PHILOSOPHY, MORAL. 



to perform the will of God by every con- 

 sideration. Most true, and yet we are 

 not come to the lust obligation. Even in 

 the sentence we have just used, we have, 

 without intending it, referred to some 

 other. Under the dominion of a, wise 

 and good God, there cannot be a doubt, 

 that obedience to his commands is the 

 highest wisdom ; but why . ? It is a ques- 

 tion that admits of an answer, and may 

 therefore be put, though reverently : 

 Why am I obliged to do the will "of 

 God ? And the answer is obvious. Obe- 

 dience to the commands of a benevolent 

 God must be productive of the greatest 

 ultimate happiness. Not that it is ne- 

 cessary frequently to take this into con- 

 sideration ; for when we have ascertain- 

 ed that we are walking surely, we may 

 walk safely without that degree of at- 

 tention which, before such asscertain- 

 mcnt, might have been necessary. To 

 obey the will of God in all things is 

 the highest point of wisdom ; and he is 

 most obedient who obeys because he 

 loves. 



20. Every question, Why is any one 

 obliged to perform a certain action ? 

 gives us an ultimate answer ; because it 

 tends to the greatest ultimate happiness 

 of the agent. When we arrive at this 

 point, it is obvious we can go no fur- 

 ther. And, though true wisdom un- 

 doubtedly directs, that in order to attain 

 the highest point of moral excellence, 

 we must leave our own happiness out 

 of consideration, yet there cannot be a 

 doubt, that there could be no obligation 

 to any conduct in opposition to hap pi. 

 ness on the whole. If self must be an- 

 nihilated, it is because self-annihilation, or 

 self-oblivion, is necessary for the attain- 

 ment of the highest possible happiness. 

 Here, then, we come to the ultimate obli- 

 gation, and upon this ground we shall 

 build our moral superstructure. Though 

 the principle appears a selfish one, it will 

 be found, that the deductions from it are 

 completely the reverse. It has been re- 

 marked in favour of this as the ultimate 

 obligation, that no nearer obligation could 

 ever be admitted, which cannot at last 

 be resolved into this ultimate one : that 

 happiness is the end of the whole crea- 

 tion, though the means by which it is to 

 be obtained are not always in themselves 

 happiness ; and that revelation itself as- 

 sumes this as the ultimate reason of all 

 its requisitions. 



21. We now proceed to the second 

 enquiry (. 8.) What are those affec- 

 tions, conduct, and character, which 



tend to the greatest ultimate happiness 

 of the agent; an:l in considering this 

 the third will receive an answer. We 

 shall chiefly confine our inquiries to the 

 affections, for the reason already stated, 

 (. 7.) and we shall make an estimate of 

 the value of the different pleasures and 

 pains of the mind. This" will lead to 

 what we deem an indisputable conclu- 

 sion, from the laws of the mental frame, 

 that the love of man, of God, and of 

 duty, (in other words, the affections of 

 benevolence and of piety, and the mo- 

 ral sense,) should be the primary ob- 

 jects of our aim ; and this because he 

 will be most happy, in whom those af- 

 fections exist in the greatest strength 

 and vigour. We have already stated 

 (PHILOSOPHY, mental, . 73 99.) the 

 Hartleyan classification of feelings ; and 

 we shall here presuppose that our readers 

 are acquainted with it. 



I. ESTIMATE OF SENSIBLE PLEASURES, 



22. The first pleasures and pains of 

 the human being are obviously those of 

 sensation, and they form one source of en- 

 joyment, and still more of suffering, during 

 the whole of lite. It is from these that 

 the whole round of mental or intellec- 

 tual pleasures and pains is composed. 

 To estimate the value of these pleasures, 

 in their uncompounded state, take the ex- 

 treme case, that any one pursued them 

 as a primary object, laying aside all re- 

 straint from the virtues of temperance 

 and chastity, he would soon destroy his 

 bodily faculties, thus rendering the ob- 

 jects of sensible pleasure useless ; and 

 he would precipitate himself into pain, 

 diseases, and death, evils of the first 

 magnitude in the eyes of the voluptuous. 

 " This is a plain matter of observation, 

 verified every day by the sad example of 

 loathsome, tortured wretches, that occur 

 which way soever we turn our eyes, in 

 the streets, in private families, in hospi- 

 tals, in palaces." Positive misery, and 

 the loss even of sensible pleasure, are 

 too inseparably connected with intempe- 

 rance and lewdness, to leave room for 

 doubt even to the most sceptical. The 

 sensual appetites must therefore be regu- 

 lated by, and made subservient to, some 

 other part of our natures, else we shall 

 miss even the sensible pleasure which we 

 might have enjoyed, and shall fall into 

 the opposite pains, which are in general 

 far greater and more exquisite than the 

 sensible pleasures. 



23. The. same conclusion also follows 



