PHILOSOPHY, MORAL. 



a tendency destructive of the public 

 welfare. We ought, therefore, in conse- 

 quence of this rule, to respect all per- 

 sons in authority ; not to pass hasty cen- 

 sures upon their actions ; to make candid 

 allowances on account of the difficulties 

 of government, the bad education of 

 princes, and of persons of high birth, and 

 the flattery and extraordinary tempta- 

 tions with which they are surrounded ; 

 to observe the laws ourselves, and to 

 promote the observance of them where 

 the penalties may be evaded, or are found 

 insufficient ; to look upon property as a 

 thing absolutely determined by the laws, 

 so that, though a man may, and ought to 

 rescind from what the law would give 

 him out of compassion, generosity, love 

 of peace, view of greater good upon the 

 whole, &c.; yet he must never in any 

 way evade, strain, or do violence to the 

 laws, in order to obtain what he may 

 think his own according to equity : and 

 whenever he has offended, or is judged 

 by lawful authority to have offended, he 

 must submit to the punishment, whatever 

 it be. 



93. Other rules, beside the ten fore- 

 going, might be assigned, and these might 

 be expressed in a different way. "I have 

 put down," says Hartley, " those which 

 appear to be in fact the chief principles 

 of social conduct to wise and good men. 

 They must all be supposed to influence 

 and interpret each other. Let a man only 

 divest himself as much as possible of all 

 selfish regards, and he will generally 

 find some point, and that without much 

 difficulty, or perplexity, in which all 

 these rules unite to produce the greatest 

 good upon the whole, to all persons con- 

 cerned." 



94. Though our plan and limits will 

 not allow of our entering at length into 

 the duties arising from the particular re- 

 lations of social life, yet we deem the 

 observations of Hartley on the subject of 

 the parental relation so important, that 

 we shall make an abstract of his leading 

 statement. The principal duty of the 

 parental relation is, the giving of a right 

 education, or the imprinting such asso- 

 ciations on the minds of children, as may 

 conduct them safe through this world, to 

 a happy futurity. In the latter respect 

 there can be no doubt, because religion 

 must on all hands be allowed to be the 

 one thing necessary ; and, in the course 

 of these investigations respecting the 

 primary pursuit of life, it appears that it 

 contributes as certainly to give us the 

 maximum of happiness in this world, at 



least the fairest prospect of it, as to se- 

 cure it in the next: so that a parent 

 ought to inculcate it in every point of 

 view. The chief errors of education are 

 owing to the want of a practical persua- 

 sion of this point ; or, to a false tender- 

 ness or opinion on the part of a parent, 

 by which he is led to believe that the 

 object does not reqtu're, in the case of 

 his child, frequent corrections and re- 

 straints, with perpetual encouragements 

 and incentives to virtue, by reward, ex- 

 ample, advice, books, conversation, &c. 

 When due care is taken from the first, 

 little severity would ordinarily be neces- 

 sary ; but in proportion as this care is 

 neglected in the first years, a much 

 greater degree of care, with high de- 

 grees of severity, both bodily and men- 

 tal, become absolutely necessary to pre- 

 serve from misery both here and here- 

 after. Affectionate parents should, there- 

 fore, labour, from the earliest dawnings 

 of understanding and desire, to check 

 the growing obstinacy of the will; to 

 curb all sallies of passion ; to impress the 

 deepest, most amiable, reverential, and 

 awful impressions of God, a future state, 

 and all sacred things ; to restrain anger, 

 jealousy, and selfishness; to encourage 

 love, compassion, generosity, forgiveness, 

 gratitude ; to excite, and even oblige, to 

 such industry as the tender age will pro- 

 perly admit. For one principal end and 

 difficulty of life is, to generate such mo- 

 derate, varying, and perpetually actuat- 

 ing motives, by means of the natural 

 sensible desires being associated with, 

 and apportioned to, foreign objects, as 

 may keep up a state of moderate cheer- 

 fulness, and useful employment, during 

 the whole course of our lives : whereas 

 sensual, blind, and uninformed desire, 

 presses violently for immediate gratifica- 

 tion, is injurious to others, and destroys 

 its own aims, or, at the best, gives way 

 only to spleen and dissatisfaction. 



VI. ESTIMATE OF THE PLEASURES OF 

 THEOPATHT. 



(PHILOSOPHY, mental, 8991). 



95. We proceed now to the important 

 inquiry respecting the theopathetic affec- 

 tions, what regard they claim from us in 

 our formation of the rule of life. And 

 here it appears that the love of God 

 should be our primary pursuit and ulti- 

 mate end, because it regulates, improves, 

 and perfects all the other parts of our 

 nature, and affords a pleasure superior 



