Ch. ii. of moral Rtdr (lint. 277 



it be the only path which leads to permanent hap- 

 piness, has always beenrepresented by the heathen 

 moralists as of difficult ascent. 



To the Christian I would say that the Scriptures 

 most clearly and precisely point it out to us as our 

 duty, to restrain our passions within the bounds 

 of reason; and it is a palpable disobedience of this 

 law to indulgre our desires in such a manner as 

 reason tells us will unavoidably end in misery. 

 The Christian cannot consider the difficulty of 

 moral restraint as any argument against its being 

 his duty ; since, in almost every page of the sacred 

 writings, man is described as encompassed on all 

 sides by temptations which it is extremely diffi- 

 cult to resist; and though no duties are enjoined, 

 which do not contribute to his happiness on earth 

 as well as in a future state, yet an undeviating 

 obedience is never represented as an easy task. 



There is in general so strong a tendency to love 

 in early youth, that it is extremely difficult at this 

 period to distinguish a genuine from a transient 

 passion. If the earlier years of life were passed 

 by both sexes in moral restraint, from the greater 

 facility that this would give to the meeting of kin- 

 dred dispositions, it might even admit of a doubt, 

 whether more happy marriages would not take 

 place, and consequently more pleasure from the 

 passion of love, than in a state such as that of 

 America, the circumstances of which allow of a 

 very early union of the sexes. But if we compare 

 the intercourse of the sexes in such a society as I 

 have been supposing, with that which now exists 



