OCR Text |
Show PURPOS~ AND GENERAL CONDITION tion from them· we must endeavvr so to place ourselve~1 and so to act that the arranc.rements which Providence has made impartially for all ~ay be in our fa~or, anrl not against us; such are the only means by whJCh: we ~an obtain good and avoid evil here below. And, In don~g this, it is especially necessary that care be taken to avmd interferinc.r with the like efforts of other men, beyond 0 ''"hat may have been agreed upon ~y the mass as nec.es-sary for the general good. Such Interferences, tendmg in any V'.tay to injure the body~ property, or peace of a neighbor, or to the injury of society In general, tend v~ry much to reflect evil upon oursel ~es, through th.e re-action \vhich they produce in the feeling~ of our ne~gh bor and . of society, and also the offence \Vh!Ch they give to our own conscientiousness and benevolence. On the other hand when we endeavor to promote the efforts of our fello~-creatures to attain happiness, we· prod~ce ~ reaction of the contrary kind, the tendency of wh.tch IS towards our own benefit. The one course of actiOn tends to the injury the other to the benefit of ourselves and others. By the one course the general design of the Creator towards his creatures is thwarted; by the other it is favored. And thus we can readily see the most snb stantial grounds for regarding all rnoral emotions ~nd <loinc. rs as Divine in their nature, and as a means of rising tr and communing with God. Obediei1ce is not selfishness, which it wo,Ild otherwise be-it is worship. The merest barbarians have a glimmering sense of this philosophy, and it continually shines out more and more c!early In the public n1ihd as a nation advances in intelligence Nor are individuals alone concerned here. The same rule applies as between one great body or clas~ of men and another, and also between nations. Thus, if. one .set of men keep others in the condition of slaves-this bem.g a gross injustice to the subjected party, ~he mental mam .. festations of that party to the masters wIll be such as to 1nar the comfort of their lives; the minds of the masters themselves will be dec.rraded by the association with be· ings so degraded; and thus, with some imm.ediate. or ap· parent benefit from keeping slaves, there w1ll be 1~ a far greater degree an experience of evil: So also, If one portion of a nation, engaged in a parbc~l~r .department of industry, gra!5p at some advantages InJUr~ous to ~he other sections of the people, .the first effect wlll be an tn • OF THE ANIMATED CREA't·ION. 'ury to those other portions of the nation, and the sP.cond a reactive injury to the injurers, making their g-uilt their punishment. And so when one nation commits an aggression upon the property or rights of another, or even pursues towards it a sordid or ungracious poliGy, the effects are sure to be redoubled evil from the offended party. . All of these things are under laws which make the effects, on a large range, absolutely certain; and an individual, a party, a people, can no more act unJustly with safety, than I could with safety placE. my leg in the track of a roming wain, or attempt to fast thirty days. We have been constituted on the principlf~ of only being able to realize happiness for oursel ve~ when our fellowcreatures are also happy; we must therefore both do to others only as we would have others to do to us, and endeavor to promote their happine~::~ as well as our own, in order to find ourselv~s truly comfortahle in this field of existence. These are words which God speaks to us as truly through his vvorks, as if we heard them uttered in his own voice from heaven. It will occur to every one that the system here unfolded does not imply the most perfect conceivable love or regard on the part of the Deity towards his creatures. Constituted as we are, feeling how vain our efforts often are to attain happine•s or avoid calamity, and knowing that much evil does unavoidably hefall us from n<? fault of ours, ·we are apt to feel that this is a dreary VIew of the Divine economy; and before we have looked further, we might be tempted to say, Far rather let us cling to the idea, so long received, that the Deity acts continually for special occasions, and gives such directions to the fate of each individual as he thinks meet; so that, when sorrow comes to us, we shall have at least the consolation of believing that it is imposed by a Father who loves us, and who seeks by these rneans to accomplish our ultimate good. Now. in the first place, if this be an untrue notion of the Deit} and his ways, it can be of no real benefit to us; and in the. second, it is proper to inquire if there be necessarily in the doctrine of natural law any peculiarity calculated materially to affect our hitherto supposed relation to the Deity. It may be that, while we are committed to take our chance in a natural system of undeviating operation, and are leit with appa.rent ruthlessness to endure the conieqnences of every collision into which we knowingly or |