PHILOSOPHY, MORAL. 



the genuine consequence of the pursuit 

 of the mere pleasures of imagination, their 

 votaries being also generally actuated by 

 motives of ambition ; but, as will be seen 

 hereafter, this does not invalidate any of 

 the foregoing remarks. It is justly ob- 

 served by Dr. Percival, that the endless 

 progression of knowledge is apt to give 

 the love of it an inordinate ascendancy 

 over every other principle ; and as this 

 passion does not, like the love of virtue, 

 temper its particular exertions, by pre- 

 serving a due subordination of the powers 

 which it calls into action, the wildest ex- 

 travagancies of emotion and of con- 

 duct, have been displayed by those who 

 have submitted to its uncontrouled do- 

 minion. 



35. Further, we have reason to suppose 

 that the pleasures of imagination ought 

 not to be made our chief end and aim, be- 

 cause, in general, they are the first of the 

 intellectual pleasures, come to their height 

 early in life, and decline in old age. There 

 are some few indeed who continue devot- 

 ed to them through life; so there are 

 some to the pleasures of sensation ; but 

 both are irregularities, which cannot be 

 considered as indications of the designs of 

 Providence respecting these pleasures. 

 Hence the argument, ( 24.) is applicable 

 to these pleasures also. Like every other 

 part of the great machine, they have their 

 use, but it is a subordinate one ; they tend 

 to the improvement and perfection of our 

 nature, 'out eminence in them is not that 

 perfection. They teach a love of regula- 

 rity, exactness, truth, simplicity: they 

 lead to a knowledge of many important 

 truths respecting themselves, the world 

 in general, and its author ; they habituate 

 to invent and to reason ; and when the 

 social, moral, and religious affections be- 

 gin to be generated in us, we may make 

 a much quicker progress towards the per- 

 fection of our natures, by having a due 

 slock, and no more than a due stock, of 

 knowledge in natural and artificial things, 

 of a relish for natural and artificial beauty. 



Regulation of the Pleasures of 

 Imagination. 



36. As the pleasures of imagination are 

 manifestly intended to generate and aug- 

 ment the higher orders of benevolence, 

 piety, and the moral sense, so these last 

 may be made to improve and perfect the 

 former. Those parts of the arts and sci- 

 ences which inspire us with devout affec- 

 tions, and enable us to be most useful to 

 others, abound with the most and greatest 



beauties. Thus, the study of the scrip 

 tures, of natural history, and natural phi- 

 losophy, of the frame of the human mind, 

 Sec. when undertaken with pious and be- 

 nevolent intentions, lead to more interest- 

 ing and surprising truths, than any study 

 intended for mere private amusement. 



37. Further, since the world is a system 

 of benevolence, and consequently the au- 

 thor of it is the object of unbounded love 

 and adoration, benevolence and piety are 

 the only true guides in our inquiries into 

 it, the only clues which will lead through 

 the labyrinths of nature. In the pursuit 

 of every branch of valuable knowledge, 

 let the inquirer take for grunted, that 

 every thing is right on the whole, that is, 

 let him with a pious confidence seek for 

 benevolent purposes, and he will find the 

 right road, and, by a due continuance in 

 it, attain to some new and valuable truth ; 

 whereas every other principle and motive 

 for examination, being foreign to the great 

 plan upon which the universe is con- 

 structed, must lead to endless mazes, er- 

 rors, and perplexities. Again, it is to their 

 tendency to the increase of happiness that 

 almost all truths owe their lustre. Hence 

 those whose minds are under the influence 

 of benevolence, will have the highest gra- 

 tification which the perception of those 

 truths can produce. 



38. Lastly, the pleasures of the imagi- 

 nation point to devotion in a particular 

 manner, from their unlimited nature. All 

 the feelings derived from beauty, both 

 natural and artificial, begin to fade and 

 languish after a short acquaintance with 

 it ; novelty is a never failing requisite ; we 

 look down with indifference upon what we 

 comprehend easily, and feel the wish to 

 aim at such things as are but just within 

 the compass of our present faculties. To 

 what inference does this tendency to press 

 forwards, this endless grasping after in- 

 finity, necessarily lead us ? Is it not that 

 the infinite Author of all things has so 

 formed our faculties, that nothing less 

 than himself can be an adequate object 

 for them : that nothing finite, however 

 great and glorious, can afford full and 

 lasting satisfaction : that as nothing can 

 give us more thaq a transitory delight, if 

 its relation with God is excluded, so every- 

 thing, when considered as the production 

 of his infinite wisdom and goodness, will 

 gratify our utmost expectations, since in 

 this view we may rest satisfied that every 

 thing has numerous uses and excellencies, 

 and that in the course of nature, the least 

 and vilest, according to common appre- 

 hension, bear a proper part, as well as 



