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ON THE GENERAL DIFFUSION OF KNOWLEDGE. 



or has a relation to moral character and conduct. 

 It is incapable of investigating its own powers, 

 of determining the manner in which they should 

 operate, or of ascertaining the secret springs of 

 its actions. Yet, without a habit of reflection 

 and self-examination, we cannot attain a know 

 ledge of ourselves, and, without self-knowledge, 

 we cannot apply aright our powers and capaci 

 ties, correct our failings and defects, or advance 

 to higher degrees of improvement in knowledge 

 arid virtue. In order to ascertain our state, our 

 character, and our duty, such inquiries as the 

 following must frequently and seriously be the 

 subject of consideration. What rank do I hold 

 in the scale of being, and what place do I occupy 

 in the empire of God ? Am 1 merely a sensi 

 tive creature, or am I also endowed with moral 

 and intellectual powers ? In what relations do 

 I stand to my fellow-creatures, and what duties 

 do I owe them ? What is my ultimate destina 

 tion ? Is it merely to pass a few years in eating 

 and drinking, in motion and rest, like the lower 

 animals, or am 1 designed for another and a 

 higher sphere of existence ? In what relation 

 do I stand to my Creator, and what homage, 

 submission, and obedience ought I to yield to 

 him ? What are the talents and capacities 

 with which I am endowed, and how shall I ap 

 ply them to the purposes for which they were 

 given me ? What are the weaknesses and de 

 ficiencies? to which I am subject, and how are 

 they to be remedied? What are the vices and 

 follies to which I am inclined, and by what 

 means may they be counteracted ? What are 

 the temptations to which I am exposed, and how 

 shall they be withstood ? What are the secret 

 springs of my actions, and by what laws and 

 motives are they regulated ? What are the 

 tempers and dispositions which I most frequently 

 indulge, and are they accordant with the rules 

 of rectitude and virtue ? What are the preju 

 dices I am apt to entertain, and by what means 

 may they be subdued ? What are the affections 

 and appetites in which I indulge, and are they 

 regulated by the dictates of reason and the law 

 of God ? What are my great and governing 

 views in life ? Are they correspondent to the 

 will of my Creator, and to the eternal destina 

 tion that awaits me ? Wherein do I place my 

 highest happiness ? In the pleasures of sense, 

 or in the pleasures of intellect and religion, in 

 the creature or in the Creator? How have I 

 hitherto employed my moral powers and capa 

 cities ? How do I stand affected towards my 

 brethren of mankind? Do I hate, or envy, or 

 despise any of them? Do I grudge them pros 

 perity, wish them evil, or purposely injure and 

 affront them ? Or do I love them as brethren of 

 the same family, do them all the good in ray 

 power, acknowledge their excellencies, and re 

 joice in their happiness and prosperity ? 



Such inquiries and self-examinations, when 



seriously conducted, would necessarily lead to 

 the most beneficial moral results. In leading ua 

 to a knowledge of our errors and defects, they 

 would teach us the excellency of Jeumility, the 

 reasonableness of this virtue, and the foundation 

 on which it rests, and of course, the folly ot 

 pride, and of all those haughty and supercilious 

 tempers which are productive of so much mis 

 chief and unhappiness, both in the higher and 

 the lower spheres of life. Pride is uniformly the 

 offspring of self-ignorance. For, if a man will 

 but turn his eyes within, and thoroughly scruti 

 nize himself, so as to perceive his errors and 

 follies, and the germs of vice which lodge in his 

 heart, as well as the low rank he holds in the 

 scale of creation, he would see enough to teach 

 him humbleness of mind, and to render a proud 

 disposition odious and detestable, and inconsis 

 tent with the relations in which he stands to his 

 Creator, to his fellow-creatures, and to the uni 

 verse at large. Such mental investigations 

 would also lead to self-possession, under affronts 

 and injuries, and amidst the hurry and disorder 

 of the passions, to charity, candour, meekness, 

 and moderation, in regard to the sentiments and 

 conduct of others, to the exercise of self-denial, 

 to decorum and consistency of character, to a 

 wise and steady conduct in life, and to an intel 

 ligent performance of the offices of piety and the 

 duties of religion. But how can we ever expect 

 that an ignorant uncultivated mind, unaccus 

 tomed to a regular train of rational thought, can 

 enter, with spirit and intelligence, on the process 

 of self-examination ? It requires a certain por 

 tion, at least, of information, and a habit of re 

 flection, before a man can be qualified to engage 

 in such an exercise ; and these qualifications 

 can omy be attained by the exercise which the 

 mind receives in the acquisition of general know 

 ledge. If, then, it be admitted, that self-igno 

 rance is the original spring of all the follies and 

 incongruities we behold in the characters of 

 men, and the cause of all that vanity, censori- 

 ousness, malignancy, and vice which abound 

 in the world ; and, if self-knowledge would tend 

 to counteract such immoral dispositions, we 

 must endeavour to communicate a certain por 

 tion of knowledge to mankind, to fit them for the 

 exercise of self-examination and self-inspection, 

 before we can expect that the moral world will 

 be renovated, and &quot; all iniquity, as ashamed, 

 hide its head, and stop its mouth.&quot; 



5. Knowledge, by expanding the mind, will 

 enable it to take a clear and comprehensive view 

 of the motives, bearings, tendencies, and conse 

 quences of moral actions. A man possessed of 

 a truly enlightened mind, must have his mora 

 sense, or conscience, much more sensible and 

 tender, and more judiciously directed, than that 

 of a person whose understanding is beclouded 

 with ignorance. When he has o choose be 

 tween good and evil, or between good and bet- 



