765 
MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 
exercife thy moral judgment In afcertaining the true 
worth of fentiments and of aCtions; and to keep thy con¬ 
ference always awake and attentive : in order that duties 
may become more and more the firft objeCt of thy life, 
and that a pure efteem for the Law may become the chief 
determining ground of thy will and of thy actions. And, 
in order that thou mayelt feel more, and be more and 
more convinced, that the moral worth of aCtions wholly 
depends upon'a difinterefted veneration for the law; fami- 
liarife thy thoughts with the examples of good men , who, 
without any felfifh motive, neither urged by Ambition 
nor by AffeCtion, did that which they felt to be a duty, 
according to the law written in their hearts; and who, 
under the hardeft ftruggles of duty againft inclination, 
felt that they did no more than duty required of them. 
From fuch examples of the power of Moral Reafon over 
the ftrongeft impulfes of Self-love, thou wilt learn to 
clteem Humanity in others as well as in thyfelf; and, 
elevated by the contemplation of fuch aCtions, thou wilt 
find an unexpected power arife within thee, gradually to 
mafter thy inclinations. The fear of drawing down upon 
thyfelf, by immorality, the fentence of total unworthi- 
nefs, before the Judgment Seat of thy own confcience, 
will have more power over thy mind than all the al¬ 
lurements of pleafure, or even the hardeft grievances 
and fufterings of life, which ufually triumph over every 
good intention that has not arifen from the pure feeling 
of duty. 
“ But that thy Courage to perfevere, and to rifk 
every thing for the fake of Virtue, and the dignity of 
Humianity, may not waver or fink ; imagine thyfelf to 
have already attained that height of moral improvement, 
whence thou mayeft hope one day to look back upon the 
herd of conquered obftacles, which liaVe frightened back 
fo many thoufands from the firft ftep on the path to Virtue. 
What mind, that is not altogether infenfible of its own 
noble nature, but muft feel this fore-tafte of true felf- 
enjoyment in the triumph of Virtue, as a powerful call 
upon it, to enter courageoufly into the conteft with the 
formidable enemies of the good ! Let, however, this 
courage, this confidence, the moral power of the will, be 
accompanied by prudence and prefence of mind, if thou 
wouldeft be allured of the continued fuccefs of thy moral 
endeavours. For it is of the higheft importance that 
thou ihouldeft inveftigate thy inmoft foul with never- 
wearying attention, in order to learn the predominant 
tenor of thy inclinations, the maxims of thy prefent and 
of thy former aCtions, the meafure of thy powers, and the 
ftrong and weak fides, and concealed blemifhes, of thy 
character. By this conftant examination of thyfelf, and 
an unremitted attention to thy external fituation, and to 
the mode of thinking and adding of thy fellow-creatures, 
thou mayeft prudently efcape many ftruggles with the 
enemies of virtue, and find many opportunities to exer- 
cife and ftrengthen thy moral powers. 
“ And, fince perfect morality can never be expedited in 
this mortal world, but the demands of duty require only 
that we fhould endeavour to bring our will and our ac¬ 
tions nearer and nearer to this pure model, ftudy to make 
the practice of virtue eafier to thyfelf, by connecting as 
many agreeable things with it as will do no injury to its 
noble nature, and endeavour to diminifli and foften, as 
much as pofftble, the difagreeable circumftances which 
often embitter its exercife. The more thou endeavoured 
in this way to win over, as it were, thy fenfuality to the 
fide of virtue, carefully foftering and cultivating thole in¬ 
clinations which correfpond moft with the law, fuch 
as fympathy, benevolence, love of honour, &c. the more 
eafily will thy obedience to the command of reafon be¬ 
come habitual; and the more thou canft diminifh the 
difcordance between virtue and inclination, not by an¬ 
nihilating, but by limiting and governing the fenfual 
defires ; the lefs frequent and painful will be the conteft 
between thy defire for happinefs and for virtue. 
Vol, XV. No. 1082. 
“ But, fhould all thy pfudent endeavours, fanddioned 
and diredded by morality, fail to produce this beautiful 
harmony between Virtue and Happiness ; fhould no¬ 
thing fall to thy lot but fufterings and difeomforts in con- 
fequence of the fulfilment of chy duty, inftead of the 
honourable enjoyments of life, which frequently reward 
virtue upon earth ; do not, even in fuch a cafe, forget the 
favourable fide of thy hard fate; refleCl that it affords 
thee an opportunity, which the happy do not poftefs, 
to prove the genuine fincerity of thy virtue by patient 
fuffering, by the exercife of faith and refignation, appeal¬ 
ing to a wife and juft Providence ; and thus of attaining, 
even in this life, one of the higher fteps of moral improve¬ 
ment. 
“ Among all the means to which morality has recourfe, 
in order to ftrengthen the power of Virtue, there is cer¬ 
tainly none more effectual than a Rational Belief. Dwell, 
therefore, frequently upon the fublime ideas and fenti¬ 
ments of a Pure Moral Religion. Never allow the 
thought of God, in whom thy moral reafon teaches thee 
to believe, to become ftrange or indifferent to thee. That 
Being, the fublimeft model of all moral goodnefs, the fa- 
cred Author of the Law of Virtue, the Omniprelent and 
Omnifcient Witnefs of thy Sentiments and Addions, the 
Righteous Judge of all thy good and evil deeds;—Him, 
keep forever before thine eyes and in thy heart: let His 
approbation be of more w'orth with thee than the praife 
and admiration of the whole world. Gratitude for the 
innumerable benefits Fie has bellowed, and admiration of 
his greatnefs, fo confpicuous in the whole conftruCtion of 
the phyfical world; are fentiments which thou never canft 
fuffer to cool within thee, without injury to thy virtue. 
Endeavour, therefore, to awaken and preferve in thy foul 
a religious feeling. To that end accuftom thyfelf to con - 
fider every thing in reference to God. Conftder every event 
of thy life as intended by Him to promote thy moral 
perfection ; acknowledge every joyful occurrence as a 
prefent from his kind hand, to encourage thee to greater 
zeal in the exercife of Virtue; and look even upon the 
evils of life as ineftimable benefits, fince they are to ferve 
thee (as they will if thou art wife) in the acquifition of a 
higher moral worth, and, by this means, even for the ad¬ 
vancement of thy true happinefs. Nothing but a firm 
confidence in that Providence which reigns over thee and 
the whole world, can endow thee with the ftrength of 
mind to difregard thy earthly welfare, and to make thy mo¬ 
ral improvement the chief bufinefs of thy life. Finally, 
lliould thy earthly exiftence be one entire feene of wretch- 
ednefs, ftill the glad profpeCt of another life is opened to 
thee by this Moral Religion. There, the difproportion 
between Virtue and Happiness will for ever ceafe, and 
a perfeCt agreement between worthinefs and felicity will 
reign throughout the whole Kingdom of Spirits. 
“ The more thou indulged: in fuch contemplations, 
whether in folitude or in the fociety of other reflecting 
and feeling minds, the more wilt thou be elevated above 
earthly things, and, as it were, approach to heaven itfelf; 
thy mind will become more ferene, and thy virtue more 
pure, halting, and independent.” 
In order ftill farther to illuftrate the beautiful and per¬ 
fect Syftem of Morals which grows out of Transcen¬ 
dental Philosophy, I have exhibited, in four Engraved 
Diagrams, a complete analyfis of the Desiring Faculty, 
fhowing at one view the connexion of the defred object 
with the faculties upon which the various defires reft; 
thus enabling us immediately to diftinguifli whether a de¬ 
fire be moral, or arife merely from Self-Love. 
The firft Diagram (fee Plate I. annexed) comprifes all 
the pofftble objeCts of defire; charaCterifes the defires 
which arife from them, as Sensual, Intellectual, or 
Moral; and fliows their dependance upon the three pri¬ 
mitive faculties of the Mind, SenJ'e, Underfunding, and 
Reafon. In the article Logic, vol. xiii. p. 18. we have 
given a Table of the Elements of Knowledge , wherein is 
9 I fhowfl, 
