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Untitled Article
piness ; which render Truth the ally of Hope—Hope , based on Truth , looking beyond the physical and the mortal . 4 For what is the object of all this structure and function , —all this curious mechanism , with all its complicated actions ? Structure is successively superadded to structure . Structure is invariably subservient to function ; and the inferior structure and function , to the superior 1 But to what end ?
Take the most simple structure and function—that of the plant . To what is it subservient ? What is its ultimate end ? The maintenance of the structure and functions of the animal . * In the animal , what is the ultimate end of the organic life ? The production and the support of the animal life . Of the animal life , what is the ultimate end ? Is it the production of voluntary motion ? No ; voluntary motion is the mere servant of sensation ; it exists but to obey its commands .
' Sensation , then , simple sensation , is that the ultimate end of organization and life ? No ; for sensation may be either pleasurable or painful . Every sensation terminates either in a pleasure or a pain . Is pain the ultimate end ? No : pleasure , then , must be the end in view , and pleasure is the end secured . '
The train of thought here entered upon was followed out through the remainder of the lecture in a strain of powerful and impressive eloquence . The amount of enjoyment derived from every sense was pointed out . The beautiful provision that a sentient nerve accompanies all the organic nerves , themselves destitute of sensation , in their distribution to the different organs .
thereby giving , not a consciousness of the organic process , but a consciousness of pleasurable sensation from the healthy working of the machinery—that consciousness which we call the feeling of health , was explained . The high pleasures to be derived from the social , the intellectual , and the moral faculties , finished the subject ; but we can only give the conclusion of the lecture .
Our Creator , then , has implanted happiness deeply in the very constitution of our nature , from its lowest to its highest function . It is in our own power to increase it each for himself , and for others , to an illimitable extent . Of this blessed privilege we have not availed ourselves . The production of p ain , the destruction of life , have been profoundly studied as a science , and universally practised as an art .
The science and the art of happiness is yet in a state of infancy , which would be incredible were it not deeply felt , at once , in the misery and the brevity of human life . But light is beginning to break in upon men ' s minds . Let each , according to his capacity , receive and ex * tend it !'
Untitled Article
Functions of the Animal Economy . 59
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1833, page 59, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2606/page/59/
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