Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1858-08-05
For the Yorkville Enquirer.
FATAL ERRORS CORRECTED.

BY PRESBYTERIAN.
Mr. Editor:-The propositions either fully or
partially expressed by myself heretofore were to
this purport:-
Fra:-The difference between right and wrong
is eternal-from eternity past to eternity future.
Wrong had its origin in the apostacy Of Satan
Right was, is, and will be e~ternally inherent in
the Divine Mind.
Secondly:-The moral law being q transcript or
CODY of the will of God, is right, not merely be.
cause it is commanded, butt is also right in itself
right in its essence, and consequently right be-
fore it was commanded.
Tirdly:-God has given man laws in forms or
modes other than written Sin the Holy Bible-(not
"other lar" nor 'another la,r," as disingeniously
imputed to me by E. A. CRENsHAw)* and these
laws are written in the works of Creation and
Providence. I maintain that man has q moral
naturc-"has naturally" to use the language Of
DR.. Archibald Alexander, ga sense of moral obli-
CATION, a perception of the difference between
right and wrong, &c. These are what have been
called his religions feelings"
FourthEy ITO maintain that duty should be
restricted to 'the precepts and examples OF the
Holy Bible''-ort to assert that mans moral nature
imposes no sense of moral obligation-or that
"duty Implies q pritten rule to constitute it such"
or that Providence, in his moral government OF
the world, is not momeatarily %proclaiming His
Will and laws to his creatures, is, in each and eY-
cry case, to. contradict the Scriptures, and is nee
essarily fatal to religious truth, and wrong in
practice. To which propositions now add:
Ehhly:-Every deliberate act of o reasonable
creature done, 'not for conscience sake, but Tor
good policy" is sin ''for whatsoever is not of
faith is sim
Willing myself to learn truth from any source,
even from 'DIvINEs," yea, even from a Preacher
Of the Gospel, I take the liberty TO submit to those
of a like inclination the following sentiments OF
DR.. T~hornwell, taken from his ''Discour,es on
Truth - and most respectfully request calm and
mature consideration of them. They are greatly
important, farbeyond the mere view ola newspaper
triumph. Men whose duty it is to watch over tie
interests of humanity, should seek to know human
noture and the human mind.
$50 fnr Us the simple knowledge Of duty is con-
cerned, we may err, on the one hand, by e1agger-
ating the necessity of revelation, and on the 9TH
er by e1aggerating the sufdciency of reason
There can be no doubt that morality is a subject
which falls within the province Of natural light
To say that we are dependent on the word and or
aele of God, as Bacon seems to insinuate, not only
in those points of faith which concern the great
mysteries Of the Deity, Of the creation. Of the re.
demption, but likewise those which concern the
lav moral truly interpreted y to say that we can
have, from the dictate, Of conscience, only negative
conceptions of rectitude Sufficient to check the
vice, but not TO inform the duty" is 10 contradict
alike the testimony Of Scripture and the experience
of mankind. "For, when the Gentiles, which
have not the law, do by nature the things contain
ed in the law, these having not the law are a law
unto themselves" A being without the sense Of
obligation, and a spontaneous recognition Of the
fundamental differences Of right and wrong, could
not be responsible. He could not form the re-
hottest notion of duty, and the language Of au-
thority and law might rs we'll be addressed to
stocks and. stones. The elemental principles Of
riqht, therefore, which are involved IN the very
conception of a moral nature, must be conceded
to man as man. They are the birthrighs Of his
being, and not the legacy Of a subsequent revelation.
But it is equally an error to maintain that, be-
cause the Scriptures pre-suppose the moral con-
~stitution of man, they are of little or no impor.
lance, considered as q rule Of life. tits one thing
to say that reason is G Lac, and another to say that
it is o perfect law"
Such are the matured and published sentiments
of DR.. THoRSwELL. They establish either direct
ly or 'by good and necessary consequence" each
and every one of my original propositions as far
as DR.. THoRNwELL may be regarded rs authority.
But what says the Apostle Paul, in addition to
the Scripture quoted by Dr.. TuoRNwELL ?-"Chil-
dren, obey your parents in the Lord for this is
right" Scott, commenting on this passage, says:
the obedience sis in itself right, equitable and rea'
,ona6ls." This portion of the decalogue being
thus declared to be right in itself-right in its es'
-sence-eternally r~ight-right before it was com.
manded, why should not every other portion Of it
be equally 80? The good JAY, in his Morning
Exercise for January II, afhrms that it is. Of
the Moral law, he says: "This was of universal
and perpetual obligation: being founded not on
any positive appointment or authority, but in the
nature of man, and the relations subsisting be-
tween him and God, and between him (man) and
his fellow.creatures. The substance of it is, to
love God supremely, and our neighbor as our
selves. Is this unreasonable? Can God himself
dispense nth it, Can he require lsss?'
Bishop Butler, in his analogy, says :-"And it
is a matter of fact, indop endent on this or any
other speculation, that be (God) governs the world
BY the method of rewards and punishments; ana
also that he hath given US a moral tdcuay' Oy
which we distinguish between actions, and ap-
prove some as yirtuous and of good desert, and
disapprove others as picious and of i'll desert
Now this moral d~iscernment implies in the notion
of it a rule of action, and q rule Of q very pecu'
Liar kind; for 1t carries IN 1t authority aud . us&