general interests of other communities? It is because all mankind feel that such minds are acting wrong. They are not acting to fulfil the purposes for which they are formed, the promotion of general, instead of selfish happiness. Why is the martyr to his country's rights applauded and admired ? Why has the self-sacrificing Howard been followed with the song of triumphant admiration? Why, even among Pagans, were such honours awarded to the sacrifice of Regulus, when he accepted tortures, rather than a deliverance bought by injury to his country, and to Quintius Curtius, when he leaped into the yawning earth, to save his native land? It is because all mankind know when a mind is acting right, and is fulfilling the great object for which it is formed; and because we are made to find delight in the practice, and in the exhibition of this rectitude.

This is the law which is written upon the mind, and is thus recognized by the Apostle. "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, (i. e. the Revelation of God,) do by nature the things contained in the law, these having not the law, are a law unto themselves; which show the work of the law, written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts also, the mean while, accusing or else excusing one another." And thus he shows, that without revelation, the law of rectitude is inscribed on every heart; while another implanted principle, teaches that there is a God who formed and governs all things, who ordained this law, whose "Godhead" can be discerned by the light of nature, and whose "eternal power" to punish, is to be feared. And thus the Apostle justly reasons, that the "heathen are without excuse."

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE MIND OF MAN DISORDERED.

In the preceding article has been shown, the mode by which mind must act, to secure the object of its formation; and from this we can learn, what it is that constitutes a well ordered mind.

A mind is in order, and acting right, when it has formed fixed habits of acting to secure the greatest amount of general happines, both for itself and for others. A mind is disordered, and acting wrong, when it has not formed these habits, but is acting from the impulses of desire in securing immediate gratification, at the expense of greater good, and of selfishness, in securing personal enjoyment, irrespective of the general happiness.

It will be the object of what follows, to exhibit evidence, that the mind of man is a disordered one, in both these respects.

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Experience is constant and invariable on this subject, in regard to all the human race. At the first developement of character, in the infant mind, we find that it is governed by mere impulses of desire, and that it is long before any habits are formed, of yielding immediate gratification, for the pose of avoiding future evil, or of securing greater good. In like manner we find, what, if time had been given for forming such a characteristic, might be truly termed a habit of selfishness; but what is now more correctly denominated a selfish impulse, or propensity, so that when it is discovered that a certain gratification, if secured, will inflict some evil, or will prevent the attainment of greater good by other minds, the selfish good is preferred, even with the full knowledge of the

involved sacrifice. For there can be no reason assigned, why a mind that is formed so that it can be made happy, by sympathy in the happiness of others, by the consciousness of being the cause of that happiness, and by the practice of virtue, should ever sacrifice the greater good of another mind, to its own lesser enjoyment, any more than why a mind that is formed to desire the greatest amount of happiness, should sacrifice its own greater good, to obtain a lesser immediate gratification.

It violates the principles of our nature, just as much, to give up the greater good of another mind, to secure a lesser good for ourselves, as it does to give up a greater personal gratification to gain a lesser present good. Indeed, the conscious experience of every mind, would lead to the conclusion, that it is a greater infringement upon the constitution of mind, to trifle with the happiness of others, than to sacrifice Men always feel the reproofs of conscience more keenly, when from a selfish motive, they have destroyed the happiness of others, than when they have wantonly thrown away their own.

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The mournful conviction of some disordered operation of mind, presses upon the consciousness of every intelligent being, even at the very commencement of life. Where is the mother who has not heard the distressed confession, even from the weeping infant, that he was happier in doing right than in doing wrong, that he wished to do well, and yet that he was constantly doing evil. Where is the parent that has not witnessed, as one little being after another, passed on from infancy to youth, and from youth to manhood, the perpetual warfare of evil propensities, with better purposes and oft broken resolutions. And where is the conscious spirit, that cannot look back on its whole course of existence, as one continued exhibition of a conflict, that gives unvarying evidence of this truth.

And this is the testimony of mankind, through every period

of the world, in regard to their own individual consciousness. If we go back, even as far as to the heathen sages of antiquity, we gain the same acknowledgment. Thus we find, Pythagorus calls it "the fatal companion, the noxious strife, that lurks within us, and which was born along with us." Sopator terms it "the sin, that is born with mankind." Plato denominates it "natural wickedness," and Aristotle, "the natural repugnance of man's temper to reason." Cicero, declares that “men are brought into life by nature, as a step mother, with a naked, frail, and infirm body, and with a soul prone to divers lusts." Seneca observes, "we are born in such a condition, that we are not subject to fewer disorders of the mind, than of the body; all vices are in men, though they do not break out in every one." Propertius says, that " every body has a vice to which he is inclined by nature." Juvenal asserts, that "nature unchangeably fixed, runs back to wickedness." Horace declares, that "no man is free from vices, and he is the best man who is oppressed with the least." He adds, that "mankind rush into wickedness and always desire what is forbidden;" that "youth has the softness of wax to receive vicious impressions, and the hardness of rock to resist virtuous admonitions," that "we are mad enough to attack. Heaven itself, and our repeated crimes, do not suffer the God of Heaven, to lay aside his wrathful thunderbolts."

This testimony of individual experience, is verified by the general history of mankind. All the laws and institutions of society, seem founded on the principle, that mankind are a selfish and wicked race, and that every possible restraint is needed, to prevent the over-breaking tide of evil and crime. When we read the history of communities and of nations, it is one continued record of selfishness, avarice, injustice, revenge, and cruelty. Individuals seem equally plotting against the happiness of individuals, and rejoicing to work evils on society. Communities rise against communities, and nations dash against nations. Tyrants fill their dominions with sor

row, misery, and death; bloody heroes, followed by infuriate bands, spread havoc, ruin, and dismay through all their course, while superstition binds in chains, racks with tortures, and sacrifices its millions of victims. An inhabitant of another world, in reading the simple facts in the history of our race, if called to describe our mental character, would portray the mind of man, as one formed to be pained at the sight of happiness, and rejoicing in misery, sorrow, and crime.

In tracing along the history of mankind, there is no period which we can select, when mankind have not seemed as busy in destroying their own, and the happiness of others, as the lower animals are, in seeking their appropriate enjoyments. At one time we behold Xerxes, pouring forth all Asia upon Europe, where three million beings were brought, to be slaughtered by the Greeks. At another time, the Greeks, headed by Alexander, return upon Asia, and spread over most of the known world, pillaging, burning, and slaughtering.Then we behold Alaric, at the head of barbarous hordes, desolating all the Roman empire, and destroying the monuments of taste, science, and the arts. Then we see Tamerlane, rushing forth, overrunning Persia, India, and other parts of Asia, carrying carnage, and the most desolating cruelty in his course, so that it is recorded that he would cause thousands of his prisoners to be pounded in mortars with bricks, to form into walls.

From Europe we behold six millions of Crusaders, rush forth upon the plains of Asia, with rapine, and famine, and outrage, attending their course. Then comes forth from Eastern Asia, the myrmidons of Jengis Khan, ravaging fifteen million of square miles, beheading 100,000 prisoners at one time, shaking the whole earth with terror, and exterminating fourteen million of their fellow men. Then from the northern forests are seen swarming forth, the Goths and Vandals, sweeping over Europe and Asia, and bearing away every vestige of arts, civilization, comfort, and peace. At another