22

STUDY OF HISTORY.

the state; or as it enables us to form, by comparison with those who have gone before them, a just estimate of their merits. In a religious-as it teaches us to regard the Supreme Being as the governor of the universe, and sovereign disposer of all events.

The faculties of the soul are improved by exercise; and nothing is more proper to enlarge, to quicken, and to refine them, than a survey of the conduct of mankind. History supplies us with a detail of facts, and submits them to examination before we are called into active life. By observation and reflection upon others we begin an early acquaintance with human nature, extend our views of the moral world, and are enabled to acquire such a habit of discernment, and correctness of judgment, as others obtain only by experience. By meditating on the lives of sages and heroes, we exercise our virtues in a review, and prepare them for approaching action. We learn the motives, the opinions, and the passions of the men who lived before us; and the fruit of that study is a more perfect knowledge of ourselves, and a correction of our failings by their examples.

Experience and the knowledge of history reflect mutual light, and afford mutual assistance. Without the former no one can act with address and dexterity. Without the latter no one can add to the natural resources of his own mind a knowledge of those precepts and examples, which have tended to form the character and promote the glory of eminent men. History contributes to divest us of many illiberal prejudices, by enlarging our acquaintance with the world. It sets us at liberty from that blind partiality to our native country, which is a sure mark of a contracted mind, when due merit is not allowed to any other. This study likewise tends to strengthen our abhorrence of vice; and creates a relish for true greatness and solid glory. We see the hero and the philosopher represented in their proper colours; and as magnanimity, honour, integrity, and generosity, when displayed in illustrious instances, naturally make a favourable impression on our minds, our attachment to them is gradually formed. The fire of enthusiasm and of virtuous emulation is lighted, and we long to practise what we have been instructed to approve.

The love of our country naturally awakens in us a spirit of curiosity to inquire into the conduct of our ancestors, and to learn the memorable events of their history. Nothing that

happened to them can be a matter of indifference to us. We are their descendants, we reap the fruits of their public and private labours, and we not only share the inheritance of their property, but derive reputation from their noble actions. History, considered with respect to the nature of its subjects, may be divided into general and particular; and with respect to time, into ancient and modern. Ancient history commences with the creation, and extends to the reign of Charlemagne, in the year of our Lord eight hundred. Modern history, beginning with that period, reaches down to the present times. General history relates to nations and public affairs, and may be subdivided into ecclesiastical and civil, or according to some writers, into sacred and profane. Biography, memoirs, and letters, constitute particular history. Statistics refer to the present condition of nations. Geography and chronology are important aids, and give order, regularity, and clearness to all. KETT.

QUESTIONS.-1. What is the advantage of history in a moral point of view? 2. In a political? 3. In a religious? 4. What are the uses of history in respect to the mental faculties and the conduct of life? 5. How does history divest us of illiberal prejudices? 6. How does it tend to strengthen our abhorrence of vice, and create a relish for true greatness? 7. What is said of the history of our ancestors? 8. How may history be divided? 9. subdivided?

LESSON 13.

Philosophy.

Proposi'tion, a sentence in which any thing is affirmed or denied. Demonstra'tion, a process of reasoning in which we perceive it to be impossible that the conclusion should not follow from the premises, or antecedent propositions.

By philosophy we mean the knowledge of the reasons of things, in opposition to history, which is the bare knowledge of facts; or to mathematics, which is the knowledge of the quantity of things, or their measures. These three kinds of knowledge ought to be joined as much as possible. History furnishes matter, principles, and practical examinations, and mathematics complete the evidence. All arts have their peculiar philosophy, which constitutes their theory. It is to be observed, that the bare intelligence and memory of philoso

phical proposi'tions, without an ability to demo'nstrate them, is not philosophy, but history only. Where such propositions, however, are determinate and true, they may be usefully applied in practice, even by those who are ignorant of their demonstrations.

Philosophy discovers and teaches those principles by means of which happiness may be acquired, preserved, and increased. Wisdom applies these principles to the benefit of individuals and of society. Knowledge which is applicable to no useful purpose cannot deserve the name of wisdom. The sources of that knowledge of truth which leads to the possession of happiness are reason and revelation. To instruct men in those truths which God hath communicated to mankind by revelation, is the province of theology. To teach them such truths, connected with their happiness, as are capable of being discovered by the powers of reason, is the province of philosophy.

The leading offices of philosophy may be easily deduced from the general idea of its object. As the permanent enjoyment of real good is the end to be attained, the business of philosophy, therefore, will be to cultivate the understanding, and direct its operations; to correct and improve the will and affections; to inquire out the causes of natural appearances, and hence arrive at the knowledge of the first cause, under those characters and relations that are most interesting to mankind; to conduct men to such an acquaintance with the properties of natural bodies, and their reciprocal actions, as shall enable them to apply the objects around them to their own convenience; and, finally, to assist them in investigating the principles of social virtue, and thus provide themselves with such rules of conduct as arise from mutual convenience and interest, from the natural sentiments of justice and humanity, and from the voluntary engagements of civil society.

QUESTIONS.-1. What is meant by philosophy? 2. What three kinds of knowledge should be joined as much as possible? 3. What is the distinction between philosophy and wisdom? 4. What is the province of theology? 5. Of philosophy? 6. What are the leading offices of philosophy? NOTE. The three great objects of philosophy are God, man, and the universe. Philosophy is sometimes divided into three parts, intellectual, moral, and physical, or natural,

PRAISE OF PHILOSOPHY.

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LESSON 14

The Praise of Philosophy.

BUT now let other themes our care engage,
For lo, with modest yet majestic grace,
To curb imagination's lawless rage,

And from within the cherish'd heart to brace,
Philosophy appears. The gloomy race

By Indolence and moping Fancy bred,

Fear, Discontent, Solicitude, give place,

And Hope and Courage brighten in their stead,
While on the kindling soul her vital beams are shed

Then waken from long lethargy to life

The seeds of happiness and powers of thought;
Then jarring appetites forego their strife,

A strife by ignorance to madness wrought.
Pleasure by savage man is dearly bought
With fell revenge, lust that defies control,
With gluttony and death. The mind untaught
Is a dark waste, where fiends and tempests howl;
As Phœbus to the world, is science to the soul.
And Reason now through number, time, and space,
Darts the keen lustre of her serious eye,
And learns, from facts compared, the laws to trace,
Whose long progression leads to Deity.
Can mortal strength presume to soar so high!
Can mortal sight, so oft bedimm'd with tears,
Such glory bear!—for lo, the shadows fly
From Nature's face; confusion disappears,
And order charms the eyes, and harmony the ears

In the deep windings of the grove, no more
The hag obscene and grisly phantom dwell;
Nor in the fall of mountain-stream, or roar
Of winds, is heard the angry spirit's yell;
No wizard mutters the tremendous spell,
Nor sinks convulsive in prophetic swoon;

Nor bids the noise of drums and trumpets swell,

To ease of fancied pangs the labouring moon,

Or chase the shade that blots the blazing orb of noon

26

PRAISE OF PHILOSOPHY.

Many a long-lingering year, in lonely isle,
Stunn'd with th' eternal turbulence of waves,
Lo, with dim eyes, that never learn'd to smile,

And trembling hands, the famish'd native craves
Of Heaven his wretched fare: shivering in caves,
Or scorch'd on rocks, he pines from day to day :
But Science gives the word; and lo, he braves
The surge and tempest, lighted by her ray,
And to a happier land wafts merrily away.

And even where nature loads the teeming plains
With the full pomp of vegetable store,

Her bounty unimproved is deadly bane:

Dark woods, and rankling wilds, from shore to shore,
Stretch their enormous gloom; which to explore
Even Fancy trembles in her sprightliest mood;
For there, each eye-ball gleams with lust of gore,
Nestles each murderous and each monstrous brood,
Plague lurks in every shade, and steams from every flood.

'Twas from Philosophy man learn'd to tame

The soil by plenty to intemperance fed.

Lo, from the echoing axe, and thundering flame,
Poison, and Plague, and yelling Rage are fled.
The waters bursting from their slimy bed,
Bring health and melody to every vale:

And from the breezy main, and mountain's head,
Ceres and Flora to the sunny dale,

To fan their glowing charms, invite the flutt'ring gale.

What dire necessities on every hand

Our art, our strength, our fortitude require! Of foes intestine what a numerous band

Against this little throb of life conspire!

Yet Science can elude their fatal ire

Awhile, and turn aside death's levell'd dart,
Sooth the sharp pang, allay the fever's fire,

And brace the nerves once more, and cheer the heart,
And yet a few soft nights and balmy days impart.

Nor less to regulate man's moral frame
Science exerts her all-composing sway.

Flutters thy breast with fear, or pants for fame,
Or pines, to Indolence and Spleen a prey,