то

THE STUDENTS

OF THE

WORKING MEN'S COLLEGE,

45, GREAT ORMOND STREET,

These Lectures,

DELIVERED TO A FEW OF THEIR NUMBER,

ON A SUBJECT WHICH CONCERNS THEM ALL,

ARE DEDICATED,

BY THEIR FRIEND AND FELLOW WORKER,

THE AUTHOR.

ADVERTISEMENT.

THESE Lectures were delivered to a small Class of Students in our Working Men's College at eight o'clock on Sunday mornings. I have not scrupled to tell this Class that I consider the question whether there is a foundation for human morality-or whether it is dependent upon the opinions and fashions of different ages and countries, to be the question in which, as a body and as individuals, we are most interested; the question which most affects our studies and our daily lives. And I have told them also where I find the answer to that question. But I have never used the plural pronoun; I have not assumed to speak except in my own person; and I should be very sorry if my colleagues-no one of whom has heard or read any of these Lectures-were held responsible for the sentiments contained in them. Any Manuals which they may hereafter publish for the use of the Students in

their own departments will embody the results of their thought and experience. The present Volume does not profess to be a Manual of Christian Ethics, composed by me. St. John supplies the Manual which I wish my pupils to use; if they study him they will soon discover the feebleness and insufficiency of his interpreter.

TUNBRIDGE WELLS,

Sept. 14th, 1857.