The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-08-28
PR RELIGIOUS COLUMN.
Morality of our Judgments.

WOrhhty Ol our Judgments.
here are two cases in which an intellectual
or may be justly said to involve, or at least to
present, guilt In the first place, error fire.
8ently springs from the partial or complete
sence of that mental disposition which is inn
ed in areal love of the truth. Hypocrites, or
IN who through interested motives profess
lnions which they do not really
&heve, are probably fewer than
usually supposed; but it would
a difficult to over-estimate the number
those whose genuine convictions are due to
#e unresisted bias of their interests. By the
q nm interests l mean not only material we'll
ping, but also all those mental luxuries-all
<pse grooves or channels for thought-which
Is easy and pleasing to follow and painful or
*ficult to abandon. Such are the love of ease,
He love of certainty, the love of system, the bias
the passions, the associations of the imagina-
On as well as the coarser influences of social
.psition, domestic happiness, professional inte-
Rst, party feeling, or ambition. In most men the
,pve of truth is so languid, and their reluctance
n encounter mental suffering is so great, that
hey yield their judgments without an effort to
pc current-withdraw their minds from all
opinions or arguments opposed to their own,
4hd thus speedily convince themselves of the
ruth of what they wish to believe. He who
[eally loves truth is bound, at least to endeavor
fb resist these distorting influences, and in so
<hr as his opinions are the result of his not
&aving done So in so far they represent moral
shiling.
In the next place, it must be observed that
tysry moral disposition brings with it an intel
Hectual bias which exercises a great, and often a
Controlling and decisive, influence, even upon
1he most earnest inquirer. If we know the
character or disposition of man, we can
Usually predict, with tolerable accuracy, many
bf his opinions. We can tell to what side
bf politics, to what canons of taste, to
PFhat theory of morals he will naturally
nclne Stern, heroic and naughty natures
Fend to systems in which these qualities
bccupy the foremost position in the moral type;
while gentle natures will as naturally lean to.
wards systems in which the amiable virtues are
upreme. Impeled by species of moral gra-
Ration, the inquirer will glide insensibly to the
8ystem which is cOngruous to his disposition
lnd intellectual difficulties will seldom arrest
9lim. He can have observed human nature with
put little fruit who has not remarked how con
tant is this connection, and how very rarely
nen change fundamentally, the principles they
bad deliberately adopted on religious, moral ol
Fven political questions without the change
being preceded, accompanied, or very speedily
Followed, by a serious modification of character
30, too a vicious and depraved nature, or a ma
lure which is hard, narrow, or unsympathetic
will tend, much less by calculation or indolenct
han by natural affinity, to low and degradin!
views of human nature. Those who have neve
Telt the higher emotions will scarcely appreciate
builds are often from the heart, and a mora
kisease is therefore not unfrequently at the roo
bf an erroneous judgment.-Lu History Q.
IfOrdlS