Lectures on the philosophy of the human mind / by the late Thomas Brown ; with a memoir of the author by David Welsh.

  • Thomas Brown
Date:
1830
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lectures on the philosophy of the human mind / by the late Thomas Brown ; with a memoir of the author by David Welsh. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    I choice, and almost of a sort of moral appro- I bation. It is of importance, then, that we ! Bliould consider the passion, at other moments I than these, that the images associated with it I may be not of that brief and illusive pleasm-e, ' which stupifies its mifortunate victim, but of i its true inherent chai-acter, of deformity, and ( of the contempt and hatred which it excites i in others. Such is the advantage of the point ( of view, in which it is seen by the moral in- ( quirer, to whom it presents itself, not under i its momentary character of pleasure, but im- ( der its Listing character of pain and disgust. ] By habituating himself to consider the remote, I as well as the immediate results of all the af- i fections and passions, he learns to regard vir- I tue, not merely as good in itself, at the mo- I ment in which it is called into exercise, but i as an inexliaustible source of good which is t continually increasing; and vice, not merely i as a temporary evil in itself, but as a source ( of permanent and yet deeper misery and de- I gradation. Every generous principle, which 1 nature has given him, is thus continually de- I riving new strength from the very contem- j plation of the good which it affords ; and if, i in the frailty of mortality, he should still be f subject to the occasional influence of those 1 very passions which, in cooler moments, he ( detests, he yet does not fall, thoroughly and \ hopelessly. There are lingering associations I of moral beauty and happiness in his mind, » which may save him still,—associations that ! must render it, in some degree at least, more ( difficult for him than for others, to yield to se- I ductions, of which he has long known the va- I nity, and which perhaps even may, in some \ happier hour, lead him back to that virtue, ( of which he has never wholly forgotten the (charms. The charms of virtue, indeed, it is scarcely I possible, for him who has felt them, wholly I to forget. There may be eyes that can look mnmoved on the external beauty which once t delighted them. But who is there that has t ever been alive to its better influence, who can t think of moral loveliness without a feeling of r more than admiration,—without a conscious e enjoyment, in the possession of what is so truly «admirable, or a sigh at having lost the privilege c of dwelling on it with delight, and at being € obliged to shrink from the very thouglit of ' what it once appeared ? For what can strive With virtue ? Which of nature's regions vast Can in so many fonns produce to siglit Such powerful l)eauty!—Beauty, which tlio eye Of Hatred cannot loolt upon secure; Whii'h Envy's self contemplates, and is tuni'd Ere long to tenderness, to uifant smiles. Or tears of humblest love. Is aught so fair, In all the dewy landscapes of the Spring, The Summer's noontide groves, the purple eve At harvest-home, or in the frosty moon Glittering on some smooth 8<'a; is aught so fair As virtuous friendship ?—As the honour'd roof. Whither, from highest heaven, immortal love. Ills torch ethereal, and his golden bow, rropitious brings, and there a temple holds. To whoso unspotted eervIcG, gladly vow'd, The social band of parent, brotlier, child. With smiles and sweet discourse, and gentle deeds. Adore his power ? What gift of richest clime E'er drew such eager eyes, or prompted such Deep wishes, as the zeal, that snateneth back From Sl.ander's poisonous tooth a foe's renown. Or crosseth Danger in his lion-walk, A rival's life to rescue f» The study of moral science, then, we have seen, has a direct tendency to strengthen our attachment to the virtues which we habitu- ally contemplate. Another most important advantage derived from it, relates to us in our higher character of beings capable of religion, increasing our devotion and gratitude to the Divinity, by the clearer manifestation which it gives us of his provident goodness in the con- stitution and government of the moral world. The external universe, indeed, though our study were confined to the laws which re- gulate its phenomena, would afford, in itself, abimdant proof of the power and wisdom by which it was created. But power and wis- dom alone excite admiration only, not love; which, though it may be feigned in the ho- mage that is universally paid to power, is yet, as an ofiering of the heart, paid to it only when it is combined with benevolence. It is the splendid benevolence, therefore, of the Supreme Being, which is the object of oiu* grateful adoration; and, to discover this bene- volence, we must look to creattu-es that have not existence merely, like inanimate things, but a capacity of enjoyment, and means of enjoy- ment. It is in man, or in beings capable of knowledge and happiness, like man, that we find the solution of the wonders of the crea- tion ; which would otherwise, with all its re- gidarity and beauty, be but a solitary waste, like the barren magnificence of rocks and deserts. God, says Epictetus, has introduced man into the ^^•orld, to be the spectator of his works, and of their divine Author; and not to be the spectator only, but to be the announcer and interpreter of the wonders which he sees and adores, 'o ©ses—t«» avi^afn ^ia-rit tiariyayt]! icvrS rt xa) ruv 'i^ya* rit awTB' Hasc qui contemplatur, says another an- cient Stoic, with a little of the bold extrava- gance of his school; HiEc qui contemplatur, quid Deo prsestat ? Nc tanta ejus opera sine teste sint.— Ciu'iosum nobis natura inge- niiun dcdit; et artis sibi ac pulchritudinis suae conscia, spectatores nos tantis rerum spectaculis genuit, perditura fructum sui, si tam magna, tam clara, tam subtiliter ducta, tarn nidita, et non uno genere formosa solitu- dini osteutleret.! 353 ^'''^''■cs of Imagination, book li, 528— f Dissertat. ab Arrijin. collect, lib. i. c. 6.-p. 55. t dit, Upton. ' t Seneca dc Otio Sapient, c. 52,
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