That is to say, it is the _ruling purpose_, or _the want_ of a ruling purpose to obey God in all things, which decides the character of every specific act of choice. Thus if a child is trained to be honest, truthful, and self‐denying, and succeeds very often in conforming to such instructions, there is no true virtue in any such acts until a _ruling purpose_ of obedience to God is generated, which is habitually _more_ controlling than the impulses of self‐indulgence. This is the point where _the people_ and _theologians_ are at issue. The people insist that every act is virtuous when the thing chosen is right and the intention is right, even before the mind of a child has attained a ruling purpose of universal obedience. Theologians say no; such acts are “sin, and only sin,” in the sight of God.(8) It will be shown hereafter that the theory of theology on this subject is not carried out consistently in practice, but that in the early training of little children theologians contradict their own theory and adopt that of the people. Perfectness in Construction and Perfectness in Action and Character. In a previous chapter we have seen [p. 103] that our idea of _perfectness_ in moral character and action always has reference to _power_. In a system where evil is actually existing, we regard a contrivance or an action as perfect when there is no power in God or man to make it better, even when evil is involved. A being is perfect in character and in action when his purpose is to do the best possible for all concerned, and when this purpose is carried out to the full extent of his power. We have shown in the preceding chapter that the mind of man is perfect in _nature_ or _construction_ as being better fitted to its place in the best possible system of mind than it would be by any change possible either to God or man. The preceding pages of this chapter enable us to point out what is the _perfect moral character_ of minds which are perfect in construction. It consists in _a ruling purpose to discover and to obey all the laws of the Creator, which is carried out to the full extent of power in the one who thus purposes_. It has been shown that the Creator himself is limited by the eternal nature of things to a system which, though the best possible, makes him, in one sense, the author of some evil, both natural and moral. He is the author only as the Creator of all things, and thus the author of all the consequent results of creation, even of those that are morally evil. In this sense alone is he the author of either natural or moral evil.