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DIVISION OF THE SUBJECT.

3. Duties towards ourselves ; as the preservation of life, care ofhealth, chastity, sobriety, temperance, &c. This division hasbeen retained by Dr. Paley, but still he does not seem to besatisfied with it.*

There are duties public and private, personal, domestic, so-cial, and official. There are duties of peace and of war. Thereare duties appropriate to youth, to middle age, and to advancedlife ; duties of sex, of condition, of time, of place, and of cir-cumstance. There are duties of patriotism and of good neigh-bourhood ; duties of health and of sickness. The great andpermanent relations of husband and wife, of parents and children,of master and servant, all bring their duties with them. Wealthbrings its duties, influence its duties, knowledge its duties, talentstheir duties, rank its duties, and all the professions and employ-ments of life their corresponding duties. It has not been easyto fix on a division which shall comprise all these particulars,and which shall, at the same time, be natural and perspicuous.After much reflection, I have concluded to use the following ;

Part I. Our relation to God, and the moral duties thencearising.

Part II. Our relation to our country, and the moral dutiesthence arising ; that is, the duties of patriotism.

Part III. The chief relations of mankind to one another,and the duties thence arising ; that is, the duties which men re-ciprocally owe to each other.

Part IV. Personal duties, or the duties of men to them-selves.

Part V. A review of the chief professions and employ-ments of life, so far as regards the moral duties which theyinvolve, their moral principles, practices, influences, tenden-cies, &c.

Part VI. A special consideration of certain duties and vir-tues, of a character peculiarly Christian ; and a similar consider-tion of certain vices and evils.

The conclusion of the treatise embraces a review of the chiefmeans on which we are to rely, for improving the moral conditionof mankind, and for advancing human happiness.

* Moral and Political Philosophy, Book IV. p. 215.