CHAPTER XXI. NATURE OF MIND AS PERFECT IN CONSTRUCTION.

The first article in every system of religion is, who is the God who controls our destinies, and what is his character?

In attempting to answer this question by the light of nature, independently of revelation, we have gained these positions. There is an Intelligent Mind who created all things, whose natural attributes are the same as ours in kind, but vast beyond our comprehension in extent. In moral character, or that which is exhibited in choice or action, he is perfect in wisdom, benevolence, and rectitude; that is to say, he is a being whose chief end or ruling purpose is to do the best he can to make the most possible happiness with the least possible evil.

This being discovered as the grand design for which all human minds are created, we are thus enabled to decide as to what is the right and perfect _construction_ or “nature” of mind, and also as to its right and perfect _action_.

In regard to the perfect _construction_ of mind, we must again refer to the fact that in a system of things where both natural and moral evil exist, we are obliged to suppose a limitation of power by the nature of things, so that a system is perfect, not as excluding all evil; for as evil does exist, a system without any evil is impossible. All that remains, then, to constitute the idea of perfection, (as used in reference to things as they are) is this, that whatever is created by God, is the best possible in the nature of things.

The question then must be this, is the mind of man, _as a race_, the best in construction, that is possible in the nature of things? Is our mind made _as good as it can be_, so that no change is possible that would make it better?

In replying to this question, we must regard the matter in two relations. We have noticed, in the chapter on the Constitutional Varieties of the Human Mind, that while there are powers and attributes of mind which are common to all, there is an endless variety of character resulting from the diverse _proportions_ and _combinations_ of these several faculties, and also that there are diverse _grades_ of mind, each having these diverse combinations. Some races of men are much lower in the scale of being, every way, than other races, while the same disparity exists among individuals of the same race.

Now when we compare individuals with each other, or when we compare races in these respects, we regard them as more or less perfect in organization with reference to the highest grade or species known to us. In this relation some minds are to be regarded as imperfect and defective in organization. And in reference to any one individual or race in this relation, we feel that the organization could be improved.

But when we regard each mind as a part of a vast _system_, in which the highest good of the whole will prove the highest possible good of each individual part, we are to judge of perfection in the organization of mind in another relation. If it is for the greatest happiness of the whole that there should be grades and ranks in mental powers; if disparities and varieties in organization give scope and exercise to virtues and modes of enjoyment that would be impossible were all minds exactly alike, and on the pattern of the highest in the scale of being, then the very points which are imperfections in the individual relations, become perfections in relation to the great whole. In this view, the lowest and humblest in the scale of being, when acting in his appropriate place and according to the great Creator’s design, is perfect in mental construction, and is fitted to be happier in every respect than he could be if the whole system were changed by placing him among the highest in mental organization.

Just as it is with the human system—the lowly foot is perfect and complete in its place, though inferior in construction and service to the regal head and cunning hand. And should the foot be endowed with the higher gifts it would be a departure from its perfection in organization as related to the whole. The question, then, of the _perfect nature_ of each human mind requires that we regard each one as a part of an infinite system demanding grades and ranks, and thus, also, relative disparities. And having proved that the chief design of the Creator is to make the _best possible_ system, we are necessarily led to the conclusion that the lowest order of mind is as perfect in its nature, in relation to the great whole, as is the highest of all.

From the above we gain this definition:

_A perfect mind_, as to _construction_ or _nature_, is one which is better fitted to its position in the best _possible_ system of minds than it would be by any possible change.

In this use of the words _nature_ and _perfect_ it is claimed that in the preceding pages it has been proved that the mind of man is _perfect in nature_. Our next inquiry will relate to the perfect _action_ of mind in respect to that which is _voluntary_ or _self‐originated_. In other words, we shall inquire as to the _perfect moral action_ of the human mind, as discoverable by reason and experience, independently of revelation.