The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-04

]" they call our attention to some pigeon on the roof giv- ing food to its little one or some coachman down in the street who is abusing his horse. Sometimes they even mallciously propose one of those alarming questions that put the minds of parents on the rack; all this to di- vert attention from the distressing topic. I fear that in the face of duty we are big children, and when that is the theme seek subterfuges to distract us.
 The first sophisn consists in asking ourselves if there is such a thing as duty in the abstract, or if this word does not cover one of the numerous H. lusions of our forefathers; for duty, in truth, supposes liberty, and the ques- tion of liberty leads us into metaphys- ics. How can we talk of liberty so long as this grave problem of free will is not solved? Theoretically there is no objection to this, and if life were a theory and we were here to work out a complete system of the universe it would be absurd to concern ourselves with duty until we had clarified the subject of liberty, determined it's con ditions, fixed it's limits.
 But iifeis not theory. In this ques- ton of practical morality, as in the others, life has preceded hypothesis, and there is no room to believe that she ever yields 1t place. This liberty relative, I admit, like everything we are acquainted with, for that matter 1 this duty whose existence we question is none the less the basis of all the judgments we pass upon ourselves and our fellow men. We hold each other to a certain extent responsible for our deeds and exploits.
 The most ardent theorist, once out 1 side of his theory, scruples not whit to approve or disapprove the acts of others, to take measures against his enemies, to appeal to the generosity i and justice of those he would dissuade from an unworthy step. One can no l more rid himself of the notion of nor | al obligation than of that of time or 1 space. and as surely as we must re- sign ourselves to walking before we know how to define this space through 1 which we move and this time that measures our movements, so surely must we submit to moral obligation be- fore having put our finger on It's deep hidden roots Moral law dominates 1 man whether he respects or defies it. See how it is in everyday life-each one is ready to cast his stone at him i who neglects a plain duty even if he allege that he has not yet arrived at philosophic certitude. Everybody will say to him, and with excellent reason: "Sir, we are men before everything. First play your part, do your duty as l citizen. father, son. After that you i shall return to the course of your med | itat1ons."
 However let us be well understood. We should not wish to turn any one away from scrupulous research into the foundations of morality. No thought which leads men to concern themselves once more with these grave questions could be useless or indiffer- ent. We simply challenge the thinker to find a way to wait til be has un- earthed these foundations before he does an act of humanity, of honesty or dishonesty, of valor or cownrdice And most of all do we wish to formu- late a reply for all the insincere whc have never tried to philosophize and for ourselves when we would offer oul state of phiiosophic doubt in tustifca ton of our practical omissions. From the simple fact that we are men, be fore all theorizing. positive or negative