Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Mass.) 1828-1830, 1828-09-16
NOR
FOR THE LANCASTER GAZETTE.
rONcISTENr,v

Somebody has said that there IS nothing
for which man will sooner fly into pas
sion thana charge of inconsistency. Indeed
you may tell him that he was playing the
rogue yesterday when he declared himself
of this or that way of thinking, since to-day
he is acting contrary to those professions !;
and he will be less displeased at this accusa-
ton of want of moral consistency, than he
would be if you attacked him by saying that
he could not be ofthe same mind for two days
together. Of all the designs men form,
vast majority are never consummated. Some
are impracticable but they are very few in
barely because they are thought to be so;
some die in embryo in fit of fickleness I;
and many fail because their authors find it
for their interest to be sometimes capricious.
There is scarcely any one trait of character
as to which men differ more than tenacity of
purpose. The keenest-sighted penetration,
the loftiest intellectual capacity, the ripest
scholarship, the fullest mind, may each and
all belong to man ofthe most brittle frailty
of resolution. The meanest understanding,
the scantiest stock of information, even dark
and glimmering shortsightedness, may only
serve to make their possessor more head
strong and doggedinhis obstinacy ofpurpose.
These are extreme cases. People range
every where between, in both respects. In
deed it is lamentable to see, as we too often
do, the noblest genius fatally diseased with
caprice. Flirting for a moment with
thousand different pursuits, jilting them all
in rapid succession, and finishing his career
by being caught by some Xantippe of pro-
fession or living an unproductive bachelor.
AS this case is saddening, so on the other
hand is it equally gratifying to see him to
whom his Lord has given but one talent ac-
lively using that and by directing his atten-
ton to one deserving object steadily and de-
votedly, carrying his point at last. Some
have exalted talents and mistaken frmness
of purpose and when these are united the
greatest possible results of human power
may be expected.
Notwithstanding perseverance is so hon.
Durable and valuable an ingredient of char
acter, it is yet no crime for man to change
his mind, but very often the most laudable
and honest thing he can do. Upon the
truths of mathematics intrinsically UNI
ehangeable, upon such great and almost self
evident truths as the existence and power
and goodness of God, it is impossible for a
man of sense ever to have more than one
mind. But when we have made up our
opinion about moral truths from balance
of probabilities, it is quite possible. nay, it is
the most probable thing in the world that
many circumstances of the case have slip
ped our examination; if these occur or are
suggested to us and are sufficient to turn
the scale, would not it be the height Of dis
righteousness and dishonesty to pretend to
continue in the same belief Just so, if
man have deliberately determined upon fol-
lowing a particular way of life, and after
wards things transpire that he knew not of
before, or which did not exist before, and
which put the whole affair on different
footing, it certainly is nothing to his discred-
it if he consider the matter again, and again
decide as may seem to him best--to contin-
ue his scheme or abandon it. Just so with
political and even religious propensities and
sentiments In politicks something new is
continually turning up, so that unwavering
political consistency is thing which,
though much boosted of, is very rarely found
and indeed in all honesty ought not to be.
My political opinions now may be irrecon-
cilably opposed to my sentiments three years
ago, and yet both be in their season perfect
ly reasonable. And so religious views may
change; for it is no digrace to us that our
minds were not made capable of an intuitive
and thorough comprehension of wide and
difficult subjects at glance. We must re-
ceive knowledge by degrees, and yet we
cannot help coming to our conclusions, par
tally at least, as we go on. Though the
great essentials may soon be wasted, yet the
subject is one which may be studied forever
and yet the knowledge of it never be per-
fectcd and of course we may be continually
removing wrong impressions and replacing
them with right
From the view we have taken of the adj
vantages of perseverance in our pursuits