7-85 1228 ELEMENTS OF MORAL PHILOSOPHY, AND OF CHRISTIAN ETHICS. BY DANIEL DEWAR, LL.D. MINISTER OF THE TRON CHURCH AND PARISH, GLASGOW, AND LATE PROFESSOR OF MORAL PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY AND KING'S COLLEGE, ABERDEEN. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: PRINTED FOR J. DUNCAN, PATERNOSTER-ROW; BELL & BRADFUTE, EDINBURGH; AND M. OGLE, GLASGOW. MDCCCXXVI. BJ 1006 .D52 PREFACE. In the following Treatise I have confined myself to the ethical department of Moral Philosophy. But as ethics cannot be explained without some knowledge of Natural Religion, that is, without some acquaintance with the character, perfections, and providence of God, the first book is wholly occupied with the consideration of these momentous subjects. The usual method is, to treat first of the active powers of man, and afterwards to discourse concerning the being and attributes of God. I have reversed this order; because I conceive that we can study the principles of moral obligation, and the various classes of our duties, with greater advantage when we have previously attended to the character and government of Him who has constituted us what we are, and of whom, and to whom, and through whom, are all things. I have styled this work Elements of Christian Ethics and of Moral Philosophy, because I have throughout assumed the Divine authority of |