About the Beginning of the Year 1814, having Leisure on my Hands, it occurred to my Mind that it might be useful to employ it, in enumerating the several Virtues that I ought to cultivate, and contrast them by their opposite Vices. Before I had made much Progress in this Enumeration, however, I found that I ought to consider the Duties I owed to my Neighbour, and the ill Dispositions I ought to avoid; and that, finally, I ought to extend the Enumeration to all the Duties I owed to every Being with whom I had any Concern. And, as I felt disposed, I applied myself to it, more with a View to improve myself in the Knowledge of my Duty than from any other Consideration; and a very imperfect and incorrect Business it is. I should willingly have written it over again, and made many Corrections, Alterations and Additions, if I had not found the Labour of transcribing too much for the feeble Unsteadiness of my Hand; for I often find myself unable unable to write legibly, as, from the many Blunders that occur in the Manuscript, may easily be conceived. The The Imperfections of this Compilement are many and great. great. The Arrangement is defective. Style and Language are incorrect. Repetitions are frequent. The Subdivisions are too numerous. The Observations are frequently trite and vulgar, and probably, sometimes, erroneous and cold. I would hope, however, that with all its Faults, it may be of some Use, to assist in Self-Examination, which was the End I had principally in View. And I cannot but think that a well executed Work, drawn up, on this Plan, might be a useful and acceptable Present to the Public. PREFACE. The word Morality is derived from the Latin Mores, and its proper Signification is right Behaviour, Conduct, and Manner of life, and comprehends the Whole Duty of Man (in the most extensive Sense of the word) to every sensitive Being with whom he has any Concern, from the Supreme Deity who created and governs the Universe, down to the meanest Reptile that crawls beneath His Footstool; for all have their Rights. Now if Morality be synonimous with right Behaviour, it must necessarily include Religion, as it undoubtedly does; for he who neglects his Duty to God and his Saviour, is (to say the least) as immoral as he who neglects his Duty to his Neighbour or himself. Morality then ought always to be considered as including Religion as one essential Branch of it, and as the same as doing the whole Will of God, which is the whole of our Duty. But Religion, as the Word is commonly understood, does not include the Whole of our Duty, as our Duty to our Neighbour is not commonly comprehended in our Idea of Religion. How |