Of Inability to do Good, &c. 207 ing the fame aálion. We can none of us be S R R ivt. fo much ftrangers to ourselves and to man- Vlll. kind, as not to know the truth of the fad `^() which hath been afferted concerning habits ; we find them in our felves, and we plainly difcern them in others ; we know that men once difinclined to a particular kind of anion, and who performed it very awkwardly, if they attempted it at all, have afterwards, by cuftom, attained to a facility in it, and a fondnefs for it. And we know that a de- fire to force things is formed and railed to great vehemence by habit, as well as that ability and fxill is acquired in exercifes either of the body or mind. Scarcely is their any of our powers, or inflinds, which is not ca- pable of improvement in this way : the eye by a proper, cuflomary, but at the fame time voluntary direction to its objed, be- cometh more fkilful in its difcernment, and thereby bringeth various entertainment to the mind : the ear, by an habitual attention, learneth more accurately to perceive the dif- tintion and harmony of founds ; the talle be- cometh more delicate and refined; the un- derftanding groweth up to maturity and flrenth, with pleafure in the exercife of it, by a diligent and well condueced application; the lower affections become immoderate by z indulgence;
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