throughout the boundless expanse of creation. Should we ever be permitted, during the lapse of eternal duration, to wing our flight from world to world, in order to enlarge our views of God's unbounded empire, the exercise of this holy affection would secure to us a friendly reception and an affectionate intercourse among all the pure intelligences within the range of his moral administration: for, as this principle is founded on the nature of God, who is eternal and unchangeable, it must pervade the minds of the inhabitants of all worlds that have retained their primitive integrity. It is this divine affection which excites the rapturous flame that glows in the breasts of the angelic tribes, which enlivens the songs and the adorations of the cherubim and the seraphim, which inspires them with a noble ardour in executing the commands of their Creator, and which animates them in their flight from the ceestial regions to this obscure corner of creation, when they minister to the heirs of salvation. It was this noble principle which impelled the angel Gabriel in his rapid flight through the celestial spaces, when he descended to announce to Daniel the answer to his supplications, and to Zacharias and Mary the birth of the Saviour; which animated the angels who unbarred the prison doors to Peter, and gave assurance to Paul of the divine protection, while he was tossing on the tempestuous billows of the Adriatic sea; and which fanned the flame of devotion in the heavenly host, when they sung, in the plains of Bethlehem," Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, and good will towards men."

In fine, this sublime affection assimilates us to God, who is benevolence itself who supremely loves his own character, and who is incessantly displaying his benevolence, in all its infinitely diversified effects, throughout the intelligent universe. It assimilates us to Jesus the Son of the Highest, who is "the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person," and who is forever actuated with fervent zeal for the honour of God, and for the happiness of man. It constitutes the foundation of all felicity; it opens the gates to perpetual enjoyment; it secures its possessor of eternal happiness, as its natural and necessary result, and prepares him for mingling in the employments of the "innumerable company of angels and the spirits of just men made perfect:" for, all the transporting scenes of glory, and all the avenues to felicity, which will be opened to the immortal spirit, while ages, numerous as the sand, are rolling on, while mighty worlds are emerging out of nothing, and innumerable orders of beings are starting into existence. may be considered as so many infinitely diver

sified streams flowing from supreme affection to the blessed God, as the spring of every rapturous enjoyment. Possessed of this divine principle, we secure the most honourable connexions, become benefactors to the intelligent universe, participators of the enjoyments of seraphic natures, agents for carrying forward the plans of Infinite Benevolence, and "workers together with God," in accomplishing his eternal designs. Without it, we become nuisances in the kingdom of God, rebels against his government, pests to fellow intelligences, destitute of the noblest of all affections, deprived of substantial enjoyment in the present world, and exposed to misery, without interruption, in the world to come.

If such be the native effects of supreme love to God, and if this principle lie at the foundation of all genuine morality, how foolish and preposterous is it for Christian moralists to wander through the dark labyrinths of Greek and Roman literature, and the intricate mazes of modern sceptical philosophy, in search of any other principles of moral action? It is like groping for the light of the sun in the windings of a subterraneous grotto, and preferring the glimmering of a taper to the full blaze of the orb of day. It is, to forsake "the fountain of living waters, and to hew out to themselves broken and empty cisterns, that can hold no water."

In order to invigorate and expand this affection in the mind, it is requisite that we take a comprehensive view of all the manifestations of that Being towards whom it is directed, as exhibited in the history of his operations recorded in the volume of Inspiration; in the details of his moral government among the nations, both in ancient and in modern times, which may be collected from the writings of historians, voyagers, travellers, and missionaries; in the economy of the inferior tribes of animated beings; in the diversified scenery of nature around us in our terrestrial system; and in the sublime movements that are going forward, among distant worlds, in the firmament of his power: for, the more we know of the manifestations of the Creator, the more acquaintance shall we have of the Creator himself; and, in proportion as our knowledge of his character is enlarged, in a similar proportion will our love be ardent and expansive. Such extensive views and contemplations are indispensably requisite, in order to a full recognition of the divine injunction: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy strength, and with all thine understanding." This is the first and the great commandment.

CHAPTER II

SECOND PRINCIPLE OF MORAL ACTION-LOVE TO ALL SUBORDINATE INTELLIGENCES.

In the commencement of the last chapter, I had occasion to remark that, strictly speaking, the fundamental principle or affection which gives birth to all the ramifications of moral action, is but one, namely, Love. This noble affection may be considered as dividing itself into two great streams, one directing its course towards the Creator, as the Supreme source of all felicity, and the other expanding itself towards all the intellectual beings which he has formed.

Having, in the preceding pages, endeavoured to illustrate the foundation and the reasonableness of the principle of love to God, from a consideration of his perfections, character, and relations, and having described some of those kindred affections by which its existence in the minds of moral agents is manifested, I shall now endeavour to exhibit the foundation, and the reasonableness, of that modification of love which is directed towards created intelligences, and which may be termed the second principle of moral action—THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR AS THYSELF. Taking it for granted that this is the fundamental law prescribed by the Creator for regulating the conduct of intelligent beings towards each other -because the Supreme Lawgiver has proclaimed it as such. in the revelation which he has given us of his will-I shall endeavour to exhibit the reasonableness and the beauty of this amiable principle-from the nature of man, and the relations in which all the individuals of the human race stand to each other-from the happiness which would flow from the uniform operation of this principle-and from the misery which would inevitably ensue were it completely eradicated from the minds of moral agents.

Before proceeding to the illustration of these particulars, it may be proper to remark, that by “our neighbour" is to be understood men of every nation and of every clime, whether they avow themselves as our friends or our enemies, and whatever may be their language, their religion, their rank, or station. The inhabitants of New Zealand, of Patagonia, of New Holland, of the Ladrones, of Kamtschatka, or of Greenland,

are our neighbours, in the sense intended in the divine injunc tion above quoted, as well as those who reside in our own na tion and in our more immediate neighbourhood. For with all these, and other tribes of mankind, we may happen to have intercourses, either directly or indirectly, and towards them all we ought to exercise an affection analogous to that which every man exercises towards himself. This we are decisively taught by our Saviour in the parable of the good Samaritan, in which it is clearly shown, that under the designation of neighbour, we are to include even our bitterest enemies. His Apostles avowed the same sentiment, and taught, that in the bonds of Christian love, no distinction should exist between "Jews and Greeks, Barbarians, Scythians, bond or free." For they are all members of the great family of God, and recognized as children by the universal parent.

SECTION I.

The Natural Equality of Mankind considered as the basis of Love to our Neighbour.

I SHALL now exhibit a few considerations founded on the Natural Equality of Mankind. in order to evince the reasonableness and the necessity of the operation of the principle of love towards all our fellow-men.

In the first place, men of whatever rank, kindred, or tribe, are the offspring of the great Parent of the universe. They were all created by the same Almighty being, and to him they are indebted for all the members and functions of their animal frames, and for those powers, capacities, and endowments, which render them superior to the clods of the valley and to the beasts of the forest. They derived their origin too, as to their bodies, from the same physical principles and from the same earthly parent. "Of the dust of the ground" the body of the first man was formed; and from Adam, the primogenitor of the human race, have descended all the generations of men which now exist, or will hereafter exist till the close of time. This is equally true of the prince and of his subjects; of the monarch arrayed in purple, and seated on a throne, and of the beggar, who is clothed in rags, and embraces a dunghill; of the proud nobleman, who boasts of a long line of illustrious ancestors, and of the obscure peasant, whose progenitors were unnoticed and unknown. All derived their origin from the

dust, and all return to the dust again. This consideration, on which it is unnecessary to dwell, shows the reasonableness of union and affection among men, on the same grounds from which we conclude that brothers and sisters belonging to the same family ought to manifest a friendly affection for each

other.

Secondly, men of all nations and ranks are equal in respec to the mechanism of their bodies and the mental faculties with which they are endowed. Whether their bodies be rudely covered with the skins of beasts, or adorned with the splendours of royalty; whether they be exposed naked to the scorching heats and piercing colds, or arrayed in robes of silk and crimson-in their construction and symmetry they equally bear the impress of infinite wisdom and omnipotence. The body of the meanest peasant, who earns his scanty subsistence from day to day by the sweat of his brow, is equally admirable, in the motions of its fingers, the structure of its limbs, and the connexion and uses of its several functions, as the body of the mightiest and the proudest baron who looks down upon him with contempt. The organs of vision comprise as many coats and humours, muscular fibres, and lymphatic ducts, and form as delicate pictures upon the retina-the bones are equally numerous, and as accurately articulated-the muscles perform their functions with as great precision and facility-the lymphatic and absorbent vessels are as numerous and incessant in their operations--and the heart impels the blood through a thousand veins and arteries with as great a degree of rapidity and of purity in the corporeal frame of a poor African slave, who is daily smarting under the lash of an unfeeling planter, as in the body of the Emperor of China, who sways his sceptre over half the inhabitants of the globe. All the external trappings which fascinate the vulgar eye, and by which the various ranks of mankind are distinguished, are merely adventitious, and have no necessary connexion with the intrinsic dignity of man. They are part of the consequences of the depravity of our species: in most instances they are the results of vanity, folly, pride, and frivolity; and they constitute no essential distinction between man and man; for a few paltry guineas would suffice to deck the son of a peasant with all the ornaments of a peer.

Men are also nearly on a level in respect to the mental faculties which they possess. Every man, however low his station in the present world, is endowed with a spiritual principle which he received by "the inspiration of the Almighty," which is superior to all the mechanism and modifications of