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power; and, were the mind properly educated to the extent of its capabilities, far, very far, more mental energy would be displayed in the different departments of society, and hence society improved and man advanced. The capabilities of most men are very much greater than those actually exerted; and, were they fully exerted, what command of mind! what dignity! what good! If we examine the cause of the deficiency we have named, we shall find it to consist for the most part of the want of that valuable quality which forms the subject of these remarks. True decision of character, considered in all its parts, is real strength of mind; then indecision is weakness. This weakness may display itself in thought, in feeling, in action. Order is not only the first law of society, but the preserver and producer of almost every good. On the order and continuous succession of thought depends the development of the wealth of mind-the riches of man's spiritual nature. The triumphs of reason in science, philosophy, and in the numberless appliances of art, depend on the vigorous succession of thought; and to cultivate mind requires decision of character. In the absence of this quality mind is a wilderness, and in practical value is powerless.

Excepting misery produced by guilt, no state of mental wretchedness exceeds that arising from indecision. Apart from the consequences resulting from indecision, the distress of mind it occasions in affairs of any moment, is great. Under the influence of decision of character, the mind, in the most perplexing cases, reasons from point to point; and, holding the balance of opposing arguments and feelings, decides; and when decided, proceeds with promptitude, and the energy of hope, to act. But, in the absence of this valuable quality, the mind is tossed by the waves of alternating considerations and feelings, and, with a full consciousness of weakness, fears and despairs.

A consciousness of weakness is a very considerable cause of the distress arising from indecision. The mind in such a state sees the perplexity in which it is involved, and at the same time feels unequal to contend with difficulty or danger. The advantages or disadvantages of any courses which imagination (in such cases the guide) may suggest, are seen in all their magnitude; and all possible consequences from all possible courses, are pictured by fancy before the mental view; and while the mind is thus under the influence of imagination rather than reason, the tide of opportunity is flowing by, and the power of action is lost. The mind is spell-bound to a single point; it cannot, it dare not move. It feels its weakness. And then, in such a mental condition, as an almost necessary part of it, difficulty and danger are enhanced, frequently much enhanced by the mind, which is governed by fear, and not by hope. And this is wretchedness; a consciousness of perplexity, and also of weakness, to contend with it; and what remains? Despair!

Another cause of the mental distress arising from indecision, is conflict without success. We have just adverted to this as giving the consciousness of weakness; but we think it deserves mention as a separate cause of misery. The conflict is not that of reason; for reason, pure and

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enlightened, hushes to silence the jarring elements of contention, whether of opinion or passion, and moves on in dignity and calm. The mind decides and acts; but in indecision the mind is destitute of controlling or moving power. Every form of opinion, and every kind of feeling which have any relationship with the perplexity, as the waves of a restless ocean, toss upon its bosom the bark that cannot proceed; or if the waters be ever so smooth, the vessel is without pilot or helm. The greatest cause of mental weariness is conflict without success. indecision the mind is subject to the collision of opinions which assume the form of arguments, and of feelings which wear the appearance of reasons; and in this conflict, oftentimes most severe, the mind is wearied with its own fruitless efforts, and wastes those energies which ought to be employed in action. Despair, rather than hope, awaits this mental state.

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And we also mention, as another part of the distress caused by indecision, anxiety for the future. Suspense is distressing in any case; but when importance belongs to any affair, anxiety for the future, of proportionate intensity, is sure to be awakened. What will be the result of the whole? the mind anxiously inquires. It speculates, but it cannot reason. Indecision shuts out hope; and in the despair which it generates, gives no data for reason.

We have endeavoured to show the most humiliating, and even disgraceful, and certainly wretched state which indecision produces; as a further illustration of its evils, we now refer to the very obvious onethe waste of faculties, and loss of opportunity of which it is the cause. Besides the non-accomplishment of that good in society, in its several relations and departments, and the consequent non-fulfilment of duties, high, sacred, and imperative, within capability, and hence the breach of obligation, a habit of indecision wastes those powers of thought and feeling, and incapacitates them for future action, which might and ought to be employed in the high mission of man's nobility. Man has a nobility though he knows it not-a nobility conferred by his Creator, in the image of whom he is formed. He has powers great and mighty, capable, with due improvement of them, of elevating his race to indefinite degrees of knowledge, social advancement, righteousness, and happiness. But with indecision of character all is lost. Where there is no movement there can be no progression. And then, too, by indecision of character opportunities of advantage, personal or relative, are lost. The great ostensible difference between wisdom and folly is improvement of opportunities. As the term implies, opportunity means the offer of a good, and the consequent infliction of evil by the neglect. Besides that tide of opportunities continually flowing by, which, by the eye of intelligence, and with the hand nerved by decision of character, may be seized, and become each of them important occasions of blessing and of being blessed, there are in various periods of life golden opportunities, not only holding certain promise of great and lasting good, but inflicting by their loss great and lasting evil. This truth is sadly familiar to the experience

of all our readers, who can, far better than we are able, apply it in num→ berless instances in every relation and condition in life. Regret and remorse, too, deep, bitter, and constant, are sure to follow any neglect of really valuable opportunity; and regret and remorse, as kindred spirits of evil, besides inflicting their own amount of misery, greatly weaken the powers of mind, and unfit them for action.

"He hesitated and was lost!" Often may the tear of sorrow be shed over the fall of those who, from continual habit of indecision of character, are ever missing opportunities of improvement and advantage, and consequently confirmed in indolence, are at the mercy of the wave of circumstance, and in despair are sinking lower and lower in obscurity or vice. "He hesitated and was lost!" Yes, hesitation is loss. The golden moment of present opportunity must be seized, for it will never return. It never can return, for time will not. Hence, in the majority of cases, loss and ruin are the inevitable, the irreparable consequences of neglect. Indecision of character is loss. And when contrasted with the noble quality which forms our subject, a view of loss from the heights of excellence and advantage, which the cultivation of decision might have ensured, to the depths of ruin and despair, which indecision produces, is frequently the source of woe and bitterness. And who would not avoid such mental wretchedness? Who would not cultivate the means of the attainment of decision of character, and thus rise to higher stations of excellence, nobility, honour, and usefulness?

It will be seen at once that we consider decision of character to be an attainable quality, and its cultivation as much a duty, as any part of mental or moral discipline. And so it undoubtedly is. It cannot be denied that differences of mental constitution render the possession of decision of character natural and easy to some, and to others a work of almost insuperable difficulty. The bold and energetic minds of some appear to claim this noble quality as a part of their being, while the timid and feeble minds of others seem as utterly opposed to its attainment. Physical constitution, also, has unquestionably a very important influence in the attainment of true decision. We may notice one instance of this, obvious indeed, and therefore proving our remark at once, in the superior physical vigour possessed over the fairer part of our species by those of the opposite sex; and contributing, we believe, in considerable measure, to the difference easily observable in the comparative possession of decision of character. Still it is our conviction that decision of character may be attained in a measure by all; that as a mental quality it may be cultivated, and that as a habit it may be gained and strengthened.

As a first requisite for the attainment of any mental quality, the mind should be thoroughly impressed with the evils attending its nonpossession, and also with its intrinsic excellence and the benefits it produces. The evils on the one hand, and the benefits on the other, we have previously considered, and therefore shall not now unnecessarily remark on them. Decision of character, well regulated and true, distinct from those spurious qualities resembling it only in some of its features, is dependent

more, as we have seen, on the cultivation of the reasoning and moral faculties than on any particular states of feeling. Decision we may term the conclusion of judgment; at least it is the practical determination which follows, as an immediate invariable sequence, that mental process; and if the judgment be good the decision founded on it must be so. We say, then, to every one at all destitute of the invaluable quality we have considered in our previous remarks, cultivate clear reasoning. In this consists the essence of mental power, and hence of true decision.

In affairs of whatever kind, especially matters of moment, this is important. Let there be no mental confusion of arguments; let each, as far as possible, be separately considered, and decided on its own merits. Let the various conclusions of judgment which may lead to practical determination-decision-be in a progressive series, a connected chain, one step naturally leading to the next. That this may be attained, though with difficulty perhaps, the consciousness of many individuals and the teachings of practical mental philosophy alike assure us. Decision, however, is not reasoning alone, though essentially founded on it; and therefore, as another requisite, we add-connect a cause and effect, an immediate invariable sequence, decision with the conclusion of judgment. Hesitation, generally injurious either in the process of thought or in the course of action, is always so here. There must be no looking back, no retracing of steps, no reversal of judgment; but the mind must, as by a command from absolute authority, immediately, with energy, gather up itself to act; and action, too, should with promptitude follow decision. We had almost omitted to observe, that energy of mind in the process of reason is necessary to the energy which decision implies. Quick apprehension of truth is an essential part of this energy. Indeed, there are occasions, and such cases are perhaps the most numerous of any, when rapid decision is essential; a day, an hour, a moment, and all may be gained or lost. Rapidity of mental movement is essential to energy of character; and this energy, as we have said, a part of true decision. Decision of character, too, is a habit. Habit by its own nature continually strengthens itself; and this habit, as well as any other, may with care and determination be attained.

Were it generally attained, what blessings would follow! what excellence gained! what happiness diffused ! Were each member of the human family erect in the consciousness of rectitude, and moving in the orbit of intelligent relationship, possessed of the valuable quality we have described, how high would the nobility of man be raised! And in the universal continued and determinate prosecution of wise efforts, tending to advance our race in higher and higher degrees of wisdom and virtue, how rapid the improvement, and how large the reward!

W. S. R.

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BLOSSOMS.

BY THE AUTHOR OF "IS IT PEACE," &C. &C.

"So wise so young, they say, do ne'er live long."-RICH, III. ACT. iii. SCENE 1, THE uncertainty of life (so frail is the tenure it is held by) is a theme seldom duly considered. The Christian and the philosopher are the only ones who take such under their consideration, and who strive, by their faith, actions, and principles, to prepare themselves for that world "eye hath not seen." This earth is truly a scene of probation and trial; -we are placed here for high and holy purposes, and well is it for him who (as far as flesh can) does follow them out. To aid him in this endeavour, man needs that wisdom which Solomon declares is "better than rubies:" by this precious boon he can bravely stem every difficulty -he can resist opposition and temptation-he can bend meekly to affliction and sorrow-and he can, by its blessing, calmly and willingly yield into his hands who gave it his never-dying soul. Many instances of persons in the possession of this wisdom, early snatched to their "last home" could be given; but such is not the purport of this paper exclusively; however, we will consider a few. That the wise and young are the first taken from our embrace is verified by many an early removal: than this there is no subject more worthy the contemplation of the sensitive and feeling. The heart that is keenly alive to sympathy, is agonised (as far as its earthly tendency has sway) when it learns that the old and grey-haired man—the wearied peasant or the aged statesman— is snatched from the circle of friends; but neither by the death-bed of beauty, age, or friendship, is the heart so powerfully affected, as by that of the young and wise. The universality of this is acknowledged by many; but by none more warmly than the poor, whose fondness for their children is so strong and lasting. How many a village churchyard displays upon its monuments the epitaph ending,

"God takes them first whom he loves best,"

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reminding us of "whom the gods love, die young." Though the parent mourns her dead child, and sadly preserves in the heart recollections fond;" yet a pleasure reigns within, assuring, that one more angel has entered heaven. In Transylvania the people mourn not over those who die young, inasmuch as they will not have so many crimes to answer for: they rejoice and feast-they scatter garlands of flowers, and offer to Heaven praises, for the act of mercy, in so early removing from earth the child of their love. How beautiful are such things—having connection with others more lofty and pure-deriving charms from a better and an enduring world!

Amongst the young, talented, and wise, endeared for their knowledge and manners, for being alive to every sentiment of beauty and sublimity at an early age, none are more worthy to be registered than Porson,

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