PHILOSOPHY, MENTAL. 



positions, and from the perpetual recur- 

 rency of the appropriate words, and of 

 their secondary ideas, first in a faint state, 

 afterwards in a stronger and stronger, 

 perpetually. The contemplation of the 

 rest of the divine attributes, His omnipo- 

 tence, omniscience, eternity, omnipre- 

 sence, &c. have also a tendency to sup- 

 port and augment the love of God, when 

 this is so far advanced as to be superior 

 to the fear ; till then, these wondrous at- 

 tributes enhance the fear so much, as for 

 a time to check the rise and growth of the 

 love. Even the fear itself greatly contri- 

 butes to the generation and augmentation 

 of the love, and in a manner greatly ana- 

 logous to the production of other pleasures 

 from pains. And, indeed, it seems, that 

 notwithstanding the variety of the ideas 

 and feelings, which contribute to this af- 

 fection, there is so great a resemblance 

 among them, that they must languish by 

 frequent recurrency, till ideas of an oppo- 

 site nature, by intervening at certain sea- 

 sons, give ihem fresh life. On this theory 

 the love of God is evidently deduced in 

 part from interested motives, directly, viz. 

 from the hopes of a future reward ; and 

 partly from motives or sources of it, in 

 which direct explicit self-interest does not 

 appear, but which may be traced up to it 

 ultimately. However, after all the sources 

 of this affection have coalesced together, 

 it becomes as disinterested as any other. 

 It appears also that this pure disinterested 

 love of God may, by a concurrence of a 

 sufficient number of sufficiently strong as- 

 sociations, arise to such a height as to 

 prevail over any other of the desires, in- 

 terested or disinterested. Enthusiasm 

 may be defined, a mistaken persuasion in 

 any person that he is a peculiar favourite 

 with God, and that he receives superna- 

 tural marks thereof. The vividness of 

 the ideas of this class easily generates 

 this false persuasion in persons of strong 

 imaginations, religious ignorance, and nar- 

 row understandings, (especially where 

 the moral sense is but imperfectly form- 

 ed), by giving a reality and certainty to 

 all the reveries of a man's own mind, and 

 confirming the associations in a preterna- 

 tural manner. It may also be easily con- 

 tracted by contagion, as daily experience 

 shows ; and indeed more easily than most 

 other dispositions, from the lively lan- 

 guage used by enthusiasts, and from the 

 great flattery and support which enthusi- 

 asm gives to pride and self-conceit. 



91. The fear of God arises from a view 

 of the evils of life, the threat enings of the 

 Scriptures, the sense of guilt, the infinity 



VOL. V. 



of the divine attributes, and from prayer, 

 meditation, conversation, and reading on 

 such subjects. When confined in proper 

 limits, it is awe, veneration, and reverence; 

 when excessive, or not duly regarded, it 

 degenerates either into superstition or 

 atheism. Superstition may be defined, a 

 mistaken opinion concerning the severity 

 and punishments of God, magnifying them 

 in respect to ourselves or others. Athe- 

 ism is either speculative, which denies 

 the existence of God ; or practical, which 

 is the neglect of Him, where a person 

 thinks of Him seldom, or with reluctance, 

 and pays little or no regard to Him in ac- 

 tions, though he does not deny Him in 

 words. Both kinds, in Christian countries, 

 seem to proceed from an explicit or im- 

 plicit sense of guilt, and consequent fear 

 of Him, sufficient to generate an aversion 

 to the thoughts of him, and to the methods, 

 by which "the love might be generated, 

 and yet too feeble to restrain from guilt : 

 and it is the tendency of all pain, to pre- 

 vent the recurrency of the circumstances 

 which produced it. 



6. Of the Pleasures and Pains of the Moral 

 Sense. 



92. There are certain dispositions of 

 mind, with the actions flowing from them, 

 which when a person believes himself to 

 be possessed of, and reflects upon, a pleas- 

 ing consciousness and self-approbation 

 rises up in his mind, exclusively of any 

 direct explicit consideration of advantage 

 likely to ensue to himself from his posses- 

 sion of those dispositions : in like manner, 

 the view of them in other persons raises 

 up a disinterested love and esteem tor 

 those persons. And the opposite qualities 

 and actions are attended with the con- 

 demnation both of ourselves and others. 

 This is in general the state of the case; 

 but there are many particular differences, 

 according to the particular education, dis- 

 position, profession, sex, &c. of each per- 

 son. The general agreement and parti- 

 cular differences in our ideas of right and 

 wrong, and consequent approbation and 

 disapprobation, seem to admit of an ana- 

 lysis and explanation, from the following 

 particulars. 



93. First, children are for the most 

 part instructed in the difference and op- 

 position of virtue and vice, and have some 

 eeneral descriptions of the virtues and 

 vices with which they are particularly 

 concerned. They are told that the fi 

 are good, pleasant, noble, beautiful, nt, 

 worthy of praise and reward, &c. the last 



Mm 



