"I've heard of hearts unkind-kind deeds Alas! the gratitude of man Has oftener left me mourning." CHAPTER VIII. THE BENEVOLENT AFFECTIONS.-LOVE TO THE SUPREME BEING. § 188. Man created originally with the principle of love to God. In order to preserve the other principles of human nature in the position which the great Author of that nature has assigned to them, and to render their action just in itself and harmonious in its relations, there remains the important principle of love to the Supreme Being. That man must have been created originally with such a principle of love, overruling and regulating all the subordinate principles, we think must be evident, in the first place, from the considerations furnished by Analogy. In all the departments of the mind, so far as it has hitherto passed under our examination, we have seen evidences of contrivance and wisdom; everything has its place, adaptations, and uses; and nothing, so far as we can judge, is done imperfectly. If it were necessary in this inquiry to put out of view the Intellect, so wonderful in its adaptation and its resources, we should hardly fail to find, in the distinct departments of the Sensibilities, ample illustrations and proofs of this remark. The Instincts, which naturally arrest our attention first, have obviously their appropriate place and office; and, although they rank lowest in the enumeration of our active principles, are yet indispensable. If man were constituted physically as he is at present, and yet without the Appetites, the next higher class of the principles involving desire, there would obviously be a want of adaptation between his mental and physical arrangements. The Propensities, also, as we advance still upward, have each their sphere of action, their specific nature and uses; and are adapt ed with wonderful skill to the necessities of man, and to the relations he sustains. The same remark, and perhaps in a still higher sense, will apply to the Affections. As a father, man has a natural affection for his children, that he may thus be supported in the discharge of the arduous duties he owes to them; as a child, he has naturally an affection for his parents; and as man simply, he is evidently constituted with a degree of love for his fellow-man. When we consider the relations which men sustain to the Author of their existence, still more important than those which are the basis of the principles which have just been mentioned, are we not justified in saying, on the ground of Analogy, that there must have been originally in the human constitution a principle of love to the Supreme Being? If there was not originally in the mental constitution such a principle as love to God, was not the structure of the mind in that respect obviously at variance with what the Analogy of its nature in other respects requires? If, from the urgent necessities of our situation, there must be strong ties of love binding together parents, and children, and brothers; if these ties must reach and bind, with some degree of strictness, all the members of the human family, on what principle can the doctrine be sustained, that man was originally created without an implanted love to that Being who is infinitely more and better to him than any earthly brother or father? § 189. That man was originally created with a principle of love to God, further shown from the Scriptures. In the second place, we have great reason to believe, from the testimony of the Scriptures, that man was, in the first instance, created with the distinct and operative principle of love to his Creator. At the creation, it is worthy of notice, that everything which came from the hands of the great Architect was pronounced to be GOOD; and if the Bible had not made that grand utterance, the light of nature would not have failed to But if man, raised from nothingness into ex do so. istence, furnished with high powers of thought and action, and supported by the daily gifts of the Divine bounty, was created without a principle of love to his Maker (analogous to the other implanted affections, only that it existed in an exceedingly higher degree, corresponding to the greatness of the object), we cannot deny that we are utterly unable to perceive in such a result the basis of so marked a commendation, as far as the parents of the human race were concerned. It would seem, on the contrary, that such a work, framed with such a disregard of the most important relations, could not be pronounced good, even in the estimate of human reason, much less in that of a reason infinitely comprehensive and divine. And as another, a third consideration, bearing upon this subject, it is to be remembered, that man is expressly said to have been created in the image of his Maker. That is to say, in the great outlines of his mental constitution he was, in the first instance, a copy (on a very limited scale, it is true, but still a copy, in fact) of the Divine Mind. And the light of nature, if it do not affirm this so clearly as it affirms the truth of the essential or relative goodness of all God's works, nevertheless looks strongly in that direction. In tak ing the position that man is made in the image of God, we are at liberty to argue from the nature of God to the nature of man. Now we cannot do otherwise than suppose that God, both in his administration of justice and benevolence, in all that He does and in all that He ought to do, is regulated by a wise and full consideration of the relations of things. He always loves, from the very perfection of his nature, what is worthy to be loved; and if he created man in his own image (that is to say, with affections and moral sentiments corresponding to the nature and relations of things), He must have created him with a disposition to love himself. We are not at liberty to suppose that he could by possibility create a being who should either hate or be indifferent towards another being, whom he knew not only to be infinitely wise and good, but to sustain the relation of a Creator, preserver, and benefactor. A being thus created, so utterly wanting in those affections, which are required by the immutable relations of things, could hardly be said, with any degree of truth, to be created in the image of God. We infer, therefore, from the statement of man's being created in the Divine image, that he was created with a principle of love to his Maker. And the same reason leads us to believe that the principle was paramount to every other; corresponding, as far as the limited powers of man would permit, to the infinitely exalted nature of its object. § 190. Further proofs that man was thus created. Again: many of those passages of Scripture, which are addressed to man in his present imperfect and evil state, appear to contemplate the restoration of this great principle. When the Saviour, on a certain occasion, was asked, in respect to the commandments, which of them was to be regarded as having the first or leading place, his answer was, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment."-Matt. xxii., 37, 38. This language implies, to say the least, the possibility of the existence of this principle; and particularly, that in a sinless or perfect state of the human race it is indispensable. And, as harmonizing with this argument from the teachings of Christ, we may further refer to the anticipated developement and renovation of our nature, which is so frequently spoken of in the New Testament under the name of a New Creation or New Birth, and which is so great and fundamental that it is represented as being brought about by Divine assistance. To be what he is required to be, man, in the process of the new birth, must again be essentially what he was in his first and original state of rectitude; and in order to be in this situation, the great requisite is, to "love God with all the heart." We feel authorized, therefore, not without a due sense of the difficulties of the subject, in taking the position that originally supreme love to God was an essential element of human nature, and that at the present moment it is, or ought to be, in every human bosom, a distinct and operative principle. It is the idealism of the perfect man, and nothing short of its practical realization will constitute the true greatness and glory of man. And while its presence makes man what he was designed to be, its absence, or, if it be preferred, even its entire prostration, furnishes an easy and philosophical explanation of those evils which, in the present state of things, so frequently press themselves on our notice. § 191. On the twofold action of the principle of divine love. And now we proceed to say further, that the principle of supreme love to God, harmonizing in this respect with other implanted principles, possessed originally, and can never fail to possess, whenever and wherever it exists, a twofold action, instinctive and. voluntary. Of the instinctive action of the principle under consideration, we have evidence in the remarkable fact that all nations and tribes of men, under all variety of circumstances, are found groping after God. In the most degraded conditions of humanity they seek Him with an unutterable cry of anguish; they prostrate themselves before stocks and stones and seek Him there; they go up to the mountains and down to the valleys, if haply they may find Him; everywhere they build their altars, and every where raise the great cry, Oh God, where shall we find Thee? Such facts can hardly fail to show the structure of the mind in this important respect. But the principle of divine love has also a voluntary action. And no exercise of such love can meet the demands of reason and sound philosophy, saying nothing of what the Scriptures require, which does not carry with it the concurrence and the authority of the will. The early history of the human race seems to have turned, in a great degree, upon the ex |