e, its consecration of life and
its hope in death, no Ethical Society yet devised gives any {50}
symptom of being able to supplant the Church of Him Who said, 'Come
unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you
rest.'

V

Now, from the fact that Morality at its best assumes a religious tinge,
merges itself in Religion, we may legitimately infer that, without the
inspiration of Religion, Morality at its best will not long prevail.[2]
'Love, friendship,' said Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, 'good nature,
kindness carried to the height of sincere and devoted affection, will
always be the chief pleasures of life, whether Christianity is true or
false; but Christian Charity is not the same as any of these, or all of
these put together, and I think that if Christian Theology were
exploded, Christian Charity would not survive it.'[3] At present, when
Religion has pervaded everything with its sacred sanctions, it is easy
to say that Religion {51} would not be greatly missed were it
discarded, and that Morality would be unaffected. This is pure
conjecture. To test its worth we should need a state of society from
which every vestige of Religion had disappeared. It will not do to
retain any of the beliefs or the customs which owe their origin to a
sense of the Unseen and Eternal, to a sense of any Power above
ourselves, ruling our destinies and instilling into our minds thoughts
and desires and hopes beyond the visible and the material. If
Morality, in the limited acceptation of the term, is sufficient for the
elevation and welfare of mankind, it is not to be supported by any
admixture of Religion: it must prove its power by itself. Religion
must be utterly abolished, its every sanction must be universally
rejected, its every impulse must have universally ceased before it can
be contended with any measure of assurance that the world will be none
the worse, may be even the better, for its vanishing.

{52}

If Religion is a delusion, remember what must be eliminated from our
convictions. There can be no higher tribunal than that of man by which
our actions can be judged.[4] A life of outward propriety is the
utmost that can be demanded of us, if it is only against the wellbeing
of our neighbour or the promotion of our own happiness that we can
transgress. What has human law to do with our hearts? What
legislation can deal with 'envy, hatred, malice, and all
uncharitableness,' unless they manifest