quicken their perception of impropriety, and of the moral tact of good and evil; to deepen their recollections of sin and suffering; to fix their minds on the reasonable grounds of this action, and to induce them to reflect upon it; to give an increased tenderness to conscience, and to subdue the will; all important objects, which should, if possible, be accomplished.

508

CHAP. XX.

ON SOCIETY.

Ir has been pronounced by Infinite Wisdom, that it is not good that man should be alone; true it is, that, such is the constitution of his nature, he cannot live alone. He may indeed exist; he may vegetatc in seclusion; but for the full development of his mental manifestations, and physical powers; for the maturity of his reason, for the fruits of his intelligence, for the harvest of his affections, for the growth of his sentiments, for the enlargement of his views, and the correction of his opinions, he requires the aid of society.

In the retirement of the monastery, and in the seclusion of ascetic life, man may be selfish, ambitious, envious, malicious, enthusiastic, insincere, hypocritical, vain, idle, intemperate, irritable, and unjust; these also may be the attributes of his social character; but then, it is only in society, that he can become master of himself; that he can subdue his passions to principle, and govern them by religion; it is only in society, that he can command his anger, conquer selfishness, controul the risings of ambition, and

the temptations of avarice; it is only in society that he can subordinate his desire of revenge to the forgiveness of the Bible; that his hopes and fears can be duly exercised, and fixed on their proper objects; or that he can be stimulated to the due employment of talent, and the improvement of time; it is only as a social being that envy can be subdued and jealousy destroyed, and the principles of benevolence, esteem, love, pity, and admiration substituted in their room; it is only in society that his sincerity and love of truth can be tested, and that candour and ingenuousness can be developed; it is only thus that vanity can be successfully opposed, and modesty obtain its due weight and influence; it is only in society, that gratitude, and justice, and patience, meekness, and forbearance, can find the due field for their display, and the exercise necessary to preserve them from decay and disease: finally, it is only in society. that man can undergo that discipline which will alone fit him for usefulness on earth, and prepare him for the happiness of futurity.

But this is not all; for it is in the contentions, and collision, and conflicting elements of society that the character is to be moulded, not to solitary independent action, but in conformity with its relation to others in the social compact, or the more intimate bonds of affection. The social passions must be regulated, and duly exercised, lest they be influenced by self-interest or selfish gratification on the one hand, or lest they should lead us into concessions which will render the boundary

line between right and wrong less strongly marked, less perfectly defined, less prominently characterized. The narrow-mindedness of prejudice and bigotry, the ultra-liberalism of those who reck not for principle, and only seek to please the dominant many, are equally to be avoided. It is most true, that the means of man's happiness are to be developed in society, and that pleasure unparticipated is but half enjoyed; but it is equally true, that the social affections, though the source of some of our purest, greatest pleasures, are dangerous to our real happiness, unless they be properly regulated and directed to their just objects, and subdued within the bounds of reason and religion, and subordinated to the hopes and fears, and present enjoyments, and future anticipations of Christianity. Hence, the object of maternal solicitude will be two fold; first, to expand their powers and cherish their growth, in the earliest stages of infancy: and then, to correct every improper bias, and so to watch over and direct their influence and exercise, that they shall assume their purest form, and exist in their most perfect state of health and strength. At a more advanced period of life, she will watch with jealousy and suspicion over the attractions of social feeling; she will carefully guard its indiscriminate exercise, and protect her offspring from that fondness for mere society, which may lead them into conformity with the views, and maxims, and opinions of the world!

It has been already shewn, that from the feeble

ness and helplessness of solitary man, from his social wants and fears, from the necessity of preserving his possessions, and of resisting individual violence and oppression, have arisen political institutions, whose strength or feebleness, depend upon their conformity with the manners and habits of the people, and upon their capacity for securing to them the greatest measure of happiness and liberty, consistent with that individual surrender of selfish right, and individual feeling, emotion and passion, which is necessary to secure the ends of justice, and to preserve social order, and domestic peace. It has been remarked too, of how little avail, are the best digested political arrangements, unless they proceed upon the principle of moral and religious obligation; unless they involve a higher sanction than the wisdom of man, even in his collective capacity, can give; unless they assume the revealed will of the Most High as their basis; and unless they provide for the religious and moral necessity of the people.

Strange, aye passing strange, is it, that in a country, where these principles are so well understood, and so judiciously practised; that in Britain, that land of liberty, so free, that slavery cannot breathe her atmosphere, so characterized by her benevolent, and religious institutions, so ever ready to the calls of charity, so ever willing with pecuniary sacrifices in order to secure the happiness of the miserable, or the freedom of the oppressed; strange, that in Britain's empire, there should exist a nucleus of slavery; strange,