PREFACE.

THE Author of this Work died in the spring of 1828, leaving in manuscript the three Essays of which it consists. We learn from himself that the undertaking originated in a belief (in which he probably is far from being alone) that the existing treatises on Moral Philosophy did not exhibit the principles nor enforce the obligations of morality in all their perfection and purity; that a work was yet wanted which should present a true and authoritative standard of rectitude-one by an appeal to which the moral character of human actions might be rightly estimated. This he here endeavours to supply.

Rejecting what he considered the false grounds of duty, and erroneous principles of action which are proposed in the most prominent and most generally received of our extant theories of moral obligation, he proceeds to erect a system of morality upon what he regards as the only true and legitimate basis-the WILL OF GOD. He makes, therefore, the authority of the Deity the sole ground of duty, and His communicated will the only ultimate standard of right and wrong; and assumes, "that wheresoever this will is made known, human duty is determined;—and that neither the conclusions of philosophers, nor advantages, nor dangers, nor pleasures, nor sufferings, ought to have any opposing influence in regulating our conduct."

The attempt to establish a system of such uncompromising morality, must necessarily bring the writer into direct collision with the advocates of the utilitarian scheme, particularly with Dr Paley; and accordingly it will be found that he frequently enters the lists with this great champion of Expediency. With what success-how well he exposes the fallacies of that specious but dangerous doctrine-how far he succeeds in refuting the arguments by which it is sought to be maintained, and in establishing another system of obligations and duties and rights upon a more stable foundation, must be left to the reader to determine.

In thus attempting to convert a system of Moral Philosophy, dubious, fluctuating, and inconsistent with itself, into a definite and harmonious code of Scripture Ethics, the Author undertook a task for which, by the original structure of his mind and his prevailing habits of reflection, he was, perhaps, peculiarly fitted. He had sought for himself, and he endeavours to convey to others, clear perceptions of the true and the right; and in maintaining what he regarded as truth and rectitude, he shows every where an unshackled independence of mind, and a fearless, unflinching spirit. The work will be found, moreover, if we mistake not, to be the result of a careful study of the writings of moralists, of much thought, of an intimate acquaintance with the genins

of the Christian religion, and an extensive observation of human life in those spheres of action which are seldom apt to attract the notice of the meditative philosopher.

In proceeding to illustrate his principles, the Author has evidently sought, as far as might be, to simplify the subject, to disencumber it of abstruse and metaphysical appendages, and, rejecting subtleties and needless distinctions, to exhibit a standard of morals that should be plain, perspicuous, and practicable.

Premising thus much, the work must be left to its own merits. It is the last labour of a man laudably desirous of benefiting his fellow men; and it will fulfil the Author's wish, if its effect be to raise the general tone of morals, to give distinctness to our perceptions of rectitude, and to add strength to our resolutions to virtue.

39

31