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40. It should be observed that all assents yielded by the 
mind are not convictions ; and consequently that mere assents 
to truths are not acts of faith. I therefore define belief or 
conviction as the final stage of every rational act of a mind 
which is engaged in a search for truth. I add this latter 
clause because it involves the distinction between a dead faith, 
which is a mere assent, and a living one, which is a convic- 
tion. In the one case the mind is in a passive, and in the 
other in an active state. This distinction is of the utmost im- 
portance ; and it is unphilosophical to confound two such dis- 
tinct classes of mental phenomena under a common term. 
A large body of truths to which mankind give assent when 
they are not founded on prejudices which are mistaken for 
intuitions, are purely traditional, and are founded neither on 
evidence nor insight. Such assents are, for the most part, 
passive states of the mind, and are not convictions. Others 
approximate to the character of convictions when they are 
founded on prejudices which mental ignorance mistakes for 
intuitions. I will mention one instance of this. Multitudes 
of ignorant people think that it is a duty to believe, without 
inquiry, what their fathers believed before them. Such beliefs 
have frequently existed with sufficient force to have produced 
most disastrous consequences. 
41. A large number of the assents of mankind are founded 
on a different principle, and one of which the complete analysis 
is not easy. They are the result of inclination or general 
tendency of mind, and therefore are of a character more 
or less intuitional ; and they frequently settle down into' 
positive convictions. Certain beliefs possess affinities with 
others to which the mind has already given its assent. This 
is what we call bias, — a principle which lies deep in our mental 
constitution. Let us take an illustration from politics. Two 
opposite tendencies of mind greatly influence men ; s convic- 
tions on this subject, — the one a tendency to conservatism, and 
the other a tendency to progress. A multitude of kindred 
beliefs are embraced for no other reason than their connection 
with this or that line of thought. A large number of religious 
and moral convictions are essentially of this description, and 
rest on a basis which is supposed to be intuitional, but which 
the mind diligently seeking after truth is bound reverently 
to question. 
42. The whole of our beliefs divide themselves into two 
great classes, — one whose basis is purely intellectual ; the other 
which, while the belief is an act of our reason, is directly 
connected with our moral and spiritual being. These beliefs 
constitute forces which act with various degrees of power on 
