Cause of Wretchedness, 275 



All men give evidence that they have all these ele- 

 ments, which can be reckoned as belonging to con- 

 science. They may be in a wretched state of ac- 

 tivity, through ignorance ; or the scale of humanity 

 may be so low that animal impulses seem to have 

 the entire sway, and thus moral distinctions may 

 have made no impression on the language of de- 

 graded tribes. But this no more proves that these 

 moral powers are not present, than the absence of 

 algebraic language and methods, among ignorant 

 men, is proof that such men have no power to 

 generalize in numbers. Whenever search has been 

 made for the elements of conscience in man, they 

 have been found. They are at least potentially 

 present, as the blade is present in the grain of corn. 

 The work of missionaries in all parts of the world 

 abundantly proves this. 



We see, then, that the moral nature of man is 

 all that it could be, and leave him a free and pro- 

 gressive being. 



All the wretchedness of the world comes from 

 two things, /r^w ignorance of the relations of acts to 

 the great end of life, a7id that strange perverseness 

 which leads men to choose against the sense of Obli- 

 gation. If both of these evils were remedied, man 

 would still be a free, progressive being, as new re- 

 lations and conditions of activity opened before him ; 

 but his choices always being according to Obliga- 

 tion, and his comprehension of all new relations 

 being perfect, his course would be like that of a 

 ship, when it moves in a direct hne from port to port ; 

 while now he is at best, like a ship that makes its 



