CHAPTER IV.

SELF-CULTURE.

Statement. To abstain from those things which injure us, to avoid those excesses and undue indulgences of the natural appetites and propensities which work mischief and ruin, is a duty, but not the whole duty which every intelligent rational being owes to himself. There are things to be attained, as well as things to be avoided; positive, as well as negative duties. Self-culture, not less than selfcontrol, becomes imperative. I have no right to neglect my own highest welfare and advancement. My duty is only in part performed when I refrain from that which positively injures and degrades my mental or bodily powers. It is my duty to develop and cultivate those powers to the highest degree of which they are, under the circumstances, susceptible, to make the most of the faculties with which nature has endowed me. This is the duty of every man a duty which he owes first of all to himself, but not to himself alone. The family, the state, society at large, the Creator-all have an interest in this matter, and are concerned in its performance or neglect. The highest wrong is done not to self alone, but to others, by every instance of such neglect.

Extends to what. The duty of self-culture includes in its proper province the entire range of our natural faculties, whether of body or mind. It includes physical culture not less than mental. A healthy and well-developed physical organism is one of the very choicest goods of life; and, in so far as it is a result to be attained by careful training and

culture, it is a duty imperative on every man to make that attainment, and to put forth the effort necessary to it. A sound mind in a sound body, is a maxim true in philosophy and true in morals. The history of the Greeks shows what may be done in this branch of education. In modern times, and more especially among our own countrymen, this department of education has fallen into disrepute, and been very generally overlooked. The theory with us is to discipline and develop the mind, and let the physical powers take care of themselves. Our institutions of learning, our whole educational system, look chiefly to this. It admits of serious question, whether in this we are not committing a radical mistake. So intimate is the connection between the physical and the mental state, that the highest condition and most favorable development of the latter can hardly be secured without due attention to the training and discipline of the former.

Self-culture extends

Includes also Mental Discipline. also to the improvement of the intellectual and moral powers. No man is at liberty to neglect his own mental discipline and culture. Not even are the claims of business paramount to this. No pressure of professional or business engagements can justify the neglect of mental discipline. No man in this busy world has a right so to involve himself in the pursuits and cares of active life, that it shall be out of his power to give both time and care to the improvement of his own mind. Nature never intended this. He who made the mind, and endowed it with its wondrous faculties, had no such intention.

Nor is the culture of the mind to be made subordinate to success in the. various employments of life, and to be pursued merely as a means to that end. A means to that end it unquestionably is. But that is not the whole or the chief reason why it should receive attention. The im

provement of the mind is, in itself, a good of inestimable worth, aside from all the gain that comes of it in the more successful pursuits of life. A well-cultivated mind, richly stored with the best acquisitions, is itself a treasure with which no material wealth can compare. "For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it."

Not limited to the Intellect. Nor is the duty of which I speak limited to the culture of the intellect alone. Memory, imagination, judgment, the reasoning powers, taste, conscience—all are to be educated and strengthened; but the sensibilities also claim regard, and likewise the will. These great departments of the mind's activity are not to be overlooked in the process of mental training. The heart requires education and discipline, as well as the head; the feelings, no less than the intellectual powers. He only is the symmetrical, fully developed, well-educated man, with whom all these faculties of his higher and spiritual nature have received due care and training. He who fails of this, fails in one of the first duties which he owes to himself.

Encouragements to this work. - Very great are the inducements, very pressing the motives, to the faithful performance of this duty. Other acquisitions are external, and of precarious tenure; these, a part of the soul itself-so much of real value added to the man. Other riches may take wings; this is the true wealth that remains, while the mind itself has any being, its inalienable inheritance.

Nor does success in this work depend wholly on early advantages. In the absence of these, amid the pressing cares of active life, much may be done by judicious method, industry, and perseverance, to repair the deficiences of early training. Many of the brightest names in literature and science attest the truth of this.

PART II.

DUTIES TO SOCIETY.

CHAPTER I.

DUTIES PERTAINING TO LIFE.

Value of Life. Of the duties which we owe to our fellow-men in general, one of the most imperative is the regard which is due to human life. Life is one of the greatest goods, one of the first and chief rights of nature. In comparison with it all other natural goods and possessions are of little account; since, when life itself is at an end, all those possessions and enjoyments which pertain to and depend upon it are also ended. "All that a man hath will he give for his life." Hence, to take human life, has been regarded in all ages as a great crime. It is to rob a man of all his possessions and enjoyments at a stroke, to cut him off from all his plans of business, or of pleasurefrom all the pursuits and all the friendships of life, and to usher him, without warning or preparation, into the scenes of a new and untried existence.

The injury thus done is irreparable. Property taken by fraud or violence, may be restored; reputation unjustly assailed, may be made good; health may be regained; but life itself destroyed, it is not in the power of man to

make good the loss. Hence a peculiar sacredness attaches to human life. It is the gift of Deity. Man cannot impart it; and what he cannot bestow, he has no right to take away. Only he who gave it can authorize its destruction.

Distinctions Recognized. The laws of the state make certain distinctions in the crime of taking human life; as murder, manslaughter, etc. It is sufficient, in morals, to draw the broad distinction between the premeditated and intentional, and the merely accidental taking of life. The former incurs the highest guilt; the latter may be innocent. It is not a violation of the moral code, provided it is not the result of carelessness which might and should have been avoided. If, by reckless driving through the streets of a crowded city, life is sacrificed, the doer of the mischief is responsible for his carelessness, though not guilty of murder. If, by the recklessness of an engineer, the vessel, or the car, with its freight of life, is driven to destruction, the author of the calamity, though not justly chargeable with intentional murder, is by no means free from the guilt of taking human life. In such cases, the laws of most nations arraign him for manslaughter, making the distinction between that and the premeditated and intentional taking of life, which is denominated murder.

When the crime is not only premeditated, but secret in its execution, the agent not exposing his own life by giving the victim an opportunity of self-defence, there is added to the guilt which otherwise and necessarily pertains to the act, the meanness of cowardice. The murderer under such circumstances becomes the assassin.

When an unlawful assault is committed, such as from its nature must be more or less dangerous to life, should such assault ultimately result in death, although such result may not have been strictly intended by the assailant,