Thomas Dick

“ Should this fact be entirely overlooked, and yet ultimately be found to rest on a solid foundation, then, all the speculations and theories of these moralists who profess to be guided solely by the dictates of unassisted reason, may prove to be nothing more than the reveries of a vain imagination, and to be built on "the baseless fabric of a vision." ”

“ When the true principles of mortality are once communicated through the medium of revelation, reason can demonstrate their utility, and their conformity to the character of God, to the order of the universe, and to the relations which subsist among intelligent agents. ”

“ In particular, he is bound to inquire into the probability of the alleged fact of the depravity of man, and to consider, whether the general train of human actions, the leading facts of history in reference to all ages and nations, and the destructive effects of several operations in the system of nature, have not a tendency to corroborate this important point. For the fact, that man is a fallen intelligence, must materially modify every system of ethics that takes it into account. ”

“ We have an abundance of ponderous volumes on the subject of moral philosophy; but the different theories which have been proposed and discussed, and the metaphysical mode in which the subject has been generally treated, have seldom led to any beneficial practical results. ”

“ But we are by no means in a situation to determine whether they could ever have been discovered by the investigations and efforts of the unassisted powers of the human mind. The only persons who could fairly try such an experiment were the Greeks and Romans, and other civilized nations, in ancient times, to whom the light of revelation was not imparted. ”

“ To attempt to treat the subject of morals without a reference to divine revelation, as most of our celebrated moral writers have done, seems to be little short of egregious trifling.-It cannot serve the purpose of an experiment, to ascertain how far the unassisted faculties of man can go in acquiring a knowledge of the foundation and the rules of moral action ”

“ It appears somewhat preposterous to waste our time, and the energies of our minds, in labored metaphysical disquisitions, to ascertain the foundations of virtue, and the motives from which it is to be pursued ”