The universality of a moral sense has been questioned by many; yet the idea of duty is felt by all. When enlightened as well as sincere, and carried out to its legitimate extent, it exalts and dignifies human nature. This may be called the great conservative law of creation. It is the reflection of this principle in the material world that we see binding the spheres to their central sun, and preventing them dashing from their orbits in wild and disastrous confusion. The sense of moral accountableness alone has power to conquer the “lusts of the flesh and the lusts of the mind,” and hold them in subjection. The poet of our age has apostrophized duty in words which you should make your own. “To humble function’s awful power I call thee. I myself commend Unto thy guidance from this hour; Oh, let my weakness have an end. Give unto me, made lowly, wise, The spirit of self-sacrifice; The confidence of reason give, And in the light of Truth, thy _bondslave_ let me live.” You are happy or miserable, you are honoured or degraded, just as you neglect or observe this primal duty. Armed with a sense of duty, you are proof against all representations of danger. In confirmation of this, we can adduce a cloud of witnesses, an host of martyrs, multitudes of all nations and ages, and conditions and sexes, for whom the flames of the tormentor were kindled in vain; against whom the sword of persecution was drawn to no purpose; and who held fast their integrity, though they knew death to be the consequence. Those who are nerved with a sense of duty cannot be worsted. They fall back upon the strength of the Eternal, and set all the powers of evil at defiance.