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July 27, 2005
Ch.IV. Q.29. Moral Argument
THE Moral argument proceeds from the sense of accountability and the religious instinct common to all men, and infers that there must be a righteous and personal Ruler and Judge to whom we are accountable, and whom we ought to worship.1
2. Men pass judgments upon their neighbors on the assumption that they are accountable morally. These judgments are not limited to cases in which the person judging has been injured. There are instances in which the accountability can only be satisfied on the assumption that there is a Judge and Punisher who is over all. Thus men bear witness to their own accountability, and to the existence of Him to whom they must render account.
3. Attempts have been made to explain away the sense of accountability and the "categorical imperative" of conscience, (a) It is said to be a fruit of natural evolution; but if our possession of conscience has such a genesis, it is none the less what it is, and the validity of its judgments stands on the same footing with the validity of human reason in general, which, according to the evolutionary hypothesis, has had the same origin. Evolutionists do not repudiate reason.2 (b) Moral distinctions are evaporated by hedonistic philosophies, utilitarianism, assertions as to the influence of force, acquired habits and the like. The answer to all such explanations is that they disagree with the data of consciousness, which exhibit the human mind as discerning necessarily and intuitively the difference between duty and all other conceptions whatsoever.
4. Butler says of the conscience, "Had it the power as it has manifest authority, it would absolutely govern the world."3 But authority presupposes power. The conscience has authority because it witnesses to a law, a purpose of One who has the power upon which its authority must rest.4
5. Religion in some form or other, however debased, is universal; and this bears witness to a sense of dependence upon God equally universal. St. Augustine says, "Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our heart is restless till it find rest in Thee."5
1 Flint, Theism, pp. 210-226; Dale, Christian Doctrine, pp. 26-35; Strong, Syst. Theol., pp. 45-47; Fisher, Grounds of Belief, pp. 55-59; Liddon, Some Elements, pp. 67-71; Hodge, Outlines, pp. 41, 42; Mason, Faith of the Gospel, ch. I., § v.; Martineau, Religion, Bk. II., ch. ii.; Calderwood, Philos. of Infin., ch. viii.; Illingworth, Personality, pp. 103-112, 260-264.
2 Hyslope, Elem. of Ethics, pp. 321 et seq., esp. 346-348; Flint, pp. 224-226; Martineau, Vol. II., pp. 21-26; Illing¬worth, p. 110.
3 Sermons on Human Nature, ii.
4 Strong, p. 46; Liddon, pp. 66-70.
5 St. Augustine, Confessions, 1., i. Cf. Q. xxiii.
Posted by Debra Bullock at July 27, 2005 11:10 PM
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