CULTIVATION OF THE MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL POWERS.
The system of common sense rests on the assumption that there are
principles of right and wrong founded on the eternal nature of things,
existing independently of the will of the Creator in his own eternal mind,
and by which his character and conduct may be judged.
The human mind is constructed in accordance with these principles, as the
embryo image of the Eternal Creator. By the aid of these principles, we
discover the design and character of God in the _nature_ of his works, and
can perceive what is right or wrong in moral action as tending to fulfill
or oppose this design. Thus we are enabled to understand and to adore the
rectitude, wisdom and goodness of our Creator, as manifested either in his
works or in more direct revelations from him.
According to this system, all voluntary action is right which produces
happiness without violating the laws of God. Thus every person who is
making self or others happy in the _best_ way, guided by the teachings of
experience or by revelations from God, is fulfilling the great design of
our Maker, and thus pleasing him by promoting his chief desire.
On the contrary, the Augustinian system assumes that the human mind, being
totally depraved, is entirely disqualified to judge of the character and
ways of God. Nay more, it assumes that there is no standard of right and
wrong by which we can judge of the rectitude of the ways of God.
According to this theory, the fact that God wills a thing is what makes it
right; so that any thing is right if God does it, and true if he says it,
however contrary it may be to our moral nature and common sense.
In the teachings of moral science, founded on this theory, it is
maintained that God has formed our minds to feel certain emotions of
approval or disapproval in view of certain relations and actions, which
are right or wrong only as agreeing or disagreeing with his will. But as
the mind of man is depraved, this constitution is no certain guide, and we
are dependent on direct revelations from God to teach us what is in
agreement with his will. Yet here again we are at fault; for such is our
depravity that we are disqualified to _interpret_ these revelations,
except as we are regenerated by God.
Accordingly, man has no means of judging of the designs or character of
his Maker—nor, while unregenerate, as most of our race are and have been,
has he any sure means of discovering the will of God, either by reason or
revelation, saving as he may find infallible priestly interpreters.
Tendencies of the Two Systems in Regard to the Cultivation of the
Reasoning Powers and Moral Sense.
The common‐sense system, resting on the assumption that _happiness‐making,
according to the laws of God_, is the chief end of man, naturally leads to
the development of the intellect and reason in order to discover these
laws, and to the devotion of all our powers to happiness‐making, according
to these laws. This being so, every thing that tends to make enjoyment and
diminish evil without violating law, is valued as good and right. All
noble, generous, self‐sacrificing and honorable sentiments and acts are
regarded as right, pleasing to the Father of all, and tending equally to
promote the best good of ourselves and of all our fellow‐beings. In this
light we become _one_ with the Father and with all good beings just so far
as we obey all the physical, social and moral laws of our Creator, and
thus conform to his will, and add to his happiness. Thus the direct
tendency of this system is to promote an earnest desire, first to discover
all that is true and right, and then to follow it. And such efforts
naturally tend both to develop our highest powers, and to bring the mind
into harmony and communion with the Father of our spirits.
On the contrary, the Augustinian system, resting on the assumption that
all the plans and ways of God are a mystery beyond our comprehension; that
man, by nature, has no power to understand what is right or wrong in God’s
dispensations; that what we call goodness and virtue in unregenerate minds
is not so in God’s sight; that every act of every unrenewed mind is sin,
and only sin; that until regenerated we never do any thing to move God to
re‐create our ruined nature; all this in its _tendency_ leads to
recklessness, hopelessness and neglect of all virtuous efforts, as useless
in regard to our highest interests. As before intimated, these tendencies
are more or less counteracted by the teachings of common sense and the
Bible. Still, such tendencies must always be, more or less, effective and
disastrous.