PHILOSOPHY. IHORAL. 
Iieavenly bodies, which being also various, 
and publicly visible, have been universally 
adopted, as the most convenient measures 
of time. These are however only the mea- 
sures of duration, and not duration itself, 
which is the succession of ideas. 
144. If tlie continued succession of ideas 
constitute the true duration of intelligent 
beings similar to ourselves, it will follow : 
1. That if thought be suspended between 
death and the resurrection, the two instants 
will appear to be contiguous, and with res- 
pect to every individual, will actually be 
so. 2. That the duration of the existence 
of an intelligent being is to be measured, 
not by the revolutions of the heavenly 
bodies, but by the number of ideas which 
pass through his mind in the course of his 
life. 3. That an Omnipotent Being, by 
increasing the velocity of the succession of 
ideas, may cause the same revolution of 
the heavenly bodies whic h appears as a day 
to one, to appear as more than a thousand 
years to another. 4. That if a being in all 
other respects constituted like ourselves, 
should have all his ideas at once present to 
his mind, without any succession, he could 
form no conception of successive duration. 
5. That to an all-perfect mind, all whose 
ideas are equally, invariably, and at all 
times present, the attribute of successive 
duration can with no propriety be as- 
cribed. 
Philosophy, moral. 1. Since much of 
the. happiness of this life, much of our ability 
to benefit others, since, in short, the happi- 
ness of a boundless existence depends upon 
the proper regulation of our conduct and af- 
fections, surely it must be an object of the 
first importance that we should learn the re- 
gulation to which they should be submitted. 
To know our duty, and to practise it, are 
indeed two different things; but to practise 
our duty well certainly requires that we 
should know it well. 
2. How shall we know it? Shall we con- 
sult the law of the land, or make the general 
conduct of mankind our guide? shall we 
bend our actions implicitly and constantly 
to the rules of holy writ, or follow invaria- 
bly the dictates of our consciences? All 
these may be valuable, some are of inestima- 
ble value; but they do not supersede the 
necessity of moral investigation. — The law 
of the land, as Paley justly observes, labours 
under two defects considered as a rule of 
life. First, human law's omit many duties, 
because they are not objects of compulsion, 
such as piety to God, bounty to the poor, 
forgiveness of injuries, education of children, 
gratitude to benefactors. The law never 
speaks but to command, nor commands but 
where it can compel; consequently those 
duties which by their nature must be volun- 
tary, are left out of the reach of the statute 
book, as lying beyond the reach of its ope- 
ration and authority. Secondly, human law's 
permit, or which is much the same thing, 
leave unpunished many crimes because they 
cannot be settled by any previous descrip- 
tion ; such as luxury, prodigality, partiality 
contrary to the good of others, &c. For it 
must either settle the crime to be punished, 
or leave it to the magistrate to settle it ; 
which is in effect leaving it to the magis- 
trate to punish or not to punish at his plea- 
sure. 
3. The general conduct of mankind can- 
not be a safe guide. Scarcely is there a 
crime for w'hich we may not find a justifica- 
tion in the general conduct of large societies ; 
scarcely a disposition, however pernicious 
to individual happiness, which may not re- 
ceive conformation from its allowed indul- 
gence among whole nations. The bulk of 
mankind do not possess those advantages 
which enable those of cultivated minds to 
see almost at a glance the path of duty. 
What culture they have is often unskilfully 
applied ; and therefore bad habits gain 
strength, and false notions of honour, plea- 
sure. and interest, occupy their minds : they 
think less of what is right than of what will 
not expose them to punishment: and their 
consciences are seldom consulted even where 
its decisions would be right. 
4. To the rules of the scriptures we may 
indeed implicitly submit. He who steadily 
cultivates the dispositions which Christianity 
enjoins, and conforms his conduct to its sa- 
cred precepts, cannot fail to mount high in 
the scale of moral worth. But this does not 
prevent the value of moral investigation. 
F’or in the first place it gives greater promp- 
titude to our obedience, to perceive that 
those dictates are imperfect consistency with 
the laws of human nature ; that an acquaint- 
ance with the laws of human nature, leads 
us to the conclusions forced upon us by the 
scriptures, that we should make the love of 
God, the love of our neighbour, and the law 
of our hearts, the guide of our actions, and 
of our affections. — But secondly, the pre- 
cepts of Christianity are very general. This 
is absolutely necessary to render them ot 
use as the guide of life. Were they volu- 
minous as the laws of England, and the de- 
cisions of the supreme courts of justice, 
