In this last position, as I have already said, there is a universal
agreement among moral philosophers. We may also safely assume the same
as a first truth of the universal Intelligence. The child, the
philosopher, the peasant, men of all classes, ages, and conditions,
agree in predicating obligation and moral desert of intention, and of
ultimate intention only. By ultimate intention, I, of course, refer to
those acts, choices, or determinations of the Will, to which all other
mental determinations are subordinate, and by which they are controlled.
Thus, when an individual chooses, on the one hand, the Divine glory, and
the highest good of universal being, as the end of his existence; or, on
the other, his own personal gratification; and subordinates to one or
the other of these acts of choice all the law of his being, here we find
his ultimate intention. In this exclusively all mankind agree in finding
the moral character of all mental acts and states.
Now an important question arises, By what _standard_ shall we judge of
the moral character of intentions? Of course, they are to be placed in
the light of the two great precepts of the Moral law by which we are
required to love God with all our powers, and our neighbor as ourselves.
But two distinct and opposite explanations have been given of the above
precepts, presenting entirely different standards of moral judgment.
According to one, the precept requiring us to love God with _all our
heart and strength_, requires a certain degree of _intensity_ of
intention and feeling. On no other condition, it is said, do we love God
with _all_ the heart.
According to the other explanation, the precept requiring us to love God
with _all_ the heart, &c., means, that we devote our entire powers and
interests to the glory of God and the good of his creatures, with the
sincere intention to employ these powers and interests for the
accomplishment of these objects in the _best possible manner_. When all
our powers are under the exclusive control of such an intention as this,
we then, it is affirmed, love God according to the letter and spirit of
the above precept, "with all our heart, and with all our strength."
SINCERITY, AND NOT INTENSITY, THE TRUE STANDARD.
My object now is to show, that this last is the right exposition, and
presents the only true standard by which to judge of all moral acts and
states of mind. This I argue from the following considerations.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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