the 'criterion' of morality. The
moral law, that is, coincides in its substance with the law, 'maximise
happiness,' and happiness means, as 'Philip Beauchamp' calls it,
'temporal' happiness--the happiness of actual men living in this world
and knowing nothing of any external world. How, then, is the moral law
related to theology? To know what is moral, we must appeal to
experience and 'utility.' We must discover what makes for happiness,
just as in medicine we must discover what makes for health or
pleasure, by the ordinary methods of observation. What place is left
for any supernatural intervention? The ostensible answer was that
though the moral code could be deduced from its utility, the motives
by which it was to be enforced required some supernatural agency. The
natural man might see what was right, but need not therefore do what
was right. Here 'Philip Beauchamp' comes to a direct issue with the
theologians. He denies that the supernatural motive will be on the
side of morality. When J. S. Mill remarked that there had been few
discussions of the 'utility' as distinguished from the truth of
religion, he scarcely recognises one conspicuous fact. The great
argument of divines had always been the absolute necessity of religion
to morality; and if morality be understood to mean utility, this is
simply an argument from utility. The point, indeed, was often taken
for granted; but it certainly represents one of the strongest
persuasives, if not one of the strongest reasons. The divines, in
fact, asserted that religion was of the highest utility as supplying
the motive for moral conduct. What motives, then, can be derived from
such knowledge of the Deity as is attainable from the 'Natural
theology' argument? How can we prove from it that he who puts the
world together is more favourable to the virtues than to the vices
which are its results; or, if more favourable, that he shows any other
favour than can be inferred from experience? He has, it is agreed, put
men, as Bentham had said, under the command of two sovereign masters,
Pleasure and Pain; and has enabled them to calculate consequences, and
therefore to seek future pleasure and avoid future pain. That only
proves that we can increase our happiness by prudence; but it suggests
no additional reasons either for seeking happiness or for altering our
estimate of happiness. As 'Philip Beauchamp' argues, we cannot from
the purely empirical ground get any motive for taking i