Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1858-08-05

Of direction authority in such q sense, as that
we cannot depart from it without being self.con-
demned. And that the dictates Of this moral fac
uity, which are by nature a rule to US, are more
over the lars Of God, laws in a sense including
sanctions, may be thus proved, &C., &C."
Rev. r. A. Thompson, of Lincolnshire, Eng
land, says :-.'It is in his moral nature, next to
revelation, that man has the strongest argument
against pantheism. The distinction between right
and wrong, between truth and falsehood, between
moral good and evil, must be assumed as a tnnda-
mental and inevitable fact. 1t is implied in such
words. as duty, and right, and ought, which are to
be found in all languages" He further says:
Now it must be allowed that a theory which &C.
counts for MI the facts Of human nature, is pref
cradle to one which denies them. The p~antheist
looks on the distinction of right and wrong as
one of mere appearance, depending upon mans
limited and partial views, and having no Interior
meaning" Again he says: ''The atheist will Of
ten, he may think sincerely, acknowledge with
the theist the distinction of right and wrong, and
the obligation to do right. But he can give no &C:
count of the origin or use of thi, obligation. He
may call it a fundamental fact; but he denies
what is o part Of the fundamental fact, that the
mind instinctively refers the obligation. to q Law.
giver and Judge" He concludes the chapter
from which these extracts are taken with the fol-
lowing sentiments.
'sTheism alone takes account Of oil the facts of
mans moral nature, md gives them an origin and
\ purpose. He is placed in life, as q state Of trial,
and possesses in the gift Of life powers Of respon-
sible action. In the nature of these powers he
may find indications of the Divine Character. But
before he examines them minutely, he may see
that the sense Of duty in its most abstract form
the absoluteness of the moral oMght-is an evi.
dence of a Being superior to himself, who is not
only Creator, but q Lawgiver; not only a Law
giver, but a Judge. And be hos motives higher
than the stole. On the question-Why a man
should keep his word--he can see that the answer
of the old philosopher is true as far as it goes
"Ths philosopher" says Locke, "would have an
swered because it is dishonest, below the dignity
of man, and opposite to virtue, the highest per-
lection of human nature, to do otherwise" This
reason, though imperfect, is better and nobler
than the same illustrious writer puts into the
mouth of the Christian: because God, ,rho has
the po,rer Of eternal life and death, requires it Of
us"-a servils motive, which exposes Christianity
to the criticisms of i~n6delity. The Christians
motives are not merely an obligation to Superior
Power. They are to be sought in the Divine Char
acter, and the relations of the creature to the Crea-
tor."-or in one word, Love.
On the principle last mooted in the extract last
given, let us hear DR.. THoREwELL:-"To those,
therefore, who would ask, why am / bound to
speak the truth: Iwould briefly answer, because
it is the law Of my nature; it is a Fundamental
datum of conscience; acommand Of G~odimpress-
ed upon the moral structure Of the soul. 1t can
be resolved into no higher principle-it is simple,
elementary, ultimate"
"This," says Rev. Dr.: Tullocb, "may serve to
explain the views of some of our highest thinkers
as to the supposed conclusive force of the moral,
in comparison with all other evidence for the being
of o God. Kant, after submitting to a destructive
criticism all the other modes Of theistic evidence,
as separately appreheuded in his day, made the
existence of God q p~ostulate of our moral being ;
and Sir W. Hamilton has expressly said that ''the
only valid arguments for the existence of a God,
and for the Immortality of the human soul, rest
on the ground of mans moral nature" add by
way of application, "who is wise, and he shall
understand these things? prudent, and he shall
know them ? for the ways of the Lord are right,
syd the just shall walk in them but the trans
gressors shall fall therein" Hosea 14:9.
fro BE Continued
4 This may seem personal and disrespectful, but
the gentleman has given me no other name by
which I might speak Of him. He implies that l
am ~.'crazy'' for having alluded to and spoken OF
his having been a Minister of the Gospel. He was
only a Preacher Of the Gospel. Island corrected;
and confess the difference constitutes some sort Of
q reason for, and explains in some degree his err
rors. l alluded to the circumstance on the prihci-
pie of the doctrine: "For unto whomsoever much
is given, of him shall be much required and to
whom men have committed much, of him they
will ask the more" Ny expectations are now