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that are vast and sublime; and, by fixing its views on the mighty powers and achievements of man, on the designs which he has already accomplished, and on those still greater designs which he is capable of accomplishing, it associates with his nature the grandeur of immortality. It was because Socrates and Cicero entertained such enlarged notions of the intellectual and moral powers of man, and studied his nature under every aspect which it presents, that their writings possess a charm for every reader, and leave that impression on the mind which stimulates to virtuous and lofty exertion. When we rise from the perusal we feel, not that we have been reading a libel on the species, composed by the profligate wit of an acute but vulgar mind,-we feel that there is a principle within us which cannot be mortal, which rises to an ideal standard of beauty and loveliness and moral perfection, far above the realities of the present scene, and that we have been destined by the Power which formed and which sustains all things, for nobler ends than any which terminate on this side of the grave. With such impressions we allow our thoughts to be carried forward to a period of greater improvement in the history of the human race-when philosophy and religion will shed still happier influences on the world -when the beneficent arrangements of Providence will make truth and virtue finally prevail over falsehood and error, and when the happiness of the species will be removed from every thing that might hurt or destroy in all God's holy mountain.

These are the pleasing views of the future fortunes of our race, which we are led to entertain by a fami

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liar acquaintance with the Philosophy of the Human Mind. They are, like any other class of opinions, susceptible of abuse, by leading, when carried to an extreme, to paradox and inconsistency; they are, however, liberal and noble, and closely allied to all that is great and virtuous in mankind: and it is no slight presumption in favour of their truth, that" the system which represents them, even when stated with due limitations, as altogether groundless and visionary, leads by a short and inevitable process to the conclusions either of the Atheist or of the Manichean." It is an evidence of their conformity to sound reason, that they are in perfect accordance with the intimations of that pure religion which breathes peace and good-will to man; which confirms our previous convictions of the ends for which he was formed, and of the immortality through which he is to live; that inspires us with anticipations of future good, far higher and more comprehensive than ever could have entered into his heart to conceive; and that fills us with admiration of the mysterious ways of that benignant and omnipotent Being who is yet to crown him with glory and honour.

While the study of Moral Philosophy is thus accompanied with many general advantages, it has peculiar claims to the attention of the divine, the teacher of youth, the statesman, the orator, and the legislator. To the preacher, who must gain access to the hearts of his audience, before he can promote their religious and moral improvement, an accurate acquaintance with the powers, and susceptibilities, and workings of the human mind is of the greatest utility.

Though he be provided with the instructions which he is to communicate in the volume of inspiration, it is his duty to study the means by which these instructions may be rendered effectual: to ascertain with precision the various affections of that immortal spirit whose ultimate happiness it is his professed object to attain, and to acquire the faculty of so unveiling the hidden windings of the heart, as to bring the doctrines he delivers to bear on the consciences of those that hear him. In the whole range of science, I know of no branch of knowledge more necessary for his discharging with fidelity and success the important functions of the sacred office, than the Philosophy of the Human Mind; and were this a fit place to introduce illustrations in support of my opinion, I could refer to Barrow and Butler, Gisborne and Witherspoon, and to many others, whose usefulness as preachers has been universally allowed.

- I am not ignorant of an opinion which generally prevails, that a metaphysical turn of thinking is unfavourable to that warmth of feeling which is essential to the orator, and without which, the most profound sermons will have little effect on any audience. This opinion, I am persuaded, is erroneous; at least, so far as it regards that noble science founded on the most rigorous induction, and which we denominate the Philosophy of the Human Mind. That the disquisitions of the schools which have no relation to the phenomena of nature, and which, consequently, pos sess nothing to awaken the finer susceptibilities of the heart, must have had a tendency to narrow the range of the faculties, and destroy the harmony of their

operations, is highly probable, if not fully certain ; and it will also be admitted, that wherever there exists an extreme degree of mental insensibility, whether it proceed from original constitution, or from an improper system of education, it may even be increased by an exclusive study of intellectual philosophy. But with these limitations, I cannot think that a science which directly leads us to contemplate the dignity and the grandeur of human nature-which affords us the most pleasing proofs of the wisdom and goodness of the Deity-which corrects and enlarges our views of moral obligations, and which refines the mind, and almost fixes its abode in unconfined regions of beauty and loveliness-that such a science should have any tendency to injure the finest, the most evanescent feelings of the heart, is a supposition which cannot be admitted. Should we not expect, on the other hand, that the gradual unfoldings of the world of mind, exhibiting the order and variety of its wonderful phenomena, would kindle into rapture the thoughts of one who is not quite insensible to the objects that are placed before him, and who is capable of receiving pleasure from whatever is beautiful or sublime in nature. Observation bears us out in the justness of this expectation; since three of the most eloquent men whom modern times have known,-men whose varied and extensive acquirements have done honour to the species, and whose memory will live through the revolutions of time, are distinguished as metaphysicians: I need scarcely say, that I allude to Burke, Stewart, and Brown. It is the Philosophy of the Mind alone, which, by furnishing us with a general mass of the

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field of human knowledge, can enable us to proceed with steadiness, and in an useful direction; and while it gratifies our curiosity, and animates our exertions, by exhibiting to us all the various bearings of our journey, can conduct us to those eminences from whence the eye may wander over the vast and unexplored regions of science."

CHAPTER II.

ON THE MORAL QUALIFICATIONS NECESSARY FOR PROSECUTING MORAL PHILOSOPHY.

THE nature of those qualifications requisite to the study of moral philosophy, as well as their vast importance to the lover of wisdom, are suggested to us by the history and the attainments of that immortal man who united in himself, to a degree unexampled by any other individual of the species, the sublimest genius and the profoundest humility. That which a living critic has said of Bacon, may with equal truth and justice be applied to Newton, who, with such fearless and persevering fortitude, followed the path which his illustrious predecessor had marked out: "he is probably a single instance of a mind, which, in philosophizing, always reaches the point of elevation whence the whole prospect is commanded, without ever rising to such a distance as to lose a distinct perception of every part of it. It is perhaps not less singular, that his philosophy should be founded at

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