ning it. Happiness
accordingly, by the very constitution of our nature, is the great object
of pursuit by every man.[29] The means of happiness are no doubt
frequently mistaken, and often substituted for happiness itself. But
even these conflicting circumstances, when properly considered, all tend
to shew, that happiness is the great object desired, and that it is
universally sought after by every intelligent mind. By a wise and
beneficent arrangement of the Almighty, it has been so ordered, that
happiness is to be found only in the exercise of the affections;--and
the amount of the happiness which they confer, is found to be
proportionate to the excellence of the object beloved. The love of God
himself, accordingly, is the first of duties, and includes the
perfection of happiness. The love of all that are like him, and in
proportion as they are so, ranks next in the scale; and hence it is,
that all moral excellence,--the culture of the affections and the
heart,--is to be preferred to intellectual attainments, as these again
are to take precedence of mere physical good.

This established order for the attainment of happiness, is in society
most strangely inverted. Beauty, strength, honour, and riches,--mere
physical qualities,--are generally preferred to the qualities of the
mind;--and mental attainments, again, too often command more
consideration than moral worth. This is altogether an unnatural state of
things; and the consequences of its prevalence in any community, must be
proportionally disastrous. How far the modes for conducting the
education of the young hitherto have tended to extend or perpetuate this
error, it is not for us here to say. But if they have, the sooner the
evil is rectified the better. Happiness, as we have said, is the single
aim of man,--however he may mistake its nature, or the means by which
it is to be attained. And as it is to be found, not in intellectual
power, nor in the possession of physical good, but only in moral
culture, it follows, that the attainment of this moral excellence should
be the one chief design aimed at in the education of the young.

The benevolence and wisdom of this arrangement are obvious. For had
happiness been made to depend on the possession of _intellectual_ power,
few comparatively could have commanded the time and means which are
necessary for the purpose; and had it been attached to the possession of
riches, or honour, or any other species of _physical_ goo