I now quit the subject of Personal Duties, begging you always to bear in mind that no other obligation can ever come before them; and that in their high practice lies not only our hope of fulfilling the end of our own creation and lifting ourselves nearer to God and goodness, but also our best and most unfailing method of blessing and helping our brother men.

I shall for the remainder of this Course treat of the Third great branch of Morals, namely Social Duties, and these I shall classify,—not subjectively, as we classified Personal Duties, according to the virtues to be exercised, but objectively, according to the persons to whom Social Duties are owed.—Such duties, as regards women, will fall into the following groups,—1. The Duties of a Woman as a Member of a Family—Mother, Daughter, Sister, Wife. 2. The Duties of a Woman as Mistress of a Household. 3. As a Member of Society. 4. As a Citizen of the State and Member of the Human Race.

Viewing the vast expanse of Social Duty before us, and its ever widening horizon, we may bear with us two guiding thoughts as general directions to our efforts.

One thought is, that as Virtue is a higher end of human life than Happiness, so whenever we can conduce to the Virtue of our rational fellow creature, then that is the proper mode to do our duty by him.