Experimental investigation of the spirit manifestations, [electronic ...

ON THE MORALS OF CHRISTIANS. 241sacrifice is constituted so nobly as to endure less pain under the circumstancesin question in making tluiu avoiding self-immolation. ]5ut canany one who has not been so organized and educated as to make such asacrifice, be sufficiently changed by preaching, or monition, to undergo selfimmolationto save a fcllow-crcaturc ?r2Gl. Is it reasonable to order, direct, or advise people to love, especiallyon the part of any one who by his acknowlcgcd omnipotcncy couldso constitute them as to sympathize to any required extent? I admit,that it may be consistent to urge them to act toward others, as far as possible,as if they were lovcd.^12G2. Should not the great object of cultivation be sympathy and benevolence,which are general in their nature ? We may deeply sympathizewith a sufferer, even with a brute, wbom we do not love. Benevolenceshould we not also cultivate, by endeavouring habitually to take the mostfavourable view of those around us whicli our observation and reason canpermit ? Does it not argue a want of discrimination to treat love as asentiment, to be entertained toward all other mortals by more volition?Is itreasonable that Christ, or any other teacher, assuming to be missionariesof the Creator, should enjoin us to love, when the capacity for thatsentiment manifestly varies through organization and education, derivedfrom that Creator by various human beings, as much nearly, as the oppositepropensities of the wolf and dog? Behold the difference between theelephant and rhinoceros : the former capable of a canine fidelity and affection,the latter irretrievably hostile ; and again between a wild elephantand one tamed by education.1263. "Were his organization and education dependent on himself, itmight be reasonable to say to a human being. Love your neighbour as yourself,love your enemies ; but how can that Deity who determines man's raceand his parentage, and of course whether he be a savage or a civilizedman, whether a Thug or a real Christian, if such a thing can be,—how canthat Deity require a being to do that which is irreconcilable with his passions,opinions, and habits, derived from nature and education, as well asthe examples set by those around him ?12G4. The inutility of precepts in controlling human passions, may beseen in the history of Christendom, in which, as already urged, the moralsand conduct of mankind, with very few exceptions, have been diametricallyopposite to that of their divine Master, so called. Who have been more* God is made out to bo a strange bungler. Though omnipotent, he docs not make hiscreatures as he wii^hes them to be ; and although omniscient, has to subject them to trial todiscover what they arc. lie docs not inform them of that which he wishes them to believe,but punishes them and their children to the third and fourth generation for his own omission.For no other reason than bis having afforded to a particular nation more knowledge of hiswill than he had affordcil to others, ho gives them a right to extirpate their neighboursand take possession of their lands.16