CHAPTER IV. 503, I. +' Accustom yourselves to clear and distinct ideas, to evident propositions, to strong and convincing arguments." Con- verse much with those friends, and those books, and those parts of learning, where you meet with the greatest clearness of thought, and force of reasoning. etThe hmat sciences, encnd and particularly arithmetic, a y, and with these advantages : and if there were nothing valuable in them for the uses of human life, yet the véry speculative parts of this sort of learning are well worth our study ; for by per -. petual examples they teach us to conceive with clearness, to con- nect our ideas and propositions in a train of dependence, to rea- son with strength and demonstration, and to distinguish between truth and falsehood, Something of those sciences should be studied b.y every man who pretends to learning, and that,. as Mr. Locke expresses it, " not so much to make us mathemati- cians, as to make us reasonable creatures." We should gain such a familiarity with evidence of percep- tion and force of reasoning, and get such a habit of discerning clear truths, that the mind may be soon offended with obscurity and confusion : then we shall, as it were, naturally and with ease restrain our minds from rash judgment, before we attain just evidence of the proposition which is offered to us ; and we shall with the same ease, and as it were, naturally seize and embrace every truth that is proposed with just evidence. This habit of conceiving clearly, of judging justly, and of reasoning reell, is not to be attained merely by the happiness of constitution, the brightness of genius, the best natural parts, or the best collection of logical precepts. It is custom and prac- tice that must form and establish this habit. We must apply ourselves to it till we perform all this readily, and without re- flecting on rules, A coherent thinker, and a strict reasoner, is not to be made at once by a set of rules, any more than a good painter or musician may be formed extempore, by an excellent lecture on music or painting. It is of infinite importance there- fore in our younger years, to be taught both the value and the practice of conceiving clearly and reasoning right: for when we are grown up to the middle of life, or past it, it is no wonder that we should not learn good reasoning, any more than that an ig- norant clown should not be able to learn fine language, dancing, or a courtly behaviour, when his rustic airs have grown up with him till the age of forty. For want of this care,, some persons of rank and education dwell all their days among obscure ideas ; they conceive and judge always in confusion, they take weak arguments for demon- stration, they are led away with the disguises and shadows of truth. Now if such persons happen tò have a bright imagina- tion, a volubility of speech, and a copiousness of language, they not only impose many errors upon their own understandings, but ii
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