PHILOSOPHY, MORAL. 



Wow: 1. That if thought be suspended 

 between death and the resurrection, the 

 two instants will appear to be contiguous, 

 and with respect to every individual, will 

 actually be so. 2. That the duration of 

 the existence of an intelligent being is to 

 be measured, not by the revolutions of 

 the heavenly bodies, but by the number 

 of ideas which pass through his mind in 

 the course of his life. 3. That an Omni- 

 potent Being, by increasing the velocity 

 of the succession of ideas, may cause the 

 same revolution of the heavenly bodies, 

 which appears as a day to one, to appear 

 as more than a thousand years to another. 

 4. That if a being, in all other respects 

 constituted like ourselves, should have 

 all his ideas at once present to his mind, 

 without any succession, he could form no 

 conception of successive duration. 5. 

 That to an all-perfect mind, all whose 

 ideas are equally, invariably, and at all 

 times present, the attribute of successive 

 duration can with no propriety be as- 

 cribed. 



PHILOSOPHY, moral. 1. Since much of 

 the happiness of this life, much of our 

 ability to benefit others, since, in short, 

 the happiness of a boundless existence, 

 depends upon the proper regulation of 

 our conduct and affections, surely it must 

 be an object of the first importance, that 

 we should learn the regulation to which 

 they should be submitted. To know our 

 duty and to practise it, are indeed two 

 different things ; but to practise our duty 

 well certainly requires that we should 

 know it well. 



2. How shall we know it ? Shall we 

 Consult the law of the land, or make the 

 general conduct of mankind our guide? 

 shall we bend our actions implicitly and 

 constantly to the rules of holy writ, or 

 follow invariably the dictates of our con- 

 sciences ? All these may be valuable, 

 some are of inestimable value ; but they 

 do not supersede the necessity of moral 

 investigation. The law of the land, as 

 Paley justly observes, labours under two 

 defects considered as a rule of life. First, 

 human laws omit many duties, because 

 they are not objects of compulsion, such 

 as piety to God, bounty to the poor, for- 

 giveness of injuries, education of chil- 

 dren, gratitude to benefactors. The law 

 never speaks but to command, nor com- 

 mands but where it can compel ; conse- 

 quently those duties, which by their na- 

 ture must be'voluntary, are left out of the 

 reach of the statute book, as lying be- 

 yond the reach of its operation and autho- 

 rity. Secondly, human laws permit, or. 

 VOL. v 



which is much the same thing, leave un- 

 punished many crimes, because they can- 

 not be settled by any previous descrip- 

 tion ; such as luxury, prodigality, partia- 

 lity contrary to the good of others, 8cc. 

 For it must either settle the crime to be 

 punished, or leave it to the magistrate to 

 settle it ; which is in effect leaving it to 

 the magistrate to punish or not to punish 

 at his pleasure. 



3. The general conduct of mankind 

 cannot be a Safe guide. Scarcely is there 

 a crime for which we may not find a jus- 

 tification in the general conduct of large 

 societies ; scarcely a disposition, however 

 pernicious to individual happiness, which 

 may not receive conformation from its al- 

 lowed indulgence among whole nations. 

 The bulk of mankind do not possess 

 those advantages which enable those of 

 cultivated minds to sec almost at a glance 

 the path of duty. What culture they 

 have is often unskilfully applied ; and 

 therefore bad habits gain strength, and 

 false notions of honour, pleasure, and in- 

 terest, occupy their mincls : they think 

 less of what is right than of what will not 

 expose them to punishment : and their 

 consciences are seldom consumed, even 

 where its decisions would be right. 



4. To the rules of the scriptures we 

 may indeed implicitly submit. He who 

 steadily cultivates the dispositions which. 

 Christianity enjoins, and conforms his con- 

 duct to its sacred precepts, cannot fail to 

 mount high in the scale of moral worth 

 But this does not prevent the value of 

 moral investigation. For in the first 

 place it gives greater promptitude to our 

 obedience, to perceive that those dic- 

 tates are in perfect consistency with the 

 laws of human nature ; that an acquaint- 

 ance with the laws of human nature, leads 

 us to the conclusions forced upon us by 

 the scriptures ; that we should make the 

 love of God, the love of our neighbour, 

 and the law of our hearts, the guide of 

 our actions, and of our affections. But, 

 secondly, the precepts of Christianity are 

 very general. This is absolutely neces- 

 sary to render them of use as the guide 

 of life. Were they voluminous as the 

 laws of England, and the decisions of the 

 supreme courts of justice, (which are said 

 to fill at least fifty folio volumes,) they 

 could not contain all the cases that wouIU 

 occur ; for, as Paley observes, " it is not 

 once in ten attempts that you find the 

 case you look for in any law book what- 

 ever ; to say nothing of those numerous 

 points of conduct, concerning which the 

 law professes not to prescribe or deter- 



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