The Scottish Philosophy [109]
welcomed Berkeley on his coming to Rhode Island, and adopted his philosophy. Berkeley was personally beloved by all who came in contact with him, and gained some devoted adherents to his theory. In Princeton College, Mr. Meriam, a tutor, defended the system. But idealism has never struck deep into the American soil. The " Scottish Philosophy," coming in with the great Scotch and Scotch-Irish migration, which, next to the Puritan, has had the greatest power for good on the American character, has had much greater influence. Edwards was acquainted with the moral theory of Hutcheson, which makes virtue consist in benevolence; but propounded one of his own, somewhat akin to it, but much more profound, making virtue consist in love to being as being. I feel that I must take a passing notice of the energetic man who actually introduced Scottish thought into the new world.
John Witherspoon[48] was the son of a minister of the Church of Scotland, and was born February 5, 1722, in the parish of Yester, in East Lothian, the probable birthplace of Knox. He entered the university of Edinburgh, at the age of fourteen, and pursued his studies there for seven years, with such fellow-students as Blair, Robertson, and John Erskine. Carlyle, who could not have been specially inclined towards him, is obliged to say that " he was open, frank, and generous, pretending to what he was, and sup porting his title with spirit." " At the time I speak of, he was a good scholar, far advanced for his age, very sensible and shrewd, but of a disagreeable temper, which was irritated by a flat voice and awkward manner, which prevented his making an impression on his contemporaries at all adequate to his abilities." Descended from Knox, through his heroic daughter, Mrs. Welch, who told King James that she would rather " kep his head in her lap" than have him submit to the king's supremacy in {185} religion," young Witherspoon inherited the spirit of the reformer,[49] -- his devoted piety, his keen perception of abounding evil, his undaunted courage, his unflinching perseverance, and, I may add, his vigorous sense and his broad humor. He was settled as minister, first in Beith in Ayrshire, famous for its cheese, and then in Paisley, famous for its shawls and for the piety of its older inhabitants; and in both places was an effective, popular preacher, and wrote works -- such as his Treatises on justification, and on Regeneration -- which continue to be read with profit to this day.
He perceived clearly and felt keenly the great change which was coming over the Church of Scotland: he watched carefully the rise and progress of moderatism, tracing it to the restoration of church patronage, and to the philosophy of Shaftesbury and Hutcheson, favored by a young race of divines, who seemed to him to be addicted to levity in their whole character, to be ready to abandon the old truths, and to trample on the spiritual rights of the people. He did not scruple to satirize it in a work, published anonymously, and distinguished for its plain speaking and its humor, scarcely inferior in power to the sarcasm of Swift, and having a much higher aim, -- " Ecclesiastical Characteristics, or the Arcana of Church Policy: Being an humble attempt to open the mystery of moderation, wherein is shown a plain and easy way of attaining to the character of a moderate man, as at present in repute in the Church of Scotland," " Oh, yes! fierce for moderation." " When any man is charged with loose practices or tendencies to immoralities, he is to be screened and protected as much as possible; especially if the faults laid to his charge be -- as they are incomparably termed in a sermon, preached by a hopeful youth, that made some noise lately -- `good-humored vices."' " It will serve further for the support of this maxim, that, according to modern discoveries, there is a great analogy between the moral virtues, or, if you will, the science of morals, and the fine arts: and it is on account of this analogy that most of the present reigning expressions upon the subject of morals
John Witherspoon[48] was the son of a minister of the Church of Scotland, and was born February 5, 1722, in the parish of Yester, in East Lothian, the probable birthplace of Knox. He entered the university of Edinburgh, at the age of fourteen, and pursued his studies there for seven years, with such fellow-students as Blair, Robertson, and John Erskine. Carlyle, who could not have been specially inclined towards him, is obliged to say that " he was open, frank, and generous, pretending to what he was, and sup porting his title with spirit." " At the time I speak of, he was a good scholar, far advanced for his age, very sensible and shrewd, but of a disagreeable temper, which was irritated by a flat voice and awkward manner, which prevented his making an impression on his contemporaries at all adequate to his abilities." Descended from Knox, through his heroic daughter, Mrs. Welch, who told King James that she would rather " kep his head in her lap" than have him submit to the king's supremacy in {185} religion," young Witherspoon inherited the spirit of the reformer,[49] -- his devoted piety, his keen perception of abounding evil, his undaunted courage, his unflinching perseverance, and, I may add, his vigorous sense and his broad humor. He was settled as minister, first in Beith in Ayrshire, famous for its cheese, and then in Paisley, famous for its shawls and for the piety of its older inhabitants; and in both places was an effective, popular preacher, and wrote works -- such as his Treatises on justification, and on Regeneration -- which continue to be read with profit to this day.
He perceived clearly and felt keenly the great change which was coming over the Church of Scotland: he watched carefully the rise and progress of moderatism, tracing it to the restoration of church patronage, and to the philosophy of Shaftesbury and Hutcheson, favored by a young race of divines, who seemed to him to be addicted to levity in their whole character, to be ready to abandon the old truths, and to trample on the spiritual rights of the people. He did not scruple to satirize it in a work, published anonymously, and distinguished for its plain speaking and its humor, scarcely inferior in power to the sarcasm of Swift, and having a much higher aim, -- " Ecclesiastical Characteristics, or the Arcana of Church Policy: Being an humble attempt to open the mystery of moderation, wherein is shown a plain and easy way of attaining to the character of a moderate man, as at present in repute in the Church of Scotland," " Oh, yes! fierce for moderation." " When any man is charged with loose practices or tendencies to immoralities, he is to be screened and protected as much as possible; especially if the faults laid to his charge be -- as they are incomparably termed in a sermon, preached by a hopeful youth, that made some noise lately -- `good-humored vices."' " It will serve further for the support of this maxim, that, according to modern discoveries, there is a great analogy between the moral virtues, or, if you will, the science of morals, and the fine arts: and it is on account of this analogy that most of the present reigning expressions upon the subject of morals