THE SELFISHNESS OF CHRISTIANITY. 535 



whether it he in this world or the next. The man 

 who leads a truly religious life in order to go to heaven 

 is not more to he admired than the man who leads a 

 regular and industrious life in order to make a for- 

 tune in the city; and the man who endeavours to 

 secure a celestial inheritance hy going to church, and 

 hy reading chapters in the Bible, and by having family 

 prayers, and by saying grace in falsetto with eyes 

 hypocritically closed, is not above the level of those 

 who fawn and flatter at oriental courts in order to 

 obtain a monopoly or an appointment. 



The old proverb holds good in religious as in ordi- 

 nary life, that self-preservation is the first law of 

 Nature. As long as men believe that there is a God 

 or King who will listen to their prayers and who 

 will change his mind at their request ; as long as 

 they believe that they can obtain a mansion in the 

 heavenly Belgravia, so long they will place the duties 

 of the courtier above the duties of the man, so long 

 they will believe that flattery is pleasing to the Most 

 High, so long they will believe that they can offend 

 against the law and escape the penalties of the law, 

 so long they will believe that acts of devotion may be 

 balanced against acts of immorality, so long they will 

 make selfishness a virtue, and salvation of the soul 

 a higher principle of conduct than social love. But 

 when the faith in a personal god is extinguished; 

 when prayer and praise are no longer to be heard ; 

 when the belief is universal that with the body dies 

 the soul, then the false morals of theology will no 

 longer lead the human mind astray. Piety and 

 virtue will become identical. The desire to do good 

 which arose in necessity, which was developed by the 

 hopes of a heavenly reward is now an instinct of the 



