t state
of man: and it bears this peculiar character, that it is adapted to men
in every scale of society, and tends to diffuse a beneficial influence
around the circle with which the individual is connected. The desire of
power may exist in many, but its gratification is limited to a few:--he
who fails may become a discontented misanthrope; and he who succeeds may
be a scourge to his species. The desire of superiority or of praise may
be misdirected in the same manner, leading to insolent triumph on the
one hand, and envy on the other. Even the thirst for knowledge may be
abused, and many are placed in circumstances in which it cannot be
gratified. But the desire of moral improvement commends itself to every
class of society, and its object is attainable by all. In proportion to
its intensity and its steadiness, it tends to make the possessor both a
happier and a better man, and to render him the instrument of diffusing
happiness and usefulness to all who come within the reach of his
influence. If he be in a superior station, these results will be felt
more extensively; if he be in a humble sphere, they may be more limited;
but their nature is the same, and their tendency is equally to elevate
the character of man. This mental condition consists, as we shall
afterwards have occasion to shew more particularly, in a habitual
recognition of the supreme authority of conscience over the whole
intellectual and moral system, and in a habitual effort to have every
desire and every affection regulated by the moral principle, and by a
sense of the divine will. It leads to a uniformity of character which
can never flow from any lower source, and to a conduct distinguished by
the anxious discharge of every duty, and the practice of the most active
benevolence.

The Emotions which have been now briefly mentioned seem to include the
more important of those which pertain to the class of Desires. There is,
however, another principle which ought to be mentioned as a leading
peculiarity of human nature, though it may be somewhat difficult to
determine the class to which it belongs. This is the Desire of
Action,--the restless activity of mind, which leads it to require some
object on which its powers must be exercised, and without which it preys
upon itself and becomes miserable. On this principle we are to explain
several facts which are of frequent observation. A person accustomed to
a life of activity longs for ease and retirement, an