Force, Enei^gy, and Will 241 



than are many theists whose ciilpabihty may have conse- 

 quences in another department of morals), yet j^asi culpability 

 need not prevent a man from holding his opinions conscien- 

 tiously now. Again, however bad atheism may be, there is 

 one thing yet worse — namely, a belief in a had God. Now, 

 surely it is quite conceivable, and there is to my mind evi- 

 dence of the fact, that some men have been driven into 

 atheism by moral revulsion from the systems in which they 

 have been reared. Amongst my non-theistic friends is one 

 who has ever led a life of the most exceptional purity, the 

 greater part of whose time has for years been passed in active 

 charity — philanthropy being the one aim and object of his 

 life ; yet this man is the son of most religious parents, and 

 was carefully trained in early piety, though the Calvinism he 

 was taught ultimately revolted him. 



But the Professor's mode of dealing with criminals is very 

 instructive. He represents ^ 'society' as replying to a 

 criminal who objects to it as follows: 'You punish me for 

 what I cannot help.' ' Granted, . . . but the public safety is 

 a matter of more importance than the very Hmited chance of 

 your moral renovation.' This is frankly to throw over all 

 considerations of justice, as generally understood by mankind, 

 and is the natural result of denying freedom, and therefore 

 moral responsibility. The position assumed necessarily re- 

 duces morals to a matter of taste, tested by utilitarian results, 

 or what are believed to be such, and thus there is not, and 

 cannot be, any true guarantee for the supremely sacred rights 

 of conscience, the liberty of which is the most fundamental 

 and sacred of all liberties. Conscience is that which Dr. 

 Newman has so nobly declared to be ' the aboriginal vicar of 

 Christ, a prophet in its informations, a monarch in its per- 

 emptoriness, a priest in its blessings and anathemas, so that 

 even if the eternal priesthood throughout the Church should 



ip. 612. 



VOL. II. Q 



