PHILOSOPHY, MORAL. 



and tenor of their lives, and, by uniting 

 with ail their sensations and intellectual 

 feeling-s, overpower all the pains, and aug- 

 ment and connect with themselves all the 

 pleasures. Every thing beautiful and glo- 

 rious brings in the ideas of God, mixes 

 with them, and coalesces with them ; for 

 all things are from God, he is the only 

 cause and reality, and the existence of 

 every thing else is only the effect and 

 proof of his existence and excellence. 

 Let the mind be once duly imbued with 

 this truth, and its practical applications, 

 and every thing will afford exercise for 

 the devout affections. Add to their unli- 

 mited extent, their purity, and perfection, 

 and it cannot but be acknowledged, that 

 they must be far superior to the rest, both 

 in kind and in degree. 



100. Thirdly, the objects of other plea- 

 sures are frequently removed. No time, 

 no place, no circumstance of life, can de- 

 prive us of this. Our hearts may be di- 

 rected towards God in the greatest exter- 

 nal confusion, as well as in the deepest 

 silence and retirement. All the duties of 

 life, when directed to God, become 

 pleasures, and by the same means, every 

 the smallest action becomes the discharge 

 of the proper duty of time and place. 

 Thus time is turned to its best advantage : 

 thus every situation of life may be con- 

 verted into present comfort and future fe- 

 licity. 



101. Fourthly, when the love of God is 

 thus made to arise from every object, and 

 to exert itself in every action, it becomes 

 of a permanent nature, and will not pass 

 into deadness or disgust, as those other 

 pleasures do from repeated gratification. 



102. We should be glad if our limits 

 would allow of our laying before our read- 

 ers a view of those means which are point- 

 ed out by Hartley, for the culture of the 

 theopathetic affections, of faith, fear, gra- 

 titude, hope, trust, resignation, and love : 

 we must, however, content ourselves with 

 referring to his 72d proposition on this 

 point, and to his important rules in the 

 73d proposition, concerning the manner 

 of expressing them in prayer, and other 

 religious exercises ; concluding this head 

 with the following observations from the 

 latter. There cannot be a more fatal de- 

 lusion, than to suppose that religion is 

 nothing but a divine philosophy in the 

 soul ; and that the foregoing theopathetic 

 affections may exist and. flourish there, 

 though they be not cultivated by devout 

 exercises and expressions. Experience, 

 and many plain obvious reasons, shew the 

 falsehood and mischievous tendency of 



this notion ; and it follows from the theory 

 of association, that no internal dispositions 

 can remain long in the mind, unless they 

 be properly nourished by proper associa- 

 tions, that is, by some external acis. This, 

 therefore, among others, may be consi- 

 dered as a strong argument for frequent 

 prayer. 



VII. 



ESTIMATE OF THE PLEASURES 

 OF THE MORAL SENSE. 



(PHILOSOPHY, mental, 9299.) 



103. It has already been stated, that the 

 moral sense ought to have great influence 

 even in the most explicit and deliberate 

 actions ; hence the culture of its pleasures, 

 and the correcting of its dictates, should 

 be made a primary object of pursuit. 

 Further, the moral sense, on urgent occa- 

 sions, ought to have the sole influence : 

 and this for several reasons. First, be- 

 cause it offers itself at the various occa- 

 sions of life, with consistency, and gene- 

 rally with certainty. It warns us before- 

 hand, and calls us to account afterward ; 

 it condemns or approves ; it rewards by 

 the pleasures of self-approbation, or pu- 

 nishes by the pains of self-condemnation. 

 Secondly, the moral sense is principally 

 generated by piety, benevolence, and ra- 

 tional self interest. All these are explicit 

 guides in deliberate actions ; and since 

 they are excluded, on sudden occasions, 

 through the want of time to weigh and 

 determine, it is highly reasonable to 'ad- 

 mit the moral sense formed from them, 

 and whose dictates are immediate, as their 

 substitute. Thirdly, the greatness, the 

 importance, and the calm nature, of the 

 pleasures of the moral sense, with the 

 horrors and the constant recurrence of 

 the sense of guilt, are additional argu- 

 ments, to shew that these pleasures and 

 pains were intended as the guides of life. 



104. The perfection of the moral sense 

 consists in the four following particulars : 

 that it extend to all the actions of moment 

 which occur in the intercourses of real 

 life, and be a ready monitor on all such 

 occasions: that its pleasures and pains 

 should be so vivid as to furnish a very 

 strong excitement to shun the path of vice, 

 and to walk steadily in the way of reli- 

 gion : that it should not descend to trifling 

 or minute particulars ; for, though scru- 

 pulosity is probably a necessary step in the 

 progress of the mind to moral excellency, 

 vet, if it continue and become the prev 

 ing habit of the mind, it will clieck bene- 

 volence, and turn the love of God into* 



