KNOWLEDGE LEADS TO MORAL ACTION. 



107 



ter, or oetween any two actions he has to per 

 form, ne is enabled tc bring before his mind 

 many more arguments, and much higher and 

 nobler arguments and motives, to determine the 

 choice he ought to make. When he is about to 

 perform any particular action, his mental eye is 

 enabled to pierce into the remote consequences 

 which may result from it. He can, in some 

 measure, trace its bearings not only on his 

 friends and neighbours, and the community to 

 which he belongs, but also on surrounding na 

 tions, on the world at large, on future genera 

 tions, and even on the scenes of a future eter 

 nity. For an action, whether good or bad, per 

 formed by an individual in a certain station in 

 society, may have a powerful moral influence on 

 tribes and nations far beyond the sphere in 

 which it was performed, and on millions who 

 may people the world in the future ages of time. 

 We know that actions, both of a virtuous and 

 vicious nature, performed several thousands of 

 years ago, and in distant places of the world, 

 have had an influence upon the men of the pre 

 sent generation, which will redound either to the 

 honour or the disgrace of the actors, &quot; in that 

 day when God shall judge the world in righte 

 ousness, and reward every man according to his 

 works.&quot; We also know, that there are certain 

 actions which to some minds may appear either 

 trivial or indifferent, and to other minds bene 

 ficial, which nevertheless involve a principle 

 which, if traced to its remoter consequences, 

 would lead to the destruction of the intelligent 

 creation. Now, it is the man of knowledge and 

 of moral perception alone, who can recognise 

 such actions and principles, and trace them to 

 all their natural and legitimate results. He 

 alone can apply, with judgment and accuracy, 

 the general laws of moral action to every parti 

 cular circumstance, connect the present with the 

 future, and clearly discern the mere semblance 

 of truth and moral rectitude from the reality. 



In short, the knowledge of divine revelation, 

 and a serious study of its doctrines and pre 

 cepts, must accompany every other species of 

 information, if we wish to behold mankind re 

 formed and moralized. It is in the sacred ora 

 cles alone, that the will of God, the natural cha 

 racter of man, the remedy of moral evil, the 

 rules of moral conduct, and the means of moral 

 improvement, are clearly and fully unfolded. 

 And the man who either rejects the revelations 

 of heaven, or refuses to study and investigate 

 the truths and moral requisitions they contain, 

 can nevei expect to rise to the sublime heights 

 of virtue, and to the moral dignity of his nature. 

 But, were the study of the scriptures uniformly 

 conjoined with the study of every other branch 

 of useful knowledge, we should, ere long, behold 

 a wonderful transformation upon the face of the 

 moral world. Pride, selfishness, malice, envy, 

 mbition, and revenge, would gradually be un 



dermined. The spirit of warfare and conten 

 tion would be subdued ; rioting, drunkenness, 

 and debauchery, would beheld in abhorrence by 

 all ranks ; kindness and affection would unite 

 the whole brotherhood of mankind ; peace, har 

 mony, and subordination would be displaved in 

 every department of social life ; &quot; our judjres 

 would be just, and our exactors righteous ; w&.r * 

 would be turned into peace to the ends of the 

 earth, and righteousness and praise spring forth 

 before all the nations.&quot; Were moral principle 

 thus diffused among the different classes of so 

 ciety, it could not fail of producing a beneficial 

 influence on the progress of the arts and sci 

 ences, and on every thing that might tend to me 

 liorate the condition of our fellow-creatures, and 

 to promote the general improvement of mankind. 

 For, in endeavouring to promote such objects, 

 we meet with as great a difficulty in the moral 

 as in the intellectual condition of mankind. The 

 principles of selfishness, pride, ambition, and 

 envy, and similar dispositions, create obstacles 

 in the way of scientific and philanthropic im 

 provements, tenfold greater than any which arise 

 from pecuniary resources or physical impedi 

 ments. But were such principles undermined, 

 and a spirit of good-will and affection pervading 

 the mass of society, the machinery of the moral 

 world would move onward with smoothness and 

 harmony : and mankind, acting in unison, and 

 every one cheerfully contributing to the good of 

 the whole, would accomplish objects, and bene 

 ficial transformations on the physical and moral 

 condition of society, far superior to any thing 

 that has hitherto been realized. 



To what has been now stated, with regard to 

 the influence of knowledge on moral conduct, it 

 may, perhaps, be objected, that many instances 

 occur of men of genius and learning indulging in 

 dissolute and immoral habits, and that the higher 

 classes of society, who have received a better 

 education than the lower, are nearly as immoral 

 in their conduct. In replying to such an objec 

 tion, we have to consider, in the first place, what 

 is the nature of the education such persons have 

 received. Most of the higher classes have re 

 ceived a grammar-shcool education, and, per 

 haps, attended a few sessions at an academy or an 

 university. There cannot, however, be reckoned 

 above one in ten who pursues his studies with 

 avidity, and enters into the spirit of the instruc 

 tions communicated at such seminaries ; as it is 

 well known to every one acquainted with the 

 general practice of such students in colleges and 

 academies, that a goodly number of them spend 

 their time as much in folly and dissipation, as in 

 serious study. But, although they had acquired 

 a competent acquaintance with the different 

 branches to which their attention was directed, 

 what is the amount of their acquisitions ? A 

 knowledge of the Greek and Latin Classics, 

 and of pagan mythology, in the acquisition of 



