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individual , without some * # 6 tenc 3 W 9 hte state *) f h& dtepositkftia o ^ fclsa * acten—that the cdmparia <^ MW ^ ft ViBlti ^ ftnd vice , with respeet to their influence upon happiness , mu $ fr consist entirely in a comparison of dispositions , and their x ^ mective general tendencies ; —and that the obligation to virtue * so far as regards the present ljfe alone > can be established only to the extent of this plain truth , tfcat a prtuojjs character affords , upon die whole , the best security from evil , the fairest prospect of happiness , and of such happiness as
is incomparabl y the purest and most exquisite in kind . But to see virtue m its fullest importance , and to enforce it on the strongest grounds , it is undoubtedly necessary that we should extend our views to a future state . Without the expectation of a future state , there would be some ground , perhaps , for alleging , that moral principle , however useful in a certain degree , may yet be carried to an inconvenient extreme , and that a certain pliant and accommodating morality , which will bend to the temper of the times , and serve most effectually to secure respectabUity and wealth , is most advantageous to t-he ifldivir T V ^ W ^ ^^ W ^ ^^ - ^^ VPW ^ P ^ T W » ^^ ^*^ ¦ ** ^^ ^^ ^ K V ¦ ^ - * - ^ W ^^^^^ T V ^*^^^^^ ¦» ¦ W ¦¦ ^^ ™ ^ ^ ¦ ' ^ m — ^ ¦ - —^^» - - ^ — — v - - r v - t- — f ^ . q ¦ ,- ' i ^ ' ^ L-. - '
dual . At any rate , in this case the improvement of character coul ^ nev . e ^ bG reasonably stated or considered as the object of supreme importance in life , and consequently the moral principle could never attain its highest stat ^ df culture . "—Vol . I . pp . 175—177 . ; , In the second book , entitled Practical Morality , are comprehended the detail and description of all the particular feelings , dispositions and m 0 des of conduct which respectively constitute virtue and vice , together with , such representations of their respective tendencies as may serve to recommend the one and dissuade from the other . These Mr . Jevons considers in the
first place under the two general denominations of duties of action and duties ojF restraint ; divisions which have a reference to all our passions and propensities taken collectively ; since it may with propriety be said of each of them , that some things require to be done , and others to be forborne or avoided . We have a&erwaras a more minute detail of the rules of duty as they relate to each propensity or affection considered separately . Th ^ se are treated of under the following heads ; first , duties relating to the desiro and pursuit of pleasure , of Wealth , of honour , and of power . We have thea
a view of duties relating to the affections , meaning b y that term the benevolent affections exclusively ^ such as friendship , patriotism , gratitude , sympathy . Next follow the passiorte , peculiarly so called , or those more violent emotions 6 r perturbations of mind which are excited by evils and injuries ; and the course is completed by a view of the relig ious affections . Into this extensive detail we do not propose at present to examine minutely ; hut we can safely recommend it as containing a valuable fund of
practical good sense , which few can study with the attention it deserves , without being made both wiser and better . At the same time , while we readily admit that the views of moral duty here advanced are established and enforced by such arguments as will approve themselves to the natural man , if ' he-be also candid and unprejudiced ' yet it is abundantly manifest , on the One hand , that they are vastly superior to any rule of life which could be
derived from the writings of heathen philosophers , and on the other , that the author himself is obliged in many instances for the correctness of his E ^ nffiplep , » ot to natural religion , but to the unspeakable advantage which $ } ias / deriveo ! from a reli g ious education , and an early familiarity w ^ tlj tkp <^ hi ! t stmn Scriptures . Often avowedly , and perhaps oftener stilt un
