For what reason? but because a hasty temper, though a
constant cause or principle in the mind, operates only by intervals,
and infects not the whole character. Again, repentance wipes off every
crime, if attended with a reformation of life and manners. How is this
to be accounted for? but by asserting that actions render a person
criminal merely as they are proofs of criminal principles in the mind;
and when, by an alteration of these principles, they cease to be
just proofs, they likewise cease to be criminal. But, except upon
the doctrine of necessity, they never were just proofs, and
consequently never were criminal.
77. It will be equally easy to prove, and from the same arguments,
that liberty, according to that definition above mentioned, in which
all men agree is also essential to morality, and that no human
actions, where it is wanting, are susceptible of any moral
qualities, or can be the objects either of approbation or dislike. For
as actions are objects of our moral sentiment, so far only as they are
indications of the internal character, passions, and affections; it is
impossible that they can give rise either to praise or blame, where
they proceed not from these principles, but are derived altogether
from external violence.
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