XI THE PRINCIPLES OF MORALS 239 



of the obligations of morality, but it is obviously 

 in accordance with his view of the nature of those 

 obligations. Under its theological aspect, mo- 

 rality is obedience to the will of God ; and the 

 ground for such obedience is two-fold : either we 

 ought to obey God because He will punish us if 

 we disobey Him, which is an argument based on 

 the utility of obedience ; or our obedience ought 

 to flow from our love towards God, which is an 

 argument based on pure feeling and for which no 

 reason can be given. For, if any man should say 

 that he takes no pleasure in the contemplation of 

 the ideal of perfect holiness, or, in other words, 

 that he does not love God, the attempt to argue 

 him into acquiring that pleasure would be as 

 hopeless as the endeavour to persuade Peter Bell 

 of the " witchery of the soft blue sky." 



In whichever way we look at the matter, morality 

 is based on feeling, not on reason ; though reason 

 alone is competent to trace out the effects of our 

 actions and thereby dictate conduct. Justice is 

 founded on the love of one's neighbour; and 

 goodness is a kind of beauty. The moral law, like 

 the laws of physical nature, rests in the long run 

 upon instinctive intuitions, and is neither more nor 

 less "innate" and "necessary" than they are. 

 Some people cannot by any means be got to 

 understand the first book of Euclid ; but the 

 truths of mathematics are no. less necessary and 

 binding on the great mass of mankind. Some 

 there are who cannot feel the difference between 



