Caulfield (fl. 1778)

An Essay on the Immateriality and Immortality of the Soul, and Its Instinctive Sense of Good and Evil

London

Printed for J. Dodsley

1778

"We can earnestly endeavour to avoid evil, only by a uniform disposition to combat our appetites and passions."

We cannot say that it is improper there should be rational minds in a creation, so formed as to be capable of good and evil--and of being rewarded or punished consistent with justice--and yet if we had no propensities to evil, such would be the situation, at least as far as we can know, for our good actions would then cease to be good. Humanity, benevolence, a tender sympathy for the distresses of mankind, for example, has great weight with good minds in recommending to their favour--yet as such a disposition of heart is the effect of nature, it cannot in the least recommend to the favour of God, unless it be accompanied by those earnest endeavours to avoid evil, which can alone testify a desire to please him. We can earnestly endeavour to avoid evil, only by a uniform disposition to combat our appetites and passions. Unless the ruling propensity of the mind be habitually resisted, and generally with effect, our charity, and all those good dispositions which we possess by nature, will have no weight in recommending us to God.
(p. 285)

War::Combat

Gale's Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO).

Only 1 entry in ESTC (1778).

See An Essay on the Immateriality and Immortality of the Soul, and Its Instinctive Sense of Good and Evil; in Opposition to the Opinions Advanced in the Essays Introductory to Dr. Priestley's Abridgment of Dr. Hartley's Observations on Man. to Which Are Added, Strictures on Dr. Hartley's Theory; ... With an Appendix, in Answer to Dr. Priestley's Disquisitions on Matter and Spirit. by the Author of the Letters in Proof of a Particular, As Well As a General Providence, Which Were Addressed to Dr. Hawkesworth ... Under the Signature of a Christian (London: Printed for J. Dodsley, 1778). <Link to ESTC>

07/18/2005