3. Duties to one's Felloio-leinffs. — These spring imme- diately out of the above relation of the common father- hood of (iod, and they can never be successfully met ex- cept by bearing this thought constantly in niin<l. Self- ishness, the most common and baleful besetment of every association of life, is most effectually counteract- ed by this consideration; and Scripture, no less than conventional politeness, and even statute law, every- where holds forth teachings grounded on this principle. We hazard nothing in affirming that all the disorders of society have their root in a violation or neglect of this truth — the universal brotherhood and consequent essential equality of all human beings. We may there- fore be spared, after the enunciation of this one general clew to the multiform and complex duties of life, from entering upon a discussion of these in detail, simply ob- serving that they may all be classified under two divi- sions: 1, the domestic, including the relations of parent and child, of husband and wife, of brother and sister, and of near consanguinity or affinity ; 2, the social, em- bracing the relations of neighbor, fellow-citizen, church- member, and voluntary association for literarj', benevo- lent, or commercial purposes. For all these, see the ap- propriate titles in this Cyclopedia. We here dismiss this branch of the subject, with the remark that our duty in all these regards is not fully discharged by the mere ren- dering of justice to these various classes of persons con- nected with us; we owe them likewise the offices of courtesy, charity, and sympathy. This is true, not onh' in the family and the Church, but also in the communi- ty and the world at large; the twofold obligation ex- tends to every ramification of the social fabric. The question of Cain, "Am I my brother's keeper?" ex- presses the first and most wide-spread heresy against the mutual rights and well-being of the race. It is here, as everywhere else, that the doctrine of the Gospel shows its transcendent excellence — as wise as it is beau- tiful— doctrine appropriate to the lips of him who was both God and man ; namely, the inculcation of love for all mankind as such, and as the common offspring of the one Being to whom we all owe supreme allegiance. The sublime extension of this precept to our vcrj' ene- mies (Horn, xii, 11) is a peculiar trait of Christianity (Matt. V, 43-4M) ; not a mere fancy sketch (]Matt. xviii, 23-35), as an offset to our own shortcomings (^latt. vi, 14, 15), or as a noble revenge ( Iloin. xii, 'JO), but a life- likeness (1 Pet. ii, 19-21) of the heroism of the faultless Master (Luke xxiii,34), realized (Acts vii, GO) by saints (1 Cor. iv, 12) : so faithfully are the divine lineaments (Kxod. xxxiii, 18-23 ; xxxiv, 5-7) mirrored (Heb. i, 3) in the enduring (1 Pet. i, 25) Word (Hev. xix, 13), whose command (I^uko vi, 3(3) is a jiromise of performance (1 Thcss. V, 24). This is the only effectual motive, as well as the sole general bond, in the eager rush of men, each for the maintenance of himself anil his. Tlie natural instincts of home affection, and the ties of mutual ad- vantage, may go far to soften the asperities of intimate association ; but a wide-reaching and generous philan- thropy can never be attained, nor can even the sweetest amenities of closely domestic and social intercourse be
steadily secured, without the haljitual recognition of this fellowship in the divine sight.
4. Duties ioicards one's Self.— These are properly and advisedly placed last, although in the perversity and suicidal folly of human nature they are usually promot- ed to a front rank, and, indeed, enhanced almost to the exclusion of all the preceding. But no maxim was ever more profoundly true m its apjilication to this sub- ject than our Lord's paradox : '■ lie that seeketh his own life [i. e. personal gratification as his foremost aim], shall lose it." There is no joy equal to that of making others happy ; and he who is willing to forego his own ease, comfort, and emolument for the sake of blessing, consoling, and enriching his fellow-creatures, will find himself repaid a thousand -fold even in the satisfaction he experiences in this life, to say nothing of the rewards of that life which is to come. Selfishness always misses its mark, and is therefore sure to be miserable, whereas generosity invariably succeeds in its noble purposes. We need not here enter upon the metaphysical question of purely disinterested benevolence; God has not re- quired us to scan our motives so closely as to detect and eject a thought of the refiex infiuence of our piiilan- thropy upon our minds in the bliss of doing good and the retrospect of usefulness. On the contrary, he en- courages us to a beneficent course by such considera- tions ; and the Son of God himself did not disdain, in his consummate act of self-devotion for the rescue of a fallen world, to contemplate the fruit of his redeeming love (Isa. liii, 11 ; Heb. xii, 2). We may preUminarily remark, as a confirmation and parallel of this secret of the most successful happiness, that all the proclivities of the heart (especially the passions and the appetites) tend not only to excess, and therefore require, even for their own best ends, to be held in check by counter in- fluences of a higher character, but they likewise are set upon the most immediate gratification possible ; and as this is not always, nor even usually, the safest or the most complete, the prudent and experienced habitually restrain and defer them till the time and object are ripe for full and wholesome enjoyment. For this reason, all the more do we need to keep the love and pursuit of self in the background, till our nobler sentiments have acquired such strength and discipline that we may se- curely give to self-love the rein, and guide it to its most successful and harmonious results ; otherwise we shall be likely to grasp only the present shadow, and lose the more remote substance. It is precisely this most egre- gious and irreparable folly of which the mass of man- kind are guilty, in pursuing the pleasures of time and sense to the hazard of spiritual and eternal joys. We devote the remainder of this article to a few practical suggestions, under the head of personal duties to one's self, specifically calculated to guard against so lam- entable an error, and secure tlie highest accomplish- ment of each one's destmy as a subject of moral gov- ernment.