We cannot pass over the paragraph we have quoted, without expressing the
most bitter regret to learn from Dr. Wayland’s own words, that he
recognises the fact, without giving it reproval, that “we” punish
“brutes” with no other view than to inflict pain. To _us_, such an idea
is most repugnant and awful! And we hope—we pray Him who alone hath
power to drag up from the deep darkness of degradation, that the minds
of such men may be placed under the controlling influence of a rule that
will compel to a higher sense of what is proper, and to a more clear
perception of what is truth!
------------------
LESSON III.
The learned Doctor says:
P. 49. “By conscience, or moral sense, is meant that faculty by which we
discern the moral quality of actions, and by which we are capable of
certain affections in respect to this quality.
“By _faculty_ is meant _any particular part_ of our constitution, by
which we become affected by the various qualities and relations of
beings around us?” * * * “Now, that we do actually observe a moral
quality in the actions of men, must, I think, be admitted. Every human
being is conscious, that, from childhood, he has observed it.” * * * * *
P. 50. “The question would then seem reduced to this: Do we perceive
this quality of actions by a single faculty, or by a combination of
faculties? I think it must be evident from what has been already stated,
that this is, in its nature, simple and ultimate, and _distinct from
every other notion_.
“Now, if this be the case, it seems self-evident that we must have a
_distinct_ and _separate faculty_, to make us acquainted with the
existence of this _distinct_ and _separate quality_.”
And for proof, he adds: “This is the case in respect to all other
distinct qualities: it is, surely, reasonable to suppose, that it would
be the case in this.”
What! have we a distinct faculty by which we determine one thing to be
red, and another distinct faculty by which we discover a thing to be
black; another distinct faculty by which we judge a thing to be a cube,
and another distinct faculty by which we determine it to be a triangle?
Have we one distinct faculty by which we find a melon, and another by
which we find a gourd? What! one distinct faculty by which we determine
a professor of moral philosophy to be a correct teacher, and another by
which we discover him to be a visionary?
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