No brute ever does a cruel thing--that is the monopoly of those with the Moral Sense. When a brute inflicts pain he does it innocently; it is not wrong; for him there is no such thing as wrong. And he does not inflict pain for the pleasure of inflicting it --only man does that. Inspired by that mongrel Moral Sense of his! A sense whose function is to distinguish between right and wrong, with liberty to choose which of them he will do. Now what advantage can he get out of that? He is always choosing, and in nine cases out of ten he prefers the wrong. There shouldn't be any wrong; and without
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Is this Twain's personal assessment coming through in his writing? Or is he building a case for something else? Either way, there is a sense in which I have heard this argument before - that moral, even religious, people are responsible for so much suffering and pain in the world. But that isn't true, is it? SINNERS are responsible for causing much suffering and pain. SINNERS are the ones who choose wrongly - because, in a sense, they can't do anything BUT choose wrongly. Only when we are redeemed, justified, and being sanctified by Christ do we come to the fuller understanding of ourselves and our sin before God and in this world. Only then do we begin to make choices, with the help of the Holy Spirit, for righteousness, for helping and serving others, for glorifying the Father.
