104 



ON THE GENERAL DIFFUSION OF KNOWLEDGE. 



to be convinced of this melancholy truth. The 

 destruction of new-born infants, the burning of 

 aving women upon the dead bodies of their hus 

 bands, the drowning of aged parents, the 

 offering of human victims in sacrifice, the tor 

 turing to death of prisoners taken in battle, the 

 murder of infants and the obscene abominations 

 of the societies of the Arreoy in Otaheite and 

 other islands, and the dreadful effects of ambi 

 tion, treachery, and revenge, which so fre 

 quently accompany such practices, are only a 

 few specimens of the consequences of ignorance 

 combined with human depravity. It is likewise 

 to ignorance chiefly that the vices of the ancient 

 pagan world are to be attributed. To this cause 

 the apostle of the Gentiles ascribes the immora 

 lities of the heathen nations. &quot; The Gentiles, 1 

 says Paul, &quot; having the understanding darkened 

 through the ignorance that is in them, have 

 given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to 

 work all manner of uncleanness with greedi 

 ness.&quot;* And, in another part of his writings, 

 he declares, &quot; Because they did not like -to re 

 tain God in their knowledge, they were given 

 up to a reprobate mind,&quot; or a mind void of 

 judgment ; and the consequence was, &quot; they 

 were filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, 

 wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, envy, 

 muiJer, deceit, and malignity ;&quot; they were 

 &quot; backbiters, haters of God, proud, boasters, in 

 ventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 

 without understanding, without natural affection, 

 implacable, and unmerciful.&quot;! And, if we turn 

 our eyes to the scale of society around us, we 

 shall find that the same cause has produced the 

 same effects. Among what class do we find 

 sobriety, temperance, rectitude of conduct, ho 

 nesty, active beneficence, and abstinence from 

 the grosser vices most frequently to prevail ? Is 

 it among ignorant and grovelling minds ? Is it 

 not among the wise and intelligent, those who 

 have been properly instructed in their duty, and 

 in the principles of moral action? And, who 

 are those that are found most frequently encia^ed 

 in fighting, brawling, and debauchery, in the 

 commission of theft and other petty crimes, and 

 m rioting in low houses of dissipation? Are 

 they not, for the most part, the rude, the igno 

 rant, and untutored, those whose instruction 

 has been neglected by their parents or guardi 

 ans, or whose wayward tempers have led them 

 to turn a deaf ear to the reproofs of wisdom ? 

 From all the investigations which of lute have 

 been made into the state of immorality and 

 crime, it is found, that gross ignorance, and its 

 necessary concomitant, grovelling affections, are 

 the general characteristics of those who are en 

 gaged in criminal pursuits, and most deeply sunk 

 in vicious indulgence. Now, if it be a fact that 

 gnorance is one principal source of immorality 



Ephes. iv. 18, 19. 



t Rom. i. 28. a 1 . 



and crime, it appears a natural and necessary 

 inference, that the general diffusion of know* 

 ledge would tend to counteract its influence and 

 operations. For when we remove the cause of 

 any evil, we, of course, prevent the effects ; and 

 not only so, but at the same time bring into ope 

 ration all those virtues which knowledge has a 

 tendency to produce. 



2. Knowledge is requisite for ascertaining the 

 true principles of moral action, and the duties 

 we ought to perform. Numerous are the trea 

 tises which have been written, and various the 

 opinions which have been entertained, both in 

 ancient and modern times, respecting the foun 

 dation of virtue and the rules of human conduct, 

 And were we to investigate the different theo 

 ries which have been formed on this subject, to 

 weigh the arguments which have been brought 

 forward in support of each hypothesis, and to 

 balance the various conflicting opinions which 

 different philosophers have maintained, a con 

 siderable portion of human life would be wasted 

 before we arrived at any satisfactory conclu 

 sions. But if we take the system of revelation 

 for our guide in the science of morals, we shall 

 be enabled to arrive, by a short process, at the 

 most important and satisfactory results. We 

 skall find, that, after all the theories which have 

 been proposed, and the systems which have 

 been reared by ethical philosophers, the Su 

 preme Lawgiver has comprised the essence of 

 true morality under two commands, or funda 

 mental principles, &quot; Thou shalt love the Lord 

 thy God with all thy heart,&quot; and &quot; Thou shalt 

 love thy neighbour as thyself.&quot; On these two 

 commandments rests the whole duty of man. 



Now, although the leading ideas contained in 

 these commands are simple and obvious to every 

 one who considers them attentively, yet it re 

 quires certain habits of reflection and a conside 

 rable portion of knowledge, to be enabled to 

 trace these laws or principles to all their legi 

 timate consequences, and to follow them in all 

 their ramifications, and in their bearings on hu 

 man conduct, and on the actions of all moral 

 intelligences. For, it can easily be shown, that 

 these laws are so comprehensive as to reach 

 every possible moral action, to prevent every 

 moral evil, and to secure the happiness of every 

 moral agent, that all the duties inculcated in 

 the Bible, which we owe to God, to our fellow- 

 creatures, and to ourselves, are comprehended 

 in them, and are only so many ramifications of 

 these general and fundamental principles, that 

 they are equally adapted to men on earth and to 

 angels in heaven, that their control extends to 

 the inhabitants of all worlds, that they form 

 the basis of the order and happiness of the whole 

 intelligent system and that their authority and 

 influence will extend not only through all the 

 revolutions of time, but through ah the ages of 

 eternity. Here, then, we have a subject caicu. 



