CHAPTER IV.

IT has been said that the progress of a nation from barbarism to civilisation exhibits phenomena in many respects similar to those of an individual passing from infancy to manhood; but the parallel may equally be applied to the entire world. In the infancy of man appetite and passion are the sole impulses to action, and the gratifying of these his chief pleasure. But in the progress of life experience develops higher impulses arising from impressions received from external nature, the gratifying of which affords a still higher pleasure. In time reflection teaches him to distinguish more nicely between objects calculated to produce pleasure and those that give pain, his self-love seeking its gratification in the former and avoiding the latter. As his intellect becomes more matured and a brighter light is shed around his path, he sees yet higher sources of gratification arising out of abstract views of nature, the desire for which is a purely mental craving, and its indulgence equally a mental pleasure.

In exact proportion, therefore, as any one is enlightened, will he be able to discriminate between the sources of pleasure and pain, so far as his mental and bodily nature is concerned; and a similar course is taken in the gradual development of the moral affections; but as these lie still deeper in the nature of man, and are passive

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under the influence of external impressions, they require the assistance of a borrowed light to show them what things to choose and what to reject.

He

The inexperienced and unaided intellect of man, indeed, is not quite sufficient to enable him to discriminate between what is good and bad either for his body or his mind, much less for the desires of his moral nature. may, however, see much of the former either by instinct. or reason, and choose or reject accordingly; but he requires almost entirely to be shown or rather guided into a proper selection of objects for the gratification of the latter. If no correct guidance be afforded to the moral affections, they will be taken hold of by surrounding objects, and involuntarily trained into the formation of ruling habits, which will be of course productive of happiness or misery according to the bias they receive. It is, therefore, of the last importance that a borrowed experience and reflection be called to aid in guiding the outward tendency of these faculties to proper objects. Though passive and yielding in themselves, when trained to maturity and excellence they subordinate the whole faculties of mind and body, rendering them instrumental in promoting the highest pleasures of which man is capable; and if they are of a more delicate nature, and require more careful attention than the mental and animal powers, the fruit they yield amply repays such labour, and is infinitely more valuable.

So has it been, then, in the progress to perfection of the universal man. In the world's infancy his appetites and passions demanded his first care and attention, and to supply these with greater facility the rude arts were invented. From these inventions a mental desire was created, seeking its gratification in kindred pursuits. But as one want satisfied only creates another, the desires of

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his moral nature next sought gratification. The full satisfying of these, however, depending not only upon external objects, but in a reaction proceeding from them, to produce which he had no natural desire, having little sympathy with the objects themselves until enlightened reason showed him the advantages of such a reciprocity, it is easy to suppose that a long period in the history of man would elapse ere the happiness arising from such a gratification of the benevolent faculties would be experienced, and much longer before anything like a correct system of principles could be deduced from such a rare practice.

Yet, as a desire and capacity for this happiness are inherent in the nature of man, many were the expedients resorted to both by enlightened nations and individuals to gratify them; but all of which proceeding upon the principle of making self the recipient of pleasure without first communicating it to others, failed in supplying the full measure of enjoyment. The admirable moral precepts deduced by the wisdom and experience of Socrates, Pythagoras, and other heathen sages, merely supplied this moral desideratum up to a certain point. They showed the pleasures of the passive rather than of the active virtues, of refraining from doing evil rather than the doing of good, of benevolence rather than beneficence.

But as bodily and mental action is no less necessary than occasional rest, so is the outward action of the moral powers as necessary to their gratification as passive indulgence. And as the mere stoical benevolence of heathen philosophy had thus within it no principle of reaction and self-diffusion, it was consequently inadequate fully to supply the moral necessities of man.

A higher light seemed, therefore, necessary than that reflected by the unaided intellect of man to discover the

seeming paradox, that the true secret of moral happiness consists not in the immediate gratification of self, but in the reflection of a happiness bestowed upon others. It was reserved for the light of the Gospel to introduce upon earth this new principle in moral science; and in the simple command, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," there was implanted upon earth a standard prineiple of action and a basis of education destined in time. to draw around it all the science and philosophy in the world.

Yet an erroneous practice from a right principle is much more pernicious than a correct practice from a Neither the wisdom of the ancients nor the wrong one. revelation of the Gospel, though adapted to render man as happy as his nature would permit, effected any immediate moral revolution upon earth. These served merely as so many lights pointing out the different paths to happiness and to misery, but men were left to choose the one or the other, according to their own will. Another element in moral training was therefore necessary, namely, the education of the will and the habits, and this is also abundantly supplied in the rewards held out to those who keep the Gospel commandments. These do not, however, consist in something beyond the commandments, but in the keeping of them. This is the allurement held out to commence a course of beneficence, the practice of which, though at first disagreeable, engages the mind, and, ultimately bends the will in the same direction. By the repetition of such acts the will and practice at length go together, or rather the former precedes the latter, and hence the inward habit is formed, incessantly prompting the outward conduct.

These principles with others, that taught the superiority of kindness, gentleness, and love, over hatred,.

anger, and violence; the forgiveness of injuries, and bestowing of benefits in return; the doing good to others, expecting no recompense, &c., were in reality so many “lights shining in a dark place;" and though destined one day to irradiate the whole earth, they have often been all but swallowed up in profound darkness. They were left to encounter the same obstacles with which other discoveries in morals and physics have often to contend; and in their progress down to us, as if to show by the most striking examples, not only their inefficacy as a rule of life, but extreme danger when entertained as mere speculative opinions, they have in many cases formed a nucleus around which have been gathered, perhaps, more prejudicial errors, giving rise to more human misery, than all the rites of paganism ever produced. In all the preceding systems of heathen superstition, indeed, we find no parallel in atrocious crime to that perpetrated by papal Rome sanctioned by the name of Christianity.) This, however, is but a natural consequence of a misdirected application of the venerative faculties. Of all others these require the most careful education; otherwise, if excited beyond mediocrity, and unbalanced by reason, their predominance will lead to superstition and zealotism. The revelations of the Gospel contain abundant materials for polemical controversy, to indulge in which, is much more agreeable than to reduce its doctrines into individual practice. The early "fathers" embarked heart and soul in these hair-splitting controversies, and by their subtle reasonings only rendered the mysteries of revelation the more mysterious. To propagate their favourite dogmas, too, no means were left untried, and the streams of heavenly knowledge became at last so troubled by an intermixture of earthly waters as to prove fatal to all who drank them. The