下载辰思小说免费APP
Thatonlyprovesthatwecanincreaseourhappinessbyprudence；butitsuggestsnoadditionalreasonseitherforseekinghappinessorforalteringourestimateofhappiness。As’PhilipBeauchamp’argues，wecannotfromthepurelyempiricalgroundgetanymotivefortakingintoaccountanythingbeyondour’temporal’orsecularinterests。This，again，wasinfactadmittedbyPaley。Hismodeofescapefromthedilemmaisfamiliar。Theexistenceofasupremeartificerisinferredfromtheinterventionsinthegeneralorderofnature。Theexistenceofamoralruler，orthefactthattherulerapprovesmorality，isinferredfromhisinterferencebytheparticularmanifestationsofpowerwhichwecallmiraculous。Weknowthatactionswillhaveotherconsequencesthanthosewhichcanbeinferredfromourownexperience，becausesometwothousandyearsagoaBeingappearedwhocouldraisethedeadandhealthesick。Ifsufficientevidenceofthefactbeforthcoming，weareentitledtosayuponhisauthoritythatthewickedwillbedamnedandthevirtuousgotoheaven。Obediencetothelawenforcedbythesesanctionsisobviouslyprudent，andconstitutesthetruedifferentiaofmoralconduct。Virtue，accordingtothefamousdefinition，isdoinggood’forthesakeofeverlastinghappiness。’ThedownrightbluntnesswithwhichPaleyannouncedtheseconclusionsstartledcontemporaries，andyetitmustbeadmittedthattheywereanaturaloutcomeofhisposition。
Inshort，thetheologicalpositionofthePaleyschoolandtheUtilitarianpositionof’PhilipBeauchamp’
startfromthecommongroundofexperience。Religionmeanstheknowledgeofcertainfacts，whicharetobeinferredfromappropriateevidence。Itdoesnotmodifythewholesystemofthought，butsimplyaddscertaincorollaries；
andthewholequestioniswhetherthecorollariesareorarenotprovedbylegitimatereasoning。CanwediscoverheavenandhellaswediscoveredAmerica?Canobservationofnaturerevealtousasupernaturalworld?’
Thefirstdifficultyisthattheargumentfornaturaltheologyhastorestuponinterference，notuponorder，andthereforecomesintoconflictwiththefirstprinciplesofscientificprocedure。TheDeityisrevealednotbytherationalbutbythearbitrary；andthemoretheworldisexplained，thelesstheproofthatheexists，becausethenarrowerthesphereofhisaction。Then，assuchaDeity，evenifproved，isnotprovedtobebenevolentormoral，Wehavetorelyforthemoralelementupontheevidenceof’miracles，’
thatis，again，ofcertaininterruptionsoforder。ThescientifictendencymoreorlessembodiedinProtestantism，sofarasitappealedtoreasonorto’privatejudgment，’had，moreover，madeitnecessarytorelegatemiraclestoaremoteperiod，whiledenyingthematthepresent。Toproveatoncethattherearenomiraclesnow，andthattherewereafewmiraclestwothousandyearsago，wasreallyhopeless。Infact，theargumenthadcometobestatedinanartificialformwhichhadnorealrelationtothefacts。Iftheapostleshadbeenajuryconvincedbyacarefullegalexaminationoftheevidence；iftheyhadpronouncedtheirverdict，inspiteoftheknowledgethattheywouldbeputtodeathforfindingit，therewouldhavebeensomeforceinPaley’sargument。Butthentheyhadnot。Toassumesuchanoriginforanyreligionimpliedatotalmisconceptionofthefacts。
PaleyassumedthattheapostlesresembledtwelverespectabledeansofCarlislesolemnlydeclaring，inspiteofthemostappallingthreats，thatJohnWesleyhadbeenprovedtohaverisenfromthedead。Paleymightplausiblyurgethatsuchaneventwouldrequireamiracle。But，meanwhile，hisargumentappearedtorestthewholecaseformoralityandreligionuponthisnarrowandperilousbase。Wecanonlyknowthatitisourinteresttobemoralifweknowofheavenandhell；andweonlyknowofheavenandhellifweaccepttheevidenceofmiracles，andinferthattheworkerofmiracleshadsupernaturalsourcesofinformation。Themoraldifficultywhichemergesisobvious。ThePaleyconceptionoftheDeityis，infact，coincidentwithBentham’sconceptionofthesovereign，Heissimplyaninvisiblesovereign，operatingbytremendoussanctions。Thesanctionsare’external，’thatistosay，painsandpleasures，annexedtoconductbythevolitionofthesovereign，notintrinsicconsequencesofthe
