Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1907-11-30
GOODNESS WITHOUT RELIGION.

GOODNESS WITHOUT RELIGION.
The thought often arises in many in
qulring minds as 70 whether or not re-
ugion is necessary 10 the living OF that
higher life which distinguishes the best
types Of men and women in the history
Of mankind.
Earnest seekers after truth have fire.
quently been perplexed by an argument
as common as 80 is fallacious. often
set forth In many forms by writers OF
great ingenuity and ability.
Il has been claimed that men do not
require religious training or faith In a
personal God In order to the exercise
OF the highest virtues. that man can
be true 10 his fellow men and to him
self without the sense Of obligation
10 higher power: I'm short. that the
ethical value Of faith IN influencing men
to right action Is much less than has
generally been supposed, and Is, in the
light OF modern thought, a somewhat
vanishing quantity.
According to Him who spoke as man
never speaks. the first and greatest
commandment u.s. Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God" and the second Is like
unto It. Thou shalt love thy neighhor
as myself" This Thou shalt" places
man under law. under command
ment which. II he believes IN Christ, he
Is bound to obey. The question there
fore is. can man set along as well With
ont as with this law? Can he live tho
second part Of the law and love his
neighbor as himself, without living the
drst--without believing, without car
ing. whether there is a God also whom
he is bound to love. honor and obey'
II we may credit historical examples
like Brutus, Plato. Socrates, Confucius.
Buddha, Zoroaster. Damon and Pyth-
las. Achilles and Patroclus. not 10
speak Of the many less celebrated. but
well attested examples from the unclv-
ilized portions OF mankind. we may
conclude that even outside Of the fell
lowship OF Christ. man Is able 10 ex-
erciso virtue and good works. The An
tlgone Of SoDhocles may be mentioned
among the women OF heathendom. Anti
gone in aid and defense Of her blind,
aged and gllt-rldden father. King
dsdipus bids him 20 lean his hoary
frame upon his daughters faithful
hand. Despite all threats she also full
dlls the duty OF piety and buries her
brothers body condemned by law Z, We
unburied. Against the written law Of
the state, which she had thus trans
crossed. she appeals In Justification TO
an unwritten. indestructible and eter-
nal law, which rs not OF today nor yes
tcrday." but 'lives forever" Here. al
Toast. is "a heather virtue that is not.
On the language OF one OF the Chris
'Ian fathers. merely a splendid vice."
md who knows how many Antigones.
unnamed and unoelebrated, have faded
away because they lack poets
The Scripture CRomans p strongly
-epresents the difference between the
righteous and the unrighteous IA the
1cathon world, and declares that Christ
shall render eternal life unto such OF
hem as seek for glory honor and I'M
mortality,
In Romans. 2: o, the Apostle himself
admits that he "was alive without tho
'aw onco'-that he lived on without
being conscious Of the divine command
mont And On the childhood OF every
person there f. period which pre-
sdes the struggle between conscience
and desire, between the spirit and the
nesh Some undoubtedly pass this por-
Tod On comparative freedom from
trausgrossion. others may be- de-
fled in this period with shame and
Vices owing 90 a less happy nature.
Each lived, perhaps, in happy and care
less comfort without much n any con-
aclousuess of sim pursuing the thing OF
pleasure and avoiding whatever was
Ilsagrocablo. Says Dr. Martensen.
"The young innocent maiden who grows
up under the unconscious influence OF
domestic discipline and manners. who.
glad Of NE. follows her nature. and
through a happy instinct lH led az by
a guardian spirit % what rs good and
comedy and amiablo. and the genial
youth. whose healthy nature itself pre-
serves him from the ways o. INNER
allty. whose inner man is hllod with a
wealth ri future idenls-both are SIM
living without laN 40 the given meaning
0f the word"
or these virtues q may be- said that
they are simply natural and not ethl-
cal. that they arise from desire. from
Instinct, or impulse, rather than from
"a sense Of duty on from motives This
much of virtue some ~ the beasts
possesai 4 90 some are by nature pleas
amt aud agreeable others loathsome
ana dangerous. a ristotle has shown
] that ~ Ions as man aots from mere ma