five primary kinds of Rights of which we have spoken (80); Personal Security, Property, Contract, Marriage, and Government. These Rights, defined and realized by Law and Custom, are primary and necessary elements and conditions of human action. It is in his doings with regard to these things, that a large part of a man's external actions consists. And Morality, which treats of actions (76), must have a reference to these, the conditions and elements of action.

But Morality regards other elements as well as those to which Law refers. Laws regard external actions only. But external actions are the result of internal actions, namely, of Will and Intention, of Mental Desires and of Affections. These internal actions are essential parts of external actions, considered as human actions; or rather, these internal actions, Desire, Affection, Intention, Will, are the only really human part of actions.

External actions, as the motions in our own limbs, and the motions and changes thereby produced in material things, and in the state of other persons, are not our actions, except so far as they are the consequences of our intention and will (61). When we have willed, what follows is a consequence of Laws of Nature, extraneous to us; and derives its character of right or wrong, so far as we are concerned in it, from the Will, and that which preceded the Will. Thus, if I fire off a pistol and kill a man, his pain and death, the grief of his friends, the loss to his family and his country, all follow as the consequence of the act of Will by which I pull the trigger. They are all morally included in that act of the Will. All those consequences are produced by the working of the Springs of Action within me. They may all be 'prevented by the operation of other Faculties, withholding me from this act of Will. Hence the Will, the Springs of Action which impel it, and the Faculties which control and direct it, must be the main subjects of our consideration, in treating of actions as right and wrong.

Will, Intention, Desire, Affection, are governed, not merely by external objects and by transient impulses, but by Habits and Dispositions, which give a permanent character to the operation of the Springs of Action and of the controlling Faculties.

107 The Reason is the Faculty by which we conceive General Rules, and Special Cases as conformable to General Rules (14). It is therefore the Faculty by which we conceive Actions as right or wrong. The Moral Sentiments, Approval of what is right, Condemnation of what is wrong, are powerful Springs of

action (82), and thus impel us to carry into effect the judgments formed by the Reason. When we intentionally conform to the Supreme Rule, we speak of our actions as rightly directed by our Reason.

Actions to which we are rightly directed by our Reason are Duties. The Habits and Dispositions by which we perform our Duties are Virtues. Morality is the Doctrine of Duties and Virtues.

108 The internal actions, Desire, Affection, Intention, Will, point to external Acts; they have external acts for their Objects, and derive their character and significance, as right or wrong, from the external Acts to which they thus point. Thus the Desire of Having leads to Acts of appropriation, and derives its character, as right or wrong, from the Acts of appropriation to which it points. Hence, if this, or any other internal Act, point to external Acts of which the character, as right or wrong, is already determined; these internal Acts have, generally, their characters as right or wrong determined. If the Desire of Having point to the Act of Stealing, which Act is wrong; the Desire itself is wrong. For, as we have already said, it is the internal Springs of Action from which the Act derives its character of wrong. If it be wrong, it is so because the Desire and Intention which produce it are wrong.

The character of actions as right or wrong, considered with reference to the internal Springs of Action from which they proceed, is their Moral character. See (76).

Morality, as we have seen (78), presupposes a state of human society in which positive Rights exist; and moral Rules must be expressed, at least in their first and general form, in terms which have reference to positive Rights. As a primary and general Rule, the violation of positive Rights is morally wrong. And thus the Moral character of actions, as expressed in general rules, is governed by their jural character. To steal is jurally wrong; it is contrary to universal natural Law. Hence the Volition which aims at theft is morally wrong. The Intention which points to theft is also morally wrong. The Desire of that which belongs to another is morally wrong. These internal acts are wrong, even if the external act do not take place. It is wrong to put my hand in a man's pocket in order to pick it, even if I find nothing there. It is wrong to intend to do so, even if I am prevented making the attempt by the presence of a looker-on. It is wrong to desire another man's money, even if I do not proceed to take it.

109 As there are Laws, which express Rules of external action, there are also Moral Precepts, which express Rules of internal action; that is, of Will and Intention, of the Desires and Affections. Thus the Law is, Do not steal; the Moral Precept is, Do not covet, or desire what is another's.

Such Moral Precepts express our Duties. They may be put in various forms. Thus the Precept, Do not covet, may be expressed by saying, It is wrong to covet; We ought not to covet; We must not covet; We should not covet; We are not to covet; It is our Duty not to covet; We are morally bound not to covet; We must not be guilty of covetousness.

110 I have said (108) that Moral Rules must be expressed, in their first and general form at least, in terms of positive Rights. The limitation is introduced because Laws, the positive definitions of Rights for the moment, may be themselves immoral. Rights, as we have described them (78), are arrangements not only historically established, but also established in conformity with the supreme Rule; that is, they are such as are right. The actual definitions of Rights at any moment, that is, the state of the Law, may need improvement and reform: but in general, the Law gives, for the moment, the definitions of Rights upon which Morality must proceed.

The distribution of Rights into the five kinds which we have mentioned, was founded mainly upon the enumeration of the principal Desires and Affections of our nature. The Moral precepts must also have reference to these our principal Springs of Action: and therefore we shall have Moral Precepts corresponding to each of the Classes of legal Obligation. Hence we shall have Precepts of Duty corresponding to each of the Classes of Rights of which we have spoken (80).

Thus there are Rights of the Person, and a corresponding Class of Obligations. We are bound by Law to abstain from inflicting any personal harm on any one through anger, malice, or negligence. We are therefore bound morally to abstain from the affections which aim at any such harm, and the habits of mind which lead to it. It is our Duty to avoid Anger, Malice, and the Carelessness which may lead to another's hurt. The Moral Precepts are; Be not angry with any man: Bear no Malice: Neglect no one's safety.

There are the Rights of Property, and a corresponding Class of Obligations. We are bound by Law not to meddle with the Property of another; nor to take or appropriate what is not our own.

We are morally bound to abstain from the Intentions and Desires which point to such appropriation. It is our Duty to avoid the Wish to possess what is another's. The Moral Precept is, Do not covet.

There is a Class of Obligations which regards Contracts and Promises. We are bound by Law to perform our Contracts; not to break our Engagements. We are morally bound not to wish to break our Engagements. And as the moral obligation is not confined by mere legal limits, we are morally bound to perform our engagements, whether or not they are legally valid as Contracts. It is our Duty to perform our Promises: not to deceive or mislead any man by our words. The Moral Precepts are, Do not break your word; Do not deceive.

There is a Class of Obligations which regards the Marriage Union. We are bound by Law not to meddle with the person, or seduce the conjugal affection, of her who belongs to another. There is a Class of Duties which regards the Desires and Affections on which this Union is founded. We are morally bound not to allow these Desires and Affections to point to unlawful objects. The Moral Precept is, Do not lust after her.

There is a Class of Obligations which regards the Governors and the Government of the State to which we belong. We are jurally bound to obey the Governors, and to conform our actions to the Law. We are morally bound to conform our Desires and Intentions to the Law. It is our Duty to submit to positive Laws, as the realization and definition of the Supreme Law. The Moral Precepts are, Do not desire what the Law forbids. Do not desire to violate general Laws.

The Moral Precepts just stated: Be not angry: Bear no malice: Do not covet: Do not lie: Do not deceive: Do not lust: Do not desire to break Law: are to be applied to the whole train of our affections, desires, thoughts, and purposes, and to the whole course of actions, internal and external, which make up our lives. By their application to the various circumstances of human character and condition, the Classes of Duties, thus pointed out, are further particularized and defined.

CHAPTER II.

OF THE IDEA OF MORAL GOODNESS.

111 As we have just seen, the Precepts of Morality, so far as they have a proximate bearing upon external actions, admit of a distribution corresponding to the classification of Rights, because both Moral Precepts and Rights have a reference to the primary Springs of Action, the Desires and Affections. So suggested and arranged, the Moral Precepts point out certain Conceptions which we are to avoid; Anger, Malice, Covetousness, Lying, Lust, Law-breaking.

But this reference of actions and dispositions to external things is not the most essential element of Morality. Morality implies a reference to the Supreme Rule of Human Action, as well as to the social and material circumstances of man's being. External Rights are the conditions and boundaries, Rightness in the Soul is the source, of Morality (105).

And this Rightness in the Soul includes a Rightness in all the Dispositions and Habits therewith connected; not in those only which have a proximate bearing upon external actions; but in internal actions, thoughts and emotions, as such; and in all that discloses or affects the condition of the Soul. Men have an Idea of Rightness in the Soul and the Dispositions therewith connected, as Goodness, or Virtue.

The Idea of Goodness or Virtue grows up in men's minds, and grows more and more distinct, as they consider their relation to the Supreme Rule of Human Action. By such consideration, they are led to see that all their actions ought to be regulated by Virtue and Duty; that their Intentions, Dispositions, Affections, Habits of Thought and of Feeling, ought also to be regulated and formed by Virtue and Duty, inasmuch as these also are actions; and that the complete Idea of Virtue or Goodness implies such a regulation and formation of the whole internal being of

man.

112 Moreover men, as they consider the relation of the Supreme Rule of Action to the various Affections and Desires which belong to man's nature, and to the material and social conditions of his existence, are led to see that the idea of Virtue or Goodness in general involves several separate Virtues, as Benevolence, Justice, Veracity, and the like.