CHAPTER VII.
MORAL COURAGE AND W0RLDLY-MINDEDNESS.
One great defect in the minor morals of society in the present day, appears to me to be a want of moral courage; and as this is chiefly felt under the encroachments of worldly-mindedness, I propose to class the two subjects together, anomalous as they may at first sight appear, in one chapter.
A want of moral courage is most frequently recognised in a fear of acting in, or even of advocating a good cause, where blame would attach to the individual who should venture to do so. The different parties in religion, politics, and almost everything else, which separate individuals, and oppose each other, in the present times, operate as a constant check upon the exercise of moral courage, because we can with difficulty act or speak without offending one set of prejudices or another.
We must not, however, call that courage which is simply an absence of fear, owing to an absence of knowledge. We sometimes find a thoughtless and inexperienced rider willing to mount the most dangerous horse, and young travellers rushing headlong into peril, without being aware of the risk to which they are exposed. But this arises out of a very different exercise of the mental faculties from what is required—first, to see the danger, then to calculate the probability of escape, and after having decided that the motive is sufficient to justify the risk, to face the peril whatever it may be. Such is the character of true courage, though it frequently operates habitually, where there is little time for making calculations of this nature.
This particular exercise of courage, however, relates chiefly to personal danger, and even as such is well worthy the attention of mothers in the training of their children; but that to which I would more especially call their attention, relates more to the dread of blame, the annoyance of opposition, or the apprehension of suffering in our worldly interests. And here, as well as in the former case, we must endeavor to arrive at clear views of the subject in all its
