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Since the affections weaken as they expand, the most general of all, philanthropy or universal benevolence, is quickened and made intense by sympathy, a principle which is as unquestionably primitive or innate as the love of offspring, and is so universal and salutary in its operation, that an eminent moralist has taken it to be the foundation of our ethical nature, or the fountain of all the virtues. It is the proper antagonist or corrective of selfishness, as under its impulse we instinctively make the sorrows and pleasures of others our own, and in turn feel our own joys heightened, and sufferings diminished, through the consciousness that they are shared by our neighbours. The endowment of the human mind with this principle alone, peculiar and striking as its effects are seen to be when we reflect upon them, seems to me as plain an indication of the benevolence of the Deity, and of his will that men should cultivate kindness and affection for each other, as the explicit enunciation of the same truths in Scripture.

All the relations in which we stand to our fellow-beings have separate affections corresponding to them, and our sense of the duties which are incumbent upon us in each case is developed and confirmed by this association. The strength of the affection may generally be taken as a safe measure of the duty. Parental love is stronger than friendship; sympathy with distress is more vivid than sympathy with enjoyment; the love of family is more powerful than the love of country; and the love of country, again, is more urgent than universal benevolence. Few will deny that the scale of duties exactly corresponds to this gradation; so that, even if reason did not operate to show the comparative utility of the performance of these duties, we should have what might be called an instinctive appreciation of their relative importance. Theorists, it is true, have often tried to invert this natural order of the virtues; but, as might be expected, with small success. Thus, circumstances led the ancients to exaggerate the merits of patriotism; and even Plato held the opinion, that the indulgence of the domestic affections unfitted men for the discharge of their political duties; he went so far as to propose, on this account, that children should be

separated from their parents immediately after birth, and brought up at the public expense. The enthusiasm of modern times has taken a somewhat different course; universal philanthropy is now the fashionable virtue, and it is preached up to an extent that throws all the more private affections into the shade, even if it does not menace their extinction. But the duties which lie within the narrowest circle are most frequent in their recurrence, and so tend to keep up the habit of virtue; while the benevolent feeling which can take in no less an object than the whole human race, for want of striking occasions on which to manifest itself, is apt to be wasted in speculation and magnificent professions. There is deep meaning in the language of our Saviour, when he inculcates love to all mankind under the figure of love to our neighbour.

Be not always eager, then, to direct your course only by some lofty, abstract, and distant principles, to the disregard of the humbler and more practical rules of morals which shine directly around and near our daily life. This is the folly of attempting to steer always by the stars, though the coast be near at hand, and the low, familiar beacons on it, if we will only heed them, will guide us safely into port. And do not, if you get into difficulty by acting in this manner, lay all the blame upon the stars; they shine in their proper places, but we have no instruments nice enough to take their precise bearings, where a very slight error might lead to fatal consequences. High principles are always right; but we make egregious mistakes in attempting to act upon them on slight and familiar occasions, when there are less ambitious, but safer, rules of guidance at hand, if we will only heed them. These lofty maxims come into play but seldom, on great occasions; and even then, they serve only as comprehensive precepts for the general formation of our hearts and characters, and not as precise rules of conduct, that are serviceable on particular emergencies. We look to the stars for pilotage when we are in the midst of a broad and trackless ocean, and no landmarks are in sight; and they show us only the general direction in which we ought to steer. When the breakers are close

around us, it is no time to look aloft.

Goethe gives good advice : - If perplexed by the many calls that are made upon us, and by conflicting rules of life, let us always do first the nearest duty; when this is finished, the others will already have become clearer.

The affections, like the desires, create a feeling of uneasiness and discontent in the absence of their respective objects, and prompt to exertion for the supply of the deficiency. The love of friends is a craving which makes itself more or less distinctly known according to the experience which we have had of companionship. "As the lamb," says an able writer, "when it strikes with the forehead while yet unarmed, proves that it is not its weapons which determine its instincts, but that it has preëxistent instincts suited to its weapons, so, when we see an animal deprived of the sight of its fellows cling to a stranger, or disarm by its caresses the rage of an enemy, we perceive the workings of a social instinct, not only not superinduced by external circumstances, but manifesting itself in spite of circumstances which are adverse to its operation. The same remark may be extended to man; when in solitude he languishes, and, by making companions of the lower animals, or by attaching himself to inanimate objects, strives to fill up the void of which he is conscious." The feeling is blind, indeed; instinct in animals, and reason in man, alone can supply the means of satisfying the want; but we know that there is a want, and that the uneasiness will remain till it is gratified.

A still more striking instance of this truth may be found in the religious sentiment, to which I have already often alluded. Man is created with a capacity and inclination for worship, with a deep feeling of veneration, which finds no appropriate object on which to expend itself among the persons and things with whom he is associated on earth, but constantly seeks for such an object, and usually finds it, in the conception of some spiritual existence higher and holier than any created being. From this fact alone. can we explain the endless variety of religious systems which have obtained in the world, no nation or race having ever been

discovered which had no form of religious worship. The savage makes his idol of a block or stone. The half-enlightened barbarian finds a Divinity all around him, and peoples the mountains, the streams, and the forests with their attendant deities. When more cultivated, his thirst for knowledge leads him to study the heavens, and the sun, moon, and stars become his gods. Finally, whether as the last triumph of the unaided intellect or by special revelation, the sublime doctrine of monotheism is preached to the world, and calls forth the purest form and highest degree of reverence of which the human heart is capable.

34

LECTURE IV.

THE NATURE AND FUNCTIONS OF CONSCIENCE.

I ENDEAVOURED to show, in my last Lecture, from a comparison of the human faculties with those of the brutes, that discipline or self-development is the great end of our existence upon earth; mere enjoyment, or the conscious gratification of > desire, being only a secondary aim. The prevalence of law, or the uniformity of causation, in the material universe is not intended merely to uphold and continue this universe, an object which might be accomplished far more easily and directly, — but to operate as a means for this education of man; that is, to guide the conduct of a being who is not, like the brutes, conducted blindfold and unconsciously to the performance of every work that is necessary for the continuation and welfare of his species, but is rendered capable, through free-will, judgment, and forethought, of acting for himself. An examination of the lower motive powers of the human mind-the appetites, affections, and desires was intended to prove that they are mere blind impulses, or springs of activity, differing from each other in strength, but having regard only to their own immediate gratification; the objects of them being sought invariably as ends, not as So far as man is under their guidance, he has no superiority over the other orders of the animal creation. Prudence, or self-love, is the first element of his intellectual being; the office of this faculty is to restrain the primitive impulses and desires, to ascertain the relative importance of the ends towards

means.

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