INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



IT ought to be the leading resolve, the great 

 living and actuating desire of every man who has 

 arrived at the maturity of his powers, of every 

 man especially who has received the blessing of a 

 good education, to do something which shall tend 

 to the prosperity of his country and of his species 

 something beyond the mere routine of those duties 

 which belong to the ordinary life of every good 

 citizen, and which yet may be achieved without the 

 neglect of those duties, or without forsaking that 

 sphere in which Nature and Providence have cast 

 his lot; something, however small, which shall ad- 

 vance, or at least aim to advance, the refinement and 

 moral elevation of his race. This is the only mode 

 by which we can discharge, greatly and fully, that 

 debt of blessings which we receive from God, our 

 parents, and the community in which we live ; for 

 mere thankfulness of heart, unseconded by deeds of 

 beneficence and the virtuous exercise of an enlight- 

 ened intellect, pays nothing, but leaves unsatisfied 

 the highest claims of our nature, and that natural 

 longing after the enjoyment and the diffusion of 

 happiness which fills every healthful bosom. 



Such a desire, I do not hesitate to confess, has 

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