REGULATION' Or THE PURSUIT 0! 63X5I3L1 PLEASURES.
27. The foregoing remarks prove, that the pleasures of sensation ought not to be made the primary pursuit of life, but require to be regulated and restrained by some foreign regulating power. That they should be submitted to the precepts of benevolence, piety, and the moral sense, may be proved, by shewing that by this means they will contribute both to their own improvement, and to that of other parts of our natures—Now bene volence requires, that the pleasures of sense should be made entirely subservi ent to health of body and of mind, so that each person may best fill his place in life; best perform the several relative duties of it ; and, as far as in him lies, prolong his days to their utmost period free from great diseases and infirmities. All gratifications, therefore, which tend to produce diseases of body, or irregu larities of mind, are forbidden by be nevolence, and the most wholesome diet as to quantity and quality enjoined by it. It also most strictly forbids all gratifi cations by which the health or virtue of other individuals is injured, or by which encouragement is given to others to de part from the rules of chastity and tem perance.—The precepts of piety are to the same purpose, whether they are de duced from our relation to God, as our common father and benefactor, who wills that all his children should use his blessings so as to promote the common good; or from the natural manifestations of his will, in the immediate pleasures and advantages arising from moderate re freshment, and the manifest inconveni encies and injuries caused by excess in quantity or or from his revealed will, by which temperance in all sensible pleasures is commanded, and intempe rance severely threatened.—In like man ner the moral sense directs implicitly to the same moderation, whether it be derived explicitly from the foregoing rules of benevolence and piety, or from ideas of decency, rational self-interest, the practice of wise and good men, the disgusting nature of the diseases conse quent on intemperance, the odiousness and mischief of violent passions, &c. It is evident, therefore, that all these guides of life lead to the same end, via great moderation in sensible enjoyments, though they differ somewhat in their motives, and in the commodiousness of their application, as a rule in the particu lar occurrences of life.
28. By this steady adherence to mode ration, we are no losers even with repect to sensible pleasures themselves ; for by these means our senses and bodily powers are preserved in their best state, and as long as is consistent with the necessary decay of the body; and this moderation, and its beneficial consequences, directly tend to inspire the mind with perpetual serenity, cheerfulness, and good-will, and with gratitude to the giver of all good.—In the common intercourse of
life, associated circumstances add greatly to the pleasures of sensation: thus the pleasure of receiving a thing from a friend, or sharing it with a friend, soci ality and mirth at the time of enjoyment, &c. greatly enhance the gratification of taste. Much more then will the pure and exalted pleasures of piety and benevo lence increase these pleasures.
29. We are, then, great gainers on the whole by religious moderation as to sen sible pleasures; still more so as to the sensible pains and sufferings which the intemperate bring on themselves. These are of the most exquisite kind, and often of long duration, especially when they give intervals of respite. They impair the bodily and mental powers, so as to render most other enjoyments insipid and imperfect; they dispose to peevish ness, passion, and murmuring against Providence, and are attended with the pangs of a guilty mind.—On the whole, the proper method of avoiding the sensi ble pains, whether the result of excess, or such as occur in the daily discharge of the duties of life, and of obtaining the sensible pleasures in their best and most lasting state, is not to aim at either di rectly, but in every thing to be guided by the dictates of benevolence, piety, and the moral sense. It is evident that luxury, self-indulgence, and an indolent aversion to perform the duties of a man's station, not only on gross bodily diseases, but previously to this, often pro duce such a degree of anxiety and fear fulness in minute affairs, as to make per 'sons inflict upon themselves greater torments than the most cruel tyrants could inflict.—There are cases, how ever, in which persons are obliged, from a sense of duty, from benevolence, from adherence to true religion, &c. to forego pleasure, and to endure pain; and this, where there is no probability of a re compense in this life. Here the hopes of futurity lend their aid; and the present pleasure which these afford, is in some cases so great, as to overpower, and almost to annihilate the opposite pains.