RELATION OF VIRTUE TO HAPPINESS. QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF GOOD -MORAL AND NATURAL GOOD. — REGARD FOR OUR OWN GOOD. — CON- WITH BENEVOLENCE. ENJOYMENT FROM APPROBATION.— THE SPHERE OF MORAL SCIENCE. RIGHT AND WRONG.-DEFINITION OF TERMS. PROVINCE OF CONSCIENCE.-HOW FAR INFALLIBLE. TWO SPHERES. DIVERSITY OF MORAL JUDGMENTS. CRISES OF LIFE.-RE- LATION OF CONSCIENCE TO OTHER PRINCIPLES OF ACTION. COMPLEX- LECTURES ON MORAL SCIENCE. LECTURE I. MORAL SCIENCE AND ASTRONOMY.- REASONS FOR THE SLOWER PROGRESS OF THE FORMER.-PROGRESS MUST BE SLOW.-TWO CLASSES OF SCIENCES. -USE OF STUDYING THE SCIENCE. AMONG the sciences which earliest drew the attention of man were those of Astronomy and Morals. Of these, one respects the sources of that light which is from without, the other of that which is within. Of the one, the objects and phenomena are not only without us, but are separated from us by inconceivable distances; of the other, the phenomena are not only within us, but belong to that part of our nature which is special to us, and whose circle lies nearest to its central point. Connected with each are practical judgments common to all. Both the heavens and the moral nature of man yielded him guidance before there was a thought of the science of either. The unscientific man rejoices in the light that comes from Arcturus no less than if he could analyze its beams, and is guided by the polar star no less surely than if he could measure its magnitude and distance. The day and the night, the changing moons and the revolving seasons, are alike to all. In the same way men agree in their practical judgments on the great subjects of morals. By their original nature there is within them a guiding light by which the learned and unlearned alike may walk. But in either case, when science began its work, and asked for causes, and reasons, and classifications, there were conjectures and diversities of opinion without end. Of the apparent movement of the heavens, and of a virtuous or heroic act, men judged alike; of the cause of that movement, or of the nature of virtue itself, they did not judge alike. Practically, men could agree in both; but in everything pertaining to the science of either, nothing could be more discrepant than their opinions, or, for ages, more discouraging and apparently hopeless than the attempt to establish any one doctrine that should be generally accepted. If, now, the inquiry had been made in the early period of these sciences which of them would soonest reach perfection, the unhesitating answer would doubtless have been, that of which the phenomena are within us, which are immediately testified to by our consciousness, and are always subject to our notice. Whether man would ever be able to perfect a science of the heavens, might well have been doubted; but that he should do this sooner than perfect the science of that which pertained to his own most intimate being, and which stood in the closest relation to his highest interests, could not have been believed. But V so it has been. After ages of observation and conjecture, during which the phenomena seemed in hopeless confusion; after exhausting the efforts of some of the best minds in every age, the central truth of astronomy at length dawned, and the chaos of conjecture became the order of science. From a science of observation, astronomy has MORAL SCIENCE AND ASTRONOMY. 19 now become one of deduction, and if not altogether complete, is more nearly so than any other. The success thus achieved in the field of astronomy was a great stimulus and encouragement to effort in other departments. From the vastness of its distances, the magnitude of its objects, the complexity of its phenomena, and from its inconceivable forces and velocities, there was connected with success here an excitement and sublimity which greatly heightened the purely scientific pleasure, and which inspired a confidence of future triumphs in whatever should be attempted. Nor was this confidence without a basis. In the advance of every form of physical science then known, no period of the world can be compared with that since the time of Kepler and of Newton. Meantime, forms of science then unknown, as chemistry and geology, have sprung into giant proportions; while the application of science to the arts, employing every substance, and harnessing every force in nature for the service of man, is revolutionizing not only society, but the face of nature herself. In mental and moral science there has, too, been greater activity than ever before; but we are not, perhaps, in a position as yet to say how much there has been of progress. There are still discordant voices, and different schools, and those that say "Lo, here," and "Lo, there;" and perhaps the variety of systems proposed, especially in morals, was never greater. Thus situated, it is an encouragement to think of the seas of doubt through which astronomy has waded. We remember that the perplexities of its votaries were once as great as ours can be now, and hope for a similar deliverance. The end of investigation is attained when we either comprehend all that is brought before us, or can draw the |