As far as men are able to comprehend Jehovah, the wisest, in all ages,
have deduced the fact, that God acts; yet, as an essential Being, he is
beyond being acted upon.
That which is manifested by the character of his acts is called his
attributes; that is, the thing or quality which we attribute to him as a
portion or quality of his essence.
Thus among his attributes, are said to be power, wisdom, truth, justice,
love, and mercy. His action is always found to be in conformity and
accordance to these attributes. This state of conformity, this certainty
of unison of action, is called truth. “Thy word is truth.” _John_ xvii.
7.
A system of laws, permanently established for the production of some
object, we call an institution.
Law is the history of how things are influenced by one another; yet the
mind should never disconnect such influence from the attributes of
Jehovah; and hence Burke very properly says, “Law is beneficence acting
by rule.” “The law of the Lord is perfect.” _Ps._ xix. 7. The deduction
follows that the laws of God are well adapted, and intended to benefit
all those who are suitably related under them.
By relation we mean the connection between things,—what one thing is in
regard to the influence of another. And hence it also follows that, in
case the relation is in utter want of a conformity to the attributes of
Jehovah, the actor in the relation becomes an opponent, and, so far,
joins issue with God himself. The laws fitting the case operate, and his
position is consumed, as it were, by the breath of the Almighty.
But yet an institution may be a righteous one, may exist in conformity
to the laws of God, and particular cases of a relation, seeming to us to
emanate from it, be quite the reverse. For example, the institution of
marriage may be righteous, may exist in conformity to the laws of God;
yet cases of the relation of husband and wife may be a very wicked
relation.
Individuals in a relation to each other under an institution are
supposed to bear such comparison to each other as will permit the laws
of God, influencing the relation, to be beneficial to them; and when
such comparative qualities are not the most suitable, or are more or
less unsuitable for the relation, the benefits intended by the relation
must be proportionably diminished. If wholly unsuitable, then it is
found that the conservative influences of the same laws operate in the
direction to cause the relation to cease between them.
If a supposed male and female are each distinctly clothed with qualities
wholly unsuited to each other in the relation emanating from the
institution of marriage, then, in that case, the relation will be sinful
between them; and the repulsion, the necessary consequence of a total
unsuitableness, will be in constant action in the direction of sweeping
it away.
Will it be new in morals to say that it is consistent with the
ordinances of Jehovah to bring things into that relation to each other
by which they will be mutually benefited?
As an exemplification of the doctrine, we cite the institution of
guardianship—guardian and ward; both words derived from the same Saxon
root, _weardian_, which implies one who protects and one who is
protected.
The institution itself presupposes power in the one and weakness in the
other, a want of equality between the parties. And it may be here
remarked, that, the greater the inequality, the greater the prospect of
benefit growing out of the relation, especially to the weaker party. But
when the weak, ignorant, or wayward youth is the guardian, and the
powerful and wise man is the ward, then the relation will be sinful, and
the repulsion necessarily emanating from the relation must quickly
terminate it. No possible benefit could accrue from such a case—nothing
but evil. The conservative influence of God’s providence must,
therefore, suddenly bring it to a close.
Will the assertion be odious to the ear of truth, that the laws of God
present the same class of conservative influences in the moral world
that is every day discovered in the physical?—that the thing manifestly
useless, from which no benefit can accrue, but from which a constant
injury emanates, shall be cut away, nor longer “cumber the ground?” Or,
where a less degree of enormity and sin have centered, it may be placed
under influences of guidance, and controlled into the path of
regeneration and comparative usefulness? Surely, if we detach from
Jehovah these high attributes, we lessen his character.
When we enter into the inquiry, whether an institution, or the relation
emanating from it in a particular case, be sinful or not, it seems
obvious that the inquiry must reach the object of the institution and
its tendencies, and take into consideration how far they, and the
relations created by it, coincide with the laws of God.
The relation of master and slave, and the institution of slavery itself,
in the inquiry whether such relation or institution is right or wrong,
just or unjust, righteous or sinful, must be subjected to a like
examination,—applying the same rules applicable to any other relation or
institution,—before we can determine whether or not it exists in
conformity to the laws of God.
But human reason is truly but of small compass; and the mercy of God has
vouchsafed to man the aids of faith and inspiration. “All scripture is
given by inspiration of God.” 2 _Tim._ iii. 16.
These are important aids in the examination of all moral subjects,
without which we may be “ever learning and never able to come to the
knowledge of the truth.” 2 _Tim._ iii. 7.
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