A nation in which half the population is criminal would be more diversified than a wholly honest one, but it would not be a better nation. Much relief is experienced when we realize that by adopting a spiritual life, righteous condemnation and the hate that ensues from it can be left to other. This pursuit of the spiritual good benefits all humankind, and it could therefore be said to be the most praiseworthy vocation all the. The spiritual commitment then defines a distinct role which differs from that of the uncommitted person. It implies a different set of standards and focus of energy and attention for the rightful exercise of human choice. As a Victorian, some live, of course, in a society which not only frowns on things like free love, adultery, and Sabbath breaking but also vigorously applied the social sanction of ostracism to any who committed these sins. Intolerance is a necessary preservative of society. The modern liberal state is possibly precisely because society was able to discipline itself through unwritten laws. #RandolphHarris 1 of 8

 It is a good thing for humans to be compelled by social intolerance to keep laws of conduct which the wisdom of the ages has shown to be good. Goodness is varied, but that does not mean that variety itself is good. In knowledge of good and evil, it is true that the understanding is clouded by the desires of the will. Heresy is often accompanied by sedition or blasphemy. A very sublime and grand thing is Truth, in its way, though like other sublime and grand thins, such as thunderstorms and that, we are not always over and above glad to see it. There are yet great truths to tell, if we had either the courage to announce or the temper to receive them. Away then with all perplexing fears and desponding thoughts. To undertake vigorously, and reply confidently on the divine assistance, is more than half the conquest. Let us arise and be doing, and the Lord will be with us. It is true, religion in the souls of humans is the immediate work of God, and all our natural endeavors can neither produce it alone, not merit those supernatural assistances by which it must be wrought. #RandolphHarris 2 of 8

The Holy Ghost must come upon us, and the power of the Highest must overthrow us, before that holy thing can be begotten, and Christ be formed in us. However, yet, we must not expect that this whole work should be done without any concurring endeavors of our own. We must not lie loitering in the ditch, and wait till Omnipotence pull us from thence. No, no: we must best ourselves, and actuate those powers which we have already received. We must put forth ourselves to our utmost capacities, and then we may hope that our labor shall not be in vain in the Lord. All the art and industry of human cannot form the smallest herb, or make a stalk of corn to grow in the field; it is the energy of nature, and the influences of Heaven, which produced this effect. It is God who causes the grass to grow, and herb for the service of humans; and yet nobody will say that the labors of the husbandman are useless or unnecessary. So, likewise, the human soul is immediately created by God. It is God who both formed and enlivens the child; and yet he has appointed the marriage bed as the ordinary means for the propagation. #RandolphHarris 3 of 8

Though there must intervene a stroke of Omnipotence to effect this mighty change in our souls, yet ought we to do what we can to fit and prepare ourselves; for we must break up our fallow ground, and root out the weeds, and pull up the thorns, that so we may be more ready to receive the seeds of grace, and the dew of Heaven. It is true, God has been found of some who sought him not. He has cast himself in their way, who were quite out of his. God has laid hold upon them, and stopped their course on a sudden. However, not, that I may detain you no longer, if we desire to have our souls molded to this holy frame, to become partakers of the divine nature, and have Christ formed in our hearts, we must seriously resolve, and carefully endeavour, to avoid and abandon all vicious and sinful practices. There can be no treaty of peace, till once we lay down these weapons of rebellion wherewith we fight against Heaven; nor can we expect to have our distempers cured, if we be daily feeding on poison. #RandolphHarris 4 of 8

Why would an infinitely good God choose to create a being that is by its very nature capable of willfully introducing evil into the order of creation? Would it not have been better to have left such a being uncreated, or to have created a being that would not have been capable of doing this willful evil? Freedom of choice or action is the mark of a relatively superior being. Physical objects, machines, and brutes are inferior precisely because they are not capable of self-willed or self-determining action, but are instead passively dependent on external or internal impulses. Such inferior being are acted upon rather than self-active. God himself is the most perfect possible agent or self-active beings, a being who delights in things merely because they are chosen. The very goodness of things depends on their having been chosen to exist: the Divine election therefore is not determined by the goodness of things, but the goodness and fitness that arises from that election. #RandolphHarris 5 of 8

What is true of God is true to some extent of the most superior of his Earthly creatures, namely, humankind. We indeed continually experience in ourselves the principle of free choice or free election. We are conscious that we are the true cause of our actions, that we have an ability to act and please ourselves in contradicting our natural appetites, our senses, and reasons. Such, however, is the power of free will and such is the pleasure of acting freely that we are capable of making decisions and choices that cause pain to ourselves and others. Human beings are capable of throwing away their fortune, life, and soul least they should be disappointed in a foolish choice. In other words, rather than relinquish the special pleasure that attaches to a free choice, even a perverse, irrational, or foolish one, human agents are prepared to risk loss of property or life. This preparedness to persist in a foolish choice confirms that the peculiar pleasure to be had from the sheer exercise of the will may be greater than the pleasure to be had from the sheer exercise or the understanding. #RandolphHarris 6 of 8

This is not to say that the individual human will is essentially perverse, or that it takes particular pleasure in being perverse. If that were so, then God would indeed have created something wicked in itself. It is of course God’s intention that the chief happiness of human agents should consist in the proper use of will. The happiest choices will be those made within the bounds prescribed by God and nature. As a rule, human agents will in fact choose the courses of action that are the most likely to bring them happiness. However, it is here that certain natural imperfections or natural evils make their presence felt. Because of the natural evils of ignorance and inadvertence, people will be led to make undue elections. Decisions and choices are sometimes made in the absence of the sufficient knowledge or understanding; or, where there is sufficient knowledge, there is sometimes a failure of attention or due care on the part of the agent. Virtue is one all over the World, and there is only one faith, one conceivable conduct of life, one manner of dying. #RandolphHarris 7 of 8

Nature never intended humans to be tyrants. Every willful sin gives a mortal wound to the soul, and puts it at a greater distance from God and goodness; and we can never hope to have our hearts from vicious actions. Now, in this case, we cannot excuse ourselves by the pretense of impossibility; for sure our outward human s some way in our power. We have some command of our feet, and hands, and tongue, nay, and of our thoughts and fancies too, at least so far as to divert them from impure and sinful objects, and to turn our mind another way; and we find this power and authority much strengthened and advanced, if we were careful to manage and exercise it. In the meanwhile, I acknowledge our corruptions are so strong, and our temptations so many, that it will require a great deal of steadfastness and resolution, of watchfulness and care, to preserve ourselves, even in this degree of innocence and purity. We should shut our ears to distrust, and keep them open only for its opposite. #RandolphHarris 8 of 8