Observations on man, his frame, his duty, and his expectations : In two parts. Part. I. Containing observations on the frame of the human body and mind, and on their mutual connexions and influences. Part. II. Containing observations on the duty and expectations of mankind / by David Hartley.

  • Hartley, David, 1705-1757.
Date:
1791
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on man, his frame, his duty, and his expectations : In two parts. Part. I. Containing observations on the frame of the human body and mind, and on their mutual connexions and influences. Part. II. Containing observations on the duty and expectations of mankind / by David Hartley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    fuppofe its confequences to have been, could not have occafioned fuch an alteration in the elTential frame of man, as to produce in him parts which he had not previous to it, or to change the funftions of thofe which he had. Before man had expofed him- felf to moral depravity, his natural inclinations, no doubt, were more moderate, more obedient to reafon, and more fubfervient to the ends for which they were implanted: but it is not credible, that they were altogether wanting, and that the innocent plea- fure attending a due fatisfadion of them was denied j neither have we the leaft foundation for fuch a fuppofition. Analogy, from the confideration of animals in nature refembling man, teaches us the contrary. Thefe, which never fell, would unqueftionably have been propagated in the paradifiacal ftate as well as in the prefent. The immortality poflefled by man in a Hate of innocence could no more render the propagation of the fpecies unneceflary, than that immortality promifed us in a future ftate, where we Ihall be liable to no decadency. Had that been the cafe, the Creator muft have produced at once all the human race that were ever to inhabit the earth. This, however, would not have been confonant to that benevolent purpofe which Paul holds out to our notice, namely, that all men are of one blood, that by the manner of their origin and propagation they might all be connefted together, and be brothers and fifters. PROP. CLVIII. p. 457. On the Lawfulnejs of Jiudying the Polite Arts. The fentence of our author on the polite arts, that they are fcarcely to be allowed, except when employed to religious purpofes, feems to be carried too far, at leaft if it be his meaning, that thefe arts are to be reprobated, unlefs immediately dedicated to religion. How many inftru6live, ufeful, and edifying works of tafte muft then vanilh ! The didaclic poems of philofophy, the inftru6tive fables of an ^fop, hiftorical pic- tures, defcriptions of the works of nature, landfcapes, and gay, animating and pleafing mufic, muft all fall together. Such an unreafonable and fevere judgment, however, I cannot afcribe to our author. Muft he not have confidered that a man could not dedicate his talents to religion with any fuccefs, unlefs he had previoufly exercifed them on lighter fubjefts ? and that it would be neceflary for him to read and ftudy the beft works of the ancients and moderns, few of which are confined to religion, in order to form his mind, obtain a juft, nice, and folid tafte, and acquire a capacity of exprefling himfelf properly, clearly, accurately, fmoothly and nobly ? Muft he not have known how the ftudy of the polite arts increafes our knowledge of the human heart, and unlocks the paflfages to its moft fecret receflfes ? And how neceflfary, or at leaft ufeful it is, to enter the road to philofophy through the gate of the fine arts ? Finally,