INFLUENCE OF THE WILL IN INTELLECTUAL JUDGMENTS.
Itis an old maxim, that the Will governs the understanding. It becomes a very important inquiry with us, To what extent, and in what sense, is this maxim true? It is undeniable, that, in many important respects, mankind are voluntary in their opinions and judgments, and therefore, responsible for them. We often hear the declaration, “You ought, or ought not, to entertain such and such opinions, to form such and such judgments.” “You are bound to admit, or have no right to admit, such and such things as true.” Men often speak, also, ofpre-judgingparticular cases, and thus incurring guilt. A question may very properly be asked here, what are these opinions, judgments, admissions, pre-judgments, &c.? Are they real affirmations of the Intelligence, or are they exclusively phenomena of the Will?
The proposition which I lay down is this,that the Intelligence, in its appropriate exercise, can seldom if ever, make wrong affirmations; that wrong opinions, admissions, pre-judgments, &c., are in most, if not all instances, nothing else than phenomena, or assumptions of Will. If the Intelligence can make wrong affirmations, it is important to determine in what department of its action such affirmations may be found.
Let us first contemplate the action of theprimaryintellectual faculties—Sense, or the faculty ofexternalperception; Consciousness, the faculty ofinternalobservation; and Reason, the faculty which gives usnecessaryanduniversal truths. The two former faculties give us phenomena external and internal. The latter gives us the logical antecedents of phenomena, thus perceived and affirmed, to wit: the ideas of substance, cause, space, time, &c. In the action of these faculties, surely, real error is impossible.
Let us now contemplate the action of the secondary faculties, the Understanding and Judgment. The former unites the elements given by the three primary faculties intonotionsof particular objects. The latter classifies these notions according to qualities perceived. Here, also, we find no place for wrong affirmations. The understanding can only combine the elements actually given by the primary faculties. The Judgment can classify only according to qualities actually perceived. Thus I might go over the entire range of the Intelligence, and show, that seldom, if ever, in its appropriate action, it can make wrong affirmations.
Where then is the place for error, for wrong opinions, and pre-judgments? Let us suppose, that a number of individuals are observing some object at a distance from them. No qualities are given but those common to a variety of objects, such as a man, horse, ox, &c. The perceptive faculty has deceived no one in this case. It has given nothing but real qualities. The Understanding can only form a notion of it, as an object possessing these particular qualities. The Judgment can only affirm, that the qualities perceived are common to different classes of objects, and consequently, that no affirmations can be made as to what class the object perceived does belong. The Intelligence, therefore, makes no false affirmations. Still the inquiry goes round. “What is it?” One answers, “It is a man.” That is my opinion. Another: “It is a horse.” That is my judgment. Another still says, “I differ from you all. It is an ox.” That is my notion. Now, what are these opinions, judgments, and notions? Are they real affirmations of the Intelligence? By no means. The Intelligence cannot affirm at all, under such circumstances. They are nothing in reality, but mereassumptionsof the Will. A vast majority of the so called opinions, beliefs, judgments, and notions among men, and all whereerroris found, are nothing but assumptions of the Will.
Assumptions are sometimes based upon real affirmations of the Intelligence, and sometimes not. Suppose the individuals above referred to approach the object, till qualities are given which are peculiar to the horse. The Judgment at once classifies the object accordingly. As soon as this takes place, they all exclaim, “well, it is a horse.” Here are assumptions again, but assumptions based upon real affirmations of the Intelligence. In the former instance we had assumptions based upon no such affirmations.
False assumptions do not always imply moral guilt. Much of the necessary business of life has no other basis than prudent or imprudentguessing. When the farmer, for example, casts any particular seed into the ground, it is only by balance of probabilities that he often determines, as far as he does or can determine, what is best; and not unfrequently is he necessitated to assume and act, when all probabilities are so perfectly balanced, that he can find no reasons at all for taking one course in distinction from another. Yet no moral guilt is incurred when one is necessitated to act in some direction, and when all available light has been sought and employed to determine the direction which is best.
As false assumptions, however, often involve very great moral guilt, it may be important to develope some of the distinguishing characteristics of assumptions of this class.
1. All assumptions involve moral guilt, which are in opposition to the real and positive affirmations of the Intelligence. As the Will may assume in the absence of such affirmations, and in the direction of them, so it may in opposition to them. When you have carried a man’s Intellect in favor of a given proposition, it is by no means certain that you have gained his assent to its truth. He may still assume, that all the evidence presented is inadequate, and consequently refuse to admit its truth. When the Will thus divorces itself from the Intelligence, guilt of no ordinary character is incurred. Men often express their convictions of the guilt thus incurred, by saying to individuals, “You are bound to admit that fact or proposition as true. You are already convinced. What excuse have you for not yielding to that conviction?” Yet individuals will often do fatal violence to their intellectual and moral nature, by holding on to assumptions, in reality known to be false.
2. Assumptions involve moral guilt which are formed without availing ourselves of all the light within our reach as the basis of our assumptions. For us to assume any proposition, or statement, to be true or false, in the absence of affirmations of the Intelligence, as the basis of such assumptions, when adequate light is available, involves the same criminality, as assumptions in opposition to the Intelligence. Hence we often have the expression in common life, “You had no right to form a judgment under such circumstances. You were bound, before doing it, to avail yourself of all the light within your reach.”
3.Positiveassumptions, without intellectual affirmations as their basis, equally positive, involve moral guilt of no ordinary character. As remarked above, we are often placed in circumstances in which we are necessitated to act in some direction, and to select some particular course without any perceived reasons in favor of that one course in distinction from another. Now whileactionis proper in such a condition, it is not proper to make a positive assumption that the course selected is the best. Suppose, that all the facts before my mind bearing upon the character of a neighbor, are equally consistent with the possession, on his part, of a character either good or bad. I do violence to my intellectual and moral nature, if, under such circumstances, I make the assumption that his character is either the one or the other, and especially, that it is the latter instead of the former. How often do flagrant transgressions of moral rectitude occur in such instances!
A few remarks are deemed requisite on this topic. A pre-judgment is an assumption, that a proposition or statement is true or false, before the facts, bearing upon the case, have been heard. Such assumptions are generally classed under the term prejudice. Thus it is said of individuals, that they are prejudiced in favor or against certain persons, sentiments, or causes. The real meaning of such statements is, that individuals have made assumptions in one direction or another, prior to a hearing of the facts of the case, and irrespective of such facts.
It is commonly said, that such prejudices, or pre-judgments, blind the mind to facts of one class, and render it quick to discern those of the other, and thus lead to a real mis-direction of the Intelligence. This I think is not a correct statement of the case. Pre-judgments may, and often do, prevent all proper investigation of a subject. In this case, the Intelligence is not deceived at all. In the absence of real data, it can make no positive affirmations whatever.
So far also as pre-judgments direct attention from facts bearing upon one side of a question, and to those bearing upon the other, the Intelligence is not thereby deceived. All that it can affirm is the true bearing of the facts actually presented. In respect to those not presented, and consequently in respect to the real merits of the whole case, it makes no affirmations. If an individual forms an opinion from a partial hearing, that opinion is a mere assumption of Will, and nothing else.
But the manner in which pre-judgments chiefly affect the mind in the hearing of a cause, still remains to be stated. In such pre-judgments, or assumptions, an assumption of this kind is almost invariably included, to wit: that all facts of whatever character bearing upon one side of the question, are wholly indecisive, while all others bearing upon the other side are equally decisive. In pre-judging, individuals do not merely pre-judge the real merits of the case, but the character of all the facts bearing upon it. They enter upon the investigation of a given subject, with an inflexible determination to treat all the facts and arguments they shall meet with, according to previous assumptions. Let the clearest light poured upon one side of the question, and the reply is, “After all, I am not convinced,” while the most trivial circumstances conceivable bearing upon the other side, will be seized upon as perfectly decisive. In all this, we do not meet with the operations of a deceived Intelligence, but of a “deceived heart,” that is, of a depraved Will, stubbornly bent upon verifying its own unauthorized, pre-formed assumptions. Such assumptions can withstand any degree of evidence whatever. The Intelligence did not give them existence, and it cannot annihilate them. They are exclusively creatures of Will, and by an act of Will, they must be dissolved, or they will remain proof against all the evidence which the tide of time can roll against them.
The influences which induce false and unauthorized assumptions, are found in the strong action of the Sensibility, in the direction of the appetites, natural affections, and the different propensities, as the love of gain, ambition, party spirit, pride of character, of opinion, &c. When the Will has long been habituated to act in the direction of a particular propensity, how difficult it is to induce the admission, or assumption, that action in that direction is wrong! The difficulty, in such cases, does not, in most instances, lie in convincing the Intelligence, but in inducing the Will to admit as true what the Intelligence really affirms.
As there are cases of this kind, it is important to mark some of their characteristics. Among these I cite the following:
1. The qualities of a particular object, actually perceived, as in the case above cited, may be common to a variety of classes which we know, and also to others which we do not know. On the perception of such qualities, the Intelligence will suggest those classes only which we know, while the particular object perceived may belong to a class unknown. If, in such circumstances, a positive assumption, as to what class it does belong, is made, a wrong assumption must of necessity be made. TheIntelligencein this case is not deceived. It places the Will, however, in such a relation to the object, that if a positive assumption is made, it must necessarily be a wrong one. In this manner, multitudes of wrong assumptions arise.
2. When facts are before the mind, anexplanationof them is often desired. In such circumstances, the Intelligence may suggest, in explanation, a number of hypotheses, which hypotheses may be all alike false. If a positive assumption is made in such a case, it must of necessity be a false one; because it must be in the direction of some one hypothesis before the mind at the time. Here, also, the Intelligence necessitates a wrong assumption, if any is made. Yet it is not itself deceived; because it gives no positive affirmations as the basis of positive assumptions. In such circumstances, error very frequently arises.
3.Experienceoften occasions wrong assumptions, which are attributed incorrectly to real affirmations of the Intelligence. A friend, for example, saw an object which presented the external appearance of the apple. He had never before seen those qualities, except in connection with that class of objects. He assumed, at once, that it was a real apple; but subsequently found that it was an artificial, and not a real one. Was the Intelligence deceived in this instance? By no means. That faculty had never affirmed, that those qualities which the apple presents to the eye, never exist in connection with any other object, and consequently, that the apple must have been present in the instance given.Experience, and not a positive affirmation of the Intelligence, led to the wrong assumption in this instance. The same principle holds true, in respect to a vast number of instances that might be named.
4. Finally, the Intelligence may not only make positive affirmations in the presence of qualities perceived, but it may affirmhypothetically, that is, when a given proposition isassumedas true, the Intelligence may and will present the logicalantecedentsandconsequentsof that assumption. If the assumption is false, such will be the character of the antecedents and consequents following from it. An individual, in tracing out these antecedents and consequents, however, may mistake the hypothetical, for the real, affirmations of the Intelligence. One wrong assumption in theology or philosophy, for example, may give an entire system, all of the leading principles of which are likewise false. In tracing out, and perfecting that system, how natural the assumption, that one is following thereal, and not thehypothetical, affirmations of the Intelligence! From this one source an infinity of error exists among men.
In an enlarged Treatise on mental science, the subject of the present chapter should receive a much more extensive elucidation than could be given to it in this connection. Few subjects would throw more clear light over the domains of truth and error than this, if fully and distinctly elucidated.
In conclusion, I would simply remark, that one of the highest attainments in virtue which we can conceive an intelligent being to make, consists in a continued and vigorous employment of the Intelligence in search of the right, the just, the true, and the good, in all departments of human investigation; and in a rigid discipline of the Will, to receive and treat, as true and sacred, whatever the Intelligence may present, as possessed of such characteristics, to the full subjection of all impulses in the direction of unauthorized assumptions.
LIBERTY AND SERVITUDE.
Thereare, among others, two senses of the term Liberty, which ought to be carefully distinguished from each other. In the first sense, it stands opposed to Necessity; in the second, to what is called Moral Servitude. It is in the last sense that I propose to consider the subject in the present Chapter. What, then, is Liberty as opposed to Moral Servitude?It is that state in which the action of Will is in harmony with the Moral Law, with the idea of the right, the just, the true, and the good, while all the propensities are held in perfect subordination—a state in which the mind may purpose obedience to the law of right with the rational hope of carrying that determination into accomplishment. This state all mankind agree in calling a state of moral freedom. The individual who has attained to it, is not in servitude to any propensity whatever. He “rules his own spirit.” He is the master of himself. He purposes the good, and performs it. He resolves against the evil, and avoids it. “Greater,” says the maxim of ancient wisdom, “is such a man than he that taketh a city.”
Moral Servitude, on the other hand, isa state in which the Will is so ensnared by the Sensibility, so habituated to subjection to the propensities, that it has so lost the prerogative of self-control, that it cannot resolve upon action in the direction of the law of right, with any rational expectation of keeping that resolution. The individual in this condition “knows the good, and approves of it, yet follows the bad.” “The good that he would (purposes to do), he does not, but the evil that he would not (purposes not to do), that he does.” All men agree in denominating this a state of Moral Servitude. Whenever an individual is manifestly governed by appetite, or any other propensity, by common consent, he is said to be a slave in respect to his propensities.
The reason why the former state is denominated Liberty, and the latter Servitude, is obvious. Liberty, as opposed to Servitude, is universally regarded as a good in itself. As such, it is desired and chosen. Servitude, on the other hand, may be submitted to, as the least of two evils. Yet it can never be desired and chosen, as a good in itself. Every man who is in a state of servitude, is there, in an important sense, against his Will. Thestatein which he is, is regarded as in itself the greatest of evils, excepting those which would arise from a vain attempt at a vindication of personal freedom.
The same principle holds true in respect to Moral Liberty and Servitude. When any individual contemplates the idea of the voluntary power rising to full dominion over impulse of every kind, and acting in sublime harmony with the pure and perfect law of rectitude, as revealed in the Intelligence, every one regards this as a state, of all others, the most to be desired and chosen as a good in itself. To enter upon this state, and to continue in it, is therefore regarded as a realization of the idea of Liberty in the highest and best sense of the term. Subjection to impulse, in opposition to the pure dictates of the Intelligence, to the loss of the high prerogative of “ruling our own spirits,” on the other hand, is regarded by all men as in itself a state the most abject, and least to be desired conceivable. The individual that is there, cannot but despise his own image. He, of necessity, loathes and abhors himself. Yet he submits to self-degradation rather than endure the pain and effort of self-emancipation. No term but Servitude, together with others of a kindred import, expresses the true conception of this state. No man is in a state of Moral Servitude from choice—that is, from choice of the state as a good in itself. Thestatehe regards as an evil in itself. Yet, in the exercise of free choice, he is there, because he submits to self-degradation rather than vindicate his right to freedom.
REMARKS.
1. We notice a prominent and important mistake common to metaphysicians, especially of the German school, in their Treatises on the Will. Liberty of Will with them is Liberty as distinguished from Moral Servitude, and not as distinguished from Necessity. Hence, in all their works, very little light is thrown upon the great idea of Liberty, which lies at the foundation of moral obligation, to wit: Liberty as distinguished from Necessity. “A free Will,” says Kant, “and a Will subjected to the Moral Law, are one and identical.” A more capital error in philosophy is not often met with than this.
2. In the state of Moral Servitude above described, the Bible affirms all men to be, until they are emancipated by the influence of the Remedial System therein revealed—a truth affirmed by what every man experiences in himself, and by the entire mass of facts which the history of the race presents. Where is the individual that, unaided by an influence out of himself, has ever attained to a dominion over his own spirit? Where is the individual that, without such an influence, can resolve upon acting in harmony with the law of pure benevolence, with any rational hope of success? To meet this great want of human nature; to provide an influence adequate to its redemption, from what the Scriptures, with great propriety, call the “bondage of corruption,” is a fundamental design of the Remedial System.
LIBERTY AND DEPENDENCE.
A verycommon impression exists,—an impression universal among those who hold the doctrine of Necessity,—that the doctrine of Liberty, as maintained in this Treatise, renders man, really, in most important respects, independent of his Creator, and therefore, tends to induce in the mind, that spirit of haughty independence which is totally opposite and antagonistic to that spirit of humility and dependence which lies at the basis of all true piety and virtue. If this is the real tendency of this doctrine, it certainly constitutes an important objection against it. If, on the other hand, we find in the nature of this doctrine, essential elements totally destructive of the spirit of pride and self-confidence, and tending most strongly to induce the opposite spirit,—a spirit of humility and dependence upon the grace proffered in the Remedial System; if we find, also, that the doctrine of Necessity, in many fundamental particulars, lacks these benign tendencies, we have, in such a case, the strongest evidence in favor of the former doctrine, and against the latter. The object of the present Chapter, therefore, is toelucidate the tendency of the doctrine of Liberty to destroy the spirit of pride, haughtiness, and self-dependence, and to induce the spirit of humility and dependence upon Divine Grace.
Before proceeding directly to argue this question, we need to settle definitely the meaning of the phrasespirit of dependence. Theconvictionof our dependence is one thing. Thespiritof dependence is quite another. What is this spirit? In its exercise, the mindrests in voluntary dependence upon the grace of God. The heart is fully set upon doing the right, and avoiding the wrong, while the mind is in the voluntary exercise oftrustin God for “grace whereby we may serve Him acceptably.” Thespiritof dependence, then, implies obedience actually commenced. The question is, does the belief of the doctrine of Liberty tend intrinsically to induce the exercise of this spirit? In this respect, has it altogether a superiority over the doctrine of Necessity?
1. In accomplishing my object, I will first consider the tendency, in this one respect, of the doctrine of Necessity. An individual, we will suppose, finds himself under influences which induce him to sin, and which consequently, if this doctrine is true, render it impossible for him, without the interposition of Divine power, not to sin. A consideration of his condition tends toconvincehim, that is, to induce the intellectual conviction, of his entire dependence upon Divine grace. But the intellectualconvictionof our dependence, as above shown, is one thing. Thespiritof dependence, which, as there stated, consists in actually trusting the Most High for grace to do what he requires, and implies actual obedience already commenced, is quite another thing. Now the doctrine of Necessity has a tendency to produce thisconviction, but none to induce thespiritof dependence: inasmuch as with this conviction, it produces another equally strong, to wit: that the creature, without a Divine interposition, will not, and cannot, exercise thespiritof dependence. In thus producing the conviction, that, under present influences, the subject does not, and cannot exercise that spirit, this doctrine tends exclusively to the annihilation of that Spirit.
When an individual is in a state of actual obedience, the tendency of this doctrine upon him is no better; since it produces the conviction, that while a Divine influence, independently of ourselves, produces in us a spirit of dependence, we shall and must exercise it; and that while it does not produce that spirit, we do not and cannot exercise it. Where is the tendency to induce a spirit of dependence, in such a conviction? According to the doctrine of Necessity, nothing but the actual interposition of Divine grace has any tendency to induce a spirit of dependence. Thebeliefof this doctrine has no such tendency whatever. The grand mistake of the Necessitarian here, consists in the assumption, that, because hisdoctrine has a manifest tendency to produce theconvictionof dependence, it has a tendency equally manifest to induce thespiritof dependence;when, in fact, it has no such tendency whatever.
2.We will now contemplate the intrinsic tendencies of the doctrine of Liberty to induce the spirit of humility and dependence. Every one will see, at once, that the consciousness of Liberty cannot itself be a ground of dependence, in respect to action, in favor of the right and in opposition to the wrong: for the possession of such Liberty, as far as the power itself is concerned, leaves us, at all times, equally liable to do the one as the other. How can an equal liability to two distinct and opposite courses, be a ground of assurance, that we shall choose the one, and avoid the other? Thus the consciousness of Liberty tends directly and intrinsically to a total annihilation of the spirit of self-dependence.
Let us now contemplate our relation to the Most High. He knows perfectly in what direction we shall, in our self-determination, exert our powers under any influence and system of influences brought to bear upon us. It is also in His power to subject us to any system of influences he pleases. He has revealed to us the great truth, that if, in the exercise of the spirit of dependence, we will trust Him for grace to do the good and avoid the evil which He requires us to do and avoid, He will subject us to a Divine influence, which shall for ever secure us in the one, and against the other. The conviction, therefore, rises with full and perfect distinctness in the mind, that, in the exercise of the spirit of dependence, action in all future time, in the direction of purity and bliss, is secure; and that, in the absence of this spirit, action, in the opposite direction, is equally certain. In the belief of the doctrine of Liberty, another truth becomes an omnipresent reality to our minds, that theexerciseof this spirit, thus rendering our “calling and election sure,” is, at all times, practicable to us. What then is the exclusive tendency of this doctrine? To destroy the spirit of self-dependence, on the one hand, and to induce the exercise of the opposite spirit, on the other. The doctrine of Necessity reveals thefactof dependence, but destroys thespirit, by the production of the annihilating conviction, that we neither shall nor can exercise that spirit, till God, in his sovereign dispensations, shall subject us to an influence which renders it impossible for us not to exercise it. The doctrine of Liberty reveals, with equal distinctness, thefactof dependence; and then, while it produces the hallowed conviction of the perfect practicability of the exercise of thespiritof dependence, presents motives infinitely strong, not only to induce its exercise, but to empty the mind wholly of everything opposed to it.
3. While the existence and continuance of our powers of moral agency depend wholly upon the Divine Will, and while the Most High knows, with entire certainty, in what direction we shall exert our powers, under all influences, and systems of influences, brought to bear upon us, all these influences are entirely at his disposal. What tendency have such convictions, together with the consciousness of Liberty, and ability to exercise, or not to exercise, the spirit of dependence, but to induce us, in the exercise of that spirit, to throw our whole being into the petition, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil?” If God knows perfectly under what influences action in us shall be in the direction of the right, or the wrong, and holds all such influences at his own control, what attitude becomes us in the presence of the “High and lofty One,” but dependence and prayer?
4. Finally, a consciousness of a state of Moral Servitude, together with the conviction, that in the exercise of the spirit of dependence, we can rise to the “Glorious Liberty of the Sons of God;” that in the absence of this spirit, our Moral Servitude is perfectly certain; all these, together with the conviction which the belief of the doctrine of Liberty induces (to wit: that the exercise of the spirit of dependence is always practicable to us), tends only to one result, to induce the exercise of that spirit, and to the total annihilation of the opposite spirit.
While, therefore, the doctrine of Liberty sanctifies, in the mind, the feeling of obligation to do the right and avoid the wrong, a feeling which the doctrine of Necessity tends to annihilate, the former (an effect which the latter cannot produce) tends only to the annihilation of the spirit of pride and self-confidence, and to induce that spirit of filial dependence which cries “Abba, Father!”
FORMATION OF CHARACTER.
Inaccounting for the existence and formation of peculiarities of character, individual, social, and national, two elements only are commonly taken into consideration, thenatural propensities, and thecircumstances and influencesunder which those propensities are developed and controlled. The doctrine of Necessity permits us to take nothing else into the account. Undoubtedly, these elements have very great efficacy in determining character. In many instances, little else need to be taken into consideration, in accounting for peculiarities of character, as they exist around us, in individuals, communities, and nations.
In a vast majority of cases, however, another, and altogether a different element, that of the Will, or voluntary element, must be taken into the reckoning, or we shall find ourselves wholly unable to account for peculiarities of mental and moral development, everywhere visible around us. It is an old maxim, that “every man is the arbiter of his own destiny.” As character determines destiny, so the Will determines character; and man is the arbiter of his own destiny, only as he is the arbiter of his own character. The element of Free Will, therefore, must be taken into the reckoning, if we would adequately account for the peculiarities of character which the individual, social, and national history of the race presents. Even where mental and moral developments are as the propensities and external influences, still the voluntary element must be reckoned in, if we would account for facts as they exist. In a majority of instances, however, if the two elements under consideration, and these only, are taken into the account, we shall find our conclusions very wide from the truth.
I will take, in illustration of the above remarks, a single example—a case with which I became so familiarly acquainted, that I feel perfectly safe in vouching for the truth of the statements which I am about to make. I knew a boy who, up to the age of ten or twelve years, was under the influence of a most ungovernable temper—a temper easily and quickly excited, and which, when excited, rendered him perfectly desperate. Seldom, if ever, was he known to yield in a conflict, however superior in strength his antagonist might be. Death was always deliberately preferred to submission. During this period, he often reflected upon his condition, and frequently wished that it was otherwise. Still, with melancholy deliberation, he as often said to himself, I never can and never shall subdue this temper. At the close of this period, as he was reflecting upon the subject again, he made up his mind, with perfect fixedness of purpose, that, to the control of that temper, he would never more yield. The Will rose up in the majesty of its power, and assumed the reins of self-government, in the respect under consideration. From that moment, that temper almost never, even under the highest provocations, obtained the control of the child. A total revolution of mental developments resulted. He afterwards became as distinguished for natural amiability and self-control, in respect to his temper, as before he had been for the opposite spirit. This total revolution took place from mere prudential considerations, without any respect whatever to moral obligation.
Now suppose we attempt to account for these distinct and opposite developments of character—developments exhibited by the same individual, in these two periods—by an exclusive reference to natural propensities and external influences. What a totally inadequate and false account should we give of the facts presented! That individual is just as conscious, that it was the element of Free Will that produced this revolution, and that when he formed the determination which resulted in that revolution, he might have determined differently, as he is, or ever has been, of any mental states whatever. All the facts, also, as they lie out before us, clearly indicate, that if we leave out of the account the voluntary element, those facts must remain wholly unexplained, or a totally wrong explanation of them must be given.
The same principle holds true in all other instances. Though natural propensities and external influences greatlymodifymental developments, still, thedistinguishingpeculiarities of character, in all instances, receive their form and coloring from the action of the voluntary power. This is true, of the peculiarities of character exhibited, not only by individuals, but communities and nations. We can never account for facts as they are, until we contemplate man, not only as possessed of Intelligence and Sensibility, but also of Free Will. All the powers and susceptibilities must be taken into the account, if men would know man as he is.
A few important definitions will close this Chapter.
Adecisivecharacter exists, where the Will acts in harmony with propensities strongly developed. When a number of propensities of this kind exist, action, and consequently character, may be changeable, and yet decisive.
Unityanddecisionof character result, when the Will steadily acts in harmony with some one over-shadowing propensity.
Character isfluctuatingandchangeable, when the Will surrenders itself to the control of different propensities, each easily and highly excited in the presence of its appropriate objects, and yet the excitement but temporary. Thus, different propensities, in rapid succession, take their turn in controlling the Will.
Indecisionandfeeblenessof character result, when the Will uniformly acts under the influence of the principle offearandcaution. To such a mind, in all important enterprises especially, there is always “a lion in the way.” Such a mind, therefore, is continually in a state of distressing indecision when energetic action is necessary to success.
CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS.
A fewreflections of a general nature will conclude this Treatise.
1. An objection, often adduced, to the entire view of the subject presented in this Treatise, demands a passing notice here. All things in existence, it is said, and the Will among the rest, are governed byLaws. It is readily admitted, that all things have their laws, and that the Will is not without law. It is jumping a very long distance to a conclusion, however, to infer from such a fact, that Necessity is the only law throughout the entire domain of existence, physical and mental. What if, from the fact, that the Will has its law, it should be assumed that Liberty is that law? This assumption would be just as legitimate as the one under consideration.
2. Another objection of a general nature, is the assumption, that the doctrine of Liberty destroys the Divine supremacy in the realm of mind. “If man,” says Dr. Chalmers, “is not a necessary agent, God is a degraded sovereign.” A sentiment more dishonorable to God, more fraught with fatal error, more revolting to a virtuous mind, when unperverted by a false theory, could scarcely be uttered. Let us, for a moment, contemplate the question, whether the doctrine of Liberty admits a Divine government in the realm of mind. The existence and perpetuity, as stated in a former Chapter, of free and moral agency in creatures, depend wholly upon the Divine Will. With a perfect knowledge of the direction in which they will exert their powers, under every kind and degree of influence to which they may be subjected, He holds all these influences at his sovereign disposal. With such knowledge and resources, can God exercise no government, but that of a degraded sovereignty in the realm of mind? Can He not exercise the very sovereignty which infinite wisdom and love desire? Who would dare affirm the contrary? If the doctrine of Liberty is true, God certainly does not sit upon the throne of iron destiny, swaying the sceptre of stern fate over myriads of subjects, miscalled moral agents; subjects, all of whom are commanded, under infinite sanctions, to do the right and avoid the wrong, while subjected to influences by the Most High himself, which render obedience in some, and disobedience in others, absolute impossibilities. Still, in the light of this doctrine, God has a government in the domain of mind, a government wisely adapted to the nature of moral agents—agents capable of incurring the desert of praise or blame; a government which all approve, and under the benign influence of which, all who have not forfeited its protection by crime, may find “quietness and assurance for ever.”
3. In reply to what has been said in respect to thetendenciesof the doctrine of Necessity, the fact will doubtless be adduced, that the greatest and best of men have held this doctrine, without a development of these tendencies in their experience. My answer is, that the goodness of such men, their sense of moral obligation, &c., did not result from their theory, but existed in spite of its intrinsic tendencies. They held this doctrine in theory, and yet, from aconsciousnessof Liberty, they practically adopted the opposite doctrine. Here, we have the source of the deep feeling of obligation in their minds, while the intrinsic and exclusive tendency of theirTheory, even in them, was to weaken and annihilate this hallowed feeling. The difference between such men and sceptics is this: The piety of the former prevents their carrying out their theory to its legitimate results; while the impiety of the latter leads them to march boldly up to those results—a fearless denial of moral obligation in every form.
4. The final resort of certain Necessitarians, who may feel themselves wholly unable to meet the arguments adduced against their own and in favor of the opposite theory, and are determined to remain fixed in their opinions, may be readily anticipated. It is an assumption which may be expressed in language somewhat like the following: “After all, the immortal work of Edwards still lives, and will live, when those of his opponents will be lost in oblivion. That work still remains unanswered.” A sweeping assumption is a very easy and summary way of disposing of a difficulty, which we might not otherwise know what to do with. Let us for a moment contemplate some of the facts which have been undeniably established in reference to this immortal work.
(1.) At the outset, Edwards stands convicted of a fundamental error in philosophy, an error which gives form and character to his whole work—the confounding of the Will with the Sensibility, and thus confounding the characteristics of the phenomena of the former faculty with those of the phenomena of the latter.
(2.) His whole work is constructed without an appeal to Consciousness, the only proper and authoritative tribunal of appeal in the case. Thus his reasonings have only an accidental bearing upon his subject.
(3.) All his fundamental conclusions have been shown to stand in direct contradiction to the plainest and most positive testimony of universal Consciousness.
(4.) His main arguments have been shown to be nothing else but reasoning in a circle. He defines, for example, the phrase “Greatest apparent good,” as synonymous withchoosing, and then argues, from the fact that the “Will always is as the greatest apparent good,” that is, that it always chooses as it chooses, that it is subject to the law of Necessity.
So in respect to the argument from the Strongest Motive, which, by definition, is fixed upon as the Motive in the direction of which the Will, in each particular instance, acts. From the fact that the action of the Will is always in the direction of this Motive, that is, in the direction of the Motive towards which it does act, the conclusion is gravely drawn, that the Will is and must be subject, in all its determinations, to the law of Necessity. I find my mind acted upon by two opposite Motives. I cannot tell which is the strongest, from a contemplation of what is intrinsic in the Motives themselves, nor from their effects upon my Intelligence or Sensibility. I must wait till my Will has acted. From the fact of its action in the direction of one Motive, in distinction from the other, I must then draw two important conclusions. 1. The Motive, in the direction of which my Will did act, is the strongest. The evidence is, thefactof its action in that direction. 2. The Will must be subject to the law of Necessity. The proof is, the action of the Will in the direction of the Strongest Motive, that is, the Motive in the direction of which it did act. Sage argument to be regarded by Philosophers and Theologians of the 19th century, as possessing the elements of immortality!
(5.) His argument from the Divine fore-knowledge has been shown to be wholly based upon anassumptionunauthorized by reason, or revelation either, to wit: that he understands themodeof that Fore-knowledge,— an assumption which cannot be made except through ignorance, as was true in his case, without the greatest impiety and presumption.
(6.) The theory which Edwards opposes has been shown to render sacred, in all minds that hold it, the great idea ofduty, of moral obligation; while the validity of that idea has never, in any age or nation, been denied, excepting on the avowed authority of his Theory.
(7.) All the arguments in proof of the doctrine of Necessity, with the single exception of that from the Divine Fore-knowledge—an argument resting, as we have seen, upon an assumption equally baseless,—involve a begging of the question at issue. Take any argument we please, with this one exception, and it will be seen at once that it has no force at all, unless the truth of the doctrine designed to be established by it, be assumed as the basis of that argument. Shall we pretend that a Theory, that has been fully demonstrated to involve, fundamentally, the errors, absurdities, and contradictions above named, has not been answered?
5. We are now prepared to answer a question about which philosophers have been somewhat divided in opinion—the question, whether the Will can act in the direction of perceived and affirmed impossibilities? The true answer to this question, doubtless is, that the Mind maywillthe occurrence of a known impossibility, but it can neveraimto produce such an occurrence.
The Mind, for example, while it regards the non-existence of God as that which cannot possibly occur, may come into such a relation to the Most High, that thedesireshall arise that God were not. With this desire, the Will may concur, in thewish, that there were no God. Here the Mind wills a known impossibility. In a similar manner, the Mind may will its own non-existence, while it regards its occurrence, on account of its relation to the Divine Will, as impossible.
But while the Mind may thuswillthe occurrence of an impossibility, it never can, nor will aim, that is, intend, to produce what it regards as an impossibility. A creature may will the non-existence of God; but even a fallen Spirit, regarding the occurrence as an absolute impossibility, never did, nor will aim to annihilate the Most High. To suppose the Will to set itself to produce an occurrence regarded as impossible, involves a contradiction.
For the same reason, the Will will never set itself upon the accomplishment of that which it is perfectly assured it never shall accomplish, however sincere its efforts towards the result may be. All such results are, to the Mind,practicalimpossibilities. Extinguish totally in the Mind thehopeof obtaining the Divine favor, and the Divine favor will never be sought. Produce in the Mind the conviction, that should it aim at the attainment of a certain end, there is an infallible certainty that it will not attain it, and the subject of that conviction will no more aim to attain that end, than he will aim to cause the same thing, at the same time, to be and not to be.
In reply, it is sometimes said, that men often aim at what they regard even as an impossible attainment. The painter, for example, aims to produce aperfectpicture, while he knows well that he cannot produce one. I answer, the painter is really aiming at no such thing. He is not aiming to produce a perfect picture, which he knows he cannot, and will not produce, but to produce one asnearlyperfect as he can. This is what he is really aiming at. Question the individual critically, and he will confirm what is here affirmed. Remind him of the fact, that he cannot produce a perfect picture. I know that, he replies. I am determined, however, to produce one asnearlyperfect as possible. Here his real aim stands revealed. The same principle holds true in all other instances.
6. In taking leave of the reader, I would simply say, that if he has distinctly apprehended the great doctrine designed to be established in this Work, and has happily come to an agreement with the author in respect to it, the following hallowed impression has been left very distinctly upon his mind. While he finds himself in a state of profound and most pleasing dependence upon the Author of his being, in the Holy of Holies of the inner sanctuary of his mind, one idea, the great over-shadowing idea of the human Intelligence, has been fully sanctified—the idea ofduty, ofmoral obligation. With the consciousness of Liberty, that idea must be to the mind an omnipresent reality. From it we can never escape and in all states, and in all worlds, it must and will be to us, as a guardian angel, or an avenging fiend. But one thing remains, and that is, through the grace proffered in the Remedial System, to “live and move, and have our being,” in harmony with that idea, thus securing everlasting “quietness and assurance” in the sanctuary of our minds, and ever enduring peace and protection under, the over-shadowing perfections of the Author of our existence, and amid all the arrangements and movements of his eternal government.