516 . NATURAL THEOLOGY. 



pleasurable ; and that the complacency which in health, 

 without any external assignable object to excite it, we derive 

 from life itself, is the effect of our secretions going on well 

 within us. All this may be true ; but if true, what reason 

 can be assigned for it, except the will of the Creator ? It 

 may reasonably be asked, Why is any thing a pleasure ? and 

 I know no answer which can be returned to the question 

 but that which refers it to appointment. 



We can give no account whatever of our pleasures in 

 the simple and original perception ; and even when physical 

 sensations are assumed, we can seldom account for them in 

 the secondary and complicated shapes in which they take 

 the name of diversions. I never yet met with a sportsman 

 who could tell me in what the sport consisted — who could 

 resolve it into its principle, and state that principle. I 

 have been a great follower of fishing myself, and in its 

 cheerful solitude have passed some of the happiest hours 

 of a sufficiently happy life ; but to this moment T could 

 never trace out the source of the pleasure which it afford- 

 ed me. 



The " quantum in rebus inane I" whether applied to oui 

 amusements or to our graver pursuits, to which, in truth, it 

 sometimes equally belongs, is always an unjust complaint 

 *f trifles engage, and if trifles make us happy, the true reflec 

 tion suggested by the experiment is upon the tendency ot 

 nature to gratification and enjoyment ; which is, in other 

 words, the goodness of its Author towards his sensitive cre- 

 ation. 



national natures also, as such, exhibit qualities which 

 help to confirm the truth of our position. The degree of 

 understanding found in mankind is usually much greater 

 than what is necessary for mere preservation. The pleas- 

 ure Df choosing for themselves, and of prosecuting the object 

 of their choice, should seem to be an original source of en- 

 joyment. The pleasures received from things great, beauti- 

 ful, or new. from imitation or from the liberal arts, are in 



