Amory, Thomas (1690/1-1788)

The Life of John Buncle, Esq.

London

Printed for J. Noon

1756, 1766

We "do not act up to the eternal law of reason"

But poor at best is the condition of human life here below; and, when to weak and imperfect faculties, we add inconsistencies, and do not act up to the eternal law of reason, and of God; when love of fame, curiosity, resentment, or any of our particular propensities; when humour, vanity, or any of our inferior powers, are permitted to act against justice and veracity, and instead of reflecting on the reason of the thing, or the right of the case, that by the influence this has on the mind, we may be constituted virtuous, and attached to truth; we go down with the current of the passions, and let bent and humour determine us, in opposition to what is decent and fit: if in a state so unfriendly as this is, to the heavenly and divine life, where folly and vice are for ever striving to introduce disorder into our frame, and it is difficult indeed, to preserve, in any degree, an integrity of character, and peace within:--if, in such a situation, instead of labouring to destroy all the seeds of envy, pride, ill-will, and impatience, and endeavouring to establish and maintain a due inward oeconomy and harmony, by paying a perpetual regard to truth, that is, to the real circumstances and relation of things in which we stand,--to the practice of reason in its just extent, according to the capacities and natures of every being; we do, on the contrary, disregard the moral faculty, and become a mere system of passions and affections, without any thing at the head of them to govern them; --what then can be expected, but deficiency and deformity, degeneracy and guilty practice? This was the case of Eustace and Bellinda. Passion and own-will were so near and intimate to him, that he seemed to live under a deliberate resolution not to be governed by reason. He would wink at the light he had, struggle to evade conviction, and make his mind a chaos and a hell. Bellinda, at the same time, was too quick, too vain, and too often forgot to take into her idea of a good character, a continual subordination of the lower powers of our nature to the faculty of reason. This produced the following scene.
(pp. 5-7)

Government::Law of Reason

Searching "reason" and "law" in HDIS (Prose)

At least 4 entries in the ESTC (1756, 1763, 1766, 1770).

Text from first printing: The Life of John Buncle, Esq; Containing Various Observations and Reflections, Made in Several Parts of the World; and Many Extraordinary Relations, (London: Printed for J. Noon, 1756). <Link to ECCO><Link to LION>

See also The Life of John Buncle, Esq; Containing Various Observations and Reflections, Made in Several Parts of the World, and Many Extraordinary Relations, 2 vols. (London: Printed for J. Johnson and B. Davenport, 1766). <Link to Google Books>

04/25/2005