An Appeal to the People in Behalf of Their Rights as Authorized Interpreters of the Bible

by Catharine Esther Beecher

The natural attributes of any mind are the powers and faculties to be exercised, while it is the action or voluntary use of these faculties that exhibits the moral attributes.

Having gained the existence of a Great First Cause by the use of one principle of common sense, and the fact that this cause is an intelligent mind by another, it has been shown that a third of these principles leads to the belief that the natural attributes of God are like our own. We can not conceive of any other kind of minds than our own, because we have never had any past experience or knowledge of any other.

But while we thus conclude that the mind of the Creator is, so far as we can conceive, precisely like our own in constitutional organization, we are as necessarily led to perceive that the extent of these powers is far beyond our own. A mind with the power, wisdom and goodness exhibited in the very small portion of his works submitted to our inspection, who has inhabited eternity, and matured through everlasting ages—our minds are lost in attempting any conception of the extent of such infinite faculties!

Thus we are necessarily led to conceive of the Creator as possessing the intellectual powers described in previous pages. He perceives, conceives, imagines, judges and remembers just as we do.

So also all our varied susceptibilities to pleasure and pain exist in the Eternal Mind. The desire of good and the fear of evil which are the motive power in the human mind, exist also in the divine. Thus by the light of nature we settle the question that the existence of susceptibilities to pain and evil are not the results of the Creator's will, but are a part of the eternal nature of things which he did not originate or control.

All the minds we ever knew or heard of are moved to action by desire to gain happiness and escape pain, and as we can conceive of no other kind of mind than our own, we must attribute to the Creator this foundation element of mental activity.

Thus we are led to attribute to the Creator all those susceptibilities included in the moral sense, as described in previous pages. His mind, like ours, feels that whatever makes the most happiness with the least [pg 100] evil is right; that is to say, it is fitted to the eternal nature of things, of which his own mind is a part.

So also the Creator possesses that sense of justice implanted in our own minds, which involves the desire of good to those who make happiness, and of evil to those who destroy happiness; and which also demands that such retributions be proportioned to the good and evil done, and to the power of the agent.

So also we must conceive of the Creator as possessing the susceptibility of conscience, which includes in the very constitution of mind retributions for right and wrong action.

Again, we are led to conceive of God as a rational free agent, with power to choose either that which excites the strongest desire or that which is perceived to be best on the whole for all concerned, even if it does not excite the strongest desire.