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

ON THE MORALS OF CHRISTIANS.2G91378. The iufercncc that oiuniscicnce and omnipotence could createmyriads of beings, foreseeing that they must be subjected to extreme miseryfor an unlimited time, is irreconcilable with all goodness and omniscience.IJut it may be dcmandedj does not the fear of future punishment makemankind more virtuous? The man who avoids a felony solely through fearof future punishment is not the less wicked ;he is only a more prudent, ora more cowardly villain.That piety to God and philanthropy are virtues,is most evident ; but then these incentives must be disinterested. If Abrahamcould believe that shedding his son's blood upon the altar would gratifythe Deity, in order to make it a pious or virtuous act, it should havebeen unaccompanied by any expectation of benefit to himself. He musthave had a conception of the Deity fully as bad as that of any heathen,to suppose that the sacrifice would be agreeable to him.1379. There is, moreover, much reason to infer that a man who couldpass his wife as his sister, and send her to a palace in order to gain influencewith a king, did not lose sight of himself when he contemplated killinghis son to propitiate the King of kings. But no human testimonyshould induce us to credit such imputations against Jehovah.Nothing ismore probable than that priests should invent this absurd fable, and nothingmore improbable than that an omniscient God, who could read Abraham'sinmost thoughts, should have found it necessary to ask such a barbaroussacrifice, in order to determine the extent and sincerity of that devotionof which he must have already known the precise limits.On Prohatlon.1380. I have already made objections to the idea that we can be placedin this world for the purpose of probation.I will here make use of additionalarguments in support of those objections. Spiritualism assumesthat we are placed here for progression. It has, in this aspect, a self-evidentascendency over the scriptural doctrine.1381. A finite being has need to subject his works to trial, in order tolearn whether they have the requisite perfection;but how can an omnipotentand omniscient Deity be under any necessity of trying his works ?the first place, they must be precisely what he has designed; in the nextplace, foreseeing the result of any experiment he may make, he has nomotive for the trial. Thus, before placing Adam and Eve in Paradise, Godmust have known that Adam would be incompetent to resist his wife, hiswife the serpent, and that the apple would be eaten. How useless thenwas the experiment ! How can it be reconciled with omniscience andomnipotence? The crime would not have taken place had God madewoman less inquisitive; her husband strong enough morally to resisttemptation and his wife's seductive influence ; or had not the serpent orSatan, under the form of this reptile, been allowed to tempt Eve. Andyet in consequence of that act, not only the soul of the first man, but thatIn