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KNOWLEDGE AND UNION ARE POWER:
POWER, DIRECTED BY KNOWLEDGE, IS HAPPINESS:
HAPPINESS IS THE END OF CREATION.
No. 7] NOVEMBER 1, 1828. [1d.
THE SPIRIT OF CO-OPERATION.
“Sirs, ye are Brethren.”
1. Of all the relations of life there is none more endearing than that of a brother. In sickness and health; in joy and sorrow; in prosperity and adversity, this relationship is a balm for every wound. A family is the place where we are to look for the purest and happiest feelings which man is permitted to enjoy upon earth. A family is a community as far as it goes. All are fed from the same stock. All sit at the same table, and drink of the same cup. All have a common lot, either of prosperity or adversity. All hold the same rank in society. If one should happen to be more fortunate than the rest in the world, and rise to wealth or honour, he imparts a portion of his prosperity to the others. He soothes the old age of his parents: or he makes them happy by his public honours, and by his kind and filial attentions to their wishes. He lends his hand to those who are of his own age, and helps them on their journey: or he superintends, directs, and patronizes those who are younger than himself, in their studies, their pursuits, and professions. Thus, by a feeling of grateful and laudable ambition, he becomes the father of his household; and every one, at his approach, “rises up and calls him blessed.”
2. This family affection ought to extend itself from private to public life; from the family to the world. It ought to be the model upon which everyone should endeavour to form his own character. The reward of such a character is sweet in the extreme. It exists in the sympathy of every bosom: it makes a family of the world: it sees a brother in every human being, and rejoices in every opportunity of doing him good.
3. Man was evidently intended to be brought to this lovely state by nature and by providence—and in our apprehension those terms are synonymous. Man was never intended to live by the misery or the ruin of his neighbour—but by his prosperity and happiness. That portion of evil which unavoidably befalls some people in the present state of the world, was intended to be mitigated, if not obviated, by the prosperity and happiness. As one individual bear but a trifling proportion to the whole race, so the misfortunes or unhappiness of one, may be abundantly compensated by the overwhelming prosperity of the great mass of mankind.
4. “There is a friend,” says the wise man, “that sticketh faster than a brother!” However strong the affection and interest of a family may be, man is so formed as to contract indissoluble attachments to some one or more of his fellow creatures. Two minds may have the same pursuits and studies--the same views and objects—they may delight in the same species of knowledge—and may join together in the same career of improvement and science. The common object may be sufficient to bind them together in friendship, and they may follow the common pursuit with double ardour and double relish.
