ophers from
admitting them into their systems of ethics, and has induced them to
employ any other principle, in explaining the origin of moral good and
evil. But it is no just reason for rejecting any principle, confirmed
by experience, that we cannot give a satisfactory account of its origin,
nor are able to resolve it into other more general principles. And if we
would employ a little thought on the present subject, we need be at
no loss to account for the influence of utility, and deduce it from
principles the most known and avowed in human nature....
Usefulness is agreeable, and engages our approbation. This is a matter
of fact, confirmed by daily observation. But useful! For what? For
somebody's interest, surely! Whose interest then? Not our own only; for
our approbation frequently extends farther. It must therefore be the
interest of those who are served by the character or action approved of;
and these, we may conclude, however remote, are not totally indifferent
to us. By opening up this principle, we shall discover one great source
of moral distinctions."

The origin and mischiefs of Theistic influences is the subject of the
following passage:--

"It must necessarily, indeed, be allowed, that in order to carry men's
attention beyond the present course of things, or lead them into any
inference concerning invisible intelligent power, they must be actuated
by some passion which prompts their thought and reflection, some motive
which urges their first inquiry. But what passion shall we here have
recourse to, for explaining an effect of such mighty consequence? Not
speculative curiosity, surely, or the pure love of truth. That motive
is too refined for such gross apprehensions; and would lead men into
inquiries concerning the frame of nature, a subject too large and
comprehensive for their narrow capacities. No passions, therefore, can
be supposed to work upon such barbarians, but the ordinary affections
of human life; the anxious concern for happiness, the dread of future
misery, the terror of death, the thirst of revenge, the appetite for
food and other necessaries. Agitated by hopes and fears of this nature,
especially the latter, men scrutinize, with a trembling curiosity, the
course of future causes, and examine the various and contrary events
of human life. And in this disordered scene, with eyes still more
disordered and astonished, they see the first obscure traces of
divinity.... We hang in perpetual sus