ON THE CHARACTERS AND PASSIONS OF LIFE. 



415 



cially contemplated, they seem expressly intended to produce ; but which 

 man must be obnoxious to in a state of imperfection and trial, and would be 

 infinitely more so but for their presence and operation. 



The sum of the inquiry, then, is, that all the passions have their use, — that 

 they all contribute to the general good of mankind ; — and that it is the abuse 

 of them, the allowing them to run wild and unpruned in their career, and not 

 the existence of any of them, that is to be lamented. While there are things 

 that ought to be hated, and deeds that ought to be bewailed, aversion and 

 grief are as necessary to the mind as desire and joy. It is the duty of the 

 judgment to direct and to moderate them ; to discipline them into obedience, 

 and attune them to harmony. The great object of moral education is to call 

 forth, instruct, and fortify the judgment upon this important science ; to let it 

 feel its own power, and accustom it to wield the sceptre intrusted to it with 

 dexterity and steadiness. Where this is accomplished, the violent passions 

 can never show themselves — they can have no real existence ; for we have 

 already produced evidence that they are nothing more than the simpler affec- 

 tions, discordantly associated or raised to an improper pitch. Where this is 

 accomplished, the sea of life will, for the most part, be tranquil and sober,^ — 

 not from indifference or the want of active powers, but from their nice balance 

 and concord ; and if, in the prosecution of the voyage, the breeze should be 

 fresh, it will be still friendly, and quicken our course to the desired haven. 

 Finally, wherever this is accomplished, man appears in his true dignity — he 

 has achieved the great point for which he was created, and visions of un- 

 fading glory swell before him, as the forthcoming reward of his present 

 triumph. 



LECTURE X. 



ON THE I.SADiNG CHARACTERS AND PASSIONS OF SAVAGE AND CIVILIZED LIFE. 



In the preceding lecture but one, I stated, as may, perhaps, be remembered by 

 many of the audience before me, that of the numerous and complicated facul- 

 ties which form the nice mechanism of the human mind, sometimes one, some- 

 times another, and sometimes several in conjunction, appear peculiarly active 

 and prominent, and acquire a mastery over the rest ; and that such effect is, in 

 different instances, the result of different causes, as peculiarity of temperament, 

 peculiarity of climate, or peculiarity of local or national habits and associations. 

 Let us pursue this subject, and make it a groundwork for the present lecture. 



All violent passions are evil, or, in other words, produce, or tend to produce 

 unhappiness : for evil and unhappiness are only commutable terms. There 

 is no proposition in morals that admits of clearer proof. Some violent pas- 

 sions are evil intrinsically ; others as extremes of those that are good ; and 

 all of them as refractory and hostile to the legitimate control of the under- 

 standing. For happiness, as we had lately occasion to prove, is a state of 

 discipline ; and is only to be found, in any considerable degree of purity and 

 permanency (without which qualities it is unworthy of the name), in a regu- 

 lated and harmonious mind ; where reason is the charioteer, and reins, and 

 guides, and moderates the mental coursers in the great journey of life, with 

 a firm and masterly hand. 



It may, hence, be supposed, that the greatest degree of violence and un- 

 happiness to be met with any where, is among savages ; since, unquestion- 

 ably, it is here that the traces of discipline are most feeble and obscure. And 

 such, in fact, is the concurrent opinion of moralists and civilians. But it is 

 an opinion which should be given with some degree of hesitation. It is true 

 so far as the simpler passions, and especially those of the selfish class, are 

 concerned, — passions which are more or less common to all countries and con* 



