Entered according to an Act of Congress, in the year 1835, at the Clerk's Office of the District of Rhode Island, by FRANCIS WAYLAND.

PREFACE.

In the following work, I have attempted to present the more important truths of Moral Science, in such a form as may be useful in SCHOOLS and ACADEMIES. With this view, it has been not merely abridged, but also rewritten; the argument in general omitted, and merely the result stated; and the illustrations adapted to the comprehension of the young. The style, so far as possible, has been rendered simple; and the words and phrases selected with special reference to the ordinary language of persons not accustomed to moral speculations. Such at least has

been the attempt. How far it has succeeded, can be learned only from experi

ment.

To each section and chapter, a number of Questions have been added. These are not designed as aids for learning the text; but, as exercises for practice, after the text has been learned. They, therefore, sometimes involve inferences from the truths stated in the text, and at other times, the practical application of the doctrines taught, to the purposes and business of ordinary life.

As this work is designed for schools, it may not be amiss to suggest the method, in which, the author supposes it may be most successfully taught. He would advise, that, in general, the text be given as a lesson by itself. After

this has been learned, the succeeding lesson, may be, the questions which follow, with a review of the section to which they refer. In this manner, I think the pupil will be the most likely to exercise his own mind upon the subject, and will thus understand it better, and retain it more perfectly. It is of course understood, that these questions are but a specimen of those which might easily be raised from the subjects presented. A thoughtful instructor will derive great pleasure from adding to them from his own reflections. It will also be a useful exercise, for each pupil to furnish questions to be answered by the other members of the class. If the instructor feel disposed to examine more fully for himself, the reasonings by which the doctrines in this work are support

ed, he will find them stated considerably at large, in the octavo work from which the present is abridged.

It deserves also to be remarked, that the end of the study of Moral Science is, to make men better. If in this respect it fail, it is at best useless. This should be continually borne in mind, by the instructor. Hence, his constant object should be, so to conduct the recitations on this subject, as to leave a moral impression on the mind of the student, to awaken in him a conviction of his own responsibility, and of his obligation to obey God, to create in him a love of virtue and a hatred of vice, and to teach him the blessings derived from selfgovernment, purity of character, and undissembled piety. The instructor can derive no higher reward, than to wit