iverse, the circulation of the blood,
the polarity of the magnet, the laws of gravitation, alphabetical
writing, decimal arithmetic, and some other things of the same sort;
facts, or proofs, or contrivances, before totally unknown and unthought
of. Whoever, therefore, expects in reading the New Testament to be
struck with discoveries in morals in the manner in which his mind was
affected when he first came to the knowledge of the discoveries above
mentioned: or rather in the manner in which the world was affected by
them, when they were first published; expects what, as I apprehend, the
nature of the subject renders it impossible that he should meet with.
And the foundation of my opinion is this, that the qualities of actions
depend entirely upon their effects, which effects must all along have
been the subject of human experience.

When it is once settled, no matter upon what principle, that to do good
is virtue, the rest is calculation. But since the calculation cannot be
instituted concerning each particular action, we establish intermediate
rules; by which proceeding, the business of morality is much
facilitated, for then it is concerning our rules alone that we need
inquire, whether in their tendency they be beneficial; concerning our
actions, we have only to ask whether they be agreeable to the rules. We
refer actions to rules, and rules to public happiness. Now, in the
formation of these rules, there is no place for discovery, properly so
called, but there is ample room for the exercise of wisdom, judgment,
and prudence.

As I wish to deliver argument rather than panegyric, I shall treat of
the morality of the Gospel in subjection to these observations. And
after all, I think it such a morality as, considering from whom it came,
is most extraordinary; and such as, without allowing some degree of
reality to the character and pretensions of the religion, it is
difficult to account for: or, to place the argument a little lower in
the scale, it is such a morality as completely repels the supposition of
its being the tradition of a barbarous age or of a barbarous people, of
the religion being founded in folly, or of its being the production of
craft; and it repels also, in a great degree, the supposition of its
having been the effusion of an enthusiastic mind.

The division under which the subject may be most conveniently treated is
that of the things taught, and the manner of teaching.

Under the first head, I sh