196 PURPOSE AND GENERAL CONDITION 



tion from them ; we must endeavor so to place ourselves, 

 and so to act, that the arrangements which Providence 

 has made impartially for all may be in our favor, and not 

 against us ; such are the only means by which we can 

 obtain good and avoid evil here below. And, in doing 

 this, it is especially necessary that care be taken to avoid 

 interfering with the like efforts of other men, beyond 

 what may have been agreed upon by the mass as neces- 

 sary for the general good. Such interferences, tending 

 in any way to injure the body, property, or peace of a 

 neighbor, or to the injury of society in general, tend very 

 much to reflect evil upon ourselves, through the re-action 

 which they produce in the feelings of our neighbor and 

 of society, and also the offence which they give to our 

 own conscientiousness and benevolence. On the other 

 hand, when we endeavor to promote the efforts of our 

 fellow-creatures to attain happiness, we produce a re- 

 action of the contrary kind, the tendency of which is to- 

 wards our own benefit. The one course of action tends 

 to the injury, the other to the benefit of ourselves and 

 others. By the one course the general design of the 

 Creator towards his creatures is thwarted; by the other 

 it is favored. And thus we can readily see the most sub 

 stantial grounds for regarding all moral emotions and do- 

 ings as Divine in their nature, and as a means of rising tt 

 and communing with God. Obedience is not selfishness, 

 which it would otherwise be — it is worship. The merest 

 barbarians have a glimmering sense of this philosophy, 

 and it continually shines out more and more clearly in 

 the public mind as a nation advances in intelligence 

 Nor are individuals alone concerned here. The same 

 rule applies as between one great body or class of men 

 and another, and also between nations. Thus, if one set 

 of men keep others in the condition of slaves — this being 

 a gross injustice to the subjected party, the mental mani- 

 festations of that party to the masters will be such as to 

 mar the comfort of their lives ; the minds of the masters 

 themselves will be degraded by the association with be- 

 ings so degraded ; and thus, with some immediate or ap- 

 parent benefit from keeping slaves, there will be in a far 

 greater degree an experience of evil. So also, if one 

 portion of a nation, engaged in a particular department 

 of industry, grasp at some advantages injurious to the 

 ©tner sections of the people, the first effect will be an in* 



