328 CRITICAL NOTICES OK NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



vation by exercising those of them which make us wish to do what 

 we ought to do. Food is absolutely necessary to support life, and 

 the Creator has implanted in us a strong desire to take sustenance 

 when requisite ; so, with regard to religion and morality, the Crea- 

 tor has not merely told us what we ought to do, but he has also 

 given us feelings — such as love and reverence towards himself, the 

 moral sense and benevolence — which make us desire to perform the 

 duties enjoined by His laws. But we must know what the Feel- 

 ings are before we can be prepared to undertake their proper ma- 

 nagement : wherefore, with a view to procure this indispensable 

 knowledge, we should apply for instruction to the teachers of mental 

 philosophy, whose province it is to show what are the mind's facul- 

 ties and their functions, to explain the manner in which they act, 

 and to point out their adaptation to external objects. This process 

 has been adopted by the author whose plan for Educating the Feel- 

 ings we are now considering ; and, from the system of psychology 

 most approved by him, he educes an exposition of the principles of 

 human nature as the best calculated to advance the ends of educa- 

 tion. His table of the mental constitution distinguishes each of the 

 mind's faculties, with their uses and abuses, in a manner so explicit 

 as to enable a judicious person, having experience in the manage- 

 ment of children, and in the practical application of principles, to 

 ascertain the power of each feeling possessed by each individual, 

 and thus to obtain correct rules for the proper restraining of some 

 feelings and the strengthening of others. Herein consists the phi- 

 losophy of moral training, as exercised for self-discipline and for 

 improvement of the young and uninstructed. 



Having sketched a philosophy of the mental constitution, the au- 

 thor proceeds to exhibit an illustrative " Example ;" and this, as 

 we judge, is pregnant with the best feeling, and the soundest "phi- 

 loprogenitive" wisdom. We transcribe his sentences, and pronounce 

 them worthy of the gravest consideration : — " The views above 

 adopted of the nature of man," he begins, at page 19, " have as yet 

 been little acted upon hi education ; the time is come, however, 

 when we may hope that they will be better understood, and that, by 

 an improved system of education, the exercise of Religion and Bene- 

 volence will be daily more cultivated, until they shall become uni- 

 versal. That this is not at present the case is not surprising, when 

 we consider that the selfish feelings are the first that come into ac- 

 tion, that they act powerfully of themselves, and that they will not 

 go on properly without the guiding and restraining influence of the 

 intellect ; whereas the intellect requires instructing before it is ca- 

 pable of taking charge of the propensities ; so that upon our first 

 entrance into life, the propensities not being guided by the unerring 

 hand of the Creator, but depending upon reason for their right ex- 

 ercise, will, if not directed by some other intellect, run into excess 

 and abuse, and some of them probably acquire a predominance to be 

 retained through life. What, then, is the first essential in moral 

 education ? Assuredly, that the moral feelings and intellects of 



