Where can we find a circle that is not shadowed, as by a cloud, if one
countenance appears within it darkened by sullenness, ill-humor, or
discontent? Where one that is not warmed and cheered, as by a sunbeam,
if one enters it whose features glow with good-humor, contentment, and
satisfaction? Then does not the command to love our neighbor make us
even responsible for the expressions our faces wear? In relation to the
plea for recreation and amusement, it can readily be shown how these may
be made subservient to a true and high cultivation of the understanding.
While few are slow to admit our accountability in all that relates to
the cultivation of the Affections, many seem to suppose, that in what
relates to the Understanding we may, without wrong, follow our own
inclinations. This opinion comes from a false estimate of the nature
and uses of the Understanding. If considered as a mere receptacle for
Latin and Greek, Mathematics and Metaphysics, Science and Literature, we
may, without moral turpitude or virtue, abstractly considered, follow
our own inclinations; but the Understanding will all the time be growing
either stronger or weaker, wiser or more foolish, whether we study them
or whether we let them alone. This action of the Understanding cannot go
on without influencing the Affections. The one is as much the gift of
God as the other, and each alike demands a healthful nutriment.
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