and injuries. Such a temper is
a continual torment to the individual himself, and the cause of disputes
and jealousies among those with whom he is connected. We cannot fail,
also, to perceive that the man of ill-regulated passions injures his own
true interest and happiness, as much as he violates his duty to others,
and that his course of life is often productive of degradation, disease,
and wretchedness. In all this we see a beautiful example of the wise
arrangements of the Creator, who, in the structure of our moral nature,
has connected our own peace and happiness with a state of feeling
calculated to promote the happiness and peace of all around us. We
cannot be at a loss to conclude what a different scene the world would
present, if such feelings were universally cultivated; and, on the other
hand, we must observe how much of the actual misery that exists in the
world arises from derangement of moral feeling, and the various
consequences which result from it both to individuals and communities.
We find also, by innumerable examples, the remarkable influence
produced, by a due cultivation of these feelings, in alleviating, both
in ourselves and others, the physical evils which are inseparable from
the present state. It is farther to be remarked, as a fact worthy of the
deepest attention, that the only distinct information conveyed to us in
Scripture, respecting the happiness of the righteous in a future state,
is,--that it will consist chiefly in a perfect knowledge of the divine
character, and a conformity of the soul to the moral perfections of the
Deity. "It doth not yet appear," says the sacred writer, "what we shall
be; but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we
shall see him as he is."

In concluding the whole subject of the affections, I have only farther
to remark,--that the regulated state of the moral feelings, which has
been the subject of the preceding observations, seems to correspond with
the quality so emphatically described in the sacred writings under the
name of Charity. It is there uniformly represented as the great test of
the moral condition; and we find exposed, in the most striking manner,
the worthlessness of all endowments which are not accompanied by this
regulation of the whole character. We cannot, therefore, conclude this
subject in a more appropriate manner, than by a passage in which, by a
few most powerful expressions, a code of ethical science is laid before