PRACTICAL ETHICS.

PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS AND CLASSIFICATION.

OUR attention has hitherto been directed to those principles which lie at the foundation of ethical science. principles, a correct understanding of which is of the highest importance, if not indeed indispensable to our progress, as we enter upon the second of the two great departments into which moral science was divided at the

outset.

Before proceeding to the consideration of the several duties of which this part of our science is to treat, it seems necessary to fix upon some convenient classification of these duties; to this end, a general survey of the field we are about to investigate, and some analysis of the several branches of duty, become desirable.

General Division. As we cast our eye over the various lines of conduct which constitute the practical duties of life, a general division strikes us at once. Some of these duties seem to have more direct reference to ourselves, others to our fellow-men, others still to our Maker. These would seem to be the natural divisions into which this department of the science falls.

And yet, such is the nature of duty, that a wrong done

to one's self, is also a wrong done to society and to God; and so of all the other departments of duty. It is impossible to neglect or violate a duty to society, or to God, without injury to self,—so closely interlinked is the whole circle of duties, and of interests, each with the other. Only in a general sense, then, and merely for the sake of convenience, can any such division be made as that now proposed. In like manner, we may regard the bodily organism as composed of different members, or parts, the head-the trunk-the limbs, while at the same time the system of bones, of veins, of nerves, pervades the whole; and to injure one of the members, or parts, is to injure the whole system.

Further Analysis. - Adopting the general division already indicated, we have, I. The duties which relate more directly to SELF. Of these the principal are, 1. The duty of Self-support. 2. Of Self-defence. 3. Of Self-control. 4. Of Self-culture.

II. The duties which relate more directly to OUR FELLOW-MEN. Of these, some are general, relating to man as such, or to society at large. Of this class are the duties respecting Life, Liberty, Property, Reputation, Veracity. Others, again, arise from the particular institutions of society, and the relations that thus spring up between the different portions of the community, as thus united. Of this class are the duties arising from the Family Relation, as those of Husband and Wife, Parent and Child; and also the duties pertaining to the State, as those of the Citizen or Subject, of the Government, and of States among themselves.

III. The duties which more directly relate to THE SUPREME BEING. Of these, the principal are the duty of Reverence, of Love, of Obedience, of Worship.

Summary of Classes.- Omitting now the more general divisions, the following principal classes or departments of duty present themselves for investigation, in their order:

These will constitute the several parts of the second division of our science, i. e., of Practical Ethics.

PART I.

DUTIES TO
TO SELF.

It is necessary, as we proceed, to bear in mind the remarks already made, that no duty is to be regarded as exclusively a duty to ourselves, nor yet to society, nor to the state. The duties which we owe to ourselves are also, in a sense, duties which we owe to the family, to society, to the state, and to our Maker. These all receive injury by any neglect or injury of ourselves; and these all have an interest, accordingly, in the faithful observance of the duties due to self. At the same time, there are certain duties which relate more specifically and directly to ourselves. Of these the chief are, Self-support, Selfdefence, Self-control, and Self-culture. These will be considered in successive chapters.

CHAPTER I.

General Statement.

SELF-SUPPORT.

There are certain things which every one must do for himself, which others either cannot, or, under ordinary circumstances, will not do for him. Among these is the duty of providing for his own physical wants the duty of self-support. Every one owes it to

himself to make such provision for his own wants as not to be dependent on the charity of others.

Nature intends this, and makes provision for it by conferring upon us those powers and faculties which are requisite to the various pursuits of industry, and by attaching to honest labor the reward of success, to idleness the penalty of inevitable suffering and want. These are the laws and conditions of our being, established by the Creator, fixed and immutable. He that will not work, neither shall he eat, is the universal law of the race. Labor is requisite in order to the production of the fruits of the earth. The food that sustains us, the fabrics that clothe us, the dwellings that shelter us from the inclemency of the seasons,—whatever contributes to the comfort and supplies the varied and innumerable wants of man, is the product of labor. Now, this labor, that is universally requisite to supply the wants and gratify the desires of men, is something which every one is bound to perform for himself. No one has a right to require another to labor for him unrequited. I may exchange labor for labor, — I may give money, which is simply the representative of labor already performed, for the labor of others which I wish to procure. Lacking this, I must earn my bread by my own toil. I have no right to compel another to labor for me without reward. Nor has another any right to require this of me.

Exceptions to the Rule. The only exceptions, I suppose, to this law of self-support, are those cases in which there is a real inability to labor. When, in consequence of sickness, casualty, or constitutional deformity, there is lacking, either wholly or in part, the power to provide for one's own subsistence, to that extent is the person thus incapacitated freed from the duty of self-support, on the obvious principle that it is unjust to require of any man