d a better
manner, and annexed the most lively sensations of pleasure to every
operation he has made necessary to our support, thereby making the
enjoyment of pleasure one of the conditions of our existence. This is an
unanswerable refutation of one of the most abominable doctrines of the
atheists--the overbalance of evil; and as such, that wise and amiable
divine, doctor Paley, has made use of it in his Natural Theology. It is
true, that yielding to the tendency of our frail, overweening nature to
push enjoyment of every kind to its utmost verge, men too often
overshoot the mark, and frustrate the object they have most at heart, by
eagerness to accomplish it. For though to a reasonable extent and in
certain circumstances, all enjoyments are harmless, they degenerate into
crimes, when excessively indulged, and particularly when the imagination
is overstrained to improve their zest, or to refine or exalt them beyond
the limits which Nature and sobriety prescribe. But this can no more be
alledged as a reason for renouncing the moderate use of the enjoyment,
than the excesses of the drunkard or glutton for the rejection of food
and drink.

That man must have amusement of some kind, "Nature speaks aloud." He,
therefore, who supplies society with entertainment unadulterated by
vice, who contributes to the pleasure without impairing the innocence of
his fellow-beings, and above all, who instructs while he delights, may
justly be ranked among the benefactors of mankind, and lays claim to the
gratitude and respect of the society he serves. To that gratitude and
respect the dramatic poet, and those who contribute to give effect to
his works, are richly entitled. Accordingly history informs us that in
all recorded ages theatrical exhibitions have been not only held in high
estimation by the most wise, learned, and virtuous men, but sedulously
cultivated and encouraged by legislators as matters of high public
importance, particularly in those nations that have been most renowned
for freedom and science.

In the multitude and diversity of conflicting opinions which divide
mankind upon all, even the most manifest truths, we find some upon this
subject. Many well-meaning, sincere christians have waged war against
the enjoyment of pleasure, as if it were the will of God that we should
go weeping and sorrowing through life. The learned bishop of Rochester,
speaking of a religious sect which carries this principle as far as it
will go