The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-09-05

NhNh u AhA Wa NAuhA ~
tho midst Of this immensely, my thought IA
drowned. and ~shipwreck In such sea TO me ia
sweet" with regard to the world, present OF
prospective. he permitted himself no illusionA.
He said TO his sister: "wo scorn virtue while
alive, adore her whom dead" He complained
that even the reward Of mere glory is denied
to worthy pursuits." Unlike Mr.. Swinburne.
no dreamed Of no divine democracy: Power
and rule, however much concentrated. or how
ever much subdivided, whoever 10 invested
with them. under whatever namo. will commit
abuses to the end Of time"
In the essay on oberman and Matthew Ar
lie proved clearly by 4 series of quotations. Can
morals be divorced from revealed religion 7
obormann held that they could. and SO did
Matthew Arnold. The spectacle OF q world full
OF injustice, whore crime does not bring punish
ment as surely as does q violation of mechanical
law. made Oberman feel that spirit and matter
are not In harmony; that spirit, with its needs,
10 n solitary outcast In a universe which knows
nothing of right and wrong. Since Nature docs
not reward virtue as such, nor punish vice as
such, there must be error in our conceptions Of
right and wrong. or else their reward and pun
ishment are to be sought in man instead of in the
ouNSt "a hobSo V" hioN tlO " -
himself an account of what is not additionally
but naturally right and wrong. Pcrceiving.
however. that even then. nfter all corrections
have been made. there Is no certainty Of Justice
in external life, he Is led to affirm that virtue
is not a moro or less painful means to the
attainment of a hypothetical joy-giving end;
that this. in truth, has been an old pcrnicious
mistake. to which 10 due very much of our de-
spondency, and. therefore, not q little OF our
depravity. On the contrary, virtue is not n
means. but an end, the object of a natural pre-
potent passion In men for Righteousness, and
being an end per Sc. has a right to be considered
a good. without reference to any reward 1t may
bring besides. Indeed. all goods resulting sec
ondarily from virtue as a means are secondary
and adventurous. and would not be eagerly ex-
pccted, IL men were normal. and weighed proba-
bilities without prejudice. Oberman's conclu-
sion Is, that to teach men not to count upon
such accidental rewards OF Righteousness would
greatly enhance their felicity. For, II these
secondary goods were not much sought, their
partial presence or their absence would
no longer produce q sense of disappoint-
ment and unfair treatment. which. r~eacting on
the moral sense. often tends to weaken the
impulse to virtue in the unfortunate, because
virtue comes to be regarded as lacking all nat
ural sanction. and. therefore, as not endowed
wa. - AahNoo W Ae's ANShiSA W ~
sure. has done its best to make men look for no
rewards as due to right.doing in this life; but it
has promised them in another. Religion mis-
take has been TO appeal to the Imagination for
prospective reward, instead of making virtue
appear. in itself. a good highly desirable. a
noble reward OF lifelong effort. 1t was ODER
mans opinion that attention should have been
drawn to tho fact Of virtues fulfilling an eter-
nal and supreme human want. Instead OF this,
an after-life Of adequate reward and punish
mcnt has been held up to the eye OF
fancy and Of faith. II this was once q
help to morals. it is certainly becom-
ing less and less potent as q motive for
conduct, since mankind at large trusts the hui
man imagination less and less. and actual cog.
milton moro and more. Besides. as Obcrman
points out, this method OF immortal reward and
punishment is fatal to the dignity Of virtue, de-
grading 1t to the rank Of a means; furthermore,
1t vitiateo the very essence Of virtue itself. For
II, as Jesus taught, good or evil lie in the mo-
tive OF an act, then virtue for the sake Of bcati.
tude is not virtuous; 1t is selfish, grasping: it Is
esotism postponed to an imaginary hereafter; 1t
is. to use Matthew Arnold's expression. not dis
interested righteousness but other-worldliness.
Oberman goes on to argue that in the downfall OF
false theology there Is danger that there will be q
rupture OF barriers in morals and a destructive
flood of vice. This is only to be avoided by a
timely divorce of ethics and superstition,
which shall leave the latter to its fate and prove
morality to be quite independent OF external
stimulus, since it has an internal motive force
OF Its own. and at no time requires the me.
chanical, supercilious aid of religion. The
preachers duty, he says, Is not to preach d
heaven and a hell in some doubtful hereafter,
but to stir to conscious life the dawn Of craving
for righteousness. to herald an actual this-life
heaven OF virtue; the supreme attainment OF a
supreme end. which,. being within reach, indie.
pendent Of the immoral world OF mechanism. is
positive. certain. practical. cognizable and
worth all peril and strain. In the stimulation
Of this passion. with its satisfaction dependent
only on the will OF the Individual. lies, he says, the
secret OF self-mastery, contentment and peace.
In d word, Oberman foresaw the downfall OF
popular thaumaturgical Christianity. and be.
lieved that mora ity would gain greatly II II
waived the support of a foredoomed fanaticism
In order TO base its majesty on unimpeachable
evidence. dc you want principles" he asks.
that stick to the hearth Summon, then, once
moro to your aid those principles that are in the
heart of every well organized man." Where re.
ligion touches morality is. according to ODER.
man. chiefly In It's doctrine OF an after-ex.
istence of just rewards and punishments. He
holds that, on ono hand. this after-existence, in
the literal sense. is problematic, and. therefore,
only n restraint Of q precarious sort, while, on
the other hand. 1t actually ~vitiates virtue
"Is it not" he inquiries, "a notable fact that
the terrors OF an after life have been
a check to very few Of those who were
likely to be held back by nothing else3 For the
remainder Of mankind there are more natural,
moro direct. and therefore moro potent re.
s~traints. Since man was endowed once for all
with a sense for order. since 1t forms a part OF his
nature, the need Of 1t should have been made a
conscious ono In every individual. Thus there
would have been left fewer villains than dogmas
leave. and We should have been spared all those
which they create" We see. then. that instead
of seeking It In Immortality Oberman finds the
true source Of morality In man. In q faculty
akin to his sense Of the proportIonate in the
realm of form. of tho harmonious In the
domain Of sound. in an ethical instinct quite aa
real as mans aesthetic instinct, and requiring
no artificial stimulation from belief in heaven
and hell. I'll" he adds, tho rules OF morality
preached to the people were true. consistent,
and never strained: II the reason for each duty
were shown, and a due proportion observed; II
the rules had reference only to their actual ends,
we should have nothing left to do but to hold in