Elements of Moral Science, Volume 1

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Mundell, Doig, and Stevenson, 1807 - Ethics - 408 pages

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Page 71 - Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; .and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.
Page 231 - Mirth is like a flash of lightning, that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment ; cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity.
Page 119 - The sun had long since, in the lap Of Thetis, taken out his nap, And, like a lobster boil'd, the morn From black to red began to turn...
Page 295 - The sentiments enforced are so transcendently beautiful, that they never can be out of place or season, wherever they may be found. In his second chapter of Natural Theology, speaking of the Divine attributes, he says: "Revelation gives such a display of the Divine goodness, as must fill us with the most ardent gratitude and adoration. For...
Page 105 - That which in the smallest compass exhibits the greatest variety of beauty, is a fine human face. The features are of various sizes and forms; the corresponding ones exactly uniform; and each has that shape, size, position, and proportion, which is most convenient. Here too is the greatest beauty of colors, which are blended, varied, and disposed with marvellous delicacy. But the chief beauty of the countenance arises from its expression, of sagacity, good-nature, cheerfulness, modesty, and other...
Page 296 - to think, that a Being infinitely good, must also be of infinite mercy : but " still the purity and justice of God must convey the most alarming thoughts " to those who know themselves to have been, in instances without number,
Page 306 - God had given about it to the ancient church, it may with the strictest propriety be said, " that life and immortality have been brought to light by the gospel.
Page 396 - Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do you even so to them.
Page 295 - Revelation gives such a display of " the divine goodness, as must fill us with the most ardent gra" titude and adoration. For in it we find, that God has put it " in our power, notwithstanding our degeneracy and unworthi" ness, to be happy both in this world and for ever ; a hope " which reason alone could never have permitted us to entertain " on any ground of certainty. And here we may repeat what " was already hinted at, that although the right use of rea...
Page 352 - To virtue, therefore, which is the right exercise of our moral powers, the character of man's chief good does belong: which will appear still more evident when we consider, that the hope of future felicity is the chief consolation of the present life, and that the virtuous alone can reasonably entertain that hope. As, on the other hand, vice, in the most prosperous condition, is subject to the pangs of a guilty conscience, and to the dreadful anticipation of future punishment; which are sufficient...

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