* Solid Philosophy, asserted against the Fancies of the Idealists. (Locke's Understanding is the work controverted.) By J. S.. London, 1679.
The outlines of the science of morality are thus comprehensively sketched by Sir James Mackintosh: the origin, value, and application of first principles are indicated with his usual felicity. 'The usages and laws of nations, the events of history, the opinions of philosophers, the sentiments of orators and poets, as well as the observations of common life, are in truth, the materials out of which the science of morality to formed; and those who neglect them are justly chargeable with a vain attempt to philosophise without regard to fact and experienee--the sole foundation of all true philosophy.
The natural order undoubtedly dictates that we should first search for the _original principles_ of the science in human nature; then apply them to the regulation of the conduct of individuals, and lastly employ them for the decision of those difficult and complicated questions that arise with respect to the intercourse of nations.'
To search for ultimate principles is to discover at a glance the whole bearings of a great question. Through what clouds of politics had the historian of Rome penetrated when he announced that the principles of a free constitution are irrecoverably lost when the legislative power is nominated by the executive.
This habit--it cannot be too often insisted on aids not only the acquisition of knowledge, but also its _retention_. Around these first principles, as around a standard, the thoughts naturally associate. Touch but a remote chord of any question, and it will vibrate to the central principle to which it has once been well attached. Every relative impression owns a kindred connection, and the moment one is attacked, it, like a faithful sentinel, arouses a whole troop, which, marshalled and disciplined, bear down and challenge the enemy.'
*What Rogers has so exquisitely sung of the associations of childhood, is true of the associations of science.
Childhood's loved group revisit! every scene,-- The tangled wood-walk and the tufted green. The school's lone porch, with reverend mosses grey, Just tells the pensive pilgrim where it lay.