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S. Joannis Chrysostom Homiliae in Epistolas Paulinas. Tom. V. continens Homilias in Epistolas ad Philippenses, Colossesenses et Thessalonicenses. 8vo.

Sermons preached at St. Mary's, Oxford, by Rev. C. P. Eden, M. A. Mr. Eden writes remarkably well. His sermons are anything but commonplace.

An Inquiry concerning Religion; by George Long.

The Life of Luther, in forty-eight Historical Engravings; by G. Koenig. With explanations by Archdeacon Hare and Susannah Winkworth. 4to. This is a beautiful book. Only a few pages were written by Hare; Miss Winkworth has worthily completed what that learned writer began.

The Whole Evidence against the Claims of the Roman Church; by Sanderson Robins, M. A. This work contains a mass of appropriate and useful information, brought together from a variety of sources. In some cases it needs sifting.

The Absence of Precision in the Formularies of the Church of England scriptural, and suitable to a state of Probation; being the Bampton Lecture for 1855. By I. E. Bode, M. A. The choice of such a subject, and the manner in which it is treated, combine to make the book very valuable to many, in the church of England, at the present time.

Memoir of the Right Rev. David Low; by the Rev. William Blatch. Men and Women; by Robert Browning. 2 vols. These volumes contain new poems by a well known writer.

Ballads of Ireland; by Edward Hayes. 2 vols. A good contribution to the National Poetry of Ireland.

Mr. Murray is issuing a new edition of Byron's poetical works, in six volumes 8vo.

Analytical Ethnology: the Mixed Tribes in Great Britain and Ireland examined, etc. By R. T. Massy.

First Lines in Chemistry: a Manual for Students. By Albert I. Bernays. A good compend.

The Relations of Science; by John M. Ashley.

The Mystic, and other Poems; by Philip James Bailey, author of Festus. We are inclined to put Mr. Bailey above any living poet. The present volume is worth a hundred 'Mauds.'

A Collection of the Customs and Tariffs of All Nations, based upon a translation of the work of M. Hubner, augmented by additional information. By C. M. Newdegate, M. P. 4to.

The third and fourth volumes of James Montgomery's Memoirs, by Holland and Everett, are published. The execution of the work is below the subject of it.

The seventh and eighth volumes of Moore's Memoir, Journal, and Correspondence. Edited by the Right Hon. Lord John Russel. The whole is now completed.

Geological Facts, by the Rev. W. G. Barret. A useful little book to those who wish to study geology.

Memoirs of Lieut. Bellot, with his Journal of a Voyage in the Polar Seas, in Search of Sir John Franklin. 2 vols.

The second volume of Arago's Works, translated, is now published, containing the commencement of his popular Astronomy.

The Life and Works of Goethe, with Sketches of his Age and Contemporaries; by G. H. Lewes. 2 vols. 8vo. What Mr. Lewes writes, he writes well, as far as style and diction are concerned. But he undertakes sub- í jects for which he is unequal. Certainly he is not the man to write a Life of Goethe. Few are equal to the task. Thomas Carlyle is one of the few.

Republished in this country.

Life and Travels of Herodotus, in the Fifth Century before Christ. By I. T. Wheeler. 2 vols. In this imaginary biography, the ancient history, manners, and customs of many ancient tribes and nations are illustrated. It is tolerably well written.

The History of Piedmont, from the earliest times to September, 1855. By Antonio Gallenga. 3 vols.

The Tribes of the Caucasus; with an Account of Schamyl and the Murids. By Baron Von Haxthausen.

The British Paleozoic Rocks and Fossils. By Rev. Prof. Sedgwick and Prof. McCoy. 4to, with a volume of Plates. A beautiful book, which no geologist can afford to dispense with.

The Law of Nature and Nations, as affected by Divine Law. By Leone Levi. A small book of sterling value.

Cambridge Essays. 8vo. By various Writers, on different Subjects. In general, the topics are not very interesting, though they are ably treated. A new volume of Bohn's Classical Library contains the Greek Romances: Heliodorus, Longus, and Achilles Tatius; translated from the Greek.

Spicilegium Syriacum, containing Remains of Bardesan, Meliton, Ambrose, and Mara Bar Serapion. Now first edited, with an English Translation and Notes, by Rev. W. Cureton. Every student interested in patristic literature, will be glad to procure a copy of this work, which has been edited by Mr. Cureton, from manuscripts, with his well known ability and accuracy.

Cicero's Orations, with a complete Commentary, by George Long, M. A.; being the second volume of Cicero. Admirably edited.

Lectures to Ladies on Practical Subjects. These are by various writers, clergymen, lawyers, and physicians; and are marked by a good knowledge of the subjects treated.

A new Journal has lately commenced, called the Saturday Review, of Politics, Literature, Science, and Art. It is marked by considerable ability. The Hebrew Text of the Old Testament, revised from Critical Sources; being an attempt to present a Purer and more Correct Text than the Received one of Van der Hooght, by the aid of the Best existing Materials; with the principal Various Readings found in Manuscripts, Ancient Versions, Jewish Books and Writers, Parallels, Quotations, etc. By Samuel Davidson, D. D. 8vo. S. D.

UNITED STATES.

MESSRS. James Munroe and Company, Boston, have recently published "Outlines of Chemical Analysis, prepared for the Chemical Laboratory at Giessen; by Dr. Heinrich Will, Professor of Experimental Chemistry, in the Unversity of Giessen; Translated from the Third German Edition, by Daniel Breed, M. D., of the United States Patent Office, late of the Laboratories of Liebig, Löwig and Will, and Lewis H. Steiner, M. A., M. D., Professor of Chemistry, National Medical College." The translation is dedicated to Professor E. N. Horsford, of the Lawrence Scientific School, Cambridge, Mass. The Laboratory at Giessen is deservedly celebrated throughout the world. It has contributed much to the advancement of Chemical Science in our own, as in other lands. The first German edition of the present work has been favorably received in England and the United States. The third edition has been much improved, and will doubtless attract the general attention of scientific men.

Phillips, Sampson and Co., Boston, have published the first and second volumes of the History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain, by William H. Prescott, Corresponding Member of the Institute of France, of the Royal Academy of History at Madrid, etc. This admirable work bids fair to eclipse all the preceding volumes of Mr. Prescott.

Little, Brown and Co., have recently published Prof. Norton's work on the Internal Evidences of the Genuineness of the Gospels; also his Translation of the Gospels with Notes. A more particular notice of these volumes, prepared for our present number, is necessarily deferred until the number for April.

We barely announce the appearance of a new work entitled: The Communion Sabbath; by Nehemiah Adams, D. D. Boston: published by John P. Jewett, and Co., 1856. 12mo. pp. 208. We hope to notice this elegant volume more extendedly in a future number of this periodical.

The same firm have recently published Dr. Allen's History of India, in one octavo volume. Dr. Allen has been well known as a faithful missionary, and the present volume indicates many results of his careful observation and study.

A new edition of the Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation, with an Introductory Essay by Prof. Stowe of Andover, has been recently published by Gould and Lincoln of Boston. It contains a Supplementary Chapter by Mr. Walker.

The same firm have also published a superb octavo, of 369 pages, entitled : Extracts from the Diary and Correspondence of the late Amos Lawrence, with a brief account of some incidents in his Life. Edited by his son, Wiliam R. Lawrence, M. D. It is a volume of rare excellence, worthy of a place in the library of every merchant and philanthropist.

A volume of discourses on the Parables of the New Testament, is soon to be published from the pen of Rev. Edward N. Kirk, D. D., of Boston.

THE

BIBLIOTHECA SACRA,

NO. L.

AND

AMERICAN BIBLICAL REPOSITORY,

NO. CII.

APRIL, 1856.

ARTICLE I.

THE MORAL FACULTY.

By Rev. Joseph Haven, Professor in Amherst College.

THE subject proposed is one of which it would not be easy to decide which is the greater, the importance or the difficulty. Its importance is seen in the fact that it concerns, at once, the psychologist, who would explain the laws of the human mind; the moralist, who would propound a system of ethical truth; the theologian, who would base his doctrines on a correct philosophy of mind and of morals; and, more than all, the individual man, who seeks to conform, in the practical government of the conduct, to the dictates of his moral nature. Its difficulty is apparent from the fact that it has, for so long a period, employed the energies of the ablest minds, giving rise to so many questions, so many discussions, by so many writers, with conclusions so diverse.

In entering upon the investigation of this subject, it is hardly necessary to raise the preliminary inquiry, as to the existence of a moral faculty in man. That we do possess the power of making moral distinctions, that we do discriminate between the right and the wrong in human conduct, is an obvious fact in the history and psychology of the race. Con

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sciousness, observation, the forms of language, the literature of the world, the usages of society, all attest and confirm this truth. We are conscious of the operation of this principle in ourselves, whenever we contemplate our own conduct or that of others. We find ourselves, involuntarily, and as by instinct, pronouncing this act to be right; that, wrong. We recognize the obligation to do, or to have done, otherwise. We approve, or condemn. We are sustained by the calm sense of that self-approval, or cast down by the fearful strength and bitterness of that remorse. And what we find in ourselves, we observe also in others. In like circumstances, they recognize the same distinctions, and exhibit the same emotions. At the story or the sight of some flagrant injustice and wrong, the child and the savage are not less indignant than the philosopher. Nor is this a matter peculiar to one age or people. The languages and the literature of the world indicate, that, at all times, and among all nations, the distinction between right and wrong has been recognized and felt. The Tò Sikatov and Tò Kaλóv of the Greeks, the honestum and the pulchrum of the Latins, are specimens of a class of words, to be found in all languages, the proper use and significance of which is to express the distinctions in question.

Since, then, we do unquestionably recognize moral distinctions, it is clear that we have a moral faculty. For a faculty is simply the power of doing something; and, if we find ourselves in possession and use of the power, we conclude that we have the faculty.

Without further consideration of this point, we pass at once to the investigation of the subject itself. Our inquiries relate principally to the nature and authority of this faculty. On these points, it is hardly necessary to say, great difference of opinion has existed among philosophers and theologians, and grave questions have arisen. What is this faculty as exercised: a judgment, a process of reasoning, or an emotion? Does it belong to the rational, or sensitive part of our nature to the domain of intellect, or of feeling, or both? What is the source and origin of these ideas: how come we

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