532 THE TRUE SOURCES OF MORALITY. 



such is the Christian system, which, though in one 

 sense beautiful on account of its mercy, is also immoral 

 on account of its indulgence. The supposition that the 

 terrors of hell-fire are essential or even conducive to 

 good morals, is contradicted by the facts of history. 

 In the Dark Ages there was not a man or a woman, 

 from Scotland to Naples, who doubted that sinners 

 were sent to helL The religion which they had was 

 the same as ours, with this exception, that everyone 

 believed in it. The state of Europe in that pious 

 epoch need not be described. Society is not main- 

 tained by the conjectures of theology, but by those 

 moral sentiments, those gregarious virtues which 

 elevated men above the animals, which are now 

 instinctive in our natures, and to which intellectual 

 culture is propitious. For, as we become more and 

 more enlightened, we perceive more and more clearly 

 that it is with the whole human population as it was 

 with the primeval clan ; the welfare of every individual 

 is dependent on the welfare of the community, and 

 the welfare of the community depends on the welfare 

 of every individual. Our conscience teaches us it is 

 right, our reason teaches us it is useful, that men 

 should live according to the golden rule. This conduct 

 of life is therefore enjoined upon every man by his 

 own instincts, and also by the voice of popular opinion. 

 Those cannot be happy who are detested and despised 

 by their fellow-men; and as for those, the outlaws of 

 society, who, like domestic animals run wild, herd 

 together in secret places, and, faithful only to their 

 own gang, make war upon mankind, the Law, which 

 is seldom evaded, the Law, which never forgives, 

 chases them from den to den, and makes their lives 

 as full of misery as they are full of crime. 



