If

carry about with us at all times a vivid conception of the limitation of our faculties, and to let the truth sink deep into our hearts,-that over the abstract nature or essence of all things, whether moral or physical, the Almighty has thrown an impenetrable veil of mystery. Our ambition and boundless curiosity may induce us to draw aside this veil; but our efforts will end in disappointment, and our curiosity will remain unsatisfied. we persevere in our presumptuous and unhallowed course, difficulties and embarrassments will thicken around us, and our only reward, and the only legacy we will have to leave to our successors, will be, a few vague and indefinite notions, and a multitude of words without meaning, The real essence of mental, as well as material objects, may be compared to the land of promise of the Israelites of old, of which they were permitted to have a distant prospect, but into which they were not generally permitted to enter. The line of demarcation between what is possible and what is impossible for men to know, is, for all useful purposes, clearly marked and discernible. The author of nature has stamped upon the face of things, in characters sufficiently legible for the use of ignorant and unwary philosophic wanderers, "Thus far thou shalt go, and no farther."

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CHAPTER II.

A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE ANCIENT SYSTEMS OF MORAL PHILOSOPHY, DOWN TO THE END OF THE FIFTH CENTURY OF THE CHRISTIAN ERA.

THE objects of moral science, and inquiries immediately or remotely connected with them, have been at all times subjects of interesting discussion among mankind, from the earliest ages of literature down to the present period. Nearly two-thirds of all the really valuable writings of the ancient sages and philosophers, whose names have been transmitted down to us through many generations, may be said to consist of ethical disquisitions, mingled with a considerable portion of the leading principles of natural religion.

And it may here be remarked, that a very limited acquaintance with the ancient philosophers must convince us, that in regard to matters con

nected with ethics and natural religion, and particularly as to the fundamental principle of all rational worship-the existence of a first great cause, they carried their researches to as great a length as the circumscribed nature of the human faculties would allow. Speculations on the rules and obligations of morality, and those topics which were considered necessarily associated with them-the origin of the world-the nature and essence of the first cause, and the constitution of the human soul; were considered by them as studies of a peculiarly exalted and ennobling description; and entitled by their intrinsic merits, and the high intellectual endowments they called into active exertion, to take precedence of all other branches of human knowledge. And though we are apt betimes to smile at the vain conceits and puerilities-the babbling and fanciful distinctions of the ancient sages; yet the conclusion is forced upon us, that this misapplication of intellectual exercise entirely arose from the extended and profound discussions on the principles of virtue and natural religion, and from the high esteem in which all speculations of that nature were held by thinking and inquisitive men. Looking at the system of ancient philosophy as a whole; casting a glance at its lead

ing and prominent features, we must acknowledge that the moderns have not succeeded in adding much that is entitled to consideration, either for its originality or importance, by the mere exercise of their mental powers. On many points, we have been mere copiers of what the ancients have written on the subject. Whatever advances and improvements may have been introduced, in later times, into the systems of moral philosophy and metaphysical theology, may be fairly traced to the more correct and exalted views with which the Scriptures have furnished us, as to the nature and destinies of man, than to the uninspired and unassisted intellectual powers, which modern philosophy boasts of having brought into exercise.

From every thing which can be gathered relating to the history of morality in the very early ages of the world, it would appear that moral rules and duties were not reduced to any regular systematic form, but were conveyed from family to family, and from generation to generation, in the form of short sentences and brief maxims. There can be no doubt but the proverbs and wise sayings, fables and allegories, we meet with in books of acknowledged antiquity, were the consequence of this mode of conveying moral instruction. Of these

the most famous are the Proverbs of Solomon, the words of Agar, the golden verses of Pythagoras, and the Fables of Esop. There is a surprising quantity of wisdom embodied in these works; and the manner in which it is conveyed is admirably fitted to excite attention and to assist the memory.

The less ancient systems of morality are commonly divided into three kinds or sets of principles, the Platonic, the Epicurean, and the Stoical. As this division will answer all the ends purposed, we will keep by it, and give a brief outline of the prominent moral doctrines taught by each sect or party.

The Platonic philosophy, founded about 430 years before the Christian era, considered virtue to be a similitude to God; and similitude consisted in becoming just with prudence. In one place Plato makes this divine similitude consist in temperance; and in another, in temperance and justice conjoined. "Are they not the most happy, and such as go to the best place, that have exercised the popular and political virtue of temperance and justice ?" He also considered the human soul to be an emanation from the universal essense, or supreme Being, and that it had existed from all eternity, and was immortal. As the soul of man was thus con