THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION. 



diabolical satisfaction in contemplating the 

 scenes of misery they have created : in short, 

 every one beholding in his neighbour the male 

 volence of a fiend armed with instruments of 

 destruction, and devising schemes to secure his 

 misery and ruin. Suppose the lower animals, 

 impelled by revenge, to rise up in indignation 

 against man, and to swell the horrors of this ge 

 neral anarchy suppose the superior orders of 

 intelligences to mingle in this scene of confusion, 

 to exert their high physical and intellectual 

 powers in adding fuel to these malevolent prin 

 ciples and operations, and in attempting to drag 

 other intelligences of a still higher order from 

 their seats of bliss suppose all these intelli 

 gences actuated by an implacable hatred of their 

 Creator, combined to deface the beauties of the 

 material creation, and then to engage in a war 

 of universal extermination throughout the whole 

 intelligent system in every region of the universe : 

 such a state of things, if it could exist in the 

 universe, would form a perfect contrast to moral 

 order; it would present a scene in which exist 

 ence could not be desirable to any intelligent 

 mind, and in which happiness could not possibly 

 be enjoyed by any rational being, but by Him 

 who is eternally happy independently of his 

 creatures. Moral order, then, is completely op 

 posed to such a state of things as has now been 

 represented ; it consists in every being holding 

 its proper station in the universe, acting accord 

 ing to the nature of that station, and using its 

 powers and faculties for the purposes for which 

 they were originally intended ; and the grand 

 object intended to be accomplished by this order, 

 is, the happiness of the whole, without which 

 misery would reign uncontrolled throughout all 

 the ranks of intelligent existence. 



This state of the moral world is most fre 

 quently designated in scripture by the term holi 

 ness. Of the ideas included under this term, 

 and several of its kindred epithets, very vague 

 and imperfect conceptions are frequently enter 

 tained. Its leading or generic idea, from what 

 has been now stated, will evidently appear to be, 

 a conformity to order, founded on the relations of 

 intelligent beings to each other ; or, in other 

 words, it consists in a complete conformity to 

 the law of God, (which is founded on those re 

 lations) including both the action and the prin 

 ciple from which it flows. In reference to cre 

 ated beings, holiness may, therefore, be defined 

 to be a conformity to the moral order of the uni 

 verse, and, in relation to the Creator, it is that 

 perfection of his nature, which leads him to pro 

 mote the moral order and happiness of intelligent 

 beings, and to counteract every thing which stands 

 in opposition to this object. 



That the leading ideas and definitions now 

 slated are correct, will, perhaps, more distinctly 

 appear in the course of the following discussions 

 and illustrations ; but should any one be disposed 



to call in question the statements now given in 

 reference to the primary idea of morality, hig 

 difference of opinion on this point will not mate* 

 rially affect the leading train of sentiment prose 

 cuted in the further elucidation of this subject. 



SECTION II. 



ON THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF MO 

 RALITY. 



The leading idea of morality or holiness, as 

 now stated, resolves itself into the two following 

 principles love to God the Creator, and love to 

 fellow intelligences. These are the two grand 

 springs on which the whole moral machine of 

 the universe depends. All the diversified ac 

 tions by which happiness is diffused among in 

 telligent agents, are only so many ramifications 

 of these two simple and sublime principles, 

 which connect all holy beings throughout the 

 wide empire of God, i one harmonious union. 

 This we are not left to infer merely from the na 

 ture of thinga, but have the authority of the 

 supreme Legislator, as our warrant for placing 

 these principles as the foundation of all moral 

 virtue among every class of moral agents. For 

 thus saith our Saviour, &quot; THOU SHALT LOVE 



THE LORD THY GOD WITH ALL THY HEART, 

 AND WITH ALL THY MIND, AND WITH ALL 



THY STRENGTH. This is the first and great 

 commandment. The second is like unto it : 



THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR AS THY 

 SELF. On these two principles hang all the law 

 and the prophets.&quot; 



These principles, now that they are commu- 

 nicaled, and sanctioned by divine authority, ap 

 pear quite accordant to the dictates of enlighten 

 ed reason, and calculated to promote the happi 

 ness of the intelligent creation ; yet we never 

 find that the moral systems of pagan philosophers, 

 in any country, were built on this foundation, or 

 that they assumed them as indispensable axioms 

 to guide them in their speculations on the sub 

 ject of ethics. 



In elucidating this topic, I shall endeavour to 

 show the reasonableness and the utility of these 

 principles of moral action, from a consideration 

 of the nature of God, and the relations in which 

 intelligent beings stand to him as the source of 

 their existence and felicity from the nature of 

 subordinate intelligences, and the relations in 

 which they stand to one another from the mi 

 sery which must inevitably follow, where such 

 principles are violated or reversed from the 

 happiness that would necessarily flow from then 

 full operation and, lastly, that they apply to the 

 circumstances of all created intelligences wher 

 ever existing, throughout the boundless universe 

 I have used the plural term principles, to ex- 



