Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

tice of England is more corrupt than it is in this country. Yet we dare make the assertion, that there is scarcely a paragraph in these chapters, which does not unveil immoralities that are prevalent among us. The excuses, which are offered, are, as our author plainly shows, utterly invalid. Gentlemen of high standing in the profession have attempted to justify to us some of the practices, which we ventured to call immoral, and have left us astonished at the flimsiness of the veil they were contented to draw over them.

The chapters which follow, on Promises, Lies, and Oaths, bear the marks of our author's peculiarly earnest and unflinching spirit, and abound in useful and weighty suggestions. But we must pass on.

How true, how worthy of the most serious consideration are Mr. Dymond's views of "Immoral Agency."

"A great portion of the moral evil in the world is the result, not so much of the intensity of individual wickedness, as of a general incompleteness in the practical virtue of all classes of men. If it were possible to take away misconduct from one half of the community and to add its amount to the remainder, it is probable that the moral character of our species would be soon benefited by the change. Now, the ill dispositions of the bad are powerfully encouraged by the want of upright examples in those who are better. A man may deviate considerably from rectitude, and still be as good as his neighbours. From such a man, the motive to excellence which the constant presence of virtuous example supplies is taken away. So that there is reason to believe, that if the bad were to become worse, and the reputable to become proportionably better, the average virtue of the world would speedily be increased.

"One of the modes by which the efficacy of example in reputable persons is miserably diminished, is by what we have called Immoral Agency, by their being willing to encourage, at second-hand, evils which they would not commit as principals. Linked together as men are in society, it is frequently difficult to perform an unwarrantable action without some sort of coöperation from creditable men. This coöperation is not often except in flagrant cases refused; and thus not only is the commission of such actions facilitated, but a general relaxation is induced in the practical estimates which men form of the standard of rectitude.

"Since then so much evil attends this agency in unwarrantable conduct, it manifestly becomes a good man to look around upon the nature of his intercourse with others, and to consider whether he is not virtually promoting evils which his judgment deprecates, or reducing the standard of moral judgment in the world. The

reader would have no difficulty in perceiving, that if a strenuous opponent of the slave-trade should establish a manufactory of manacles, and thumb-screws, and iron collars for the slave-merchants, he would be grossly inconsistent with himself. The reader would perceive, too, that his labors in the cause of the abolition would be almost nullified by the viciousness of his example, and that he would generally discredit pretensions to philanthropy. Now that which we desire the reader to do is, to apply the principles which this illustration exhibits to other and less flagrant cases."

-p. 167.

An application of these principles has been made in our country with the happiest effect. Intemperance had become a national vice. Its desolations and foul trophies were to be seen in every town and village, and in all classes of society. The friends of social order and religion were dismayed, — many were in utter despair, at the magnitude of the evil. At length it was perceived, by some one wiser than others, that reputable persons, ay, Christian men and women were the most efficient agents of the vice, whose ravages they deplored. It was therefore proposed that all, who would be safe themselves, and deliver their countrymen from, this dreadful vice, should abstain wholly from making, vending, or using ardent spirits. The happy effect of this measure is apparent everywhere. It is a striking confirmation of our author's remarks. Let a similar application of these principles be made, in respect to other forms of licentiousness, and we confidently predict a similar result.

The amount of immoral agency, which is practised in political affairs is shown by our author to be very great. But we must pass over many topics, upon which he has written more like a Christian, than any other moral philosopher with whom we are acquainted, and detain our readers a moment only, by two short passages respecting the moral influence of the press.

"To say nothing, therefore, of editors who intentionally mislead and vitiate the public, and remembering with what carelessness respecting the moral tendency of articles, a newspaper is filled, it may safely be concluded that some creditable editors do harm in the world to an extent, in comparison with which robberies and treasons are as nothing." - p. 189.

"We want in editorial labors less of partisanship, less of petty squabbles about the worthless discussions of the day; we want more of the philosophy of politics, more of that grasping intelligence, which can send a reader's reflections from facts to princi

ples. Our journals are, to what they ought to be, what a chronicle of the middle ages is to a philosophical history. The disjointed fragments of political intelligence ought to be connected by a sort of enlightened running commentary. There is talent enough embarked in some of these; but the talent too commonly expends itself upon subjects and in speculations, which are of little interest beyond the present week." - Ibid.

The eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth chapters are devoted to the great subject of Education. Mr. Dymond has much to say, and much that is true, of the time that is wasted, and the loss of a correct moral taste that is incurred, by the undue attention our educated youth are required to give to the study of the Classics. But we forbear to enter here upon that mooted question.

His chapter on Moral Education is excellent. In expressing the concurrence of our opinion with his, we may only repeat what we have elsewhere said. Education, in its broadest sense, may be understood to mean the complete and harmonious developement of all the intellectual and moral powers of our nature, the subjection of ourselves to the supreme control of right principles, and the acquisition of all knowledge that may be necessary in order to our filling well the sphere of duty, in which God has placed us. Thus defined, it is the great purpose of this present state of our being. It is the work, which ought to be in continual progress so long as we live. As we advance into life, multiply our relations to mankind, and assume new responsibilities, increased demands of one kind or another are of course made upon our minds and hearts. These render it necessary for us to seek higher acquisitions of knowledge, and to ponder anew the correctness of our moral principles, in their operation upon new classes of duty. And thus the process of education goes on, or should go on, towards perfection. It would be well for us often to take this extended view of education, because it is only when we contemplate the whole, that we can form just ideas of its subordinate parts. But to whatever extent it may be probable this process will be carried in after life, the commencement of education ought in every instance to be the same; that is to say, it ought in every instance to be such as shall have a direct tendency to the grand result. So that any one, however humble be his origin, may be set out in that course, which, if his talents and opportunities in life permit him to pursue it,

may lead him to the highest attainments in knowledge and virtue. In one word, the specific object of elementary instruction, in every instance, should be to begin that harmonious developement of all the powers of our nature, which, if not dwarfed or paralyzed by neglect or sin, will be expanding for ever.

po

The third Essay, which is the longest and most elaborate, unfortunately the author did not live to revise. It is devoted to the elucidation of Political Rights and Obligations. In the first chapter he considers the Principles of Political Truth and of Political Rectitude. There is perhaps no part of the volume, in which he evinces more profound thought, more independence of mind, or more discrimination than in this, and the following chapters on Civil Liberty, Political Liberty, Religious Liberty, and Civil Obedience. They would make, with some necessary modifications, an admirable little manual of litical science for our schools. How strange it is, that in our country this science forms no part of common education. Although we often hear it said, and every body concurs in the sentiment, that a republican government cannot long be maintained, unless the people generally are well informed, yet we ask, In what school are taught the great principles of civil government, and the peculiar characteristics of our Federal Constitution? These, like all other great principles, are simple, and not hard to be understood, unless the mind has been warped by sectional interests, or the schemes of a faction. What young man of common sense might not easily be made, before he leaves school, to understand these things perfectly? Instead of this, how true is it, and sad as true, that most of our young men are left to learn all they are to know of political science, and of their own rights and duties as citizens, amid the contests of rival factions, and from those too, whose opinions are misshapen by sectional interests, party passions, and selfish purposes.

Many of the details of this Essay were suggested to our author by the political institutions of his own country. The perusal of them, nevertheless, may be as profitable to the people here, as if he had written with especial reference to our institutions. His great object throughout is to illustrate and enforce the principles of political wisdom and rectitude. These are the same everywhere. It is the knowledge of principles that alone makes a man wise in any science. It is

the strict adherence to principles, that alone entitles an individual or a nation to be considered upright and moral.

66

The first literary effort of Mr. Dymond was An Inquiry into the Accordancy of War with the Principles of Christianity." The substance of that inquiry is included in the last chapter of the work before us. It presents the most thorough examination and complete refutation of the arguments, by which ethical and political writers have attempted to justify war. One of the last of the many "good works" of the lamented Thomas S. Grimké of South Carolina, was to republish the "Inquiry," with Notes by himself. We hope to be able ere long to give our readers some account of the treatise, and its valuable appendages. We may here observe generally, that in what our author says of war, as in all his other writings, he knows no standard of right paramount to the precepts of Jesus. These constitute in his judgment, and in ours, the true standard. Men must conform to it. For human happiness has no perfect security but freedom; freedom none but virtue; virtue none but knowledge; and neither freedom, nor virtue, nor knowledge, has any vigor or immortal hope, except in the principles of the Christian faith, and in the sanctions of the Christian religion."

NOTICES AND INTELLIGENCE.

A Brief View 1. Of Errors and Obscurities in the Common Version of the Scriptures; addressed to Bible Societies, Clergymen, and other Friends of Religion. 2. Of Errors and Defects in Classbooks used in Seminaries of Learning; including Dictionaries and Grammars of the English, French, Greek, and Latin Languages; addressed to Instructors of Youth, and Students, with a few Hints to Statesmen, Members of Congress, and Heads of Departments. To which are added, 3. A few Plagiarisms, showing the way in which books may be made, by those who use borrowed capital. By NOAH WEBSTER, LL. D. 8vo. pp. 24. - This pamphlet is from the pen of a veteran in letters, who, if we may judge from the tone of the present and other effusions of his, is ill at ease under the existing state of things. We learn, however, from various quarters, that he has received his full share of a justly earned patronage and reputation; and, this being the case,

« AnteriorContinuar »