834 Proceedings of Learned Satictiess 
.€ What theory ean be faller than to-re-, 
fera ll our affe&tions and all our morallaws 
to phyfical plea ure and. grief—to mif{con- 
eeive the insate Jaws of confcience, thofe 
ef the love of perfeciion and of the b-au- 
tiful, and to ontider the thyfical fenfations 
end the relations which arife from them, 
as the origin of “he moral world! It is my 
ewn mei wh chdeyelopes moral fentiments 
by the phyfical ‘world; aad this is fo true, 
that, n twi hftanding the fenfval pleafure 
or the phyfical grief united to a fealation, 
£am obliged often to recognize a good in 
grief, and an evil in pleafure. And what 
relation is there between the play of 
all he pfores aad Abrils, and the admi-: 
Kation which I.feel at the recital of a great 
faer ras mare to the auguit i Hes of Vir- 
tue ? Fhe act du moi wills that | eondemn 
myielf if I thould refute to feel this admi- 
xation, 
<< The intuitive pe reeption of intellec- 
tua! beauty caufes ‘he ofciliation of Icep- 
tixifm to-ceate. Itis a pure licht which 
brings « canvict on mith it 3 the habitudes 
aie materia! ; the cecihon apper ains to 
pure intel! igence: the hard nefsoi thought 
¥Les above ex sperience—juiges & pristi ; 
it is Pa t that we atrain an! .we conquer 
: but muft we not neceflarily per- 
ive truth hefore vey F Squer it? My 
doubt is my fir!’ tres hen 
ce We may any: xperiments in mefaphy- 
fics. Onur foul is fometimes fo indepen 
deot of the fenfes, that it exercifts a full 
aw horjty over ‘ts material aflociate, by 
fufpending, by m: derating dolorous ex- 
prefiions, ‘and even by commanding them, 
We can:ot deny the voluntary power that 
the min‘ can exercife over the fenfations ; 
My mei can repulfe, at an imftant, the 
fweeteft harmony, and only in reality ae 
joys when it confents to enjoy. cc No! 
thou art not grief,” aid a philofopher, 
when apoftrophifing grief, and overpow- 
ering it by the act du moi.. Energetic 
power! all perception is fubm’‘tted to it. 
The interior oi rifes often in all its dig- 
Miy, in the midlt of tormentors ;.and to 
fuffer in the caufe of virtue is only to re- 
inforce that intimate pleafure which the 
calm of econfcience ates We have feen 
the mar’yr faftined at the fatal fiake, eja- 
culste his though’s ‘oc heaven, become all 
eelciiial, aad the flames devour him with- 
out his participating in pyfical erief.”” 
«< The act dz moi iup.oles comparifon, 
the evercife of the mtive force of che foul © 
in ts properempire. There are in this 
a, correction, affocsation, fimu'ta: ety. 
I here pz reeivea w./] fovereignly expanfive, 
2 relation which the fenfes cannot impart 
[ Nov. i, 
to us, a faculty which unites, connects, 
and. melts all the partial impreflions intoa 
whole, without which they would be {cat- 
tered, roving, vagabond, and confequentl 
null. Itis my 7162, profound, peer: 
which embraces time, eternity, God. The 
univer{e comprehends me, like a point, and 
I, by my thought, comprehend the uni- 
verfe: in me is Rill the unalterable type 
of the juft and of the good, and this a pri- 
ert. There are laws, immediate attributes 
of the primitive oz; they have an all- 
powerful reality, which does not belong 
to any {peculative or fenfible objeét : there 
is an emancipation from all fenfations 
whatever. Who caufes me to know thefe - 
laws for lawsef a {uperior order? What is 
that fuper- fenfible order of moral truths ?””, 
The a& du moi is equivalent to all geo- 
metrical demonftrations : the willis a firlt 
power; a real power: it adheres to our 
cognitive exiftence, and, in order to will, 
we mult previoufly have a multiplicity of 
notions. Lt would not, in fact, he pofible 
that we fhould have from our infancy fo 
many, and {uch extenfive notions, and 
which aze, as it were, imprinted in us, if 
our fouls had not univerlal knowledge be- 
ue they entered into our bodies. The 
noval world is in us 5 it cannot be derived: 
kes phyfical things ; there is nothing 
veal, but what is immutable, as are the, 
ideas. As to the prelervation of know- 
ledge, Cicero humouroufly derides thofe 
who give to the brazz the faculty of retain- 
ing words and ideas, as ina fort of refer 
voir, and who fay that we can engrave. 
them as lettersupon wax. Can words and 
ideas leave traces behind them? And, be- 
fides, what-fpace would there not be re-. 
quifite for fo1 many different traces. - 
‘* Tt ts, therefore, 2 beautiful difcovery 
of Kant, that /pace and time are fubjective 
modes of our cognition, and the vulgar, 
have better conceptions of the elevated 
part of our being than the metaphyfician 
philofophers. The act du moz.is an intel- 
letual quality, a certain knowledge of the 
truth of our thoughts, and immutable, in- 
variable, uniform; the act du moi implies. 
certitude ; Cerda | is to the foula firmer, 
anchor than evidence is to our. fenfes : it 
is founded on the prefénce of the Divinity, 
which can neither be deceived, nor de- 
ceive us. The fyftematic * philofopher 
fhall in vain deny his certitude: he is him- 
{elf the victim of his own negative. 
«¢ An eternal law, inherent in ourfelves,. 
forms that cry which we call confcience ; 
that law and its cry are equal in ail men. 
The moft culpable word which can be let 
fall by a perverfe age, is to fay, * on fe 
fait 
