Even in those pursuits which are purely abstract, the different degrees of intellect approximate more nearly to each other than we commonly imagine. There are certain brilliant talents which we are apt to regard with a kind of superstitious feeling, and which we suppose to be gifted with an almost intuitive knowledge. Yet, the truth is, that those qualities which most easily attract the vulgar gaze, are fallacious and superficial. The highest and most lasting rewards of fame, have been earned by slow and patient labour; while the more dazzling career of genius has often terminated in disappointment and obscurity. He who trusts to the mere force and splendour of his talents, will find that they cannot sustain his flight, and that the most brilliant inventions of the human mind fade before the realities of nature; that there is no real glory in philosophy, separate from that of truth, and no key which will unlock her treasures, save that of patient investigation. There can be no discipline, better fitted to humble the pride and silence the vanity of man, than that of the inductive philosophy; for it teaches him that the only disposition of mind, in which he can acquire substantial knowledge, is that of docility to the voice of experience; and that patience and humility are far more valuable and efficient in a philosopher, than the brightest genius. When Newton commenced the researches that conducted him to an eminence, which no other mortal has attained, it was by careful and unprejudiced observation. He suffered no previous opinion to mislead his judgment, no weak ambition to disturb his mind; but watched, with untiring patience, for the illuminations of truth. It was, probably, to this careful exclusion of prejudice and vanity, as much as to any other cause, that he owed his wonderful achievements; for they must have been attained by regular advances, by steps which the meanest understanding is capable of following.
If these remarks are correct as regards philosophical, they are more strikingly so in relation to moral truth. The fabric of philosophy is the work of ages, and its dimensions are as capacious as those of nature; but the edifice of moral truth can be perfected in the sphere of action, and during the life of every individual. Its foundation is laid by the hand of the Creator in the heart of every intelligent being, and is spoken of in Scripture, as the rock on which the wise man built, and under the type of a light which has enlightened every man, of a word which is nigh us in our heart and in our mouth. This light may be darkened by superstition, distorted by prejudice, or buried beneath the cumbrous systems of a false philosophy; but can never be totally extinguished. He who would follow its illuminations, and become the votary of truth, must separate himself from these troubled elements of life. He must listen in quiet seclusion to her voice, and acquire, by humble and patient watchfulness, that habitual mastery over his mind, which is the groundwork, and the only foundation, of permanent excellence; and thus will he gradually come to know the truth as it is.