ETHICS. 91 



contagion, contamination, or death. In regard to property, it re- 

 quires that we should neither interfere with its lawful acquisition, 

 nor take it from others when acquired, without just reason therefor. 

 Hence it forbids theft, robbery, extortion, fraud, circumvention, or 

 the withholding of just dues. It regard to reputation, justice for- 

 bids that we should injure it by slander, falsehood, prevarication, or 

 even by divulging the truth, except for their own good or that of 

 others. We should not disparage their capacity, skill, principles, or 

 motives, without just cause ; nor injure them in the affections or 

 esteem of our fellow-men*. As regards peace, or tranquillity, we 

 should not disturb, or alarm them, or excite their passions, without 

 just reason ; and as regards virtue, we should not only avoid impair- 

 ing it, where found ; but even justice requires that we should mani- 

 fest our displeasure at every vicious word, action, or example, that 

 we are compelled to witness. 



4. Religious Duties, are those which we owe to the Supreme 

 Being, the Great Author of our existence ; whose will we are im- 

 pelled to obey, both from a sense of obligation, and a desire of future 

 happiness, implanted in our minds through His beneficence. These 

 duties, we repeat, comprehend all others ; for to God we owe them 

 all : but we here include, more particularly, Adoration of the Deity 

 for his perfections ; Thanksgiving for his past goodness, both to our- 

 selves and to our fellow-men ; Prayer for its continuance ; Submis- 

 sion to his will ; and Obedience to his laws, whether recognised in 

 nature or in revelation. 



Among the Perfections of the Deity, which demand our highest 

 veneration, we may name his Eternity and Ubiquity, or existence 

 in all time and space ; his Omniscience, or infinite knowledge and 

 wisdom ; his Omnipotence, or infinite power ; his Excellence, or 

 infinite purity and glory ; his Benevolence, or unspeakable kindness ; 

 his Justice, which time may impeach, but eternity will vindicate ; 

 and his Mercy, in providing a way of salvation, by an eternal and 

 infinite sacrifice, by which he may be just, and yet a Saviour of sin- 

 ners, of every one who will accept the proffered grace. In reve- 

 rencing the Deity for these perfections, we are necessarily inspired 

 with those emotions which conduce to a virtuous life ; and hence, 

 such reverence becomes a part of our moral duty, aside from its 

 higher or religious bearing. 



No system of Morals can be complete, which does not lay its 

 foundation firmly on our unchangeable relation to the Deity, and our 

 obligation to worship him in spirit and in truth. By Prayer and 

 Thanksgiving, we draw near to Him ; and, in this communion, our 

 worldly passions are purified, or brought back to their healthy state. 

 Submission to His will, has a like effect upon the mind ; especially 

 in affliction; which often serves to wake the drowsy soul from 

 dreams of earthly bliss, and wing its flight for heaven. As we are 

 bound to obey the divine law, it is also our duty to study this law ; 

 both in the book of nature, and in that of Revelation. The more 

 we study the Bible, the more we shall realize that it is indeed the 

 inspired book of Eternal Wisdom. The peculiar duties which it 

 inculcates ; Repentance and Faith in the Saviour, and the obser- 



