arguments of Dr. Payne led Dr. Wardlaw to conceive that in addition to the verdict of the judgment, conscience might include "A certain susceptibility" of emotion, whilst the argument of Dr. Wardlaw led Dr. Payne to say, that in every exercise of the conscience there must be a decision of the judgment. Dr. Harris and others have thought to mend matters, by blending the opinions of the two great doctors, and building up a theory comprising both.

us.

6th. The Phenomena of Conscience have been ascribed to a disiinct faculty of the mind. A faculty is "That power of the mind or intellect which enables it to receive, revive, or modify perceptions; as the faculty of seeing, of hearing, of imagining, remembering, &c.; or in general the faculties may be called the powers or capacities of the mind."* It is by the exercise of those faculties that we become acquainted with the objects and phenomena around Thus we perceive, we remember, we reason, we judge of those objects. And if we discern any other quality either in the world of nature or the world of mind, it is because we have a faculty for it. The variety of ascertained qualities in the objects of nature is immense; yet there may be thousands of qualities in nature which we do not know and can never become acquainted with, simply because we are not endowed with faculties for discerning them. The lack of such faculties is a sufficient justification of our ignorance. If we had no eyes or ears, it would be excusable for not seeing or hearing; but having these faculties in a perfect state, we become responsible for their proper use. There is a world within us, answering to the world without, and with some of its phenomena we are acquainted; and notwithstanding the vastness of the unknown in the world of mind, the known affords us sufficient data to warrant certain conclusions. We can observe moral distinctions, and have been in the habit of attributing a moral character to our thoughts, feelings, passions, desires, and actions from our childhood, which sufficiently indicates the existence of a moral faculty. We do not argue that this faculty is equally developed in strength, quickness and accuracy in every individual, any more than we would argue that memory, judgment, and will are equally developed in all. Notwithstanding all that has been said to the contrary, there is a multitude of instances in which there is found universal agreement in the verdict of the moral faculty. This agreement will be still more clearly seen when you take into account the emotions by which its decisions are succeeded.

That we do perceive moral distinctions is a settled question; but it remains for us to ask how are they perceived? Is it by the exercise of one faculty, or the combined exercise of several faculties? To this question Professor Wayiand replies, "That this notion is,

* Imperial Dictionary.

in its nature, simple and ultimate, and distinct from every other notion. Now if this be the case, it seems self-evident that we must have a distinct and separate faculty, to make us acquainted with the existence of this distinct and separate quality. This is the case in respect to all other distinct qualities; it is surely reasonable to suppose that it would be the case with this, unless some reason can be shown to the contrary." "It is quite conceiveable," says Dr. M'Cosh," that the mind might possess reason, and distinguish between the true and the false, and yet be incapable of distinguishing between virtue and vice. We are entitled, therefore, to mention that the drawing of moral distinctions is not comprehended in the simple exercise of reason. The conscience, in short, is a different faculty of the mind from the mere understanding. We must hold it to be simple and unresolvable, till we fall in with a successful decomposition of it into its elements. In the absence of any such decomposition, we hold that there are no simpler elements in the human mind which will yield us the idea of the morally good and evil, of moral obligation and guilt, of merit and demerit. Compound and decompound all other ideas as you please, associate them together as you may, they will never give us the ideas referred to, so peculiar and full of meaning, without a faculty implanted in the mind for this very purpose."+ "There is a principle of reflection in men," says Butler, "by which they distinguish between, approve and disapprove of their own actions," and adds, "This principle is conscience, for this is the strict sense of the word, though sometimes it is used so as to take in more. This high authority tells us further, "There is a superior principle of reflection or conscience in every man, which distinguishes between the internal principles of his heart, as well as his external actions, which passes judgment upon himself and upon them, pronounces determinately some actions to be in themselves just, right, good; others to be in themselves evil, wrong, unjust; which, without being consulted, without being advised with, magisterially exerts itself, and disapproves or condemns him, the doer of them, accordingly, and which, if not forcibly stopped, naturally and always, of course, goes on to anticipate a higher and more effectual sentence which shall hereafter second and affirm its own." In these quotations we find a clear, simple, rational answer to the foregoing question. Moral distinctions are observed by a faculty planted in our nature by the Author of our being. This faculty of the mind requires an opportunity for the development of itself; nevertheless, it is as natural and spontaneous as any other of our instinctive impulses or mental attributes; and affords us by far the most rational account of the origin of moral distinction.

* Elements of Moral Science, p. 33. + The Method of Divine Government, p. 291. § Ibid., Sermon 2nd.

Human Nature. Sermon 1st.

Although the Bible was never intended to teach moral science systematically, yet the clements of all correct moral science are to be found in its pages. It assumes what poor short-sighted mortals would like to prove, and proceeds upon the assumption. It assumes that man is possessed of a faculty called conscience, and all its teachings are in harmony with this assumption; so that, so far as we can see, every passage of this marvellous book can be interpreted in its true sense in harmony with the assumption referred to, i.e., that man is possessed of a distinct moral faculty, which we call conscience. R. S.

SCAR

ART. VII.-THE THREE EPOCHS.

CARCELY had the waters of the deluge subsided, than God's descriminative and elective purpose was manifested in investing Shem, the eldest of Noah's three sons, with superior dignity and honour. He was called from amongst his brethren, and separated to a holy service. His sire, under the spirit of inspiration, predicted the pre-eminence of his seed-"Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant; God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem." After the ark was vacated, and the promise of God was ratified to the Noachic family, the command was given, "Be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein." This injunction was soon disregarded; the flood had lost its admonitory influence, and the impious design was formed and applauded—“Go to, let us build us a city, and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven, and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." Gradually, the primitive doctrines of religion became submerged beneath the rising floods of immorality and superstition. Job, in Ur of the Chaldees, Abram, ia Canaan, and Lot, in Sodom, were almost the only families that reproved the surrounding idolatry, and worshipped the One true God. In Egypt, however, the faint rays of a coming dawn appeared. This nation was founded by Mizraim, and far outstripped existing monarchies in the largeness of its possessions, in the vastness of its resources, in the splendour of its kings, in the magnificence of its edifices, and in the extent and accuracy of its learning. Some people regard the migration to Egypt in a very serious light. It looks to them as though Jacob's family were going thither to find a dungeon and a grave. They imagine that it was a judg ment from God, that the seventy souls should leave the rich pasture grounds of Palestine to toil and drudge in the brick-fields of Egypt. We look at this matter from quite another stand-point. There was a political as well as a religious necessity that Israel

should sojourn in the land of Mizraim. They were few in number; they were continually being dispossessed of their tillage and pasturage by the rapacious Canaanite; they were ill able to cope with their powerful and dishonest neighbours. A famine occurred. The trees of the field yield no fruit. The herbage is withered. The watering places are dried up. There is dearth of bread. Some years previous Joseph was sold into Egypt, where, by a marvellous concurrence of circumstances, he rose to great power, and became the almoner of the nation. Through the generosity of Pharaoh, the patriarch Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt to find shelter from the famine, to enjoy protection from the Philistine hordes, to receive that discipline which was to qualify them for independent national existence, and to fit them for their great religious calling. As Egypt was the most " opulent and tasteful, the most inventive and learned, the most commercial and enterprising" of nations, it was desirable that the Egyptian intellect should be illumined by Divine truth; that her character, her genius, her trade, her far-reaching possessions, should be moulded and directed by the Hebrew religion. Joseph's exaltation was not simply to provide for the temporalities of his family. There was a higher end to subserve. He came in daily contact with royalty. Pharaoh's signet, and chain, and robe, were not too costly or sumptuous for the shepherd boy to wear. He married "Asenath, the daughter of Poti-pherah, priest of On," and by that alliance he was probably initiated into all the mysteries of the city of the Sun. And who can say how far the existing idolatry was modified by Joseph's position and example? Look again at Moses; he was brought up and acknowledged as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Doubtless that relationship gave him influence over the dominant hierarchy. To him the keen subtleties and vulgar superstitions of the astrologists were repulsive. The guild and pomp of royalty had no charms for his lofty spirit. Those sublime truths which he had read in archaic documents, which he had caught from the devout lips of his maternal parent, or which he had heard from traditional recitations, preserved him from the follies and vices of the priestly castes. Although the Israelites were 215 years in Egypt, no less a period would suffice. A politico-religious system was about to be established, but the elements were wanting. A nation was to be formed, but the people were not ready for political unity. Their enfranchisement must be effected, but they were not sufficiently prepared to possess and to exercise political power; they must remain in bondage; their leader must live under the shadow of the throne, and have access to the cabinet of kings; Moses must mix with the nobles, the priests, and the serfs; he must understand the elements of political science, and the art of governing. By coming in contact with the statesmen, the warriors, the scholars, and

artists of his day, he would be the better qualified to organize and govern a people whose life-long hardships had broken their spirits, or inflamed them to desperation. The very servitude to which the Israelites were reduced had its purposes. It used them to the wholesome exercise of manual labour; it accustomed them to submit to authority; it gave them an insight into the differences of civil life; it rendered them familiar with many useful arts, and made them passionately anxious to secure their independence. The discipline which they received in the work of irrigation, and in the construction of buildings and fortresses, rendered them more able to erect cities, and to carry out all the purposes of national life. In this manner were the Jews educated for the reception of that constitution which was to be the peculiarity and the glory of the people of Israel. From the mount of fire they received political organization; from the hoary head of Sinai that ritual was given which contained the fundamentals of the "new and better covenant." Judaism with its "divers washings and carnal ordinances," was better than the best religious systems then extant. To it we are

indebted for an account of the creation. By it authentic records of Egypt and Babylon have been preserved. In its bosom the "lively oracles" safely reposed, and from its ashes has sprung our perfect, our glorious, our Divine Christianity.

II. The Jewish Theocracy may be said to have attained the zenith of its magnificence during the reign of Solomon. After the division of the kingdom the golden age of Hebrew literature began to wane, and the silver age was ushered in at the return of the captivity. The surrounding nations devoted themselves to military science, and expended their resources in offensive and defensive wars. Israel was made tributary to the victorious conquerors, and subjected to ruinous exactions. The national character degenerated. Religion was almost forgotten in foreign and intestine struggles. The schools of the prophets were deserted; the sacred oracle was dumb; the Urim and Thummim had ceased its responses: the voice of the ancient seers, which had echoed on the mountains and in the palaces of Israel, grew faint and feeble. The spirit of inspiration subsided till it finally ceased, and the prophetic line terminated in Malachi. During this period of religious degeneracy, light sprang up in the Grecian peninsula. The siege of Troy was immortalised by an immortal bard. Achilles and Ulysses were sung of in loftiest strains. The manners, the courage, the magnanimity of that untutored era were embalmed in heroic verse. The Grecian mind struggled after freedom and loftiness of thought. Having freed themselves from the Persian domination, the states of Greece gave themselves up to intellectual pursuits. Soon a marked improvement was visible. The scattered and fragmentary knowledge which then existed was digested and