THE Philosophy of the Mind is of recent origin, and slow growth. Its genuine materials are therefore very scanty. Most works upon the mind are chiefly occupied in refuting former errors, and these errors being derived from ancient theories, the true Philosophy of the Mind, though conducted on very different principles, still continues to be involved in some degree in the disputes of Metaphysics.' Such is the somewhat discourageing statement with which Mr. Douglas introduces his present work, a statement which every one acquainted with the subject, must allow to be substantially correct : while in a subsequent part he states, that the true science of the mind is but in its infancy, nor is there any hope of its rapid advancement.'

Metaphysics and Mental Philosophy are not from their nature capable of being subjected to the rigid demonstrations of mathematical science. Persons who are accustomed to these more exact studies, are consequently apt to regard the reasonings of the mental philosophers as unsatisfactory, and as founded rather on imagination, than argument. Hence many relinquish these studies altogether, and represent them as unprofitable and vain.

Such conclusions however are by no means correct. Our discoveries may be far less extensive and satisfactory than we might we might desire or anticipate, but yet each fresh investigation has a tendency to increase our stock of knowledge, and perhaps others may be able to apply that knowledge with good effect. This is obviously the case

both with Mr. Douglas and Mr. King, whose observations on the difficult subjects connected with the Theory of Conscience clearly evince the value and importance of a careful attention to the philosophy of the mind.

of Mr.

The full examination Douglas's work would scarcely comport with the object of our publication. It consists of Two Parts-the first contains a brief notice of the speculative opinions entertained by the numerous writers who have at all investigated the Philosophy of Mind, from Plato and Aristotle down to Bacon, Reid, Stuart, and Brown. The second treats in successive sections of Perception, Memory, and Suggestion; the Train of Thought, Reasoning, and Logic; Emotions, Taste, Freedom, and the Will; Morals, and lastly Religion. The following observations on Conscience may illustrate our Author's reasoning.

Conscience is the revelation of nature,brief oracular, and imperfect. Such as its edicts are, they are the pre-intimations of a more full disclosure of the Divine Will-they are propounded to us in the form of laws, and as transcripts, however partial, of the great and eternal law of God which bears sway over all his intelligent creation. They make a marked distinction between that which is and that which OUGHT TO BE-they are prophetic, as looking forward to the period when the latter shall supersede the former, and when the equity of God shall prevail over the iniquity of man. They carry the thoughts from the visible, to the invisible -from the false opinions and unjust decisions which prevail on earth, to the tribunal of an unseen Judge, to whom all secrets are known, and to whom all hearts are open. It is, however, but a momentary lightning, which reveals to us for an instant far distant objects, and leaves us again in our usual state of dim-sightedness.

Besides, from the combining power of the mind, the elements of thought, like the elements of matter, never remain separate, but enter immediately into new unions. The other faculties of the understanding, immediately blend with the moral sense, and conscience and reason appear but as one conjunct power.

It is a usual question-on what is obligation founded, and especially the obligation of conscience? some ascribing obligation to moral fitness, and others to power, and the penalties which power enacts. Conscience owes its binding force to its legislative character-it obliges, because it is a law, and law requires both conditions -moral fitness, and also rewards and penalties, to complete its sanctions. A tyrant may attach pains and penalties to the infraction of his edicts, yet are they not, strictly speaking, laws. Lycurgus or Solon might propose wise rules which deserved to be obeyed, but without the power of the state to back them, these rules were only exhortations and precepts, and became laws only when enforced by the civil power, and guarded by penalties attached to their infraction. All laws ultimately owe their authority to the Supreme Law, and the Divine Lawgiver, and derive their obligation from the sanctity of the Lawgiver's character, as well as from the awfulness of his justice.

From conscience we derive the sentiment of moral approbation or disapprobation; "our thoughts accusing or excusing each other;" the perception of right and wrong; of merit or guilt; of remorse and a retributive future;-notions which, even in the ignorance of the Pagans, scooped out the depth of Tartarus, and unbarred the gates of Elysium; and which let in, even amid the apathy and obstruction of the grave, far deeper cares and absorbing joys, than were agitating the breasts of the living in the busiest scenes of life. It is here that we have an inlet for Christianity, when everything else seems closed to its proposals; the rudest savage and the most obdurate infidel having in conscience, one part of their intellectual frame at least, which vibrates to the message of mercy, though everything else may be callous, past feeling, and utterly hopeless; for the life of the spirit makes its last stand there.

As, in the body, the functions that are the most delicate and the most important, are the most strictly guarded against injury, so the tenderness of conscience, which is of most importance to preserve, is strengthened and surrounded by many concurring powers, all ready to guard it, and to act along with it. "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." is the divine standard of morality; and though it serves to condemn, rather than to direct, in the present fallen condition of our nature, yet how many tendencies are there, to enable us to recover the right position,

and to bring the lower portions of our nature into due subjection. How pity pleads against hard-heartedness and selfishness, and beneficence is profitable for this life, as it would be, if acting on right motives, for the life to come; while reason is ever pointing out, that interest and duty are combined, and that he who transgresses the Divine Law, independent of positive punishments, is sinning against his own soul. In other portions of our frame, wherever many springs of movement combine to one end, the result generally surpasses our expectation; and, had there been no great disturbing cause, such as exists in the fall of man from his original rectitude, conscience, receiving so many tributary currents, would have had a force proportioned to the station assigned to it, more than enlarging with the growth of all our other faculties, and, as in sovereign place, so in regal majesty, would have held an undisturbed sway, and preserved, by its pervading influence, the harmony and the unity of the mind.

But the case is far otherwise: when we enumerate the classes of men by their prevailing bias, we readily find the ambitious, the covetous, and the voluptuous; but with some difficulty should we find any great numbers who were steadily and uniformly conscientious, except where conscience has found a much more powerful ally, in the new and renovating principle of religion. Instead of the dictates of conscience becoming clearer and clearer, and making their voice heard above all the notices that we derive from the other faculties of the mind; even the moralist seems to doubt, whether we have a conscience at all, and the ruling power is so fallen from its high supremacy, that one of the attendants is continually mistaken for the sovereign. It is well, therefore, that conscience is strengthened from a higher source. Conscience being given to us in the form of a law, necessarily refers us to the Lawgiver; thus the Eternal Law and the Supreme will enter into the constitution of Morality, and the passage is short and unavoidable from Ethics to Religion.

Mr. King has given us in a small volume the results of extensive reading, and deep thought. His materials are collected with judgment and arranged with care; every part of his work displays the hand of a master, and combines much original information with sound practical instruction. It consists of Sixteen chapters, and closes with a Dissertation on the Theory of Conscience. Those who are conversant with the Philoso

phy of Mind, and have paid any attention to Metaphysics, will find it advantageous to read this dissertation before they peruse the preceding chapters; but general readers will find it well to read the work in the order in which it is written.

The first chapter consists of Preliminary observations, in which Mr. King shews that conscience is that principle or power of the human mind, which deals immediately and exclusively with moral subjects, and applies them to moral uses; and that it exists in all men as an essential part of their nature. The second chapter treats on the offices of conscience: these

are

I. To instruct us in questions connected with moral duty.

II. To enforce its instructions by authoritative commands.

III. To approve or disapprove our conduct, and judicially to acquit or condemn, to reward or punish.

The third chapter points out the office of conscience as an instructor, as bearing witness to the existence and the character of God, and apprising us of our relation to him, and of the solemn obligations which that relation involves. After adverting to the lessons of humble reverence, of entire dependence, and of absolute subjection to God's authority, which conscience inculcates, Mr. K. observes

From what has been stated respecting the relation in which we stand to God, it will be further evident, that conscience suggests and enforces the duty of sacred worship. Not only are we to suppose, that God claims the general homage of reverential regard, of professed dependence, of cheerful obedience,-but prior to all explicit command,-conscience would intimate to us, that direct and solemn adoration is due to Him who reigns with supreme authority both over us and all created beings. This conviction has pressed upon the minds and directed the devotions, even of the most degraded and uninstructed nations of the earth. It is true that this devotional feeling has generated superstitions and idolatries innumerable. Yet the abuse of it proves its existence. Men could not be satisfied without an object of worship. Their

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consciences taught them to bow before a superior Being; and so long as the God of the Scriptures remained to them" the unknownGod," they chose to bow down to the sun, the moon, the stars, and even to stocks and stones, rather than to be without some object to whom they might offer up their prayers, express their dependence, and manifest their sense of obligation. But here, again, we reminded of the contracted limits within which the teachings of conscience are confined. Seldom have men been willing to learn all that she could teach; but even that is little, compared with the exigencies which nature feels, and under which it groans. Conscience bids us worship God, but cannot tell us how. It shews us our disease, but not our remedy. It suggests inquiries it cannot answer, proposes difficulties it cannot surmount, and enigmas it cannot solve; commands us to look around for help, and then presents nothing to our view but a boundless waste, or a land peopled with enemies. The anxious question proposed in the prophecy of Micah comes affectingly home to the uninstructed conscience: "Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, and with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

Conscience can awaken terrors, but not appease them; and in the confusion produced by its solicitude or help, it often proposes methods of deliverance, mortifying indeed to all the feelings of human nature, but neither consonant with the benevolence nor commensurate with the justice of the divine character. Conscience has no power to withdraw the veil which hides the mercy of God from man; it discerns no Saviour; it sees no avenue of hope, by which it may escape from the bondage of its own fears. It seems-as we may infer from the passage now quoted-to feel the necessity of some atonement, of something which may avert the divine displeasure, and conciliate the divine regard, of something which may interpose between it and the object whom it cannot but dread; but what that atonement shall be, what that interposing power or virtue to which it may look with hope and confidence, it is utterly at a loss to discover. 'Shall offerings and burnt-offerings be piled upon the altar of sacrifice? Shall thousands of rams be presented to the Lord? or myriads of rivers of oil be poured out before him? Shall all parental feelings be violated, and my first born bleed to avert the righteous indignation of heaven?' Such are the distressing questions which a bewildered

conscience may painfully revolve, but to which God alone can give the satisfying answer. It is true that sacrifice

neces

sary, but not from man. God hath provided himself a lamb for a burnt-offering." And the voice of inspiration calls aloud to all sinners; "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world?" These are "the glad tidings of great joy," which angels proclaimed for "all people," when they announced the incarnation of the only begotten Son of God. And for what purpose was this mysterious incarnation, "Lo, I come," is the language of the condescending Saviour, "to do thy will, O God!" I come to offer a sacrifice which shall be accepted on behalf of men. I come to obey, to suffer, and to die for those who are without strength, without hope, and without salvation. This great mystery, that "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself;" this, and this alone gives us such a view of our condition, as can at once satisfy the judgment of our reason, and the aspiration of our hopes. This alone answers alike to the awful voice of conscience, and the vehement cravings of our hearts. This alone preserves inviolate the majesty of the divine law, while it allows us to look for pardon and support-yea, even for peace and blessedness.

In treating on the judicial character of conscience, which forms Mr. K.'s sixth chapter: the following observations occur.

Conscience is that peculiar faculty of our nature which forms the connecting link between man and the Author of his being. It is that to which as we have before remarked, all divine appeals are made. And we may now add, it is that by which those appeals are felt and understood-that which alone can cordially assent to and be permanently influenced by them. Conscience is that faculty which pays the only acceptable homage to the God of heaven; which hears his counsel, which enforces on the heart his authority, and which proclaims his future judgment.

It is conscience which renders men capable of being governed by a moral law and it will cause its voice to be heard in terms of approval or rebuke as that law is obeyed or resisted. Nor does even the absence of all written communications of God's will, exclude them from the influence of, nor exempt them from responsibility to the virtual, unrecorded, universal law of heaven; since they who have not the written law," are a law unto themselves, having the work of the law written in their hearts."

And it is because all divine law, whether written on "the fleshly table of the heart," or revealed in the pages of inspiration, pre-supposes the existence of that MAY 1839.

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inward principle in man which makes him capable of subjection to its authority, that the Scriptures are one continued series of addresses to the consciences of mankind. They do not merely appeal to the understanding, still less to the selfish principle, or to the passions and appetites of men; but to that principle which moves as a sovereign among the rest, which uses the light of reason, resists the selfishness of nature, and restrains the ardour of passion, and which claims as its right, the power to determine the will, to form the character, and to guide the conduct.

In this respect, how widely have the teachers of morals, and even of religion, generally departed from the model of Holy Scripture? To say nothing of positive errors widely disseminated, yet how cold, how heartless, how destitute of all power to rouse the latent feelings of the human mind, have the greater part of those instructions proved, which the wise and thoughtful of mankind have given for the conduct of human life! Even public preaching has too often been a lifeless appeal to the reasoning power, without a single touch of feeling which might kindle the affections. Arguments innumerable have been adduced-sound, unanswerable arguments-why sinners should repent, believe, and obey the gospel; but they have proved as ineffectual as they are unanswerable. A cold assent is all that these cold arguments have been able to command; and there the religion of the hearer has stopped. The truth has floated on the surface of the understanding, but has never penetrated the inner man, never laid hold on his affections, never been even addressed to them; and conscience has remained unroused, unaffected, and untaught. It has not been urged to do its office and to assert its authority on the side of God and of his truth. "The word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." It is meant not for the understanding only; for then it would have sufficed, been clear and lucid, but it was meant for the conscience, and therefore it must pierce like an arrow, and enter with its discriminating energy among all the varied powers of the mind, rousing some, wounding others, and producing what may emphatically be called " deep searchings of heart." Such too must be the characteristic of faithful and profitable preaching. It is distinguished from all others, by aiming directly and mainly at the conscience.

The succeeding chapters treat on the injury sustained by the moral faculty, in consequence of the fall of man. On the power of