We have presented the “nature” of mind as the chief evidence of the grand
design of its Creator in forming all things, and thus also presented the
proof of his perfect wisdom, benevolence, and rectitude. We now will trace
the evidences of the same beneficent design in the nature of all social
and material organizations.
First, then, in regard to the domestic relations. We have seen that while
all happiness depends on obedience to laws, every mind comes into
existence in perfect ignorance of them, and without any power to learn
what is good or evil but by experience and instruction. The intention of
the Creator that each new‐born being should be taught these laws and
trained to obey them, is clearly seen in the first and highest domestic
relation. In this we see two mature minds, who have themselves been
trained to understand these laws, drawn by sweet and gentle influences to
each other. They go apart from all past ties of kindred; they have one
home, one name, one common interest in every thing. The one who has most
physical strength goes forth to provide supplies; the delicate one remains
behind, by domestic ministries to render home the centre of all
attractions.
Then comes the beautiful, helpless infant, of no use to any one, and
demanding constant care, labor, and attention. And yet, with its profound
ignorance, its tender weakness, its delicate beauty, its utter
helplessness, its entire dependence, how does it draw forth the strongest
feelings of love and tenderness, making every toil and care a delight! And
thus, month after month, both parents unite to cherish and support, while,
with unceasing vigilance, they train the new‐born mind to understand and
obey the laws of the system into which it is thus ushered. Its first
lessons are to learn to take care of its own body. And when the far‐off
penalty of pain can not be comprehended by the novice, the parent invents
new penalties to secure habits of care and obedience. During all this
period the great lesson of _sacrifice_ constantly occurs. The child must
eat what is _best_, not what it desires. It must go to bed when it wants
to sit up. It must stay in the house when it wants to go out. It must not
touch multitudes of things which it wishes thus to investigate. And so the
habits of self‐denial, obedience, and faith in the parents are gradually
secured, while the knowledge of the laws of the system around are slowly
learned.
But the higher part of the law of sacrifice soon begins to make its
demands. The child first learns of this law _by example_, in that of _the
mother_, that most perfect illustration of self‐sacrificing love. Then
comes a second child, when the first‐born must practice on this example.
It must give up its place in the mother’s bosom to another; it must share
its sweets and toys with the new‐comer; it must join in efforts to
protect, amuse, and instruct the helpless one. And thus the family is the
constant school for training ignorant, inexperienced mind in the laws of
the system of which it is a part, especially in the great law of self‐
control, for the best good of self, and of self‐sacrifice for the best
good of others.
Next comes the discipline of the school and the neighborhood, when the
child is placed among his peers to be taught new rules of justice,
benevolence, and self‐sacrifice for the general good.
Next come the relations of the body politic, for which labors are demanded
and pain is to be endured according to the grand law of sacrifice, by
which the individual is to subordinate his own interests and wishes to the
greater general good, so that the interests of the majority shall always
control those of the minority.
Lastly, the whole world is to be taken into the estimate, and the nations
are to be counted as members of one great family of man, for which every
portion is to make sacrifices for the greater general good.
Thus, as age, and experience, and habits of obedience to the laws of
rectitude increase, the duties and obligations grow more numerous and
complicated. But the same grand principle is more and more developed, that
each individual is to seek the greatest possible happiness with the least
possible evil, for the vast whole as well as for each subordinate part,
while _self_ is to receive only its just and proper share.
The same great design of the Creator can be detected also in specific
organizations, by which minds so differ from each other as to fit them for
the diverse positions and relations that the common good demands. If all
were exactly alike in the amount of constitutional powers and in the
proportionate combinations, it can easily be seen that the general result
would be far less favorable to the happiness of the whole. But as it is,
some have the love of power very large, and seek to lead and control;
others have it small, and prefer to follow. Some have elevated intellect,
and love to teach; others have humbler capacities, and prefer humbler
pursuits.
These varied combinations also give scope to the virtues of pity,
tenderness, patience, mercy, justice, self‐denial, and many other graces
that could not be called into being without all the disparities, social,
domestic, intellectual, and moral, that we find existing. Meantime the
principle of habit and the power of the will give abundant opportunities
for modifying these natural peculiarities to accommodate to varying
circumstances.
To these indications of benevolent design may be added the “nature” of the
bodily system, and the “nature” of the material world without. In
examining the body we inhabit, so nicely adjusted, so perfectly adapted to
our necessities, so beautifully and harmoniously arranged, so “fearfully
and wonderfully made,” it is almost beyond the power of numbers to express
the multiplied contrivances for ease, comfort, and delight.
We daily pursue our business and our pleasure, thoughtless of the thousand
operations which are going on, and the busy mechanism employed in securing
the objects we desire. The warm current that is flowing from the centre to
the extremities, with its life‐giving energies, and then returning to be
purified and again sent forth; the myriads of branching nerves that are
the sensitive discerners of good or ill; the unnumbered muscles and
tendons that are contracting and expanding in all parts of our frame; the
nicely‐adjusted joints, and bands, and ligaments, that sustain, and
direct, and support; the perpetual expansion and contraction of the vital
organ; the thousand hidden contrivances and operations of the animal
frame, all are quietly and constantly performing their generous functions,
and administering comfort and enjoyment to the conscious spirit that
dwells within.
Nor is the outer world less busy in performing its part in promoting the
great design of the Creator. The light of suns and stars is traversing the
ethereal expanse in search of those for whom it was created; for them it
gilds the scenes of earth, and is reflected in ten thousand forms of
beauty and of skill. The trembling air is waiting to minister its aid,
fanning with cool breezes, or yielding the warmth of spring, sustaining
the functions of life, and bearing on its light wing the thoughts that go
forth from mind to mind, and the breathings of affection that are given
and returned. For this design earth is sending forth her exuberance, the
waters are emptying their stores, and the clouds pouring forth their
treasures. All nature is busy with its offerings of fruits and flowers,
its wandering incense, its garnished beauty, and its varied songs. Within
and without, above, beneath, and around, the same Almighty Beneficence is
found still ministering to the wants and promoting the happiness of the
minds he has formed for ever to desire and pursue this boon.
We are now prepared to meet the questions proposed, (_i.e._) is the
Creator a being who, with the varying humors of man, sometimes prefers
evil to good, and sometimes prefers good to evil, or does he invariably
choose what is _best for all_, even in cases where it may involve personal
sacrifices and suffering to himself?
In attempting to answer this question, we have set forth the evidence to
be found in the works of the Creator which establishes the position that
his _chief end_ or _ruling purpose_ is to produce the greatest possible
happiness with the least possible evil.
The question then reads, does the Creator destroy happiness and cause
needless pain, and thus thwart his own chief desire and great end; the end
for which he made all things?
The very statement of the question is its most forcible answer.
We have seen that we are obliged to conceive of God as possessing such a
social and moral nature as our own. This would lead him to desire the
veneration, confidence, love, and gratitude of the children he has
created.
But he has formed their minds to hate selfishness and to admire and
reverence self‐sacrificing benevolence. Will the Creator then oppose his
own chief end and grand design by conduct which would make all his
creatures necessarily, by the nature he implanted, withhold their respect
and love, and feel only dislike and contempt? The very question involves
its own answer.
Add to this, that all those causes which our experience and observation
have shown to lead to wrong choices are necessarily excluded from our
conceptions of the Creator.
The Eternal Mind can not err for want of knowledge, nor for want of habits
of right action, nor for want of teachers and educators, nor for want of
those social influences which generate and sustain a right governing
purpose; for an infinite mind, that never had a beginning, can not have
these modes of experience which appertain to new‐born and finite
creatures.
Again: Such is the eternal system of the universe, as we learn it by the
light of reason, that the highest possible happiness to each individual
mind and to the whole commonwealth is promoted by the right action of
every mind in that system. This, of necessity, is seen and felt by the
All‐creating and Eternal Mind, and to suppose that, with this knowledge,
he would ever choose wrong, is to suppose that he would choose pure evil.
It is to suppose the Creator would do what he has formed our minds to
believe to be impossible in _any_ rational mind. It is to suppose that the
Creator would do that which, if done by human beings, marks them as
insane.