other beings, is endowed with superior means of accumulating knowledge,
and of preserving experience; by these, therefore, his actions should be
directed. If, independently of these, his will possessed a power of
directing his actions, it would be equivalent to the instinct of
animals: he would, like them, be stationary, and his conduct liable to
no responsibility. The long period of infancy in man has been frequently
adverted to; and it is a considerable time before he acquires sufficient
experience to direct his conduct; and during which, many of the species
of animals have completed several generations. For this reason, the
wisest legislators, of all ages, have exempted children under a certain
age, from the punishment of death for their actions; and although many
of them have entertained erroneous notions concerning the nature of the
will, yet they tacitly admit, in the instances of infants, idiots, and
madmen,--that is, where the understanding is not sufficiently formed by
experience, or where it is perverted by disease, that the acts of the
will ought not to be visited by the severity of the law. This is perhaps
the best practical illustration, that the will to act, is governed and
directed by reason. Had the mind of man, like animals, been furnished
with instinct, which, in them, implies a wise, preconcerted, and
unvarying performance of important functions, for their individual
preservation, and for the continuance of their race,--as may be
exemplified in the construction of the habitations of the bee and
beaver, together with their wonderful economy,--the fabrication of the
spider's web, and many others,--he would, like them, have been
stationary, having received from Infinite Bounty and Wisdom sufficient
for his destination: his will would have been directed by unerring
motives; and thus his conduct would have been absolved from all
responsibility. But man is gifted with few instincts, which appear to
decline as his reason advances: his intellect is more capacious, and of
a finer staple; he possesses additional organs for the accumulation of
knowledge; and, by the peculiarity of his construction, is enabled to
preserve his acquirements, to avail himself of the treasures of those
who have preceded him, and to transmit his collections to posterity.
Man, in possession of ampler materials and superior capacity, becomes
the architect of his own mind; and to him it is alone permitted, by the
aid of experience, and t