3. What the good is.-The good is of vari ous grades, from the slightest momentary gratification to the chief good, the summum bonum of the ancient philosophers. Good is

the opposite of evil, and is of two general kinds ― natural and moral. Natural good implies happiness of some kind, or the means of happiness. Thus the gratification of any appetite or passion is a good; peace of conscience is a good; the acquisition of property, as the means of happiness, is a good; so also is the acquisition of knowledge a good. The good, in all these cases, is evidently happiness, or the means of happiness. When reduced down to what is actually intended, the good, in all such cases, turns out to be happiness, or satisfaction of some kind. Both property and knowledge are mere utilities, i. e., something to be used by us, and hence to serve us, in the pursuit of happiness. Nay, even the development of our powers and the perfection of our natures are but the means of happiness, or, at least, the occasion of it.

What is called moral good is right conduct and character. And it is so called, as I conceive, because right conduct is sure to lead to happiness in the end. Wrong leads to disorder and confusion, and hence to wretchedness; while the right tends to order and happiness. The former, therefore, is evil, and the latter good. And, since all temporary enjoyments and every species of happiness lead to misery in the end, unless they are in accordance with the right, moral good must be considered as the chief good the real summum bonum.

4. Relation of the good, the right, and the true. The true, as we have seen, is the real. The right and the good alike, therefore, have their foundation in the true. Without the true, neither the right nor the good could exist. The right, however, is directly and immediately determined by the true, while the good is only indirectly and remotely deter mined by it. While the right springs from the true, the good springs from the right. The true is thus the substantiating cause of

the right and the good, as the good is the final cause of the right and the true. Although the good, as well as the right, is possible only through the true, yet the true only exists immediately for the right, and ultimately for the good. Hence the true is the end of knowledge, the right of duty, and the good of faith and hope.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE NATURE OF VIRTUE.

1. Of virtue in a restricted sense. Virtue, according to its derivation, means manliness. With the ancient Romans, virtus (derived from vir) denoted, almost uniformly, that manly courage which we call bravery. Being an intensely martial people, the courage to do battle with the enemies of the state, and face the foe, seemed to them the greatest human excellence the highest proof of manhood. But there are foes within as well as foes without, and the resistance of these is a higher manliness than the resistance of external foes. As we have it in Proverbs, "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that

ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city." Resistance to temptation, struggling against sinful inclinations or allurements to evil, is the best possible evidence of manliness, the highest excellence of which we are capable. Hence, in its specific sense, virtue differs from moral goodness is, indeed, but a species of it. Thus, while we ascribe moral goodness to God, we never ascribe virtue to him. So, while we consider any right act performed by men as a good act, we hardly consider it a virtuous act, unless it is accompanied by some temptation to act differently. We often say of one who has told the truth, or performed an act of justice, Why, that is no evidence of virtue, since there was no temptation to the contrary. Thus virtue supposes a struggle with temptation, and a triumph over it. Indeed, although right conduct is always right and good in itself, yet it is only when the right is performed as right, and to choose it distinctly as such implies some thought or

temptation to the contrary, that it has any