cements or temptations to which he is
exposed in a given instance. The second we cannot rely or calculate
upon; for we have not the means of tracing the conflicting views by
which he may be influenced in a particular case, or the principle on
which he may ultimately decide between them. They involve the strength
of the inclination,--and the degree of power exerted over it by the
class of personal or selfish motives by which he is influenced.--In
regard to various instances of ill-regulated desire, we must add his
hope of evading detection,--as on this depends, in a great measure, the
kind of evils dreaded by him in reference to the indulgence. These taken
together imply a complicated moral calculation, of which it is
impossible for another man to trace the result.

There cannot be an inquiry of more intense interest than to investigate
the causes in which originate the differences among these three
characters; or, in other words, the principles on which we can explain
the fact, that the will of individuals may be influenced so differently
with the same motives before them. These appear to be referable to
three heads,--Knowledge,--Attention,--and Moral Habits.

I. A primary and essential element, in the due regulation of the will,
is a correct knowledge of the truths and motives which tend to influence
its determinations. The highest class of these comprehends the truths of
religious belief,--a series of moral causes, the tendencies of which are
of the most important kind, and calculated to exert a uniform power over
every man who surrenders himself to their guidance. For this purpose, a
correct knowledge of them is required, and, to all who have this
knowledge within their reach, the careful acquisition involves a point
of the deepest moral responsibility. The sacred writers speak in the
strongest terms of the guilt attached to voluntary ignorance: and this
must be obvious to every one who considers the clearness with which the
highest truths are disclosed, and the incontrovertible evidence by which
they are supported. This applies equally to the principles both of
natural and of revealed religion. The important truths of natural
religion are partly matters of the most simple induction from the
phenomena of nature which are continually before us; and partly
impressed upon our own moral constitution in the clearest and most
forcible manner. From the planet revolving in its appointed orbit, to
the economy of the insect