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• nite in knowledge, power, and goodness; · who is also our Friend and Father.' *

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12. DR. PALEY defines virtue," doing

good to mankind, in obedience to the will of God, and for the sake of everlasting happiness.'

THE good of mankind is the subject, the will of God is the rule, and everlasting happiness the motive of human vir'tue.'

To be obliged is to be urged by a vio'lent motive, resulting from the command of another,'

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THE will of God is to be discovered either by his express declarations, or by the tendency of the action to promote or • diminish the general happiness.'†

13. MR. COOPER puts the question, Why ' do you act thus?' And he answers, Be

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* Hartley, part ii, ch. iii; Introduction, sect. vii.

+ Paley's Moral and Political Philosophy, book i, ch, vii ; book ii, ch. i-v.

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cause it is conducive to my happiness on 'the whole.'*

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14. MR. GISBORNE states, that the primary end of the being of every man is to promote and secure his own final happiness.'

THAT this object can be attained by no other method than by obedience to the will of his Maker.'

⚫ THAT promoting the welfare of his fellow-creatures, and their present happiness is a subordinate purpose, conducive to 'the principal end of existence.'

THAT every man has certain natural rights, and that he sins against God, who ' either deprives another of his rights unjustly, or who does not act in such a manner, with respect to the use, defence, and disposal of his rights, as he is of opinion will, upon the whole, fulfil most effectually the purposes of his being.' t

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* Cooper's Tracts, No. i, p. 86, &c.

† Gisborne's Principles of Moral Philosophy, ch, i-iv,

15. MR. GODWIN assumes JUSTICE as a general appellation for all moral duty.'

He defines justice to be that impartial 'treatment of every man in matters that • relate to his happiness, which is measured solely by a consideration of the pro'perties of the receiver, and the capacity of him that bestows.'*

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16. MANY writers place virtue in the 'imitation of God;' many in obedience to the will of God;' and many in 'utility' or expedience.' +

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* Godwin's Political Justice, book ii, ch. ii, p. 126, 127. †The reader will find remarks upon these different Theories, in Belsham's Elements of the Philosophy of the Mind, and of Moral Philosophy,' pp. 418-447.

THE

CHARACTER OF THE UPRIGHT.

PSALM xviii, 23.

I was also upright before him.

Ir is comfortable to reflect, that whatever is most valuable, is generally most easily understood. The truths, for instance, indissolubly connected with the right regulation of our conduct, are so clear that they can scarcely be mistaken. They are so very plain, that it is almost impossible for the simplest mind to plead ignorance of them. They are engraven on the tablets of our hearts: they are written in the Scriptures, and expressed there in the most perspicuous terms. Of these terms, none

is more perspicuous, and at the same time more significant than the term uprightness. Hence, the pious Psalmist here employs it, to mark his innocence and prevailing attachment to the cause of God and goodness, when he was unjustly persecuted by his foes. The Lord,' saith he, reward'ed me according to my righteousness : according to the cleanness of my hands ⚫ hath he recompensed me; for I have kept • the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God; for all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me.'-And this he adds, as the sum of his devout profession, I was also upright before ' him,'

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BUT here, it might be said, how could David dare to make this profession? Is it not well known, that he deviated widely from the path of uprightness? Did he not sin grossly both against God and man? How then could he speak of his rectitude? How could he triumph before God and say, - I was—upright before him.'

PERHAPS, David here alludes, not so

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