PART SECOND.

"Nulla vitæ pars vacare officio potest; in eoque et colendo sita vitæ est honestas omnis, et in negligendo turpitudo."-CICERO.

INTRODUCTION.

THE duties incumbent on man are so many and so various, that it becomes necessary to classify them.

A fourfold classification was long followed. At the head of each class of duties was placed one of the virtues which were called cardinal,―viz., Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude, and Justice. Prudence, or Wisdom, comprehended all those virtues which spring from a love of knowledge; and Justice, those which arise from a love of society. Fortitude, with its kindred virtues, was traced to a love of greatness; and Temperance, or Self-restraint, to a love of order and propriety. This classification is faulty in several respects, especially as it gives no proper place to those duties which are due directly towards the Supreme Being.1

The scheme of classification suggested by Kant (Metaphys. of Eth., 8vo. Edin. 1836, p. 250) proceeds upon the relation between the different living beings as to whom ethical obligement may be thought as subsisting, and stands thus :

This scheme may be characterized as exhaustive, but it is also redundant. The inferior animals, being destitute of reason, have no duties to discharge nor rights to acquire, and cannot well be regarded

1 It seems to be alluded to in the Apocryphal Book of Wisdom (ch. viii. ver. 7). "Sobrietatem enim et prudentiam docet (sapientia) et justitiam et virtutem (vel fortitudinem) quibus utilius nihil est in

vita hominibus." The epithet cardinal was first applied to these virtues by St. Ambrose, who seems to have understood it in the sense of primary or principal.RAYNANDUS, De Virt. et Vitiis, p. 95.

as bringing us directly under obligation to them. They are rather, like the inanimate parts of creation, to be regarded as subject to our will and subservient to our use. But even under this view it may be said,—1. That the inferior animals and inanimate things being useful to us and to others, wantonly to mutilate or destroy them may deprive ourselves of the means of discharging our duty. And 2. To inflict unnecessary pain upon a living creature tends to render us insensible to the sufferings of our fellow-men, and unfits us for discharging the offices of benevolence and sympathy.

As to those

beings superior to man, who are said to be God's ministering spirits, the relation between them and us is so little known or understood, that no duties can rise out of it or be grounded upon it. But there are three relations in which man may be contemplated, which give rise to duties,

I. In reference to himself as an individual.

II. In reference to his fellow-men as living in society. And
III. In reference to God as his Creator, Governor, and Judge.

What the duties arising from these relations are, an Apostle hath indicated in the text (Titus, ch. ii. v. 12) which declares that the grace of God teacheth that we should live soberly, righteously, and godly,-Sobriety denoting all those duties which we owe to ourselves; Righteousness, all those duties which are incumbent upon us towards our fellow-men; and Godliness, all those which are due directly to the Supreme Being. This classification is simple and comprehensive, and in following it out, it will be seen that it will easily admit of our incorporating with it anything that may be convenient or useful in other classifications.

2 Leibnitz tells us that he wrote a small treatise for the education of a prince, in which, among other things, he advised that, while young, he should not be permitted to torment or give pain to any living thing, lest he should contract a want of feeling for his fellow-men. And Mons. Jouffroy, in the classification of human duties, allots a separate head to the duties arising from the relation of man to the inferior animals, and to things inanimate. But these may very easily be included under the head of duties which man owes to himself, as charged with the preservation of his life, and the progress of his nature, and the happiness of his condition.

3 The same classification is to be found

in these words of Cicero (Tuscul. Quæst. lib. i. cap. 26): "Hæc (philosophia) nos primum ad illorum (deorum) cultum, deinde ad jus hominum, quod situm est in generis humani societate, tum ad modestiam magnitudinemque animi erudivit." Marcus Antoninus, too, has said (b. viii. 27), "We hold three relations in which to acquit ourselves: first, to the Divine Source of all things; second, to those among whom we live; and last, to ourselves." This classification is also to be found in the East. It is written in one of their sacred books, called The Tunkla Nameh, that "a Sikh should set his heart on God, on charity, and on purity."

With regard to the order in which the several divisions of human duty should be illustrated, as all duty and all obligation have ultimately a reference to God; and as the duties which we cwe to our neighbour and to ourselves derive an additional authority and sanction from the religious principles and feelings, there might seem to be a propriety in giving the foremost place to those duties which are due directly towards God. But, with a view to the professional instruction of the students attending the Class of Moral Philosophy, it has been found expedient to follow the order suggested by the words of the Apostle, and to treat

I. Of Individual Ethics; II. Of Social Ethics; and III. Of Natural Theology, or Theistic Ethics.

According to this plan, ample opportunity is afforded of illustrating Practical Morality and Natural Jurisprudence, which belong peculiarly to a Course of Lectures on Moral Philosophy; and which are not handled in any other Class of the curriculum through which professional students are appointed to pass. In so far as time will permit, Natural Theology, or that knowledge of God and our duty to Him which the light of nature teaches, will also be treated. And although it should not be fully overtaken, less inconvenience will follow from this than from imperfectly treating the other divisions of Ethics; because, while these do not recur in the prescribed course of study, Natural Theology may, as forming a preparation and introduction to Revealed Theology, the crown and climax of all study. The private student of Moral Philosophy can take up the several divisions of human duty in the order which appears to him to be most natural and proper.

BOOK I.

INDIVIDUAL ETHICS, OR DUTIES IN REFERENCE TO ONE'S SELF.

"Mens sana in corpore sano."-JUVENAL.

THE notion of duty owing by man to himself appears at first sight to involve a contradiction (Kant, Metaphys. of Eth., book i. Introd.); although nothing is more common than the saying, “I owe this to myself." When the party obliging and the party obliged are the same, the obliger having the power of dispensing with the obligation which he imposes, no duty would have place or be binding. But man being, by his nature, a law to himself—that is, a rational and responsible being-Conscience, the legislator, or promulgator of the law within him, in promulgating its own law, has always reference to a law higher than its own, and carries man out of and above himself. This brings us to the true conclusion, that all duty is owing to God, whose nature and will are the foundations of all obligation. And, therefore, when we speak of some duties as owing to God, of some as owing to our fellow-men, and of others as owing to ourselves, the meaning is, not that in some of these duties we are under obligation to God, in others to our fellow-men, and in others to ourselves, but that, while all duty is founded on the nature and will of God, some duties are discharged with immediate reference to Him, others with immediate reference to our fellow-creatures, and others with reference to ourselves, as rational and responsible beings, charged with the conservation and improvement of our nature.

In reference to himself, the whole duty of man may be said to consist in promoting the improvement and perfection of his nature and condition, and in thus attaining to happiness. Now, the improvement of man's nature, and the advancement of man's happiness, will lead to the Duties,-I. Of self-conservation; II. Of Selfculture; and III. Of Self-control or Self-government.

CHAPTER 1.

OF SELF-CONSERVATION.

"MAN," says Mons. de Bonald, " is an intelligence served by organs." In other words, he consists of a soul and a body. Now, Kant has said, "that a duty owed by man to his body (as the subject obliging) is incogitable." But the mind, as the subject obliging, can make it our duty to take care of the body. "The body," says Mons. Jouffroy (On the Distinction between Psychology and Physiology, p. 19), “is the instrument without which we could not act on external objects, and without which most of our faculties could not be developed. We could not advance towards the end of our being, if the body be weak or diseased. It is by the instrumentality of the body that we obtain those sensations by which the external world is made known to us-so that the good of the Ego is intimately connected with the sound and healthy state of the body." The duties, therefore, incumbent upon man in reference to himself have more immediate respect, in some cases, to the body, in others to the mind, or partly to both. Let us consider them in order. Now, the duties of Self-conservation have reference primarily and directly to the body, but indirectly also to the mind; and have for their end the continuance and progress of man as a living being. And, in reference to his existence as a living being, man is bound

1. To preserve his life, and to avoid everything tending towards death.

2. To promote his health, and to avoid sickness and disease.

3. To provide for his wealth or outward well-being, and to avoid poverty and want.

SECTION I.-Man is bound to Preserve his Life, and to avoid everything tending towards Death.

This duty may be violated, partially by Self-mutilation, or totally by Self-murder.

1. With regard to Self-mutilation, it has been thought warrantable when the purity and progress of the soul may be promoted by it; and we read of some who have made themselves eunuchs for the