and expositors of the tempest that is raging within. If it suits their purpose better, they suddenly call to their aid the supremacy of the volitional power; all outward agitation ceases; a calm succeeds to the tempest; there is nothing perceptible but quiet dignity and unruffled self-possession; the passions, rebuked and quelled by a higher authority, retire into the secret recesses of the soul:

"Imperio premit, ac vinclis et carcere frænat."

§ 181. Power of the will requisite in the military and other arts. There are other situations and callings in life, in which power of the will is an essential requisite to success. This is particularly true of military life. There never was a great commander who had not great energy of volition. It is not to be supposed, because a man stands unmoved and calm in the day of battle, even in its most terrible onsets, that he is naturally destitute either of fear or of the love of life. If this is sometimes the case, it is certainly not always so. And where such is undoubtedly the fact, it is not to be regarded as evidence of greatness, but rather of obtuseness and hebetude of character. That sort of courage which consists in mere dulness and immobility of feeling may answer well enough for a common soldier, but the trait of a great commander, in addition to great intellectual power, is energy of the Will, or what we more commonly express by the term selfcommand. He keeps not only his fears, but his hopes also, in subjection; and the imperturbable calmness he discovers is not to be regarded as a proof of the absence of fear, or hope, or joy, or sorrow, or anger, but merely as an indication that he keeps those emotions and passions under complete control.

Similar remarks will apply to those who are exposed to the dangers and perplexities of a seafaring life, particularly such as are sent out on voyages of exploration and discovery. If a high degree of energy of the Will is essential to the character of men who are required to fill leading military stations, it is

not less essential to those who, like Columbus, and De Gama, and Cooke, and La Perouse, are destined to discover and explore new worlds. And hence, when persons are to be selected for such expeditions, the inquiry with their employers always is, not merely is he a man of intellect and of education, but is he a man of decision and firmness? Can he stand unmoved and self-possessed in trying and unexpected situations? Is he able, with entire and manifest coolness, to meet danger, and pain, and even death itself?

§ 182. Energy of the will requisite in the men of revolutions. A higher degree of voluntary power than is allotted to the great mass of mankind, seems to be requisite in those who are destined to take a leading part in those great moral, religious, and political revolutions which have from time to time agitated the face of the world. It is no easy task to change the opinions of men, to check and subdue vices which have become prevalent, or to give a new aspect and impulse to religion and liberty. The men who take a lead in these movements are, in general, men of decision and firmness; no others would answer the purpose. If the gentle spirit of Melancthon had been placed in the precise position occupied by Luther, would the great event of the Protestant Reformation have been urged forward with the same impetus and to the same issues?—When society becomes greatly unsettled, either in its religious or political aspects; when there is a heaving and tossing to and fro; a removal of the old landmarks, and a breaking up of the old foundations, then it is that men, not merely of intellect, but of decision and energy (sagacious, cool, decided, persevering, resolute), find their way upward to the summit of the conflicting elements, and subject them to their guidance. Such is the natural course of things; such men are needed, and no others are capable of taking their place; and they become, almost of necessity, the advisers and leaders in the nascent order of society. The prominent leaders, therefore, in every great re

ligious or political revolution, will be found to illustrate the fact, that there are original and marked differences in the degree of power which is appropriate to the will.

Look, as an illustration of the subject, at the men who presided at the events of the great English Revolution of 1640, particularly the Puritans; men of the stamp of the Vanes, Hampdens, and Fleetwoods; who, in embarking in the convulsions of that stormy period, had a twofold object in view, the security of political liberty and the attainment of religious freedom! Were they weak men? Were they men wanting in fortitude? Were they uncertain and flexible, vacillating and double-minded? History gives an emphatic answer to these questions. It informs us that they entered into the contest for the great objects just now referred to with a resolution which nothing could shake; with an immutability of purpose resembling the decrees of unalterable destiny. It was in the strength of such determined resolution that they broke in pieces the throne of England; trampled under foot her ancient and powerful aristocracy; erected the standard of religious liberty; and by their wisdom and energy not only overthrew the enemies of freedom at home, but made the name of their country honoured and terrible throughout the earth.

§ 183. Practical application of these views.

The statements and reasonings of this and preceding chapters seem to us satisfactorily to show, that POWER, in the strict and real sense of the term, is an attribute of the mind as a whole; that it is truly an attribute of the Will also; and that, as an attribute of the Will, it exists in different degrees in different individuals. And it is proper to add here, that these views admit of a practical application, from which no person whatever ought to consider himself exempt. We are too apt to estimate and limit the degree of our accountability by the amount of our intellectual powers. But it cannot be doubted that this is a

ground of estimate too restricted. We are to inquire, also, whether our Maker has not seen fit to give us a large share of natural fortitude and decision? Whether he has not endued us with powers of the Will, which, under a suitable direction, might be available. for our own good and that of others? And if we find it to be so, we may be assured that somewhere within the sphere of our location and action in life there are duties which require this precise kind of talents, for the performance of which they were undoubtedly giv

en.

Let us, then, carefully study ourselves, and learn, in view of the possession of our great and varied powers, what our adorable Maker would have us to do.

CHAPTER IV.

CONSISTENCY OF CHARACTER.

$184. Connexion of the will with consistency of character. THE philosophical analysis of the Will, which we have now in a great degree completed, may contribute to various practical results. Some of them we have already noticed, and, among other things, we may confidently assert, that we find in the nature and operations of the Will the basis of CONSISTENCY OF CHARACTER, which is certainly one of the most interesting as well as important mental traits. There is a well-written and popular Essay of Mr. Foster upon Decision of Character; a subject, although it is intimately connected with the doctrine of the will, on which we do not propose to touch except incidentally. We refer to that Essay, which exhausts in a great degree the subject of Decision of Character, merely for the purpose of saying, if indeed it can be necessary to suggest a caution of that kind, that it is important not to confound consistency with mere decision ; for, although they approximate and resemble in some respects, they are obviously remote from each other and different in other respects. Decision is more limited; consistency embraces a wider range of opera

tions. Decision relates to one thing, or, at least, may be shown clearly and distinctly in one thing; consistency relates to many. The appropriate sphere of decision of character is found in some perplexing but definite emergency, and, of course, it generally manifests itself in the performance of particular acts. Consistency, on the contrary, can never be shown. from the course taken in a particular emergency, without taking into consideration the conduct of the person in other situations; but developes and proves itself from the tenor of his conduct in a long series of events. Decision implies a condensed and inspirited energy put forth in the crisis of a day or an hour; consistency implies a condensation, and, if we may be allowed the expression, a tension of purpose, kept firm and immoveable for years, and even a whole life.

There are some men who may not altogether be wanting in decision, but who exhibit a species of mental restlessness, an uncertainty of regard and affection, an inequality of temper, and an inconstancy of conduct, which seems to be inconsistent with the just claims of a percipient and moral nature. If we do not err in our estimate of the capabilities of human nature, it is in the power of all, who are in the full possession of their faculties, to check this inordinate restlessness, to regulate in a great degree this inequality, to establish and to render certain this inconstancy and uncertainty; and it is certainly unnecessary to urge the importance of doing it. The man of naturally small intellect renders himself ridiculous, as well as unhappy, by capriciousness and inconstancy; by such a course he hides or destroys the single talent that is given him; while the man who possesses originality and vigour of intellect, and who might make them of great account for the good of his fellow-men, loses for the same reason the confidence which would be otherwise reposed in him, and becomes comparatively useless.