On Natural and Moral Fhilosopfnj, 39'S 



lities of our nature, with the love of order, of 

 the elegant, the beautiful ; and what is of still 

 superior import, the rational and friendly in- 

 tercourse of fellow man. It is the association 

 with these nobler propensities which corrects, 

 limits, chastises the grossness of appetite ; se- 

 parates it from indecency atnd excess, and gives 

 to it a dignity, a grace, and even a worth, 

 which of itself it would be incapable of. 



If, then, analogy be in any instance a safe 

 guide to man, here we without fear may com- 

 mit ourselves to its instruction. From the ex- 

 tensive view that we have taken of the pro- 

 vident wisdom of the Creator, it is indeed an 

 irresistible conclusion, that mind is not in one 

 instance neglected by him, and therefore, least 

 of all, in a moral view, the sublim'est purpose, 

 which man as a creature of the all-formino* 

 artist is designed to answer. It must be, that 

 in this, as in every other part of the character 

 for which he is destined, he should have a pro- 

 visionary, an elementary constitution, not dc- 

 jived from any secondary, but immediately 

 from the primary cause of all ; and that his 

 future character, all the phenomena of his suc- 

 ceeding histor)' should be only the develope- 

 ment of this elementary constitution. There are 

 many other circumstances, which may come in 

 aid of this elementary constitution, and co- 



