BY THE REV. WILLIAM SEWELL, M. A. FELLLOW AND TUTOR OF EXETER COLLEGE, AND PROFESSOR OF MORAL PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. (From the third Loacon Fdition BALTIMORE: JOSEPH ROBINSON. MDCCCXLIV. Preface. I CANNOT permit this little book to be put forth, without acknowledging, what is no excuse to the writer, but may be a warning to the readers, that, from the pressure of unforeseen circumstances, it has been necessary both to write and publish it hastily. It was commenced with a wish to make it popular, like the other volumes of this series; but popular Ethics are already provided for us in our Catechisms and Bibles and it was soon found impossible to treat the subject scientifically, without entering into abstruse questions. It is therefore designed principally for students, who may be capable of deeper researches than mere questions of common casuistry. ; My object has been mainly to restore the connexion so long dissevered between the science of Ethics and the Catholic Christianity of the Church; and to touch chiefly on those questions which are most prominently discussed in the present day. Perhaps it may not be useless to state in a tabular form, as an outline of the contents, the chief principles which are suggested. 1. That Ethics are the science of education. 2. That books and writing, without oral instructors, are a very imperfect mode of teaching. 3. That external historical testimony of GOD's revealed will is the only true basis of moral science. 4. That the Catholic Church only has the right or the power to educate. 5. That the science of Ethics and Christi, anity are necessarily connected, and yet must be kept distinct. 6. That certain rules are to be observed in the study of Ethics, so as to avoid three great errors in the present day, namely, Rationalism, Syncretism, and Eclecticism. 7. That in education forms are of the greatest importance. 8. That the Sacraments of the Church, especially the Sacrament of Baptism, cannot be separated from ethical education. 9. That there is in the world a real personal Evil agent, to be overcome by those who would be good. 10. That all goodness and virtue consists in obedience to external law; and the goodness of the Christian in obedience to the law of Christ. 11. That it is a struggle against temptation. 12. That the struggle of a baptised Christian is different from that of a heathen. The one must strive to retain a blessing already given; the other to obtain what is as yet withheld. 13. That our real goodness is the Spirit of God, communicated to us at Baptism. 14. That the quality to which we give the name of good, is that which produces unity in plurality. 15. That the proof of our possessing this good, is our power of resisting our own incli nation. 16. That our duties depend on our relations to persons, and ultimately on our relations to God. 17. That this relation is a Covenant. 18. That we are dealt with as free agents. 19. That the knowledge of God contained in a creed is the first foundation of all goodness. |