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This evidence, however I obtain it, by whatever manifestations of virtue in him or by whatever means, supplies the condition upon which I am under obligation to will his actual and highest well-being. This is my whole obligation. It is all he can have, and all I can will to him. All objections of this kind, and indeed all possible objections to the true theory and in support of the one I am examining, are founded in an erroneous view of the subject of moral obligation. Or in a false and anti-scriptural philosophy that contradicts the law of God, and sets up another rule of moral obligation. (4.) But it is said that in all instances in which we affirm Moral Obligation, we necessarily affirm the moral excellence or goodness of God to be the foundation or reason of the obligation.

Answer: This is so great a mistake, that in no instance whatever do we or can we affirm the moral excellence of God to be the foundation of obligation, unless we do and can affirm the most palpable contradiction. Let it be remembered 1. That moral obligation respects ultimate intention only. 2. That ultimate intention is the choice of an end for its intrinsic value. 3. That the ground or reason of our obligation to intend an end is the intrinsic value of the end, and is really identical with the end to be chosen. 4. That moral excellence either consists in ultimate intention or in an attribute of this intention, and therefore can not be chosen as an ultimate end. 5. That moral obligation always resolves itself into an obligation to will the highest well-being of God and the universe for its own intrinsic value. 6. Now, can Reason be so utterly unreasonable as to affirm all these, and also that the ground or reason of the obligation to will the highest well-being of God and the universe for its own intrinsic value, is not its intrinsic value, but is the Divine Moral Excellence?

(5.) But it is also insisted that when men attempt to assign a reason why they are under moral obligation of any kind, as of love to God, they all agree in this, in assigning the Divine Moral Excellence as the reason of that obligation. I

answer:

[1.] There is and can be but one kind of moral obligation. (2.) It is not true that all men agree in assigning the moral excellence of God as the foundation or fundamental reason of the obligation, to love Him or to will his good for its own sake. I certainly am an exception to this rule.

[3.] If any body assigns this as the reason of the obligation, he assigns a false reason, as has just been shown.

[4] No man who knew what he said ever assigned the goodness of God as the foundation of the obligation to will his good as an ultimate end, for this is as we have often seen a gross contradiction and an impossibility.

[5.] The only reason why any man supposes himself to assign the goodness of God as the foundation of the obligation. to will good to Him is that he loosely confounds the conditions of the obligation to will his actual blessedness with the foundation of the obligation to will it for its own sake, or as a possible good. Were it not for the known intrinsic value of God's highest well-being, we should as soon affirm our obligation to will evil as good to Him, as has been said.

[6.] Again: If the Divine moral Excellence were the foundation of moral obligation, if God were not holy and good, moral obligation could not exist in

any case.

[7.] God's moral obligation can not be founded in his own moral excellence, for his moral excellence consists in his conformity to moral obligation, and the fact implies the existence of moral obligation, prior, in the order of nature, to his moral excellence, as was said before.

[8.] The fact is, the intrinsic and infinite value of the wellbeing of God and of the universe, is a first truth of reason and always and necessarily taken along with us at all times. That moral excellence or good desert is a naturally necessary condition of their highest well-being is also a first truth always and necessarily taken along with us whether we are conscious of it or not. The natural impossibility of willing the actual existence of the highest well-being of God and the universe of moral agents but upon condition of their worthiness, is a self-evident truth. So that no man can affirm his obligation to will the actual highest well-being of God and of moral agents but upon condition of their moral excellence any more than he can affirm his obligation to will their eternal well-being but upon condition of their existence.

That every moral agent ought to will the highest well-being of God and of all the universe for its own sake as a possible good whatever their characters may be, is also a first truth of reason. Reason assigns and can assign no other reason for willing their good as an ultimate end than its intrinsic value; and to assign any other reason as imposing obligation to will it as an end, or for its own sake were absurd and selfcontradictory. Obligation to will it as an end and for its own sake, implies the obligation to will its actual existence in all cases and to all persons when the indispensable conditions are

fulfilled. These conditions are seen to be fulfilled in God, and therefore upon this condition reason affirms obligation to will His actual and highest blessedness for its own sake, the intrinsic value being the fundamental reason of the obligation to will it as an end, and the Divine Goodness the condition of the obligation to will the actual existence of His highest blessedness. Suppose that I existed and had the idea of blessedness and its intrinsic value duly developed, together with an idea of all the necessary conditions of it; but that I did not know that any other being than myself existed and yet I knew their existence and blessedness possible. In this case I should be under obligation to will or wish that beings might exist and be blessed. Now suppose that I complied with this obligation, my virtue is just as real and as great as if I knew their existence and willed their actual blessedness provided my idea of its intrinsic value were as clear and just as if I knew their existence. And now suppose I came to the knowledge of the actual existence and holiness of all holy beings, I should make no new ultimate choice in willing their actual blessedness. This I should do of course, and remaining benevolent, of necessity; and if this knowledge did not give me a higher idea of the value of that which I before willed for its own. sake, the willing of the real existence of their blessedness would not make me a whit more virtuous than when I willed it as a possible good without knowing that the conditions of its actual existence would ever, in any case be fulfilled.

The Bible reads just as it might be expected to read and just as we should speak in common life. It being a first truth of reason that the well-being of God is of infinite value and therefore ought to be willed for its own sake-it also being a first truth that virtue is an indispensable condition of fulfilling the demands of his own reason and conscience, and of course of his actual blessedness, and of course also a condition of the obligation to will it, we might expect the bible to exhort and require us to love God or will His actual blessedness and mention His virtue as the reason or fulfilled condition of the obligation, rather than the intrinsic value of his blessedness as the foundation of the obligation. The foundation of the obligation being a first truth of reason needs not to be a matter of revelation. Nor need the fact that virtue is the condition of His blessedness, nor the fact that we are under no obligation to will His actual blessedness but upon condition of His holiness. But that in him this condition is fulfilled needs

to be revealed, and therefore the bible announces it as a reason or condition of the obligation to love Him, that is, to will His actual blessedness.

(6.) Again: it is asserted that when men would awaken a sense of moral obligation they universally contemplate the moral excellence of God as constituting the reason of their obligation, and if this contemplation does not awaken their sense of obligation nothing else can or will. I answer,

The only possible reason why men ever do or can take this course, is that they loosely consider religion to consist in feelings of complacency in God and are endeavoring to awaken these complacent emotions. If they conceive of religion as consisting in these emotions, they will of course conceive themselves to be under obligation to exercise them, and to be sure they take the only possible course to awaken both these and a sense of obligation to exercise them. But they are mistaken both in regard to their obligation and the nature of religion. Did they conceive of religion as consisting in good will, or in willing the highest well-being of God and of the universe for its own sake, would they, could they resort to the process in question, that is, the contemplation of the Divine moral excellence, as the only reason for willing good to him instead of considering the infinite value of those interests to the realization of which they ought to consecrate themselves?

If men often do resort to the process in question, it is because they love to feel and have a self-righteous satisfaction. in feelings of complacency in God, and take more pains to awaken these feelings than to quicken and enlarge their benevolence. A purely selfish being may be greatly affected by the great goodness and kindness of God to him. I know a man who is a very niggard so far as all benevolent giving and doing for God and the world are concerned, who, I fear, resorts to the very process in question, and is often much affected with the goodness of God. He can bluster and denounce all who do not feel as he does. But ask him for a dollar to forward any benevolent enterprize and he will evade your request, and ask you how you feel, whether you are engaged in religion, &c.

(7.) It has been asserted that nothing can add to the sense of obligation thus excited.

To this I answer that if the obligation be regarded as an obligation to feel emotions of complacency in God, this is true. But if the obligation be contemplated as it really is,

an obligation to will the highest well-being of God for its own sake, the assertion is not true, but on the contrary affirms an absurdity. I am under obligation to will the highest wellbeing of God and of the Universe as an ultimate end, or for its own intrinsic value. Now according to this philosophy, in order to get the highest view of this obligation, I must contemplate not the intrinsic value of those infinite interests that I ought to will, but the goodness of God. This is absurd. The fact is, I must prize the value of the interests to be willed and the goodness of God as a reason for willing actual blessedness to Him in particular.

But it may well be asked, why does the bible and why do we so often present the character of God and of Christ as a means of awakening a sense of moral obligation and of inducing virtue? Answer,

It is to lead men to contemplate the infinite value of those interests which we ought to will. Presenting the example of God and of Christ, is the highest moral means that can be used. That God's example and man's example is the most impressive and efficient way in which he can declare his views and hold forth to public gaze the infinite value of those interests upon which all hearts ought to be set. For example, nothing can set the infinite value of the soul in a stronger light than the example of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost has done.

Nothing can beget a higher sense of obligation to will the glory of the Father and the salvation of souls, than the example of Christ. His example is his loudest preaching, his clearest most impressive exhibition, not merely of his own goodness, but of the intrinsic and infinite value of the interest he sought and which we ought to seek. It is the love, the care, the self-denial, and the example of God in his efforts to secure the great ends of benevolence that hold those interests forth in the strongest light, and thus beget a sense of obligation to seek the same end. But let it be observed, it is not a contemplation of the goodness of God that awakens this sense of obligation, but the contemplation of the value of those interests which he seeks, in the light of His painstaking and example; this quickens and gives efficiency to the sense of obligation to will what He wills. Suppose, for example. that I manifest the greatest concern and zeal for the salvation of souls, it would not be the contemplation of my goodness that would quicken in a by-stander a sense of obligation to save souls, but my zeal, and life, and spirit, would have

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