Actions are, by their
very nature, temporary and perishing; and where they proceed not
from some cause in the character and disposition of the person who
performed them, they can neither redound to his honour, if good; nor
infamy if evil. The actions themselves may be blameable; they may be
contrary to all the rules of morality and religion: But the person
is not answerable for them; and as they proceeded from nothing in
him that is durable and constant, and leave nothing of that nature
behind them, it is impossible he can, upon their account, become the
object of punishment or vengeance. According to the principle,
therefore, which denies necessity, and consequently causes, a man is
as pure and untainted, after having committed the most horrid crime,
as at the first moment of his birth, nor is his character anywise
concerned in his actions, since they are not derived from it, and
the wickedness of the one can never be used as a proof of the
depravity of the other.
Men are not blamed for such actions as they perform ignorantly and
casually, whatever may be the consequences. Why? but because the
principles of these actions are only momentary, and terminate in
them alone. Men are less blamed for such actions as they perform
hastily and unpremeditately than for such as proceed from
deliberation.
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