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Has reason then no power whatever in these and similar cases? Is it of no use to attain clear and rational convictions, since they thus desert us in the hour when we most require their assistance? These questions are important, and we will venture a few remarks by way of reply to them.

It is evident, in the first place, that we are only occasionally liable to those relapses in which the feelings overpower the judgment; it is only when our understanding is enfeebled and its views beclouded, or when we are placed within the sphere of some strong exciting cause. During the greatest part of our time, our deliberate convictions will necessarily regulate our feelings and our actions. A man convinced of the absurdity of a belief in spectral appearances will feel and act throughout the day, and commonly in the night, agreeably to that conviction; it can only be under some striking circumstances that his old associations will predominate. In the same way, an individual, who feels more deference perhaps in the personal presence of a great man than he chooses to acknowledge, may at other periods be perfectly independent of him, and altogether uninfluenced

pleasure alters as much as the perceptions of a person in a fever vary from those of the same man in sound health. The whole scale of individual happiness, as well as of general good and evil, virtue and vice, is often disturbed at the very rising of the passion, and totally overthrown in the hurricane of the soul. Then, in the most perilous and critical moments, the conviction of the understanding is, if not reversed, suspended. Those who have lived long in the world, and who have seen examples of these truths, feel that these are not mere words,"

Memoirs of Richard Lovell Edgeworth, vol. ii, p. 403.

by any such emotion. The utility, therefore, of acquiring just views, will not be materially impaired by the difficulty of conforming our emotions to them on particular occasions. And it may be further remarked, that the value of such views lies, not so much in the efficacy of their counteraction during the access of any passion, as in enabling us to avoid the occasions on which it will be improperly excited; and in rendering the mind less liable to be thrown into that state, or to have its sensibilities improperly awakened. The fear of nocturnal apparitions, it is obvious, would not be so easily roused in one who had freed himself from the prejudices of the nursery, although not altogether from the power of the associations there formed, as in one whose belief and associations on that subject were in harmony.

But the conclusions of our reason have not only the power of rendering the mind less susceptible of emotions when brought within the sphere of the exciting cause, less liable to have opposite associations roused, they have sometimes a still farther effect. A conviction may be so strongly wrought into the understanding, so powerfully impressed on the imagination, as entirely to subvert former associations. Clear and comprehensive views, habitually entertained, may completely subdue the insubordination of the sensitive part of our nature; and so effectually dissolve the combinations of feeling formed in early life, as to reduce them to mere objects of cool reminiscence. The conclusions of our reason may, in time, be so strongly associated with the objects as to be suggested by them more readily than the feelings with which

those objects were so intimately blended. This however, must be the work of time, the gradual effect of habitual thought. In the endeavor so to discipline his mind, a man may expect to be repeatedly baffled, but he must still return to his purpose; he must keep his dispassionate conclusions steadily before him, till they come to form part of the familiar views of his understanding, and are interwoven with his habitual feelings. Success may follow such an attempt on the part of the philosopher, and indeed some degree of the effect will necessarily attend every acquisition of sound knowledge; but in general the erroneous associations of mankind will be found of too inveterate a nature to be thoroughly eradicated, and will maintain an occasional ascendancy amidst all the advances of truth and triumphs of reason.-Essays on the Formation and Publication of Opinion.

THE SPIRIT OF GOD TEACHES WITHIN.

IT is certain, that the scriptures declare that "the Spirit of God dwells within us," that it animates us, speaks to us in silence, suggests all truth to us, and that we are so united to it, that we are joined unto the Lord in one spirit." This is what the christian religion teaches us. Those learned men, who have been most opposed to the idea of an interior life, are obliged to acknowledge it. Notwithstanding this, they suppose that the external law, or rather the light from certain doc

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trines and reasonings, enlightens our minds, and that afterwards it is our reason that acts by itself from these instructions. They do not attach sufficient importance to the teacher within us, which is the spirit of God. This is the soul of our soul, and without it we could form no thought or desire. Alas then! of what blindness we are guilty, if we suppose that we are alone in this interior sanctuary, while, on the contrary, God is there even more intimately than we are ourselves.

You will say, perhaps, are we then inspired? Yes, doubtless, but not as the prophets and the apostles were. Without the actual inspiration of the Almighty, we could neither do, nor will, nor think any thing. We are then always inspired; but we are ever stifling this inspiration. God never ceases to speak to us; but the noise of the world without, and the tumult of our passions within, bewilder us, and prevent us from listening to him. All must be silent around us, and all must be still within us, when we would listen with our whole souls to this voice. It is a still small voice, and is only heard by those who listen to no other. Alas! how seldom is it that the soul is so still, that it can hear when God speaks to it. Our vain desires and our self-love confuse the voice within us. We know that it speaks to us, that it demands something of us; but we cannot hear what it says, and we are often glad that it is unintelligible. Ought we to wonder that so many, even religious persons, who are engrossed with amusements, full of vain desires, false wisdom, and self-confidence, cannot understand it, and regard this interior word of

God as a chimera? This inspiration must not make us think that we are like prophets. The inspiration of the prophets was full of certainty upon those things which God commanded them to declare or to do; they were called upon to reveal what related to the future, or to perform a miracle, or to act with the divine authority. This inspiration, on the contrary, is without light and without certainty; it limits itself to teaching us obedience, patience, meekness, humility, and all other christian virtues. It is not a divine monition to predict, to change the laws of nature, or to command men with an authority from God. It is a simple invitation from the depths of the soul, to obey, and to resign ourselves even to death, if it be the will of God. This inspiration, regarded thus, and within these bounds, and in its true simplicity, contains only the common doctrine of the christian church. It has not in itself, if the imaginations of men add nothing to it, any temptation to presumption or illusion; on the contrary, it places us in the hands of God, trusting all to his Spirit, without either violating our liberty, or leaving any thing to our pride and fan

cies.

If this truth be admitted, that God always speaks within us, he speaks to impenitent sinners; but they are deafened and stunned by the tumult of their passions, and cannot hear his voice; his word to them is a fable. He speaks in the souls of sinners who are converted ; these feel the remorse of conscience, and this remorse is the voice of God within them, reproaching them for their vices. When sinners are truly touched, they find

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