Page

Former mistakes on this subject adverted to,

234

The chief abuses of almsgiving stated and illustrated,

235

Education, especially moral and religious education, the most beneficial of

all the modes of almsgiving,.

238

Furnishing the poor with employment is another unexceptionable way of

benefiting them,

239

Alms given in considerable sums, to meritorious persons and families, may,

under certain circumstances, be highly useful,

Alms dispensed through the intervention of hospitals, almshouses, infirma-

ries. and asylums, considered,

240

Alms dispensed by charitable societies, considered,

Several popular objections to charitable societies, stated,

241

241

Five special rules given to direct charitable societies and individuals in dis-

pensing alms, . . .

242

The administration of alms by a system of poor-laws, examined,

Remarkable statements drawn from the late "Reports" of the English com-

248

missioners on the poor-laws, .

248

The new act of Parliament on this subject adverted to,

253

CHAPTER VIII. THE DUTIES OF FRiendship.

The question, whether mankind are accustomed to associate by the influ-

ence of a natural principle, or by reason of the mutual aid which they

can in this way derive from each other, answered,

The importance of using caution in the choice of friends,

The chief duties of friendship enumerated and illustrated,

The chief abuses and violations to which friendship is liable,

259

The duties imposed by the discontinuance of friendship, .

261

CHAPTER IX. THE RELATION OF BENEFACTOR AND BENEFICIARY,

AND ITS DUTIES.

The nature of this relation stated, and the chief duties of the respective

parties illustrated,

263

Two ways in which this relation may be abused by a benefactor,

264

CHAPTER X. THE DUTIES OF HOSPITALITY.

The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament insist very much on these

duties,

264

The natural fruits of hospitality are, the cultivation of social intercourse,

mutual kindness and good feeling, and the removal of unjust prejudices, 265

Two manifest abuses of hospitality to be guarded against,

265

CHAPTER XI. THE DUTIES OF GOOD NEIGHBOURHOOD.

The chief duties of good neighbourhood are, to render mutual aid, and to

cultivate friendly intercourse, harmony, and good feeling among those,

whose lot Providence has cast near each other,

267

The chief duties enjoined by law among neighbours, stated,

268

The chief causes, occasions, and circumstances, which are accustomed to

disturb and injure neighbourhoods, reviewed,

269

PART IV.

PERSONAL DUTIES AND OBLIGATIONS, OR THE DUTIES OF

MEN TO THEMSELVES.

CHAPTER I. THE DUTY OF PRESERVING LIFE AND HEALTH, INCLUD

ING A DISCUSSION OF SUICIDE.

Christianity looks upon our life and health, and all our other endowments, as

so many talents intrusted to our administration, for the use of which we

are responsible,

-

The duty of preserving life and health means much more than abstaining

from positive and known injury to either; it includes the use of the

means of preserving them,

Suicide examined and shown to be opposed by philosophy, as well as by re-

ligion both natural and revealed,

CHAPTER II. IMPROVEMENT OF THE CORPOREAL FACULTIES.

Page

271

272

. 272

A good constitution of body, and a high improvement of the corporeal pow-

ers, are the result of a judicious and persevering physical education, . 278

The aid of the Roman satirist, Juvenal, used, in describing the perfection of

the physical, intellectual, and moral man,

278

CHAPTER III. CULTIVATION OF THE POWERS OF THE MIND.

Mental cultivation and excellence of whatever kind are, with slight qualifi-

cations, the fruit of the personal sacrifices, efforts, and energy of the indi-

vidual,

The various faculties of our nature should be cultivated in due proportion,

harmony, and consistency with each other, .

The ancient opinion, that scientific knowledge is attainable but by a few,

must, with the present facilities of printing, be received with much quali-

fication,

. 279

280

CHAPTER IV. CULTIVATION OF A STRONG, DELICATE, AND PERMA-

NENT SENSE OF DUTY.

The being governed by a sense of duty comprises a suitable regard to every

consideration, principle, sentiment, opinion, relation, fact, and circum-

stance, from which any duty of any kind can spring,

CHAPTER V. THE DUTY OF CULTIVATING PERSONAL RELIGION AND

THE PERSONAL VIRTUES.

. 281

289

The sentiments of Lord Chatham and of the late Sir Humphrey Davy on

the importance of cultivating personal religion, cited,

291

The importance of cultivating the personal virtues and the best means of

doing so, illustrated by the examples of President Edwards and Dr.

Franklin,

294

The cultivation of personal religion and of the personal virtues contributes

essentially to health, length of days, and success in the business of life,

300

CHAPTER VI. THE DUTY OF CULTIVATING A DELICATE SENSE OF

HONOR.

Page

True honor analyzed by the aid of Cicero, and shown to consist of the finest

elements of feeling, of sentiment, and of action,

False honor is the misunderstanding, the abuse, and the perversion of true

honor,

CHAPTER VII. THE DUTY OF GUARDING OURSELVES AGAINST PRE-

JUDICES, ANTIPATHIES, &c.

The effect of prejudice, prepossession, bias, &c., is, to disturb the reason,

to cloud and darken the understanding, and to pervert the conscience,

In their more intense degrees, they are unquestionably criminal, and they

all imply something wrong in our habits, education, ways of thinking, or

usual state of feeling,

History of prejudice illustrated by reference to personal experience,

302

. 303

304

305

308

PART V.

A REVIEW OF THE CHIEF PROFESSIONS AND EMPLOYMENTS

OF LIFE, SO FAR AS REGARDS THE MORAL DUTIES WHICH

THEY INVOLVE; THEIR MORAL PRINCIPLES, PRACTICES,

INFLUENCES, AND TENDENCIES.

To the various professions and employments of life, a well-ascertained rank

in general estimation is attached, which has been much the same at all

times, and in all countries.

Illustration of this position drawn from the writings of Cicero,

CHAPTER I. A REVIEW OF THE PROFESSION OF THE LAW, INCLUD-

ING A MORAL ESTIMATE OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION, SO FAR AS IT

NATURALLY COMES UNDER THE VIEW OF THE MORAL PHILOSOPHER.

All the best authorities insist, that good morals are essentially requisite to

the attainment of the highest order of excellence and success in the study

and practice of the law,

309

309

311

A striking difference between American and English lawyers, noticed,

Anticipations of Mr. Justice Story in respect to American lawyers,

Duties of the lawyer towards his client,

This position sustained by authority and argument, .

Professional honor and integrity will forbid the lawyer to engage in a busi-

ness of notorious wrong; but here a nice distinction arises,

Two very manifest principles laid down by Sir James Mackintosh,

The acquirements most essential to the success of the lawyer,

The main tendency of the legal profession is, to elevate the moral character,

but there are incidental tendencies, which, unless guarded against, will

degrade the personal and professional character of the lawyer,

311

313

313

315

. 315

The judicial character is naturally the perfection of the character formed

under the influence of the study and practice of the law,

. 321

The judicial qualities requisite to the successful administration of justice,

enumerated,

There are various occasions in the life of a judge, of which he ought to avail

himself to advance and strengthen the cause of good morals,

Page

321

322

The general unsullied purity of the English and American Bench, noticed, 322

CHAPTER II. THE MORAL INFLUENCE AND TENDENCY OF THE STUDY

AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY, WITH THE DUTIES OF A

PHYSICIAN TO HIS PATIENTS, TO THE FAMILIES INTO WHICH HE IS AD-

MITTED, TO OTHER PHYSICIANS, AND TO SOCIETY IN GENERAL.

Result of Dr. Rush's inquiry into the lives of physicians,

323

Defects imputed to physicians, and ascribed to the study and practice of

medicine,

324

The inquiry, whether the study and practice of medicine tend to originate

and nourish infidel feelings and sentiments, answered, .

325

Sir Henry Halford quoted respecting the duty of a physician to make his
patient acquainted with the probable issue of a malady manifesting mor-
tal symptoms,

.

The confidential nature of the relation, in which the physician stands to his
patient, and to the families into which he is admitted, illustrated,
Circumstances in the medical profession which render competition among
physicians more bitter, than among the members of the other professions,
adverted to,

The complaints made against physicians, enumerated,
The temperance reformation much indebted to physicians,

CHAPTER III. MORAL INFLUENCE OF THE CLERGY ON SOCIETY, IN-
CLUDING AN ESTIMATE OF THE CLERICAL CHARACTER.

The morals of the clergy are the natural exemplification of the religion
which they preach, .

"By their fruits we are to know" all men, and, when subjected to this rea-
sonable test, the Christian clergy, as a body of men, will not be found
wanting,

But more particularly, - Christianity was planted and built up chiefly by

the labors, dangers, sufferings, and privations of the clergy, in every

country which now enjoys its blessings,

327

328

329

329

330

331

. 331

332

335

The clergy have taken the lead in establishing institutions of learning, and
other institutions which have meliorated the condition of mankind,

The general influence of the parochial clergy on manners, morals, and

whatever else is ranked under the comprehensive term civilization, has

been most effective and salutary,

337

This position confirmed by a striking quotation from Dr. Arnold, and by the

testimony of the "Edinburgh Review,"

337

Two defects generally imputed to the clergy, examined and answered,

CHAPTER IV. MORAL INFLUENCE AND DUTIES OF MEN OF LETTERS.

Men of letters form a class considerable in point of numbers, and still more

so in respect to the influence which they exercise on society,

d

339

340

Pago

Men of letters are chiefly responsible for the use which is made of the press,
the most mighty instrument for good or for evil, ever known,

The distinction between the freedom of the press and its licentiousness,

stated and illustrated, . .

340

341

The press is abused, when it is employed to circulate slander, misrepresen-

tation, calumny, and falsehood, in any of its forms, modifications, or de-

grees,

343

Men of letters criminally abuse the press, when they make their writings

the vehicle of immoral sentiments, or employ them to rouse and inflame

the licentious passions,

344

The press is still more criminally abused, when it is turned to the disparage-

ment, misrepresentation, and vilification of the Christian religion,

Remarks on the influence of Gibbon's "History of the Decline and Fall of

the Roman Empire,"

344

346

.

Duty and interest of men of letters to use their knowledge for the good of

society, .

346

It is their duty to supply the public with the materials of reading, of an ap-
propriate kind and in the greatest abundance,

CHAPTER V. MORAL TENDENCY AND INFLUENCE OF AGRICULTURE AS

A PROFESSION.

347

348

Traits of character which the pursuit of agriculture is fitted to cherish, no-

ticed,

350

Judge Harper quoted respecting a difference between the agricultural char-

acter of the Northern and Southern United States,

350

CHAPTER VI. MORAL TENDENCY AND INFLUENCE OF COMMERCE AND

MERCHANDISE AS A PROFESSION.

The reputation of our country for probity and honor depends on our mer-

chants, more than on any other class of our citizens,

Merchants are the peacemakers of the world, for they show it to be the inter-

est and happiness of all to remain at peace; they bring distant nations

together, and teach them to know and aid each other,

351

352

The risks and perils incident to the pursuit of commerce, described,

Estimation in which American merchants are held in Europe,

352

353

The moral duties imposed on a bankrupt merchant, have respect to the ap-

proach of his bankruptcy, and again, to the state of things when bank-

ruptcy has actually overtaken him,

354

The preference given to endorsers and other preferred creditors in cases of

bankruptcy, animadverted on,

355

The education requisite for a successful merchant,

358

Merchants have generally been held in high estimation,

. 360

CHAPTER VII. MORAL TENDENCY AND INFLUENCE OF MANUFACTUR-

ING ESTABLISHMENTS.

Notice of the contents of a Report made to the Legislature of Massachu-
setts, in 1836, which shows the state of feeling and opinion in that State, 360