CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE AND MORALITY 53 



obey the first rather than the second motive. "In 

 these," says Mill, "the association of the act with 

 pleasure is from habit unduly strong, the association 

 of the act with pains is from habit unduly weak. 

 This," he adds, " is the case of a bad education." ^ 

 Here Mill seems to overlook an important restraining 

 motive, namely, the sense of honour, which under 

 different forms exists in both sexes. 



The sense of honour is similar to honesty, and 

 grows up under like conditions. Suppose a man 

 has the opportunity of stealing a five-pound note. 

 He may be very hard up, he may know that the 

 money will never be traced or even missed, and yet 

 he refrains from taking it. Why ? Evidently he 

 enters into no selfish calculations with himself, but 

 unreflectingly obeys an innate sense of honesty which 

 springs up and becomes hereditary in a law-abiding 

 people. So with the class of moral offences referred 

 to by Mill. To men guilty of seduction or adultery 

 a certain amount of blame is attached in a society 

 where such acts are recognised to be contrary to the 

 general interest, and the continued reprobation of 

 such offences gives rise in time to an instinctive self- 

 restraint on the part of men which is not to be 

 1 Mill's Analysis of the Human Mind. 



