IT has been justly observed, that in propor­tion to the benefits which an institution is cal­culated to produce, in that proportion is the extension of its duration and its operative in­fluence upon society. This remark, which does equal honor to the sagacity of the human head and the benevolence of the human heart, is abundantly verified by the experience of ages. In exploring the historic page, we find that those institutions, which have been productive of benefit to mankind, have like the pyramids of Egypt braved the ravages of time and weather­ed the convulsions of Empires; while those establishments, however strongly supported by the sceptre of power or upheld by the hand of superstition, which have rioted upon the industry and lived upon the blood of our species, have quickly mouldered into dust. The Divine Re­ligion of Jesus has nearly seen the flight of eighteen centuries, and will last as long as time itself; while the four great Monarchies and the mighty empire of Rome which levelled man with the brute and violated all the rights of nature, have long since felt the transitory state [...]. The progressive amelioration [Page 6] of the world has often been the theme of philosophic speculation and the subject of pro­phetic vision; and in truth whether we view man in his passage from the solitary to the social state, or consider him in the various modifica­tions of society, we will find sufficient reason to concur in the opinion and to taste of the di­vine fountain of rapture, which springs from the union of the intellect and the heart in fa­vor of human happiness.

The progressive improvement of human af­fairs opens a prospect so grand and so interest­ing, promises such permanence and such practi­cability, as naturally to induce an enquiry into the most efficient mode of maturing it to perfec­tion. As the universal extension of the princi­ple of benevolence presents itself as the only me­thod of accomplishing this great event; and as our fraternity rests its principal merits upon, and has been uniformly and highly and honorably distinguished for, the exercise of this sublime virtue, you will excuse me if I presume to offer a few thoughts upon it; and when describing the nature and effects of benevolence, I feel confi­dent of experiencing the benefit of yours, if I should fail in those flights of fancy—that eleva­tion of style and that profundity of remark, which become a man speaking on a subject that unites in its praise—all the modes of imagina­tion, all the faculties of the understanding, and all the virtues of the heart.

In scentific discussions, it is considered satis­factory [Page 7] evidence of the falsity of a doctrine to demonstrate that it leads to an absurdity; in like manner, in questions of morals it is an in­superable objection to a system, to prove that it produces mischief and depravity. The preva­lence of evil has never proceeded from a defect, but from a perversion of good original princi­ples. The father of the Universe has endowed us all with competent capacity to cultivate virtue and enjoy felicity: And if we wander into the devious paths of vice and taste of the bitter cup of misery, the fault is to be ascribed to ourselves. To establish or refute a proposition in morals, we may then not only reason with propriety from the phenomena of the mind, but we may enter into a wider field of discussion and trace the consequences of a particular doctrine upon all the relations of society and the modes of hu­man action.

In contemplating the subject proposed, we at the first glance behold mankind divided, not on­ly in speculation but in action, into two great parties. The one side espousing the cause of disinterested benevolence and the other declar­ing that interest and selfishness govern the uni­verse. A well regulated self-love might un­questionably answer all the purposes of creation, and it is certainly not fair promiscuously to class the advocates of this opinion with those who espouse the system of misanthropy, especially as the general complexion of our conduct receives its color and its glow from self-love: There is something however extremely pleasing to a no­ble [Page 8] mind, independent of its benign influence to view man as capable of disinterested bene­volence: It elevates him in the scale of being and breaks down the partition that seperates him from the order of spirits; It places him on a lofty eminence, from which he can look down without any other sigh than the sigh of pity, upon the perishable goods of mortality.

He who supposes that all our actions are bot­tomed upon interest or vanity will naturally conduct himself according to his opinion. If charity proceeds from ostentation, patriotism from ambition and friendship from interest in others—why should they not emanate from the same sources in himself. He will thus pass through the world a stranger to all the endear­ing charities of life—dead to the noblest feel­ings of the soul and deaf to the enchanting voice of virtuous pleasure. The delights of love will be viewed by him as an article of com­merce or an union of convenience—the ties of friendship will be rendered subservient to views of profit and vanity—the good of coun­try will be sacrificed to the calls of ambition— philanthrophy will give way to the most detest­able selfishness—the world will receive its hue from his jaundiced eye of suspicion—and like an unfortunate traveller cast upon a desert coast, he will live isolated from the delights of society—useless to mankind, useless to him­self. If this doctrine has such a pernicious practical influence upon individuals, the evil en­creases with tenfold fury when extended to na­tions. [Page 9] From what source but from this, did the disposition of the Jews to exterminate all the other nations of the earth proceed? The an­tient Romans made use of the same word Hostis to signify both stranger and enemy; and from one extremity of the world to the other their chariot wheels of Empire rolled over the necks of mankind drenched with the blood of millions. The modern system of warfare has not so much softened its asperities and mitigated its ferocities, as the enlightened ideas of humanity so generally diffused among nations. We are no longer consi­dered as savage beasts destined to tear and de­vour each other, but as children of the same common father, connected by the ties of the same common nature: The captured are now preserved from massacre and the conquered from extirpation; but alas! humanity is reluct­antly compelled to look upon the present con­vulsions of the world, and to see with tear-suf­fused eyes a departure from her principles—to recognize with bleeding heart, the spectacle of civilized nations endeavouring with more than diabolical fury to starve and to exterminate each other.

There is a faculty of the soul which has received various denominations among phi­losophers and which seems to be the offspring of the heart and the understanding united: It has been termed the moral sense, the moral taste and the moral instinct, and it con­sists in an instantaneous admiration or disgust of moral beauty or deformity. From this principle [Page] of our nature which we recognize in almost every action of our lives may be deduced various important inferences in favor of disinterested benevolence and in honor of mankind. The moment we hear of any vicious or cruel action we feel a sense of indignation; and the very in­stant we are informed of a great or noble deed we feel the glow of admiration and satisfaction: When we read of the persecutions of supersti­tion, of the ravages of war and of the desolating career of tyranny, what are our feelings but the mingled emotions of indignation and regret? And are we not instantaneously enraptured at the pious endeavors of the religious—the hono­rable exploits of the patriotic, and the magna­nimous views of the benevolent?

The operation of this principle in a great multitude, in defiance of the pomp of power and the parade of victory, has been admirably described by a celebrated Poet.

The deduction is plain: There must exist in the soul a regard for the welfare of mankind in­dependent of interested views. To conceive a [Page 11] selfish scheme, we must consider—we must inves­tigate—we must combine ideas—but the moral sense like a flash of lightning bursts in upon us: We either instantly glow with anger or lose ourselves in admiration: It is an emanation from the divinity—the Promethean fire brought down from Heaven—the working of the image of God within us.

It may be observed in answer to this, that our indignation arises from an application of the case of the injured to ourselves and our admiration from a mercenary view of obtaining favors from the subject of our panegyrics. I appeal to eve­ry man, who has attended to the train of his thoughts or the process of his feelings, whether any personal reference exists, whether the sen­timent excited is not intirely abstracted from self; but are there not many immoral actions which injure none but the guilty agent himself? are not many committed in such a mode and at such a distance that by all the rules of pro­bability they can never be extended to us—and what benefit can we receive from venerating the illustrious shades of the martyrs of liberty or heirs of genius? Has not the cold hand of death placed us beyond their power?

Pure unadulterated nature can alone satis­factory clear up this important question—and to this we must resort as a clue to guide us through a labyrinth of doubts and uncertain­ties. If the fanciful idea of placing a window in every man's bosom could be realized, we [Page 12] could then see the secret workings and mo­tives which conspire to produce our actions— and we could then unquestionably tell whether benevolence exists unalloyed by selfishness or whether man is really the creature of low and vicious sentiments, which bow him down to the earth and render him little superior to the beasts of the field: But as this is far beyond our reach, we must accommodate our researches to a dif­ferent mode of enquiry. Let us not then re­sort to the man, hackneyed in the ways of the world, whose passions have been perverted by the struggles of ambition and the conflicts of interest—but let us visit nature in her unso­phisticated forms, where the refinements of so­ciety have not corrupted the benevolent bias of the mind and effaced from the heart the impres­sions of Heaven.

It is in the season of infancy that we must look for genuine nature; then the character first opens, and shews itself; then the power of interest is feeble and the artifices of ambition obvious. The inhabitant of the woods, who has never mingled in the corruptions of society, ex­hibits amidst the awful ferocities of his disposi­tion some of the genuine characters of man, but in contemplating him we must carefully distinguish between the vices which grow out of the different stages of society and the inhe­rent propensities of the heart. Misfortune al­so serves to reduce us to the level of nature, and to render us acquainted with ourselves; it has been well remarked by an acute observer that [Page 13] the most unfeeling man he ever met with, was one whose whole life was a series of fortunate events. To the recluse and the solitary we may also with propriety look for the lessons of nature; here the collision of intercourse has not worn off the feelings and destroyed the emotions of the heart. In these various conditions and sta­tions, we see the principle of benevolence strongly operative; we find the mind thus una­dulterated by a commerce with the world, re­plete with the kindest wishes and most friendly sentiments. The first emotions of the infant heart beat in unison with friendship and bene­volence. The hospitable savage, to relieve his forlorn guest, will part with his last morsel and hazard the horrors of famine. The child of affliction will often forget his own misfortunes in sympathising with the distresses of others; and the recluse, on his first appearance in the bustle of the world, fraught with the most bene­volent sentiments, will alas, too soon experience that his opinions are too pure for the corrup­tions of society.

If the principle of benevolence is so pure so hallowed, how excellent must be its practice! The power of dispensing good approaches the attributes of the deity, and the pleasures resulting from the relief of the distressed are so extatic and delightful as to form the most striking foretaste of the joys of Heaven.— The sun itself, with all [...]s cheering rays and vivifying influence, is not so glorious a sight as the spectacle of a good man distributing his [Page 14] bounty—and to him we must look up as the truly great, for in the calm eye of reason he stands pre-eminently towering above the vic­torious general or the throned monarch. The state of office, the pomp of power, the splendor of wealth or a long train of illustrious ancestors may not attend him, but what are these com­pared to the pleasures of sensibility or the smiles of Heaven?

Benevolence seems to invest a man with ma­gic charms; wherever he goes kind wishes at­tend him: it forms a good criterion of the whole frame and temper of his soul with which all the other virtues rise and will almost necessarily be connected. "Tell me, says a feeling writer, of a compassionate man, you represent to me a man of a thousand other good qualities, on whom I can depend, whom I may safely trust with my wife, my children, my fortune and re­putation!"

The draughts of life, according to the allegory of the Poets, proceed from the vessels of good [Page 15] and evil that stand on each side of Jupiter and whenever they are found pure and unmixed, they flow from the vessel on the left hand. Ad­mirable description of the miseries of life! Un­alloyed felicity we never experience, but afflic­tion in all the forms of terror in all the channels of bitterness, attacks us: It approaches us in the shape of disease and poverty, presents itself in the dress of oppression and calumny, assails us in the loss of friends and reputation, and me­naces us in all the incalculable forms with which imagination can array the victims of her influ­ence. The prison, the house of madness, the retreat of poverty, the horrid gibbet, and the blood streaming scaffold, bear dreadful testimony to her mighty power. To restrain her baneful influence and to draw the draughts of life from the vessel of good on the right hand of Jupiter, are the objects of the benevolent man. In this grand expedition of humanity, the immortal Howard established beyond doubt the being and beauty of benevolence; he rose sublimely from the couch of affluence and ease—encountered the insolence of fools and the ridicule of misanthro­phists—the dungeon's groans and the tyrant's frowns—braved the horrors of disease, the storms of heaven and the tempests of the ocean; and wherever he went, chains fell from the hands of slavery and the tears of the prison were changed into smiles—the blessings of all good men fol­lowed his footsteps and even despots, disarmed by the sublimity of his virtues, deigned to listen from their thrones to the tale of sorrow and to stretch forth the lenient hand of relief.

[Page 16]In the application of the benevolent princi­ple to the conduct of nations, so many pleasing ideas rush upon the mind as to hazard the con­ception of visionary and chimerical speculations. To pave the way for the introduction of this sublime virtue in the administration of the af­fairs of a nation, the will of the community not the will of an individual ought to be the controling power: The sentiments of the peo­ple are always right, whereas those of an indi­vidual, especially in an elevated station, are too much under the government of sinister impres­sions. Next to a good disposition to conduct right political affairs may be ranked competent ability; The diffusion of knowledge is there­fore also requisite to produce this great improve­ment; which when effected, the conduct of a nation to itself and to other nations will afford a sight upon which celestial spirits will look with admiration.

In the first place, it will be the ardent object of the community to encrease the quantity of happi­ness, and secondly to diminish the influence of mi­sery among its members. With this view, schools of virtue and seminaries of learning will be founded—agriculture, commerce, and manufac­tures encouraged—the polite arts and the useful sciences patronised—and the rights of nature and the rights of religion respected: With this de­sign, it will also be the object of the Nation to assuage physical evils by the establishment of hospitals, alms-houses and public granaries, and to alleviate by proper correctives the moral ills [Page 17] which prevail. The shackles of slavery will then fall to the ground and the horrid instru­ments of capital punishment be only seen on the descriptive canvas.—The proud crest of op­pression will be levelled to the dust—the chica­nery of law banished from the seats of distribu­tive justice—and the long catalogue of crimes which disgraces our statute books considered as the forgery of misanthrophists or as the in­vention of diabolical spirits.

After viewing this sublime prospect of a na­tion happy in itself, let us behold the sublimer spectacle of all the nations of the world happy in each other.

No longer will the melancholy yew and the doleful cypress overshade the martial field—no longer will the voice of discord like Ate hot from hell cry havock and let loose the dogs of war—no longer will the din of arms and the clash of conflicting hosts "grate thunder" on the ear—but benevolence daughter of Heaven will compose the tempests of nations and extend the olive branch of peace over the Universe.

The first anticipation that presents itself, is a Congress of Ambassadors from all the nations of the world, to consult upon the ways and means of augmenting the mass of human hap­piness; and let not this idea receive the contemp­tuous sneer of high-pretending wisdom before it is brought to the touchstone of examination, for it is only an extension of the confederacies [Page 18] of bordering states, an amplification of the de­sign of Henry the Great of France to unite the views of the European Nations.

By this mighty congress of nations, a free commerce will be universally established; trade will be left open to the channels which nature points out; Duties and premiums and prohibi­tions will be no more; Commerce will seek the regions of industry and skill, and the wants of mankind will be supplied upon the basis of their virtues.

An university, for the illumination of the world, will also be founded; to which as the store-house of knowledge the learned of all na­tions will resort as formerly they did to antient Egypt. Here the European, the Asiatic, the African, and the American Literati will assem­ble and communicate to each other, the disco­veries, the curiosities and the knowledge of their respective continents; here the prejudices of country will vanish before the talisman of me­rit; here the ground of emulation will be wid­ened; and it will be no longer contended whe­ther a Frenchman or an Englishman but whe­ther a Native of the Eastern or Western Hemis­phere shall bear away the palm of genius and the trophies of knowledge.

Great improvements must also take place, which far surpass the momentum of power that a single nation can produce, but will with faci­lity proceed from their united strength. The [Page 19] hand of art will change the face of the Uni­verse; Mountains, deserts, and oceans will feel its mighty force. It will not then be debated whether hills shall be prostrated, but whether the Alps and the Andes shall be levelled? Nor whether sterile fields shall be fertilised, but whe­ther the deserts of Africa shall feel the power of cultivation? Nor whether rivers shall be join­ed, but whether the Caspian shall see the Medi­terranean, and the waves of the Pacific lave the Atlantic Shores?