MORAL PHILOSOPHY. (From Dick's Philosophy of Religion.) WE have an abundance of ponderous volumes on the subject of moral philosophy; but the different theories which have been proposed and discussed, and the metaphysical mode in which the subject has generally been treated, have seldom led to any beneficial practical results. To attempt to treat the subject of morals without a reference to divine revelation, as most of our celebrated moral writers have done, seems to be little short of egregious trifling. It cannot serve the purpose of an experiment, to ascertain how far the unassisted faculties of man can go in acquiring a knowledge of the foundation and the rules of moral action; for the prominent principles of Christian morality are so interwoven into the opinions, intercourses, and practices of modern civilized society, and so familiar to the mind of every man who has been educated in a Christian land, that it is impossible to eradicate the idea of them from the mind, when it attempts to trace the duty of man solely on the principles of reason. When the true principles of morality are once communicated through the medium of revelation, reason can demonstrate their utility, and their conformity to the character of God, to the order of the universe, and to the relations which subsist among intelligent agents. But we are by no means in a situation to determine whether they could ever have been discovered by the investigations and efforts of the unassisted powers of the human mind. The only persons who could fairly try such an experiment were the Greeks and Romans and other civilized nations in ancient times, to whom the light of revelation was not imparted. And what was the result of all their researches on this most important of all subjects? What were the practical effects of all the fine-spun theories and subtile speculations which originated in the schools of ancient philosophy, under the tuition of Plato and Socrates, of Aristotle and Zeno? The result is recorded in the annals of history, and in the writings of the apostles: "They became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish hearts were darkened. They were filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, envy, murder, deceit, malignity; they were backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without natural affection, implacable and unmerciful." Their general conduct was characterized by pride, lasciviousness, and revenge; they indulged in the commission of unnatural crimes; they were actuated by restless ambition, and they gloried in covering the earth with devastation and carnage. It is true, indeed, that some of the sects of philosophers propounded several maxims and moral precepts, the propriety of which cannot be questioned; but none of them could agree respecting either the foundation of virtue, or the ultimate object toward which it should, be directed, or that in which the chief happiness of man consists; and hence it happened, that the precepts delivered by the teachers of philosophy had little influence on their own conduct, and far less on that of the unthinking multitude. Where do we find, in any of the philosophical schools of Greece and Rome, a recommendation of such precepts as these:" Love your enemies: do good to them who hate you; and pray for them who despitefully use you and persecute you?" In opposition to such divine injunctions, we can trace, in the maxims and conduct of the ancient sages, a principle of pride insinuating itself into the train of their most virtuous actions. It has been reckoned by some a wise and a witty answer which tone of the philosophers returned to his friend, who had advised him to revenge an injury he had suffered: "What!" says he, "if an ass kicks me,, must I needs kick him again?" Some may be disposed to consider such a reply as indicating a manly spirit, and true greatness of soul; but it carries in it a proud and supercilious contempt of human nature, and a haughtiness of mind, which are altogether inconsistent with the mild and benevolent precepts of Him who, in the midst of his severest sufferings from men, exclaimed, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." It appears somewhat preposterous to waste our time, and the energies of our minds, in laboured metaphysical disquisitions to ascertain the foundations of virtue and the motives from which it is to be pursued ; whether it consists in utility, in the fitness of things, or in the regu lations of states and political associations, and whether it is to be prosecuted from principle of self-love or of benerolence, when every useful question that can be started on this subject may be immediately solved by a direct ap. plication to the revelations of heaven, and an infallible rule derived for the direction of our conduct in all the circumstances and relations in which we may be placed. Even although the moral philosopher were to reject the Bible as a revelation from God, it would form no reason why its annunciations should be altogether overlooked or rejected. As an impartial investigator of the history of man, of the moral constitution of the human mind, and of the circumstances of our present condition, he is bound to take into view every fact and every circumstance which may have a bearing on the important question which he undertakes to decide. Now, it is a fact that such a book as the Bible actually exists-that, amidst the wreck of thousands of volumes which the stream of time has carried into oblivion, it has survived for several thousands of years-that its announcements have directed the opinions and the conduct of myriads of mankind-that many of the most illustrious characters that have adorned our race have submitted to its dictates, and governed their tempers and actions by its moral precepts-that those who have been governed by its maxims have been distinguished by uprightness of conduct, and been most earnest and successful in promoting the happiness of mankind— that this book declares, that a moral revulsion has taken place in the constitution of man since he was placed upon this globe-and that the whole train of its moral precepts proceeds on the ground of his being considered as a depraved intelligence. These are facts which even the infidel philosopher must admit; and, instead of throwing them into the shade, or keeping them entirely out of view, he is bound, as an unbiassed inquirer, to take them all into account in his researches into the moral economy of the human race. In particular, he is bound to inquire into the probability of the alleged fact of the depravity of man, and to consider whether the general train of human actions, the leading facts of history in reference to all ages and nations, and the destructive effects of several operations in the system of nature, have not a tendency to corroborate this important point. For the fact, that man is a fallen intelligence, must materially modify every system of ethics that takes it into account. Should this fact be entirely overlooked, and yet ultimately be found to rest on a solid foundation, then all the speculations and theories of those moralists F who profess to be guided solely by the dictates of unassisted reason, may prove to be nothing more than the reveries of a vain imagination, and to be built on "the baseless fabric of a vision.” METRICAL VERSION OF THE PSALMS IN TO THE EDITOR OF THE ORTHODOX PRESBYTERIAN. SIR, The subjoined communication has been suggested by some of those measures lately adopted by our church, for the evangelizing of our countrymen in the dark places of this land. If you think it worthy of a place in your useful, and widely-circulated periodical, it is altogether at your service. While yourself and others have written largely on the general objects of the mission, it may not be amiss to present your readers with a brief comment upon those measures that are more peculiarily Irish in their aspect, and national in their principle and general tendency. I am, Sir, yours, &c. B. WHEN a church sets itself, in good earnest, to the work of spiritual cultivation, beyond the boundaries of its own vineyard, it must seek out some ready door of entrance into the understandings and the affections of the ignorant, the superstitious, and the profane; and as the look and the language of love constitute the key to every human bosom, we need only to make the one shine forth upon the countenance, and to make the other intelligible to the comprehension, to produce, at least, serious inquiry, if not conviction and conversion. When the language of truest affection is accompanied with any frown of insulting superiority, then does it lose half its charm to convince, by wanting that aspect, and those tones of kindness which conciliate even where they do not persuade. Again,when we make every possible external demonstration of love; and from the soul of benevolence there gush forth words of peace and charity to assuage every stormy passion, and to unite mankind in the bonds of brotherly affection; yet should this language sound strange to the ear, and fall cold upon the heart, either because it is not the dialect of home and childhood, or because it is the language of a different religion, with which our brethren can have no sympathy, so long as it is clothed in a foreign, or perhaps, an hostile garb; then do we spend our most strenuous exertions in a vain and foolish attempt to make them wise and better men. The Presbyterian Church has, I conceive, been led, in the good providence of God, to the best possible expedient for accomplishing the moral reformation of this unhappy and distracted land. In those resolutions passed at her two missionary meetings, she recognizes the principle of sending forth among Irishmen, who still hold dear their own native tongue, whose accents they first lisped, and whose words of endearment and tenderness have soothed their waywardness, or dried up, as by magic, the fountain of their sorrows, Irish missionaries, armed with the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, sheathed in a scabbard of Irish manufacture, and on this account, more trenchent and terrible when drawn forth for the cause and covenant of the Lord God of Hosts. This attempt of our church is founded upon no ingenious speculation or plausible theory, but upon the solid basis of experience and experiment. For at so early a period as the year 1630, Bedell, then Provost of Trinity College, and a Presbyterian in principle, established an Irish lecture for the education of native missionaries to preach in the vernacular tongue; and when afterwards promoted to the See of Kilmore and Ardagh, which he held more in the style of a moderator of a Presbytery, than of a prelate of a diocess, he there not only preached one-half of the sabbath day in Irish, but endeavoured strenuously to procure the translation of the whole Bible into the Irish language, that it might be freely circulated among his adopted countrymen; and though his plans and purposes of reformation were opposed and thwarted by the civil and ecclesiastical authorities of his day, yet were they blessed with partial and very encouraging success. They constituted the true system of a godly reformation, by the following out of which, with vigour and perseverance, Ireland must, at this moment, have been not a country of superstition and discord, but a land of righteousness and peace. Other measures were adopted by other men of a different spirit; but they were, in general, measures of proscription, which all miserably failed in doing good, and tended only to increase the evils of ignorance and error... 1 L When we turn to the records of our own church, we find, that in the year 1710, at a meeting of Synod, held in Monaghan, it was overtured, that six ministers and three probationers, who understood the Irish language, should be sent out by this church, as its witnesses for the truth, into every dark corner of Ireland. Had even this cheap and small machinery |