er, would man make in the use of his powers if he could
continue to think in a state of unbroken intensity! How he would unravel
every idea to its final elements; how he would trace every appearance to
its most hidden sources, if he could keep them uninterruptedly before his
mind! But, alas! it is not thus. Why is it not so?

S 24.--Necessity for Relaxation.

The following will lead us on the track of truth:--

1. Pleasant sensation was necessary to lead man to perfection, and he can
only be perfect when he feels comfortable.

2. The nature of a mortal being makes unpleasant feeling unavoidable.
Evil does not shut man out from the best world, and the worldly-wise find
their perfection therein.

3. Thus pain and pleasure are necessary. It seems harder, but it is no
less true.

4. Every pain, as every pleasure, grows according to its nature, and
would continue to do so.

5. Every pain and every pleasure of a mixed being tend to their own
dissolution.

S 25.--Explanation.

It is a well-known law of the connection between ideas that every
sensation, of whatever kind, immediately seizes another of its kind, and
enlarges itself through this addition. The larger and more manifold it
becomes, so much the more does it awaken similar sensations in all
directions through the organs of thought, until, by degrees, it becomes
universally predominant, and occupies the whole soul. Consequently,
every sensation grows through itself; every present condition of the
feeling power contains the root of a feeling to follow, similar, but more
intense. This is evident. Now, every mental sensation is, as we know,
allied to a similar animal one; in other words, each one is connected
with more or less movement of the nerves, which take a direction
according to the measure of their strength and extension. Thus, as
mental sensations grow, must the movements in the nervous system increase
also. This is no less clear. Now, pathology teaches us that a nerve
never suffers alone: and to say, "Here is a superfluity of strength," is
as much as to say, "There is want of strength." Thus, every nervous
movement grows through itself. Now, we have remarked that the movements
of the nervous system react upon the mind, and strengthen the mental
sensations;

[Why, how one weeps when one's too weary!
Tears, tears! why we weep,
'Tis worth inquiry:--that we've shamed a life,
Or lost a love, or missed a world, perhaps?