CHAPTER X 



VIRTUE AND CRIME 



" Not he who says Lord, Lord, but he who doth the will of 

 my Father, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven/' 



NOT those who profess to be good, but who do good to others 

 are truly wise and blessed. I have mentioned elsewhere that 

 the reader must bear in mind that in this work I am writing 

 purely from the abstract standpoint, and in a purely unscien- 

 tific manner, so he must guard against putting a concrete 

 interpretation upon the views expressed. 



Now, when I came to read over this chapter it struck me 

 that as regards its contents, as also the constant statement 

 that sin is a virtue, which is one I have been frequently com- 

 pelled to make to elucidate to the reader that the virtues of 

 to-day could not have been achieved but for the sins that past 

 evolutions caused us to commit yesterday, any more than 

 could our individual virtues of to-day exist but as a result of 

 the sins and faults and failures of our youth. Now, to make 

 this introduction, which, upon re-consideration, I feel called 

 upon to insert as a prelude to this chapter, I must point out 

 to the reader that virtue consists not in being good, but in 

 doing good. There are many very good persons who do more 

 harm than good. Moderation is the perfection of virtue when 

 coupled with requirement. Many otherwise good acts lose 

 their virtue when not required, yet in a few cases extremes 

 may become virtue as well as crime. Intemperance in the 

 commission of any sin is what alone makes crime, and total 

 abstinence may be either virtue or vice. The aim of evolution 

 is to destroy all crime and vice, but not to destroy sin and 

 virtue. These are to exist in heaven as well as on earth. 

 This is why a religion which taught the truth, the whole 

 truth and nothing but the truth, would not be worth its salt, 



