espect to the address, or the complimentary gestures or ceremonies
of the world, if he be not inclined to reject them totally as the
Quakers do, he may find that there may be unquestionably evil in them,
if they are to be adjudged by the purity of the Christian system. He may
perceive, that there may be as much flattery and as great a violation of
truth through the medium of the body, as through the medium of the
tongue, and that the same mental degradation, or toss of dignified
independence of mind, may insensibly follow.

On the subject of conversation and manners, he may learn the propriety
of caution as to the use of idle words; of abstaining from scandal and
detraction; of withholding his assent to customs when started, however
fashionable, if immoral; of making himself useful by the dignity of the
topic he introduces, and by the decorum with which he handles it; of
never allowing his sprightliness to border upon folly, or his wit upon
lewdness, but to clothe all his remarks in an innocent and a simple
manner.

From the subject of customs connected with meals, such as that, for
example, of saying grace, he may team that this is a devotional act;
that it is not to be said as a mere ceremony, by thanking the Supreme
Being in so many words while the thoughts are roving on other subjects,
but that it should be said with seriousness and feeling, and that it
should never come as an oblation from the tongue, except it come also
an oblation from the heart. And on that which relates to the drinking of
toasts, he may see the moral necessity of an immediate extirpation of
it. He may see that this custom has not one useful or laudable end in
view; that it is a direct imitation of Pagans in the worst way in which
we can follow them--their enjoyment of sensual pleasures; that it leads
directly and almost inevitably to drunkenness, and of course to the
degradation of the rational and moral character.

A second advantage, which they who compose the world may derive on this
occasion, will be seen from a recapitulation of some of the principles
which the work contains. The advantage in question will chiefly consist
in this, that, whatever these principles may be, they may be said to be
such as have been adopted by a moral people, and this after serious
deliberation, and solely on a religious ground. It is of great
importance from whence principles come recommended to our notice. If
they come from the inconsiderate and worthless, t