In a former chapter we have noticed the analysis of the principle of
_love_. It is needful to refer to this again, as intimately connected with
the question of the right moral action of finite minds.
We have seen that love is a complex exercise, its first element being
agreeable emotions in view of certain qualities and actions. Combined with
these emotions co‐exists a desire of reciprocated regard, that is to say,
a desire to be the cause of similar agreeable emotions to the one loved.
These are constitutional impulses not at all consequent on any volition or
choice, and as the involuntary element of love, are properly called
_involuntary love_. Such love can not be justly demanded except where
those qualities are, or can be, perceived which naturally awaken agreeable
emotions. In cases where the qualities exist that would naturally awaken
affection if noticed, and the want of it is owing to inattention, a proper
regard to such qualities can be justly demanded. But this is the only
particular in which involuntary love can be made the subject of law and
penalties.
But the main element of love, as practically estimated among men, is such
a desire of good to the one loved as involves the _good willing_ or
voluntary effort to please and gratify. If a friend simply is pleased with
our good qualities, and wishes to please us with his naturally agreeable
traits in return, it is of little value in comparison with the truer love
which is shown in _voluntary_ efforts to please and make happy. This last
is the main element of true affection, and properly is called _voluntary
love_ or _good willing_. Theologians express this distinction by the terms
the _love of complacency_ and the _love of benevolence_.
Thus we have gained these definitions:
_Involuntary love_ toward God and toward men consists in agreeable
emotions in view of admirable qualities.
_Voluntary love_ toward God and toward men consists in _good willing_, or
the voluntary effort to please and make happy.
To “love our neighbor _as ourselves_” must refer solely to voluntary love,
for we have no regard to our own agreeable qualities in the love of self.
Self‐love is simply the desire and will to please and gratify self. This
then is _the kind_ of love that can properly be demanded of all. Each one
can justly be required to will or choose to please and gratify others the
same as we do ourselves. Each can be required to estimate the happiness of
every other mind as of the same value as his own, and to exercise _good
willing_ for others as we do for our own enjoyment. From this primary
principle necessarily results the law demanding that the good of the
commonwealth shall always take precedence of any individual concern. If we
are bound to value the happiness of each mind as _equal_ in value to our
own, the inevitable result is that we are to estimate the happiness of
_many_ minds as of _more_ value than our own, so as always to make our own
enjoyment and wishes subordinate and secondary to the general good.
Still more are we to regard the feelings and wishes of our Creator and
Supreme Lord. He has infinite susceptibilities of enjoyment and suffering,
and thus whatever retards or promotes his wishes and plans must be of as
much more value as his powers of enjoyment and suffering are greater than
ours. The _love of good willing_ then should have first reference to God
as the one whose will and wishes are of more value than any other being in
this relation alone. Still more are we bound to regard his will and wishes
as first in value, because his chief end and aim is the most possible
happiness to all the creatures he has made. To will to please God as the
chief end of our existence is the same as to choose to make the most
possible happiness, not only to him, but to all his creatures.
Involuntary love is valuable as rendering it easier and more agreeable to
labor for the welfare of others. Those whose interesting traits please us;
those who, as children or friends, contribute to our enjoyment, and those
who in any way give us pleasure, it is far easier to will for their
enjoyment than it is to do so for those who do nothing to please us, and
perhaps only give us discomfort, anxiety or disgust.
This exhibits an indirect way of securing the love of good will toward
those who neither please us by their agreeable qualities, nor are causes
of enjoyment to us in any way. Involuntary affection may be so strongly
excited toward one whose qualities or conduct cause delight to self, that
the desire to please that friend may become more animating than the desire
for any personal gratification. Should such a friend be deeply interested
in the happiness of his children, or of any other persons, whose character
and conduct may in no way please us, still the desire to gratify such a
friend may lead to good willing to those whom he loves, for his sake, in
order to please and gratify him.
Thus it is that love to parents tends to produce “peace and good will”
among children, who, in their little broils, are restrained by the desire
to please their parents, when love to each other fails.
Here we have a view of the importance of _right conceptions_ of God’s
character, in order to secure the perfect action of finite minds,
especially in the first stage of existence.
It has been shown that the rules of right action are to be gained, in many
cases, only by long experience and by a course of reasoning. Often, too,
general rules (such, for example, as that we are _never to lie_, even to
save life, or for _any_ reason,) must be obeyed when a person can see
immediate evil, and no good to self or to any one by obedience. Now it is
impossible for a rational mind to choose _pure evil_. There must be _some
good_ in an object to excite desire, or it is impossible to choose it. But
pleasurable emotions toward an all‐wise Creator, whose benevolence and
wisdom excite love, delight, and confidence, may be such that _to please
him_ gives abundant motive to obey the rules of right he enjoins when no
other good can be perceived except that obedience will please him. And the
more we perceive in him that excites admiration, love, and gratitude, the
more strength of motive is gained.
It has been shown that a choice or act is _virtuous_ in all relations,
when it absolutely is best for all, and when it is done in reference to a
rule of rectitude, or _because_ it is right. The motive or reason of a
choice decides whether or not it is virtuous.
Now as the Creator’s will and the rules of rectitude are the same, when we
say that any act, in order to be virtuous, must have reference to God’s
will, the question comes up, is an act virtuous _because it pleases God_,
or does it please God _because it is virtuous_? _i.e._, because it
conforms to those rules by which his chief end in creation is secured, and
which rest on the eternal nature of things.
The last is the principle here assumed. God’s great end is the highest
happiness of his creatures. Obedience to his laws is the mode for securing
this end; his own actions are right as they conform to this end; and the
actions of all his creatures are right only in the same relation.
So God’s “glory” consists in the highest happiness of his creatures, which
can only be secured by their obedience to his laws.
This makes it clear that choosing as our chief end to obey all the
physical, social, and moral laws of God, as learned by experience, is the
same as loving God with all the heart, and our neighbors as ourselves. It
is also living for God’s glory as the chief end; and it is being a truly
righteous, virtuous, and pious man.
This distinction between voluntary and involuntary love enables us to
discover certain dangers that result for want of such discrimination. Men
may conceive of the Creator as desiring to be loved, admired, and
glorified, just as selfish conquerors, like Alexander and Napoleon have
done. In this view all their aims would be to excite agreeable emotions
toward God by the contemplation of his various attributes. And thus they
might be so absorbed in the indulgence of such delightful emotions as to
become entirely heedless of the wants and the wishes of those around them.
This kind of experience would cultivate selfishness instead of
benevolence.
On the contrary, choosing to obey all God’s laws for happiness‐making on
the largest scale, and viewing the lovely and glorious attributes of the
Creator as _means_ to this end, would induce the only true virtue, while
it is the true mode of pleasing our Maker and increasing his enjoyment.
The preceding furnishes the mode of harmonizing a great variety of
expressions that may properly be given in answer to the great question,
“what must we do to be saved?” as we gain this answer independently of
revelation.
The first answer is, “believe in God’s teachings—or have faith in God.”
This means, take the laws of God as revealed by reason and experience, and
_obey_ them, and you shall be saved. It is a _practical_ and not a mere
intellectual belief that constitutes this “saving faith.”
The next answer is, “repent,” or “repentance toward God.”
The word repent is used to signify, sometimes, simply remorse or pain for
wrong‐doing. In another sense it signifies that sorrow for wrong‐doing
which includes reformation. It is ceasing to disobey law and commencing a
life of obedience. It is in this sense that men are saved by repentance.
Another answer is, “thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and thy neighbor as thyself.” This has been shown to signify, thou shalt
choose as the chief end of life to make happiness the right way, that is,
by obeying all the physical, social, and moral laws of God. “This is the
love of God, that we keep his commandments.”
Another answer is, “make it thy chief end to glorify God.” Inasmuch as
God’s glory consists in the exhibition of his character as a benevolent
being, all who promote his chief aim by making happiness according to his
will, are living to glorify God.
Another answer is, “live a truly virtuous life.” It has been shown that
true virtue consists in _obedience to the great law of sacrifice_ by which
the lesser personal good is sacrificed to the greater good of all
concerned.
Thus faith, repentance, love to God and man, making it our chief end to
glorify God, living a virtuous life, all signify one and the same thing,
(_i.e._,) choosing to find out and to obey all the physical, social, and
moral laws of God as our chief end or ruling purpose.
The _righteous_ are those who have formed such a purpose, and who exhibit
its results in their daily life.
The _wicked_ are those who have not formed such a purpose, and do not
exhibit it in their daily life.
In the common language of every‐day life, when a person is intensely
interested in any pursuit, it is said to be “his life.” And when a man
changes from a vicious to a virtuous course he is said to “begin a new
life.”
Thus it would be in agreement with the ordinary use of language to call a
new‐formed purpose to obey all the laws of God the commencement of a new
life. And as the beginning of natural life is the commencement of a life
of _impulsive choices unregulated by law_, the commencement of a life of
_obedience to law_ would, by a figure of speech, very naturally be called
“a new birth.”
We have seen, in previous pages, that the formation of a ruling principle
or governing purpose is sometimes the result of a slow process of
educational influences, and sometimes it is a marked and sudden change. In
the history of mind we find, as a general rule, that it is the slow
process of educational training that secures a virtuous character in
childhood, while the more sudden and marked changes are incident chiefly
to more advanced life.
The term “_regeneration_” is used by theologians as meaning the formation
of a ruling purpose to love and obey God, by man himself. By some, this
change of mind is regarded as in all cases instantaneous, by others as
sometimes a gradual and sometimes an instantaneous change.
The preceding still farther exhibits the fact that the whole foundation of
religion and of morals rests on the answer to the question, what is _true
virtue_ or _right voluntary_ action?