JB/015/202/001

Click Here To Edit

62

5th The religious or superhuman sanction. It has two principal
sources of influence, which when they can be brought to bear upon
human action necessarily give invest it with high authority & power. For first
it supposes the Divine being to be thoroughly cognizant of the make
of the fact every misdeed in question – & 2dly to have perfect knowledge of the exact
quantity & quality of its malignity from the knowledge of
all the aggravating & extenuating circumstances. Thence all those
chances of escape whether from observation or from punishment
which diminish the efficiency of the other sanctions are removed
from this – which at once brings the offender into the presence of
an all-seeing – all knowing – all weighing and equitably awarding judge.

To teachers of religion however it belongs to treat of
the pains & pleasures which religion holds out for those acts of forbearance
or of indulgence which it prescribes or forbids. It is for the Deontologist
to inquire how far they accomplish all the ends which morality proposes – to
endeavour to ascertain the causes of their inefficiency, when they
are inefficient – & to bring his instruments to cultivate that part
of the field of thought & action which they have left barren. And
it is to be hoped that while thus labouring with the teachers of
religion in the service of virtue & the pursuit of happiness the
Deontologist will be considered not as a rival to be supplanted
but as an anciliary co-adjutor to be loved. The beneficent influences of
the religious sanction cannot but be strengthened by calling in
every other sanction to its aid. for Its op inefficiency has been
often the subject of lamentation even among those who would fain
arm it with its greatest power. To friendly auxiliaries it cannot
be hostile.

And if any religious opinions are unfriendly to human
happiness surely that circumstance must be taken as evidence
of their erroneousness. For it The province of true religion can never be
to seal up the fountains of felicity or to open those of misery.

If A man is less happy than he might be it is no matter whether it be he is
made so by others acts or by his own opinions: a religion therefore might would carry
the same evidence of its falsehood in its opposing that share of happiness which
a man may might otherwise acquire for himself, as by favouring or conniving at that share
of unhappiness which he may suffer at the hands of another.

Identifier: | JB/015/202/001 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 15.
Date_1		Marginal Summary Numbering
Box	015	Main Headings	deontology
Folio number	202	Info in main headings field
Image	001	Titles
Category	linking material	Number of Pages	1
Recto/Verso	recto	Page Numbering	f62
Penner	sir john bowring	Watermarks	[[watermarks::[partial motif]]]
Marginals		Paper Producer
Corrections		Paper Produced in Year
Notes public		ID Number	5418
Box Contents