h may seem to fulfil the ideal, which the Apostle has
delineated under the name of charity, in its sweetness and harmony, its
generosity, its courtesy to others, and its depreciation of self, you
could not have recourse to a better furnished _studio_ than to that of
Philosophy, with the specimens of it, which with greater or less exactness
are scattered through society in a civilized age. It is enough to refer
you, Gentlemen, to the various Biographies and Remains of contemporaries
and others, which from time to time issue from the press, to see how
striking is the action of our intellectual upon our moral nature, where
the moral material is rich, and the intellectual cast is perfect.
Individuals will occur to all of us, who deservedly attract our love and
admiration, and whom the world almost worships as the work of its own
hands. Religious principle, indeed,--that is, faith,--is, to all appearance,
simply away; the work is as certainly not supernatural as it is certainly
noble and beautiful. This must be insisted on, that the Intellect may have
its due; but it also must be insisted on for the sake of conclusions to
which I wish to conduct our investigation. The radical difference indeed
of this mental refinement from genuine religion, in spite of its seeming
relationship, is the very cardinal point on which my present discussion
turns; yet, on the other hand, such refinement may readily be assigned to
a Christian origin by hasty or distant observers, or by those who view it
in a particular light. And as this is the case, I think it advisable,
before proceeding with the delineation of its characteristic features, to
point out to you distinctly the elementary principles on which its
morality is based.

5.

You will bear in mind then, Gentlemen, that I spoke just now of the scorn
and hatred which a cultivated mind feels for some kinds of vice, and the
utter disgust and profound humiliation which may come over it, if it
should happen in any degree to be betrayed into them. Now this feeling may
have its root in faith and love, but it may not; there is nothing really
religious in it, considered by itself. Conscience indeed is implanted in
the breast by nature, but it inflicts upon us fear as well as shame; when
the mind is simply angry with itself and nothing more, surely the true
import of the voice of nature and the depth of its intimations have been
forgotten, and a false philosophy has misinterpreted emotions whic