CHAP, xm.] CONSEQUENCES. 403 



One of the greatest of the achievements of the last two 

 thousand years has been the successful promulga- p 



D runty of in- 



tion of the doctrine that purity of intention, and tention - 

 not success, is that which is really deserving of esteem. Yet 

 the essential heartlessness of Non-theisni is showing itself, 

 every now and_ then, in its true colours. To show this the 

 more clearly, we may quote the words of one who, in so 

 many ways, contrasts favourably with other members of that 

 school of thought. The exigencies of his philosophical posi 

 tion have betrayed even Mr. Herbert Spencer into speaking* 

 of the &quot; Worthy &quot; and the &quot; Unworthy &quot; as synonymous with 

 the &quot; well &quot; and the &quot; ill-to-do ;&quot; and he does not guard him 

 self from being understood to call the poor and the un 

 successful by the opprobrious epithet, &quot; good-for-nothings.&quot; 



Another phenomenon of the last eighteen hundred years 

 has been the establishment of at least a pure theory Sexual rela _ 

 of the sexual relations, and the protection of the tions - 

 weaker sex against the selfishness of male concupiscence. 

 Now, however, marriage is the constant object of attack, and 

 unrestrained licentiousness theoretically justified. The pro 

 miscuous intercourse of some degraded tribes is often spoken of 

 under the term &quot; communal marriage&quot; and the cause of &quot; free- 

 love &quot; is, of course, directly promoted by every phrase which 

 tends to assimilate in terms the two very distinct states, and so 

 pave the way for their legislative assimilation. And it is very 

 natural it should be so. Cumbrous and involved must be the 

 reasoning of any one who, while denying (as the advocates of 

 the bestiality of man must deny) any real distinction between 

 duty and pleasure, would at the same time seek to maintain 

 the stringency of existing sexual customs on the basis of mere 

 expediency. Once admit this expediency, i.e., the promotion 

 of the physical welfare of the race, to be the one only rule of 

 conduct, and the door is opened for the free ingress of the 

 strangest propositions. Once deny the distinction between 

 material and formal morality once, that is, identify in essence 



* Contemporary Keview, August 1873, p. 339. 



2 D 2 



