1st. That, being a spirit, he originates action. Matter acts only as it is acted upon. A man acts from the spring of his own active power.
2d. That, although a man may be forced by fear to will and to do many things which he would neither will nor do if it were not for the fear, yet he never can be made to will what he does not himself desire to will, in full view of all the circumstances of the case.
3d. That he is furnished with a reason to distinguish between the true and the false, and with a conscience, the organ of an innate moral law, to distinguish between right and wrong, in order
FACULTIES OF THE SOUL. 221
that his desires may be both rational and righteous. And yet his desires are not necessarily either rational or righteous, but are formed under the light of reason and conscience, either conform- able or contrary to them, according to the permanent habitual dispositions of the man, i. e., according to his own character.
7. Wliat are the essential conditions of moral responsibility ?
To be morally responsible a man must be a free, rational, moral agent, (see answer to preceding question.) 1st. He must be in present possession of his reason to distinguish truth from falsehood. 2d. He must also have in exercise a moral sense to distinguish right from wrong. 3d. His will, in its volitions or executive acts, must be self-decided, i. e., determined by its own spontaneous affections and desires. If any of these are wanting, the man is insane, and neither free nor responsible.
8. Is the conscience indestructible and infallible ?
The conscience, the organ of God's law in the soul, may vir- tually, i. e., as to its effects and phenomena, be both rendered latent and perverted for a time, and in this phenomenal sense, therefore, it is neither indestructible nor infallible. But if the moral sense be regarded simply in itself it is infallible, and if the total history of even the worst man is taken into the account, conscience is truly indestructible.
1st. As to its indestructibility. Conscience, like every other faculty of the soul, is undeveloped in the infant, and very imper- fectly developed in the savage ; and, moreover, after a long habit of inattention to its voice and violation of its law, the individual sinner is often judicially given up to carnal indifference; his con- science for a time lying latent. Yet it is certain that it is never destroyed. (1.) From the fact that it is often aroused to the most fearful energy in the hearts of long-hardened reprobates in the agonies of remorse. (2.) From the fact that this remorse or ac- cusing conscience constitutes the essential torment of lost souls and devils. This is the worm that never dieth. Otherwise their punishment would lose its moral character.
2d. As to its infallibility. Conscience, in the act of judging of moral states or actions, involves the concurrent action of the understanding and the moral sense. This understanding is al-
222 THE ORIGINAL STATE OF MAN.
ways fallible, especially when it is prejudiced in its action by de- praved affections and desires. Thus, in fact, conscience constantly delivers false decisions from a misjudgement of the facts and rela- tions of the case ; it may be through a selfish, or sensual, or a malignant bias. Hence we have virtually a deceiving as well as a latent conscience. Notwithstanding this, however, the normal sense of the distinction between right and wrong, as an eternal law to itself, lies indestructible even in the most depraved breasts, as it can not be destroyed, so it can not be changed; when aroused to action, and when not deceived as to the true state of the case, its language is eternally the same.--See McCosh, " Divine Gov- ernment," Book III., Chapter II., Section 6, and Dr. A. Alex- ander, " Moral Science," Chapters IV. and V.
9. What is the essential nature of virtue ?
" Virtue is a peculiar quality of" certain states of the will, i. e., either permanent dispositions or temporary affections of the will, and "of certain voluntary actions of a moral agent, which quality is perceived by the moral faculty with which eveiy man is endowed, and the perception of which is accompanied by an emotion which is distinct from all other emotions, and is called moral." — Dr. Alexander, Moral Science., Chap. XXVI.
The essence of virtue is, that it obliges the will. If a thing is morally right it ought to be done. The essence of moral evil is, that it intrinsically deserves disapprobation, and the agent punishment.
This point is of great importance, because the truth here is often perverted by a false philosophy, and because this view of moral good is the only one consistent with the Scriptural doc- trine of sins, rewards and punishments, and, above all, of Christ's atonement,
The idea of virtue is a simple and ultimate intuition ; at- tempted analysis destroys it. Right is right because it is. It is its own highest reason. It has its norm in the immutable nature of God.