A MODERN "SYMPOSIUM." 



47 



if all theological belief were exploded, morality 

 would remain unaffected. 



My own view is, that each party is to a con- 

 siderable extent right, but that the true practical 

 inference is often neglected. 



Understanding by the theology of an age or 

 country the theory of the universe generally ac- 

 cepted then and there, and by its morality the 

 rules of life then and there commonly regarded 

 as binding, it seems to me extravagant to say 

 that the one does not influence the other. The 

 difference between living in a country where the 

 established theory is that existence is an evil, 

 and annihilation the highest good, and living in 

 a country where the established theory is that 

 the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, 

 the round world and they that dwell therein, has 

 surely a good deal to do with the other differ- 

 ences which distinguish Englishmen from Buddh- 

 ists. 



Even if it be said that such differences are 

 merely a way of expressing the result of a differ- 

 ence of temperament and constitution otherwise 

 caused, this does not diminish the effect of a be- 

 lief in the truth of the theory. Kali, Bhowanee, 

 and other malevolent deities worshiped in India, 

 are probably phantoms engendered by fear work 

 ing on a rank fancy ; but this does not make the 

 belief in their real existence less influential in 

 those who hold it. A man who cuts off the end 

 of his tongue to propitiate Kali would let it alone 

 if he ceased to believe in her existence, though 

 the temper of mind which created her might still 

 remain, and show itself in other ways 



The belief that the course of the world is 

 ordered by a good God, that right and wrong are 

 in the nature of a divine law, that this world is a 

 place of trial, and part only of a wider existeuce 

 — in a word, the belief in God and a future state 

 — may be accounted for in various ways. Now 

 that in this country (to go no farther) the vast 

 majority of people believe these doctrines to be 

 true, in fact, just as they believe it to be true, in 

 fact, that ships and carriages can be driven by 

 steam, and that their conduct is in innumerable 

 instances as distinctly influenced by the one be- 

 lief as by the other, appear to me to be propo- 

 sitions too plain to be proved. 



On the other hand, it seems at least equally 

 evident that morality has a basis of its own quite 

 independent of all theology whatever. It is dif- 

 ficult to imagine any doctrine about theology 

 which has not prevailed at some time or place ; 

 but no one ever heard of men living together 

 without some rules of life — that is, without some 



sort of morality. Given human action and hu- 

 man passion, and a vast number of people all 

 acting and feeling, moral rules of conduct of 

 some sort are a necessary consequence. The 

 destruction of religion would, I think, involve a 

 moral revolution ; but it would no more destroy 

 morality than a political revolution destroys 

 law. It would substitute one set of moral rules 

 and sentiments for another, just as the establish- 

 ment of Christianity and Mohammedanism did 

 when they superseded various forms of pagan- 

 ism. 



It would be scarcely worth while to write 

 down these commonplaces, if it were not for the 

 sake of the practical inference. It is that the- 

 ology and morality ought to stand to each other 

 in precisely the same relation as facts and legis- 

 lation. 



No one would propose to support by artificial 

 means a law passed under a mistake, for fear it 

 should have to be altered. To say that the truth 

 of a theological doctrine must not be questioned, 

 lest the discovery of its falsehood should pro- 

 duce a bad moral effect, is in principle precisely 

 the same thing. It is at least as unlikely that 

 false theology should produce good morals as 

 that legislation based on a mistaken view of 

 facts should work well in practice 



I will give two illustrations of this — any num- 

 ber might be given : Suicide is commonly re- 

 garded as wrong ; and this moral doctrine is de- 

 fended on theological grounds, which are summed 

 up in the old saying that the soldier must not 

 leave his post till he is relieved. I will not in- 

 quire whether any other argument can be pro- 

 duced forbidding suicide to a person laboring 

 under a disease which converts his whole life 

 into one long scene of excruciating agony, and 

 which must kill him in the course of a few use- 

 less months, during which he is a source of mis- 

 ery, and perhaps danger, to his nearest and dear- 

 est friends. I confine myself to saying that, if 

 it could be shown that there is no reason to sup- 

 pose that God has in fact forbidden such an act, 

 its morality might be discussed and decided upon 

 on different grounds from those on which it must 

 be considered and decided upon on the opposite 

 hypothesis. 



Take, again, the law of marriage. Suppose a 

 man's wife is hopelessly insane — ought he to be 

 allowed to marry again ? Ought divorce to be 

 permitted in any case ? These questions will be 

 discussed in a very different spirit, though it is 

 possible that they might be answered in the same 

 way, by persons who do and by persons who do 



