PHILOSOPHY, MORAL. 



pendently of their injurious effects upon 

 the mind, which however are very great) ; 

 for instance, lascivious conversation, whe- 

 ther expressed in obscene, or disguised 

 under modest, phrases; also, wanton 

 song-s, pictures, and books; the writing, 

 publishing, and circulating of which, 

 whether out of frolic, or for some pitiful 

 profit, is productive of so extensive a mis- 

 chief, from so mean a temptation, that 

 few crimes within the reach of private 

 wickedness, have more to answer for, or 

 less to plead in their own excuse. 



33. Though the sexual desires are ve- 

 ry strong, yet there is abundant reason 

 to believe that they are not originally 

 much disproportionate to their end; and 

 that if due care were taken, they would 

 not arise in youth much before the proper 

 time for this end. But the violence and 

 unseasonableness of these passions are so 

 manifest in the generality of young per- 

 sons, that one cannot but conclude the 

 general education of youth to be grossly 

 erroneous and perverted : and this will 

 appear very evident, in fact, upon exami- 

 nation. The diet of children and young 

 persons is not sufficiently plain and spar- 

 ing ; a proper regulation of which would 

 lay a better foundation for health, and 

 freedom from diseases, and put some 

 check upon these passions. They are 

 brought up in effeminacy, and neglect of 

 bodily exertion, which would materially 

 assist to prepare both body and mind for 

 the discipline of life, and would restrain 

 the sexual passion. The due culture of 

 the mind, especially in respect of religion, 

 is very generally neglected ; so that the 

 young are usually left without employ- 

 ment for their thoughts, and destitute of 

 the chief armour, that of religious mo- 

 tives, whereby to oppose temptation. 

 Lastly, the conversation which they hear, 

 and the books which they are allowed to 

 read, are so corrupt, in this respect, that 

 it is a matter of astonishment how a 

 parent, who has any serious concern for 

 his child, can avoid seeing the immediate 

 destructive consequences, or think that 

 any considerations relating to this world 

 can be a balance to them. 



II. ESTIMATE OF THE PLEASURES 

 OF IMAGINATION. 



(PHILOSOPHY, mental, 73, 74.) 



34. It does not appear from actual 

 experience, that those who devote them- 

 selves to the study of the polite arts, or 

 of science, or to ' any other pleasure of 



VOL. V. 



mere imagination, as their chief end and 

 aim, do attain any greater degree of hap- 

 piness than the rest of the world. The fre- 

 quent repetition of these pleasures cloys, 

 as in other cases ; and though the whole 

 circle is extensive, yet no one can grasp 

 the whole, and as a matter of fact few ap- 

 ply themselves to more than one or two 

 considerable branches. From the manner 

 in which the feelings of imagination are 

 usually generated and transferred upon 

 their several objects, it might be expected 

 that deformity would often be mixed with 

 beauty, so as to produce an unpleasing 

 discordancy of opinion, even in the same 

 individual : and, as a matter of fact, it is 

 not uncommon for men, after a long and 

 immoderate pursuit of one class of beau- 

 ty, natural or artificial, to deviate into 

 such by-paths and singularities, that the 

 objects excite rather pain than pleasure ; 

 their limits for excellence being narrow, 

 and their rules absurd, and all that falls 

 short of these being condemned by them 

 as deformed and monstrous. Eminent 

 votaries of this kind are generally remark- 

 able tor ignorance and imprudence in the 

 common affairs of lite, thus subjecting 

 themselves to ridicule and contempt, and 

 to real, great, and lasting inconveniencies. 

 Vanity, moioseness, and envy, are too 

 generally the concomitants of an over- 

 weening attention to the pursuit of these 

 pleasures. And scepticism in religious 

 matters is too frequent an attendant here, 

 which, if it could be supposed free from 

 danger as to futurity, is at least very un- 

 comfortable as to the present. The al- 

 most necessary consequence of such con- 

 fined attention is, that too high a degree 

 of importance is given to the object, and 

 the superiority which is supposed to be 

 possessed in it, is supposed also to ex- 

 tend to other cases in which the individu- 

 al is perhaps uncommonly ignorant ; and 

 thus he either becomes dogmatical or 

 sceptical ; qualities which, though appa- 

 rently different from each other, are, in re- 

 ality, to be considered as antecedent and 

 consequent, dogmatism being frequently 

 followed by scepticism. And as religi- 

 ous knowledge, to be properly cultivated, 

 requires that the soil should be prepared 

 by the benevolent and pious affections, 

 and no kind of learning being of itself 

 sufficient to give this preparation, if at- 

 tention to the pursuit of literature or of sci- 

 ence be so inordinate as to suppress the 

 growth of these affections, religion itself, 

 will be treated as incomprehensible, ab- 

 surd, uncertain, or incredible However, 

 it is difficult to represent, justly, what is 

 Pp 



