tion. It was thus with the divine unity; which, at first associated with miracle, is now seen in nature; at first promulgated by authority, is now the dictate of rationality. And so it is with Christian morals, and the Christian principle of morality. In the light of the word of God, man has become able to see light, and the faculty and scope of his mental vision have been enlarged and strengthened by the uprising on the world of the Sun of Righteousness. God at first led the blind by a way which they knew not, that at length Christ might say, 'Whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.' Christ's precepts came with, 'I say unto you,' that we might learn to say them to ourselves. Revelation is an anticipatory process. It did with the world what we do with children; suggest moral truth, which can never be known too soon, the very suggestion aiding the development of the powers which should in time achieve its demonstration. And the world is benefitted by the one process, as the child by the other. As the one implies a parent and a teacher, so does the other a Deity and a Saviour. Christ's mission by the spirit of God for healing, comfort and deliverance was in nothing more efficient than in his announcement of the principle and blessings of moral goodness; nor can that announcement ever have appeared so glorious, so worthy of God, so useful to man, as in the light shed upon it, in the demonstration of its truth and perfection by the highest maturity of reason and philosophy which the world has yet attained.

Christian morality is the true, sound and only morality; the morality of philosophical utility: that which

has for its rule the production of the greatest hap-. piness of all, and for its result the highest and most enduring happiness of the individual. The prin

ciple of this morality, which is alike the morality of reason and revelation, of future blessedness and present usefulness, is laid deep in our very constitution. Its foundation is in the essentials of humanity, of intelligent existence. It is in the fact that our own highest happiness is linked with, and requires, the consciousness of promoting to the utmost the happiness of others. This is the law of happiness, which, if men degrade or violate, their pursuit of happiness is only vanity and vexation of spirit. That this can and does impart the purest and most enduring satisfaction is alike evidenced by the reflections of the philosopher, and the observations of experience. The very pleasures of sense have their greatest zest when social. Those of the heart are direct reflexes from others; beyond the boundaries of self must the imagination extend for its brightest regions; and intellectual truth delights by its discovery, as we behold its consequences flowing far and wide over human occupations and enjoyments. And the fact corresponds with these inferences from man's original constitution. It is no more in history than in nature, for an enlightened philanthropist to be a miserable man. To be good is to do good, and to do good is to receive good. Men are long in seeing this, because they regard externals so much more than what passes within; and because it is only as the mind becomes enlightened that it becomes susceptible of the best and purest kinds of enjoyment. A law resting only

on authority requires to be fenced with positive rewards and punishments. But as the requirement of the law is seen and understood to be really the pursuit of an interest, rewards and punishments resolve themselves into natural consequences. With the progress of reason, the notions of obligation, duty, obedience, become only the enlightened pursuit of happiness, according to those laws, material, mental, and moral, in conformity with which alone can happiness be realized. Not vainer was the alchemist's attempt, in ignorant defiance of the laws of nature, to transmute the baser metals into gold, than is theirs, who, in equal ignorance of the laws of mind, attempt to distil happiness from the baser passions and propensities of our nature. Happiness is not in wealth or splendor, power or faine. Its highest degree has probably been realized under the worst outward circumstances; and he who acts consistently for the greatest happiness of all, will be sure to find his own included.

The beauty of this moral principle is, that it applies, with equal facility, to all the varying states of human existence. It belongs as much to our own country as to that in which Christ taught; as much to our own age as to that in which Christ lived. No condition of barbarism is below it; no pinnacle of civilization overtops it. It is the eternal summary of social morality. A collection of the precepts of the New Testament would show how the first preachers of Christianity applied it to their circumstances. In those precepts we should find some things universal, others peculiar; some duties indicated, such as temperance, diligence &c., which arise out of our nature;

others, which grew out of the condition of political slavery, the distinction between Jews and Gentiles, the practice of surrounding idolaters, and other pe culiarities of their temporary social relations. What we have to do here is to follow them in applying the principle to our circumstances, as they applied it to theirs. Many people do gross injustice to Scripture morality, and pervert their own consciences, by looking only at the particular precepts; forgetting that on the same plan now, some of these precepts would become comparatively inapplicable, others would have been modified, and new ones been added in correspondence with new circumstances. It would be well if this were done more in detail than has yet been attempted. There is, perhaps, less difficulty in obtaining assent to the proposition that the production of the greatest amount of happiness is the object of moral effort, than in showing how it can be advanced. This requires reflection; and too many are unhappily addicted to think morality not the subject of reflection—they are too easily satisfied that they know their duty. No man can understand that, any more than any other subject, without attention and thought. To promote others' good, implies an enlightened and correct perception of others' good. What constitutes this? The reply describes our obligations under the Christian law and principle. I shall attempt a brief answer.

1st. It is good for man to have physical health and agreeable sensations; to have all the faculties of his body properly developed, brought to maturity, kept in harmonious action, and made the source of all

pleasurable sensation which does not involve in its consequences an overbalance of pain. Every gratuitous infliction of bodily pain is therefore immoral,— the blow of passion, the wanton lash on the slave, the unreforming and undeterring torture of the criminal. In crowded cities the condition of thousands is so wretched, that half the children born die under two years of age; for this there is no natural necessity, and its continuance marks public immorality. For every obstruction of pleasurable sensation, for every act which occasions painful sensation, there should be a valid reason in the subservience thereof to greater enjoyment, or it is immoral.

2nd. Knowledge is good for man. Its communication is a virtue, its prevention is a vice. When the Apostles wrote the Scriptures, they were moral; when the Romish hierarchy prevented the circulation of those Scriptures, they were immoral. Knowledge is virtue. A perfect knowledge of a man's own interest, in the purest and highest acceptation of the term, would determine his will to perfect goodness. The relative importance of different kinds of knowledge should be accurately estimated. This would accelerate that reformation of education which has commenced, and make it the vehicle of more useful instruction. Few things are more virtuous than multi plying the facilities of all dependant upon us, and of society so far as we can act upon it, for the attainment of knowledge. Benevolence may do this in many ways, comparatively easy; as, in the hands of Christ, five loaves fed famishing thousands.

3rd. The development and exercise of our intel