INCITEMENTS

то

MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL WELL-DOING.

THE desire of happiness, however varied the ways and means of its attainment, if not the first, is one of the most powerful and prominent impulses in every living soul. For this, as an ultimate end, do we live, and act, and hope, and for this end must be the ground-work of education, as it is of every human pursuit. Thence arises the question, In what does this happiness, so universally desired, consist? It surely cannot be a chimera; for each person early experiences some joy, as a foretaste of it, by which a desire for the like is aroused. But we too often mistake the nature of happiness, deeming it peculiar to some outward condition. Whereas, wisdom assures us, that the bliss we seek, is not dependent on matter, time or space, but is entirely distinct from all else but the soul itself; or, if it may be so expressed, it is a gradual accretion of spiritual joys, resulting from deeds done agreeably to nature; and the foretaste alluded to, is the joy attendant, as a concomitant test, upon some early deed so done. And this first joy, as a component part, forms a nucleus, around which, as succeeding joys gather, a permanent happiness expands within the soul, like the forming crystal, into beauty and harmony.

Such being the elements of happiness, the first desire for it becomes soon resolved into that of the well-doing which results in it; or, the rectitude which is most agreeable to nature.

What, then, is well-doing, or the rectitude which may result in the most enduring happiness, serve best our end, and be most agreeable to nature?

This question we are to consider and decide for the pupils of our charge, our younger brothers in the human family, not merely for this world, but for eternity. In aid of which considerations, we have three means of judgment:-The Bible,Experience, and the Human Constitution.

Of course, before an audience of Christians, I need not recount the familiar precepts of that divine legacy, the Bible, concerning well-doing. Upon this point, most happily, all understand alike, and agree, that this sacred volume makes well-doing to consist in the faithful discharge of three several duties to God, our fellows, and ourselves. Nor need I dwell less briefly upon the testimonies of Experience. The injunctions upon well-doing, by both ancient and modern philosophers, who had no other light than experience, are familiar to all, and you can easily recall their general import. And, if I could summon before you the shades of millions, who, successively have fallen self-immolated upon pyres of sensuality, crime, ambition or avarice, they would sigh forth a general assent to the expression of Junius, that "with a sound heart, one is better calculated for even worldly happiness, than if cursed with the abilities of a Mans"After long experience of the world," adds this writer, "I affirm, before God, I never knew a rogue who was not unhappy." Again, if the long train of now sainted philanthropists were congregated here to speak to us, they would all affirm, that the well-doing which to them proved most conducive to happiness, consisted in the suppression of passion, and the practice of the moral virtues; or, in the sacred summary, "to do justly, to love mercy, and walk

field."

humbly." I will now hasten to the testimony of a less common, though important witness in this question, the Constitution of our Being.

"Know thyself!" was of old, a favorite maxim in philosophy. It was inscribed upon the temple of Delphi, as a primary injunction to all who entered, and cannot fail to be eminently profitable to inquirers for the way of well-doing.

We have not time, however, to examine this last topic at length, nor would it be relevant to the subject. But, by enumerating, briefly, the evident characteristics of the impulses which influence us, as moral beings, we may probably form conjectures respecting the designed, relative rank, and natural uses of these impulses, and thereby derive aid in determining, not only what well-doing abstractly is, and the best education to effect it, but also what course will most naturally result in happiness; as the action or use for which any organization is purposely adapted, must not only be well-doing, but, likewise, most easy and permanently agreeable to the whole being.

There are, seemingly, in the constitution of man, two distinct kinds or sets of impulses, to which the being's self, the soul, is passive. One is the physical or animal, the other the moral or spiritual set; and these so distinct in their characteristics, as almost to warrant the assumption, as a fact, of their having two independent sources; or, of there really being, in our human constitution, two bodies,—a spiritual and a physical, —an inner, as well as an outer temple, animated and possessed by a common soul. But, be this as it may, the two kinds of impulses, are both inherent, and very different in nature. I will now attempt to define separately those of each set, as I conceive them to be.

It has seemed to me, that in the infancy of life, or, during the growth of the physical body, even till the twentieth year, the physical or animal impulses are chiefly predominant; and, as any one of them is exercised, it naturally becomes strengthened by that exercise, and soon tends, if unbalanced or

unchecked, toward an extreme or passion; which, as a thought,

"That makes each other thought its slave,"

then rules the soul, and sways its interests to the purposes of the body; or should no particular impulse gain a precedence of power, but all alike be strong, then collectively, if not early counteracted, they fix the soul's associations and affections to physical concerns.

Besides these, I have said we find another set or kind, which are called the moral or spiritual impulses. These I must take the liberty, with some risk of being tedious, to define more minutely than the first, as I wish them to be understood differently from usual descriptions of them.

The spiritual impulses are more or less active in every individual,—are evidently as natural as the first, and a very necessary check to the animal nature,—a salutary guide to the will, and a due balance to the whole mind.

The first of these, is the abstract desire of happiness, or that into which it is necessarily resolved, the practical desire for well-doing.

The second is consciousness, which moves the soul to perceive its spiritual self and thoughts, its being's end and aim; as before it was called, by sensation, to know the nature and necessities of the body.

The next, or third, is conscience, which, like the magic watchman, taste, in the animal nature, when subjects or objects, opinions or actions, are offered as a mental food, gives an instinctive impression of their right or wrong tendency.

The fourth is benevolence, or well-wishing. This impulse, modified by an humble sense of human dependence, ever prompts fellow-beings to a quick sympathy, as members of one family, and links humanity as a brother band.

It is at first, like all the affections, confined chiefly to a narrow circle. But, as Pope beautifully expresses it,