Meantime, the various theories invented to relieve the baleful impression thus made as to the character of our Creator, only add new difficulties.
To say that this perpetuated mode of bringing ruined minds into existence, is a penalty for a single sin of the first pair, thousands of years ago, what a violation of all our ideas of justice! To say that this transaction is just because Adam was “regarded” by God as “the federal head” of our race, and that he “imputes” the sin of the father to all his descendants, what is this, to our conceptions, but puerile folly added to the baldest cruelty and injustice?
To say that we all “sinned in Adam,” thousands of years before we were born, and are punished by a ruined nature, so far as we can conceive of such an absurd proposition, what is this penalty better than inflicting endless tortures on myriads of new-born infants for their first ignorant and unconscious sin?
To say that man, or Adam is the author of all this ineffable wrong, because it is done by “a constitutional transmission” from parent to child, of which God is the author, when he had full power to make each child perfect in nature, what is this but adding to cruelty and injustice a mean subterfuge in order to cast the blame on Adam and his race?
The mind turns from a God so represented, with horror and dismay, and it is only by concealing this [pg 265] system, by representations that are perfectly contradictory, that the baleful impression is lessened.
The view of God's character thus presented by the Augustinian theory, not only lessens the power of motive which the common-sense view of the Creator's character affords, but brings a powerful positive influence to turn the human mind from that love and obedience toward God which is so indispensable to peace and happiness.
Chapter XXXIX. Tendencies of the Two Systems as to Church Organizations.
It has been shown that the common-sense theory teaches that all mankind must, in order to eternal happiness, be trained by human agencies to choose what is best, guided by the laws of God, as learned by experience or by revelation.
Under the guidance of this general principle, associated bodies would result, whose aim would be discussion and instruction to discover and perpetuate a knowledge of the rules of rectitude, and to secure all those motives which experience has proved to be most effective in securing obedience to these rules. In other words, the chief end of such associations would be to find out what is best and thus right, and also the best modes of securing right action.