Only as I fear that with many of us the recommendation of our own favorite
pursuits is rooted more in conceit of ourselves, than affection towards others,
so that sometimes in our very pointing of the way, we had rather that the intricacy of it should be admired
than unfolded, whence a natural distrust of such recommendation may well have
place in the minds of those who have not yet perceived any value in the thing
praised, and because also, men in the present century understand the word Useful
in a strange way, or at least (for the word has been often so accepted from the
beginning of time) since in these days, they act its more limited meaning
farther out, and give to it more practical weight and authority, it will be well
in the outset that I define exactly what kind of utility I mean to attribute to
art, and especially to that branch of it which is concerned with those impressions of external beauty
whose nature it is our present object to discover. cheap oil paintings
That is to everything created, pre-eminently useful, which enables it rightly
and fully to perform the functions appointed to it by its Creator. Therefore,
that we may determine what is chiefly useful to man, it is necessary first to determine the use of man himself.
Man's use and function (and let him who will not grant me this follow me no
farther, for this I purpose always to assume) is to be the witness of the glory
of God, and to advance that glory by his reasonable obedience and resultant
happiness. abstract oil painting
Whatever enables us to fulfil this function, is in the pure and first sense
of the word useful to us. Pre-eminently therefore whatever sets the glory of God
more brightly before us. But things that only help us to exist, are in a
secondary and mean sense, useful, or rather, if they be looked for alone, they
are useless and worse, for it would be better that we should not exist, than
that we should guiltily disappoint the purposes of existence.
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