could possibly attain, the authority of miraculous interposition. Temples are built where God is worshipped and these truths are statedly taught. Thus the religious element of our nature is brought to act upon 'the moral with an intensity which casts all other influences into the shade, and the Pulpit has become the great, the divinely appointed instrument of the elevation and moral progress of mankind.

Such then is the moral nature of man. It contains within itself the elements of the perpetual advancement of the species. It expresses itself in law, public opinion, religious institutions, and these in turn give freedom to his faculties, security to his possessions, control over his baser propensities, and wider and wider command over the resources of nature. Thus it is that politics, morals, and religion are the great topics of human interest. Legislation, education, religious instruction, are the objects which the philanthropist must ever keep in his eye. The Laws, the Press, and the Pulpit,—in them rests the ultimate hope of man. Legislation, Literature, and the Bible,-their influence is progressive and irresistible. They are all

parts of one system, devised by Infinite Wisdom, to secure the temporal and eternal well being of mankind. The ministry do not labor alone for human good. The sage in his closet, the philosopher in his laboratory, the philanthropist in the public assembly, the author at his desk, the editor at the press, the judge in the court of justice, the professor in the halls of science, are all co-workers in the same great cause of human comfort, improvement, and happiness.

LECTURE VIII.

ON THE PROGRESS AND THE PROSPECTS OF SOCIETY.

THE last lecture was devoted to the investigation of the Moral Constitution of Man. That discussion led us to the conclusion that man's moral nature developes itself in the form of law, of public opinion, and religious institutions. These in turn react upon his individual character and his social condition, continually elevating them to higher degrees of purity and perfection. I spoke of religious institutions as springing out of man's moral nature, because it is man's moral nature alone which makes God known as the Lawgiver, the Judge, and Rewarder. By reason he is made known as the Creator, Preserver, and Benefactor. But these relations constitute too faint a tie to be the foundation of religious institutions. They say nothing of futurity, and were there no belief in

immortality, all religion would fall to the ground. It is only the feeling of responsibility created by man's moral nature, and the natural expectation of immortality, modified by the fear of punishment and the hope of reward, which keep alive religious investigation, sustain worship and public instruction, and thus give force and sanction to man's moral convictions.

Laws, public opinion, religion,—these are the means of human progress, the ultimate hope of man. As these improve, man will advance to higher degrees of perfection and happiness. If they are stationary, so will be the condition of the species. If they deteriorate, the hope of humanity is just so far eclipsed. We shall speak of them in their order, laws, public opinion, and religion.

It will not be necessary, I hope, to prove to such an audience as this, the immense influence of government and legislation over the morality and prosperity of a people. It will only be necessary to illustrate it by examples. The physical prosperity of a people depends upon industry, guided by intelligence, and secured by morality. Man

will never act without a motive, and the most natural and powerful motive is the hope of enjoying the fruits of his labors. This certainty, or this hope is strong just in proportion to the goodness of the government under which we live. Under a good government enterprize is kept perpetually upon the stretch. Every hand capable of producing is kept constantly at work, every brain capable of contriving is kept continually employed to invent new methods by which the productiveness of the earth may be increased, and by which the same labor may create more material for the satisfaction of human wants. There have been probably more labor saving machines invented in this country since the declaration of independence, than there were in the whole world since the beginning of time. A bad government paralyzes all enterprize by extinguishing all hope. It puts an end to all invention by taking away all motive. It makes a people idle, vicious, discontented, miserable. Under a good government men work together with intelligence and energy for the good of the whole. Under a bad government the few use the many as mere machines to accom