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such a manner that I cannot study, or study in such manner that I cannot eat, in either case I defeat his design concerning me, by destroying those sources of happiness with which he created me. The same principle might be illustrated in various instances.

Again, we find that the indulgence of any one form of gratification, in such manner as to destroy the power of another form of gratification, also, in the end diminishes, and frequently destroys the power of deriving happiness, even from that which is indulged. Thus, he who eats, so as to injure his power of intellectual gratification, injures his digestive organs, and produces disease, so that his pleasure from eating is diminished. Or, he who studies, so as to destroy his appetite, in the end destroys his power of study. This is another and distinct reason, to show, that, while I am designed to be happy by the gratification of my desires, I am also designed to be happy by gratifying them within a limit. The limit to gratification enters into my constitution, as a being designed for happiness, just as much as the power of gratification itself.

And again, our Creator has endowed us with an additional and superior power, by which we can contemplate these two courses of conduct; by which we can approve of the one, and disapprove of the other; and, by which the one becomes a source of pleasure and the other a source of pain; both, separate and distinct from the sources of pain and pleasure mentioned above. And, moreover, he has so constituted us, that, this very habit of regulating, and limiting our desires, is absolutely essential to our success in every undertaking. Both of these are, therefore, additional and distinct. reasons for believing, that the restriction of our desires, within certain limits, is made, by our Creator, as clearly necessary to our happiness, as the indulgence of them.

All this is true, if we consider the happiness of man merely

as an individual. But the case is rendered still stronger, if we look upon man as a society. It is manifest that the universal gratification of any single appetite or passion, without limit, not to say the gratification of all, would, in a very few years, not only destroy society, but absolutely put an end to the whole human race. And, hence, we see that the limitation of our desires is not only necsssary to our happiness, but also to our existence.

Hence, while it is the truth, that human happiness consists in the gratification of our desires, it is not the whole truth. It consists in the gratification of our desires within the limits assigned to them by our Creator. And, the happiness of that man will be the most perfect, who regulates his desires most perfectly in accordance with the laws under which he has been created. And, hence, the greatest happiness of which man is in his present state capable, is to be attained by conforming our whole conduct to the laws of virtue, that is, to the will of God.

CHAPTER V.

OF SELF LOVE.

By the term sensitiveness, I have designated the capacity of our nature, to derive happiness from the various objects and qualities of the world around us. Though intimately associated with those powers, by which we obtain a knowledge of external objects, it differs from them. When a desire for gratification is excited by its appropriate objects, it is termed appetite, passion, &c.

As our means of gratification are various, and are also attended by different effects, there is evidently an opportunity for choice between them. By declining a gratification at present, we may secure one of greater value, at some future time. That which is, at present, agreeable, may be of necessity followed by pain; and that which is, at present, painful, may be rewarded by pleasure which shall far overbalance it.

Now, it must be evident, to every one who will reflect, that my happiness, at any one period of my existence, is just as valuable as my happiness at the present period. No one can conceive of any reason, why the present moment should take the precedence, in any respect, over any other moment of my being. Every moment of my past life was once present, and seemed of special value; but in the retrospect, all seem so far as the happiness of each is concerned of equal value. Each of those to come may, in its turn, claim some pre-eminence; though, now, we plainly discover

in anticipation, that no one is more than another entitled to it. Nay, if there be any difference, it is manifestly in favor of the most distant future, in comparison with the present. The longer we exist, the greater is our capacity for virtue and happiness, and the wider is our sphere of existence. To postpone the present for the future, seems, therefore, to be the dictate of wisdom, if we calmly consider the condition of our being.

But, it is of the nature of passion, to seize upon the present gratification, utterly irrespective of consequences, and, utterly regardless of other or more excellent gratifications, which may be obtained by self-denial. He, whose passions are inflamed, looks at nothing beyond the present gratification. Hence, he is liable to seize upon a present enjoyment, to the exclusion of a much more valuable one in future; and even in such a manner as to entail upon himself poignant and remediless misery. And, hence, in order to be enabled to enjoy all the happiness of which his present state is capable, the sensitive part of man needs to be combined with another, which upon a comparison of the present with the future, shall impel him towards that mode either of gratification or of self-denial, which shall most promote his happiness upon the whole.

Such is self-love. We give this name to that part of our constitution, by which we are incited to do, or to forbear, to gratify, or to deny our desires, simply on the ground of obtaining the greatest amount of happiness for ourselves, taking into view a limited future, or else our entire future existence. When we act from simple respect to present gratification, we act from passion. When we act from a respect to our whole individual happiness, without regard to the present, only as it is a part of the whole, and without any regard to the happiness of others, only as it will concontribute to our own, we are then said to act from selflove.

The difference between these two modes of impulsion, may be easily illustrated.

Suppose a man destitute of self-love, and actuated only by passion. He would seize, without reflection, and enjoy without limit, every object of gratification which the present moment might offer, without regard to its value in comparison with others, which might be secured by selfdenial; and without any regard to the consequences which might follow present pleasure, be they ever so disastrous.

On the contrary, we may imagine a being destitute of passions, and impelled only by self-love; that is, by a desire for his own happiness, on the whole. In this case, so far as I see, he would never act at all. Having no desires to gratify, there could be no gratification; and hence, there could be no happiness. Happiness is the result of the exercise of our sensitiveness upon its corresponding objects. But we have no sensitiveness which corresponds with any object in ourselves; nor do ourselves present any object to correspond with such sensitiveness. Hence, the condition of a being, destitute of passions, and actuated only by self-love, would be an indefinite and most painful longing after happiness, without the consciousness of any relation to external objects which could gratify it. Nor is this an entirely imaginary condition. In cases of deep melancholy, and of fixed hypochondria, tending to derangement, I think every one must have observed in others, and he is happy, if he have not experienced in himself, the tendencies to precisely such a state. The very power of affection, or sensitiveness, seems paralyzed. This state of mind, has, I think, been ascribed to Hamlet by Shakspeare, in the following passage.

"I have, of late, (but wherefore I know not,) lost all my mirth, foregone all custom of exercises; and, indeed, it goes so heavily with my dispositions, that this goodly frame,

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