[41]Mr. Mill has adopted Hume's doctrine of causation with a few modifications. The question is: Has he left to himself or to his followers an argument for the divine existence? He advises the defenders of theism to stick by the argument from design, but does not say that it has convinced himself.
The advice is a sound one; we should not give up the argument from design because of the objections of Kant, which derive their force from the errors of his philosophy.
Mr. Mill says, that we can " find no difficulty in conceiving that in some one Of the many firmaments into which sidereal astronomy now divides the universe, events may succeed one another at random, without any fixed law" ("Logic," b. iii. C. 21). I should like to see an attempt made to construct an argument for the divine existence by those who accept this view. Mr. Mill shows that our belief in the uniformity of nature is the result of experience. But the uniformity of nature is one thing and causation is a different thing. He should be met by showing that we have a necessary conviction that every thing that begins to be has a cause, and that he has utterly failed in deriving this conviction from sensa. tions and associations.
[42]In his "Utilitarianism," Mr. Mill has endeavored to defend the theory from the objections commonly taken to it.
But he has utterly failed in his attempt to derive our idea and conviction of moral good from mere sensations and associations of sensation.
[43]"Account of the Life and Writings of Adam Smith," by Dugald Stewart; "Life and Writings of Adam Smith,"anonymous, but understood to be by J. R. M'Culloch; "Literary and Characteristical Lives," by William Smellie, &c.
[44]"Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the Hon. Henry Home, of Kames," by Alex. Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee, 2 vols., 1807.
[45]There appeared " Some late Opinions concerning the Foundation of Morality examined, in a Letter to a Friend,"London, 1753. The author says of Home: His merit is great, were it only in stating so clearly the sentiment of duty or moral obligation, and distinguishing it from the sentiment of simple moral obligation." The peculiarity of this sentiment, as expressed by the words "ought" and ,should,"our author distinctly explains, and shows how it is "to be distinguished from simple approbation by the sanction of self-condemnation or remorse." He says of Hume, that it is "his error from the beginning to the end to haye overlooked the innate feelings of duty, -- that authority which conscience carries in itself, prescribing certain virtues as a law or rule upon which alone morality can be founded and ascertained." "Mr. Hutcheson led the way, by re solving all the several virtues into benevolence, as our author has done into utility, which, in his scnse of it, is much the same."[46]It is said that Home has been confuted by "the smart and sensible author of the `Estimate of the Profit and Loss of Religion,' and in the modest and elegant `Delineation of Morality' (Balfour). Two other authors have distinguished themselves against the particular parts of the scheme; viz., Rev. Mr. Adams, a clergyman of the Church of England, in his answer to the `Essay on Miracles,' and Dr. John Stewart in his very masterly reply to the `Essay of Motion.'"[47]It is proper to state that in his third edition (1779)Home says, on farther reflection he has modified some of his opinions. He gives up the position that "some of our moral feelings and emotions must be founded on a delusion." He now asserts that the notion we have of being able to act against motives "is suggested by the irregular influence of passion, and that we never have it in our cool moments; consequently it is not a delusion of nature, but of passion only." lie thinks that he thus escapes the position that virtue in any measure; rests on the foundation of any natural feelings being a delusion. But, in avoiding one difficulty, he only falls into another; for it is in our moments of cool reflection that we adhere most resolutely to the conviction that we have an essential freedom.
[48]MS. " Life of Witherspoon," by Ashbel Green (formerly President of Princeton College), in the Library of the New Jersey Historical Society MS. "Life of Witherspoon." in a History of the College, by Ex-President Maclean, who has kindly allowed me to use it. " Funeral Sermon," by Rev. Dr.
Rodgers, of New York, in edition of Witherspoon's " Works,"Philadelphia, 1800.
[49]The genealogy seems to have been:-John Knox; Mrs. Welch;her daughter married to Mr. Witherspoon; Rev. James Witherspoon, their son: Rev. John Witherspsoon.
[50]"Princeton College during the Eighteenth Century " by Samuel D. Alexander.
[51]Stanhope Smith's " Lectures on Moral and Political Philosophy." Stanhope Smith was the author of an "Essay on the Causes of the Variety of Complexion and Figure of the Human Species." He holds by the unity of the race, and accounts for the diversities by natural causes. It was first published, 1787, and ran through several editions.
[52]I may mention, as belonging to the same age, "An Essay on Virtue and Harmony, wherein a Reconciliation of the Various Accounts of Moral Obligation is attempted," by William Jameson, M.A. minister of Rerick, 1749. He shows that man is endowed with various senses, but especially with a moral sense; and, "as several parts or strains uf music and different musical instruments do compose a concert, so the various sorts of beauty, order, proportion, and harmony in the vegetable kingdom, in the animal, and in the intellectual system, constitute one universal harmony or concert: in that grand concert, every man is bound to perform his part in a proper key, as it were, or in just consonance with the whole which can only be done by the order and harmony of his affections, and the beauty and regularity of his actions." The scepticism of Hume cast aside these inquiries into senses and tastes, and led to the profounder philosophy of Reid.
