Mozley: A Treatise on the Augustinian Doctrine of

CHAP. xi. Conclusion. 295
than any other, I mean as a taste
seriously and regularly
adopted, and made a work of. Many indeed start with
something like a general taste or a fancy for metaphysics,
which they indulge so long as it gives them little trouble,
and merely ministers to pleasing vague sensations of depth,
and love of the unknown and indefinite ; affording a do
main for dreamy and vaporous evolutions of thought, cloudy
connections, and fictitious ascents of the intellect, reason
ings somewhat akin to what people carry on in sleep, and
pursued as a mere diversion and vent to, rather than an
exercise of, the mind. But the taste is given up as soon
as they have to examine facts, to fasten their ideas upon
real things, real truths within the actual mind, for the
purpose of apprehension and knowledge. This internal
field of examination, I say, is not to the taste of any
large proportion of minds ; because it requires a more
patient sort of attention, a more enduring and passive
attitude of the whole mind, than is ordinarily congenial
to the human temper. The act necessary here is an act
of simple internal observation, which, while it is a very
difficult one in this particular department, owing to the
obscurity and subtlety of its subject matter, is at the same
time a quiet one ; for quiet is essential to secure correct
ness of observation in metaphysics as in nature. But
this combination is a distasteful one to most minds. In
life, practical or intellectual, the general compensation for
difficulty is the pleasure of action ; for passiveness, that
of repose. The energetic man delights
in obstacles which
summon forth all his powers and put them into active
operation ; the labour is forgotten in the satisfaction of
exertion, and the legitimate play and excitement of the
whole system carry off the task, and convert it into a
pleasure. The natural activity of the human mind, again,
so opposed to the passive
attitude ordinarily, puts up with
it at certain intervals, for the sake of rest, and enjoys it.
But difficulty with passiveness, is uncongenial. We want
always, when we are at work, to feel ourselves in progress,
in action, advancing step after step ; and the attitude of
standing still in thought, though it be for an important