make out a demonstration clearly and neatly one's self; and something different from all these, to have first found out these intermediate ideas, or proofs by which it is made. Locke.

Reason, the divine guide and governor of human life, under whose subjection alone, men are properly said to live in freedom.

Right reason is the perfection of human nature.

Plutarch.

Seneca.

The law of reason is founded in nature; it is universal, immutable, and eternal. It is subject to no change, from any difference of place or time. It extends invariably to all ages and nations, like the sovereign dominion of that Being, who is the author of it.

Cicero.

Reason is the pilot of human life, and steers it steadily through wild and tempestuous seas, amidst the rocks and shelves of lust and fancy, fortune and folly, ignorance and error, and a thousand cheats and impostures. It is this alone that enables man to despise imaginary evils, and vanquish real ones. It arms the mind with true and lasting magnanimity, furnishes it with solid comforts, and teaches it to extract life and health, virtue and wisdom, out of the madness and mutability of men and fortune; like antidotes and cordials, out of things poisonous and baueful in their nature.

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Reasoning is a chain of judgments founded upon each other. It is the arithmetic of words.

Our passions gone, and reason on her throne,
Amaz'd we see the mischiefs we have done :
After a tempest, when the winds are laid,

The calm sea wonders at the wrecks it made.

Gregory.

WALLER.

It is the immediate province of the reasoning faculty to discover abstract truths in the mind, investigate their connexions, and determine how far their tendency is productive of good. It is by reasoning that we are enabled to judge of causes from their effects, and to discern in what connexions these effects may become causes themselves. By virtue of this power, we are qualified to argue, that in cases perfectly similar, the issue will be the same; and to infer, from the known properties of bodies, what will be the result of the application of these properties to particular cases. It is by reason, founded on observation and experience, that we acquire a conviction, that certain dispositions or actions will prove beneficial or injurious; that certain stations will be advantageous, or the reverse. It is by reason that we determine concerning the truth of historic events, and form our opinion of the characters and motives of distinguished agents, &c. Dr. Cogan.

Reason is the principle, by which our belief and opinions ought to be regulated.

It is the office of reason to determine what are the proper means to any end which we desire.

Reid.

Reason, unless exercised in its proper offices, like a candle enclosed in a dark lanthorn, burns in waste, and spends itself in useless and unprofitable blaze.

He that follows its advice, has a mind that is elevated above the reach of injury; that sits above the clouds, in a calm and quiet ether, and with a brave indifferency hears the rolling thunders grumble and burst under his feet.

Scott.

Although reason was intended by Providence to govern our passions, it seems that in two points of the greatest moment to our being and continuance, God hath intended our passions to prevail.

over reason. The first is the propagation of our species; since no man ever married from the dictates of reason. The other is the love of life, which, from the dictates of reason, every man despises and wishes at an end, or that it never had a beginning. Swift.

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According to human understanding, reason, like fire, was at the beginning but a spark, till, through a confluence of all events happenable to man, it received augmentation, as the other did, from the supplement of matter; and, having once caught paper, did illuminate the world. Osborn, 1659.

Human reason, when improved by knowledge and undisturbed by passion, though not an infallible, is yet our best guide; but, unimproved by knowledge, and adulterated by passion, it becomes the most dangerous one, constituting obstinate wrong headedness, and dignifying (nay, almost sanctifying) error. Chesterfield.

What we call buman reason, is not the effort or ability of one, so much as it is the result of the reason of many, arising from lights mutually communicated, in consequence of discourse and writing.

Blair.

It seems to be as much designed by the Author of Nature, that rational animals should use their reason, and steer by it, as it is by the shipwright, that the pilot should direct the vessel by the use of the rudder he has fitted to it. The rudder would not be there, if it were not to be used; nor would reason be implanted in us, were it not to be cultivated; and it is certain, it cannot be used, but it must command. Such is its nature; and nothing can be taken for true, by a rational being, if he have a reason to the contrary.

It is not in his power to resolve not to be governed by reason ; for, if he would do this, he must either have some reason for making this resolution, or none: if he has none, it is a resolution that stands on no foundation, and therefore of course falls; and if he has some reason for it, he is governed by reason. This demonstrates that

reason must govern.

Dim as the borrowed beams of moon and stars
To lonely, weary, wandering travellers,

Wollaston

Is reason to the soul; for as on high,
Those rolling fires discover but the sky,

Nor light us here; so reason's glimmering ray
Was lent, not to assure our doubtful way,

But guide us upward to a better world.

DRYDEN.

Reason requires culture to expand it. It resembles the fire concealed in the flint, which only shows itself when struck with the steel.

Gerdil,

How, then, shall we set it right? To say that we shall not use our reason, is talking of an impossibility. Reason is not a matter of option; a man can no more 'cease to reason than to think. His business, then, in the affairs of the world, is to seek the counsel of the wise and experienced; and in points of religion, the lights of revelation; to fix his eyes on futurity, pin his faith on the truths of Christianity, follow its precepts, and trust to God for the result. By being a good Christian, he will have a safe conscience, and become a good moral reasoner.

Trusler.

A man without reason is like a ship without a pilot-in danger of foundering in tempestuous weather.

But he that is of reason's skill bereft,

Mackenzie,

And wants the staff of reason him to stay,
Is like a ship in midst of tempest left

Without an helm or pilot her to sway.

SPENSER,

Reason, that power by which the mind turns its view inward, and observes its own actions and operations.

Locke.

I believe, as to Christianity itself, that every thing in it is to be submitted to the dictates of human reason, and what cannot be explained and made out by this, is no part of the Christian religion; and, consequently, that there are no doctrines appertaining to it, which are mysterious, and superior to our reason. Watts

By consideration a man makes use of his reason, which before was laid asleep, and therefore could not do its work. When the master's from home, the scholars will be at play; when the coachman is asleep, the horses may miss their way, and possibly break his neck and their own; if the ploughman goes away, the oxen

will stand still, or make but bad and unhandsome work; so, when reason is laid asleep, or out of the way, what may not the appetites do? and what may not the passions do? and what may not temptations do with the soul? A wise man, when he is asleep, has as little use of his reason as a fool. A learned man, when he is asleep, cannot dispute with an unlearned man that is awake. A strong man, that is very skilful at his weapons, is scarce able, when asleep, to deal with the weakest child that is awake. Why, all the powers your soul are as it were asleep, till consideration awake them and set them to work; and what are you the better for being man, and having reason, if you make no use of your reason, when you

of

Give both life and sense,

need it.

Fancy, and understanding; whence the soul
Reason receives, and reason is her being.

Baxter.

MILTON.

There is no real opposition between reason and revelation, faith and science, nature and grace, when judiciously stated. Enthusiasm has misled some persons into as many extremes in one direction, as scepticism has in another. Reason, as far as it can conduct us, and in relation to things within its province, is no blind guide. We are not to shut our eyes when we make use of a telescope. It has its ne plus ultra, no doubt; "hitherto shalt thou go, but no further; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed." Then it is, that reve lation steps in to supply the defects of the most exalted human wisdom, which in these high matters is comparative folly. If "the world by wisdom knew not God," is it any marvel, that "the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God?"

Reason and faith, we have been told a thousand times, by men at whose feet we ought to bow in point of intellect and science, have their totally distinct provinces. Why should they not be carefully observed? why suffer them to intrench on each other, to the violation of propriety and order? why transgress their rightful limits? Let reason be permitted the privilege and honour to conduct us to the boundaries of revelation; we are then consigned to the superior guidance of faith. There we may safely rest, and enjoy the advantages of both. Temple of Truth.

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