CH. v.] RELIGION AS ADJUSTMENT. 453 



doctrines diametrically opposite, that, in point of fact, the 

 atheist usually leads quite as pure and holy a life as the 

 Christian ; and moreover, that it is possible to construct, out 

 of scientific materials solely, an ethical code even more 

 complete than any of those now generally accepted and 

 practised. It would be useless to deny the force of these 

 arguments. Not only is it true that science can furnish the 

 inquirer with adequate principles of right action, but it is 

 also true that, even without any very elaborate or thoroughly 

 understood ethical code, the heterodox inquirer is, on the 

 average, quite as likely to live rightly as the orthodox be 

 liever, since our characters depend far more upon our feelings 

 which are inherited than upon the doctrines which are taught 

 us. But, while admitting all this, it must still be claimed 

 that the time-honoured association of religion with morality 

 is not arbitrary but founded in the nature of things, and that 

 it will accordingly continue in the future. The arguments 

 just stated present but one side of the case. For while it is 

 quite true that character is not a product of belief, it is no 

 less true that action is influenced by belief. While obser 

 vation shows that theological scepticism does not exert a 

 deteriorating influence upon character, it cannot be doubted 

 that ethical scepticism, could it become dominant, would 

 confuse and obscure the incentives which prompt us to 

 actions in harmony with the environment, and deter us from 

 mal-adjustments. Practically the momentum of inherited 

 impulse and bequeathed ethical tradition is so powerful that 

 the cases in which theological scepticism has entailed per 

 manently-effective ethical scepticism have been the exception 

 rather than the rule. But what now concerns us is the 

 inquiry whether in the nature of things a substitution of 

 scientific for theological symbols involves an alteration of 

 ethical values in the grand equation between duty and 

 action. We shall find that no such change is involved in the 

 substitution. Though we may, and do, throw overboard the 



