A Manual of Moral Philosophy: With Quotations and References for the Use of Students

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Murray, 1871 - Ethics - 428 pages

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Page 381 - The soul, secured in her existence, smiles At the drawn dagger, and defies its point. The stars shall fade away, the sun himself Grow dim with age, and Nature sink in years, But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth, Unhurt amidst the war of elements, The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds.
Page 134 - the doing good to mankind, in obedience to the will of God, and for the sake of everlasting happiness.
Page 175 - By motive, I mean the whole of that which moves, excites or invites the mind to volition, whether that be one thing singly, or many things conjunctly.
Page 112 - But whatsoever is the object of any man's appetite or desire, that is it which he for his part calleth 'good'; and the object of his hate and aversion, 'evil'; and of his contempt 'vile' and 'inconsiderable.' For these words of good, evil, and contemptible, are ever used with relation to the person that useth them, there being nothing simply and absolutely so; nor any common rule of good and evil, to be taken from the nature of the objects themselves...
Page 383 - A brute arrives at a point of perfection that he can never pass: in a few years he has all the endowments he is capable of; and were he to live ten thousand more, would be the same thing he is at present.
Page 109 - ... determinately some actions to be in themselves just, right, good; others to be in themselves evil, wrong, unjust, which, without being consulted, without being advised with, magisterially exerts itself, and approves or condemns him the doer of them accordingly; and which, if not forcibly stopped, naturally and always of course goes on to anticipate a higher and more effectual sentence which shall hereafter second and affirm its own.
Page 388 - ... according to the deeds done in the body, whether they have been good, or whether they have been evil.
Page 135 - The method of coming at the will of God, concerning any action, by the light of nature, is to inquire into " the tendency of the action to promote or diminish the general happiness." This rule proceeds upon the presumption, that God Almighty wills and wishes the happiness of his creatures; and, consequently, that those actions, which promote that will and wish, must be agreeable to him ; and the contrary.
Page 322 - For the invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead...
Page 32 - But strew his ashes to the wind Whose sword or voice has served mankind, And is he dead, whose glorious mind Lifts thine on high ? To live in hearts we leave behind Is not to die.

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