different powers and exertions of human reason." Chart and Scale of Truth, vol. i, p. 14.

After having acquired a proper knowledge of the distinctions marked out by logic in our ideas, and after having made ourselves acquainted with the rules prescribed for the exercise and the general improvement of our understanding, we ought to direct our attention to those authors, who have given the best examples of close and accurate reasoning. These examples should be interesting with respect, to the nature of their subjects, that the scholar may be led to make a pleasing and easy application of the preceding principles. He will find them fully illustrated in the works of Bacon, Grotius, Locke, Clarke, and Paley. These profound and illustrious teachers will amply recompense his researches, and enlarge his knowledge, by giving him a clear and comprehensive insight into the most interesting topics. They will point out not only the proper employment of his reason, but its limits and boundaries. They will instruct him in its use and application to the sublime doctrines of revelation "They will convince him, that reason is not injured or disturbed, but assisted and improved by new discoveries of truth, coming from the eternal fountain of all knowledge." Locke, book iv, chap. 18.

It is the office of the logician to curb the sallies of the imagination, and keep it under the control and direction of reason. He must take care not to be too scrupulous in balancing probabilities, in indulging the refinements of subtlety, in being sceptical on the one hand, or dogmatical on the other; as these are great obstacles to the advancement of useful knowledge, and the successful and expeditious management of busiIn order to think with correctness, and act with

ness.

energy, it is necessary to be furnished with good leading principles, and to proceed to every conclusion with cautious steps. The early discipline of reason, and the formation of regular habits of reflection, will greatly conduce to these purposes: and the chief end of logic is to invigorate this attention, and to confirm these habits.

Having thus endeavoured to point out THE APPLICATION OF RIGHT REASON to the discovery of truth, we may finally proceed to examine its moral effects; and to ask, in what particular mode of conduct we may see it most exercised, and best illustrated?

The answer to this question will lead us to consider its influence upon the different periods of human life. He who in his youth improves his intellectual powers in the pursuit of useful knowledge, and refines and strengthens his mind by the love of virtue and religion, for the service of his friends, his country, and mankind; who is animated by true glory, exalted by pure friendship for social, and softened by virtuous love for domestic life; who to all these adds a sober and a masculine piety, equally remote from superstition and enthusiasm; that man enjoys the most agreeable youth, and accumulates the richest fund for the happy enjoyment of his maturer years.

He who in manhood keeps his passions and his imagination under due control; who forms the most select and virtuous friendships; who pursues fame, wealth, and power, only in the road of honour; who in his private conduct gives fullest scope to the tender and manly affections, and in his public character serves his country in the most upright and disinterested manner; who enjoys the goods of life with the greatest moderation, bears its ills with becoming fortitude; and in

the various circumstances of duty and trial, maintains and expresses an habitual reverence and love of God; that man is the worthiest character in this stage of life, passes through it with the highest satisfaction and dignity, and paves the way to the most easy and honourable old age.

Finally he who in the decline of life preserves himself most free from the chagrin incident to that period, cherishes the kindest and most regular affections, uses his experience and authority in a tender and judicious manner, acts under a sense of the inspection, and with a view to the approbation of his maker; is daily aspiring after immortality, and ripening fast for its joys; and having sustained his part with consistency to the closing scene of life, quits the stage with a modest and graceful dignity: this is the best, the wisest, and the happiest old man. Dodsley's Preceptor, vol.

ii, p. 379, &c.

Therefore the whole of youth, manhood, and old age, which is spent in this manner, is the best and happiest life, the genuine result of RIGHT REASON.

They who thus conduct themselves are sensible that virtue is the best exercise and greatest improvement of their understandings, and constitutes the health, strength, and beauty of the mind. They are convinced that every deviation from this standard has a tendency to vice, misery, and folly; and that every advance towards it is an approach to wisdom, perfection, and happiness. The advantages, which such persons derive from logic in the improvement of their minds, and the regulation of their conduct, shows its most important use and entitles it to the highest praise.

CHAPTER II.

THE MATHEMATICS.

"NATURE, says Mr. Bonnycastle, bountiful and wise in all things, has provided us with an infinite variety of scenes, both for our instruction and entertainment; and, like a kind and indulgent parent, admits all her children to an equal participation of her blessings. But, as the modes, situations, and circumstances of life are various, so accident, habit, and education, have each their predominating influence, and give to every mind its particular bias.. Where examples of excellence are wanting, the attempts to attain it are few; but eminence excites attention, and produces imitation. To raise the curiosity, and to awaken the listless and dormant powers of younger minds, we have only to point out to them a valuable acquisition, and the means of obtaining it. The active principles are immediately put into motion, and the certainty of the conquest is ensured from a determination to conquer. Of all the sciences which serve to call forth this spirit of enterprise and inquiry, there is none more eminently useful than the mathematics. By an early attachment to these elegant and sublime studies we acquire a habit of reasoning, and an elevation of thought, which fixes the mind, and prepares it for every other pursuit. (From a few simple axioms, and evident principles, we proceed gradually to the most general propositions, and remote analogies: deducing one truth from another, in a chain

of argument well connected and logically pursued which brings us at last, in the most satisfactory manner, to the conclusion, and serves as a general direction in all our inquiries after truth."

"And it is not only in this respect that mathematical learning is so highly valuable; it is likewise equally estimable for its practical utility. Almost all the works of art, and devices of man, have a dependence upon its principles, and are indebted to it for their origin and perfection. The cultivation of these admirable sciences is therefore a thing of the utmost importance, and ought to be considered as a principal part of every liberal and well regulated plan of education. They are the guide of our youth, the perfection of our reason, and the foundation of every great and noble undertaking."

Mathematics are calculated to produce effects highly beneficial to the mind. They make us fix our attention steadily upon the objects placed before us, and are therefore very properly recommended as the best remedy to cure an unsteady and volatile disposition. They teach us a method of clear and methodical reasoning, and coincide both in principles and rules with sound logic. They give a manly vigour to our understanding, and free us from doubt and uncertainty on the one hand, and credulity and rash presumption on the other. They incline us to a due assent conformable to the nature of things, and subject us to the government of strict reason. These studies are calculated to teach exactness and perspicuity in definition, connexion and conclusiveness in argument, carefulness in observation, patience in meditation; and from no exercises can the scholar go better prepared and disciplined to the pursuit of the higher branches of