Page:An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding - Hume (1748).djvu/173

 more powerful Influence with regard to the other. The Mind of Man is so form'd by Nature, that, upon the Appearance of certain Characters, Dispositions, and Actions, it immediately feels the Sentiment of Approbation or Blame; nor are there any Feelings or Emotions more essential to its Frame and Constitution. The Characters, which engage its Approbation, are chiefly such as contribute to the Peace and Security of human Society; as the Characters, which excite Blame, are chiefly such as tend to its Detriment and Disturbance: Whence we may reasonably presume, that the moral Sentiments arise, either mediately or immediately, from a Reflection on these opposite Interests. What tho' philosophical Meditations establish a different Opinion or Conjecture, that every Thing is right with regard to the, and that the Qualities, which disturb Society, are, in the main, as beneficial, and are as suitable to the primary Intention of Nature, as those which more directly promote its Happiness and Welfare? Are such remote and uncertain Speculations able to counterbalance the Sentiments, which arise from the natural and immediate View of the Objects? A Man, who is robb'd of a considerable Sum; does he find his Vexation for the Loss a whit diminish'd by these sublime Reflections? Why then should his moral Resentment against the Crime be suppos'd