implies a victory, which is not to be won without an adversary, and courage to make resistance.

Since the Creator ordained that man should struggle, has he also decreed his fall?

Reason and Morality proclaim the contrary.
What must be done to render mankind hap-

py?

They must be made morally good, to the end that they may love moral actions; in other words, the activity of the faculties peculiar to man must be increased, and the energy of those held in common with animals diminished.

By what title are good actions distinguished, and what is he called who practises them?

Good actions are entitled Virtues, and he who practises the virtues is styled Virtuous. Whence were these words derived, and what was their original meaning?

They came from the Latin; and signified primarily, force or strength. This, indeed, may be physical, or it may be moral; but among the Romans, as among other warlike nations, bodily strength combined with courage was considered a most valuable quality.

And since moral actions require an internal struggle, to render human nature, properly so called, triumphant, the title, Virtue, was also applied here.

Is there any difference between the natural laws and the natural virtues?

When the words, Law and Virtue, are used synonymously, the laws and virtues of nature are identical. But if Law be employed to signify the regularity with which forces act, and phenomena appear, and Virtue to denote the just employment of the faculties, a distinction between the two becomes necessary.

How may virtuous actions be divided? According as the Divine laws, or the laws imposed by Men, are concerned.

How may the Civil laws-laws imposed by men, be subdivided?

1st, According to the nature of the legislative power, as Despotic, Arbitrary, or Conventional laws.

2d, According to the situations or circumstances for which they are contrived, as the Civil code of laws, the Penal code, Commercial code, &c.

How may Divine laws-laws institued by

God, be subdivided?

Into Natural and Revealed.

These two or

ders, however, must of necessity harmonize. To suppose that they differ, would be to suppose God in contradiction with himself.

What then is the touchstone by which the excellence of a law, styled Revealed, or any interpretation of it, may be tried?

Laws styled Revealed and interpretations of them, are perfect in proportion as they harmonize with the laws of the Creator, or possess the characteristics of a Natural law.

What are the objects in relation to which Virtues and Vices are distinguished?

1st, The Creator.

2d, The beings of creation.

3d, The agent, or being who acts.

4th, His family.

5th, His nation.

6th, Mankind at large.

How are laws denominated when considered

in regard to their Divine origin?·

They are called Religious.

And how are laws entitled when the necessity

of man's submitting to, and practising them, is the view taken?

They are then named Moral.

May the Religious and Moral laws be separately considered?

Religious and Moral laws are intimately connected, yet not so intimately as to preclude the possibility or the propriety of considering each class under a separate head.

CHAPTER I.

OF MORALITY.

In what does a Moral doctrine consist? It is a doctrine of rights and of duties, and of those things which are, and of those things which are not, to be done.

What is to be understood by moral philosophy?

The term moral is sometimes used in opposition to physical, also styled natural and the moral philosophy means the doctrine of the

Mind; but the same term also signifies the higher powers of Man in opposition to his brute nature, and in that sense, moral philosophy is the same as Ethics, the doctrine of rights and of duties, or of the moral precepts which admit of proof by reasoning, and which bear the character of conviction.

As to rights-has man any right over God?
He has none.

What duties, has man towards his Maker?
To obey His will in all things.

What rights has man over the beings of creation generally?

Man's superior endowment in faculties elevates him far above all else that lives, and he has a natural title to profit by his situation. Such a law is universal; it extends throughout the whole chain of created things.

Can we then with propriety say that all was made solely for man?

It is ill-directed pride alone that has promoted the conception or the utterance of such an assertion. Every creature advantages itself expense of others; and if man turn the whole to his profit, he only follows the com

at the