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TRINITY SUNDAY.
A SERMON,
PREACHED AT ST. GEORGE’S HALL, LANGHAM PLACE,
MAY 3.1st, 1374, by tiie
REV.
CHARLES VOYSEY
[From the Eastern Post, June 'oth, 1874/1
On Sunday (May 31st) at St. George’s Rail, Langham-place, 'he
Rev. C. Voysey took his text from Psalm cxlv., 10., “All 1 hy
works praise Thee O Lord, and Thy saints give thanks unto
Thee.”
He said—As the world grows older and wiser, men begin to be
weary of Theology, and to care more for Religion. <>n this Trinity
Sunday I might, perhaps, be expected to go over the old and
tedious ground of a barren controversy, and to shew, for the
thousandth time, that Three can never be One, nor One ever be
Three, in the same arithmetical sense of the terms. But I am in
no mood for so wearisome and thankless a task. In an orthodox
pulpit such a renewal of a worn-out discussion might be very
useful and appropriate; but surely, in a place like this, it would
be a waste of time, if not an affront to your understandings, to go
over ground every inch of which must be already painfully
familiar.
Moreover, the doctrine of the Trinity, as laid down in the
Athanasian Creed, however distinctly set forth in language, how
ever frequently and solemnly repeated, has never yet been believed
bv a human being. It is as impossible for one to believe two
contradictory and intelligible propositions, as it is for one to walk
on the water, or to fly without wings. Every professed Trinitarian
is mentally conscious of believing in Three Gods, or in only one
of them at a time. No one ever achieved the miracle of believing
that the Three are not Three but One. Christendom is divided
between those who worship Jesus as Supreme God, those who
worship his mother as Supreme, and a very small minority who
worship the Father. They are all practically Monotheists,
�2
because human nature is incapable of bestowing the adoration
affection, and trust of the soul upon more than one God at a time
Polytheism, which includes Tritheism, is itself a standing proof
of my assertion. For, have as many Gods as you will, one of them
must be nearest and dearest as an object of worship. The rest fall
back into lower ranks.
As involving moral mischief, the doctrine of the Trinity is,
perhaps, the most innocuous of all the dogmas of Christianity. It
is so purely metaphysical (or would be so if it had in it a grain of
sense) that the heart is neither blessed nor injured by pretending
to hold it. It is not, therefore, worthy of our attack; it is
practically as dead and dry as an Egyptian mummy and as fruit
less for good or evil, only interesting as an antiquity, and a
curiosity of mental history.
But the passing thought we have given it suggests another of
great interest; and that is, the necessary decline ot dogmatic
Theology before the march of Human Progress; and by Human
Progress, I mean our advance in scientific knowledge, and our
advance in philanthropy.
All Theology is the result of man’s thought and observation of
the world without, and of the soul within. Whatever was true in
his reflections upon the world, whatever was correct in his obser
vation of phenomena, and whatever was exact in his self-scrutiny
entered into and became an integral part of his Theology. And
on the other hand, all his mistakes about the world and himself
were developed into Theological errors. His Theology has always
been more or less the counterpart of his own mingled knowledge
and ignorance of the things within reach of his examination.
The very subject of which Theology treats viz :—God and God’s
relation to man, has varied from age to age with the varying
growth of knowledge in other matters. At one time the conception
of a Divine Being must have been very different to what it is now.
From the beginning “God” has been made in man’s image, and I
do not see bow it could be otherwise, or how else to account for
the varieties in -Religious beliefs, or for the growths and changes of
any one of them. It cannot however be gainsaid that every
addition to man’s knowledge of any importance has been followed
by a marked corresponding change in his Theological ideas. There
�3
can be little doubt that when astrology passed into astronomy, and
alchemy into chemistry, religious ideas were vastly enlaiged, con
ceptions of God must have expanded with the - pening magnificence
of the scale of His operations in Nature. But it is in our own
times that we observe this ( subtle connexion more clearly.
Within the last twenty or thirty years the knowledge of civilized
man has grown out of all proportion to its previous rate of piogiessand with this more rapid advance have come a most remarkable
shaking of old beliefs, and a somewhat ruthless cross-examination
of the grounds on which they had been accepted. The moie we
know of the enormous extent of the universe, of the majestic forces
which are at work within it, and of the unbroken and eternal order
by which those forces are guided and controlled; the less
anthropomorphic are our conceptions of God, the less egotistical
are our notions of His relation to man. One by one the dogmas
are doubted, re-examined, thrown away. We no longer tolerate
definitions of God, still less the absurdity of descriptions of His
mode of existence. As we abandon the fables of Biblical cosmogony,
we dethrone the triple oligarchy which heretofore had ruled, and
so misruled, the world and mankind. A manipulating Creator, a
Divine artizan who is fatigued and needs rest, a disappointed
artificer whose noblest work is marred by a rival, an impatient and
petulant tyrant who drowns a whole world which he is incompetent
to govern—all these and such like notions disappear the instant
they are confronted by even our slender discoveries in true
cosmogony. The certainty and constancy of natural laws banish
in a moment the probability, if not the possibility, of miracles,
dethroning God the second, and discovering the utter baselessness
of his pretensions to power.
Scientific knowledge and scientific methods bring freedom of
mind and a sense of manly independence. We no longer accede
to any one the right to dictate our thoughts and be iefs. We
claim the right to think for ourselves and be our own guides in
matters of religion. So the time-spirit expels God the third, the
God-spirit whose authority had been claimed for Churches and
Books and PH sts; and the old three thrones are taken down
while the kingdom of darkness is retreating and retreating befire
the dawn of truth.
�4
In spite of all protests ta the contrary, the old Theology rested
entirely upon miraculous assumptions, and these it is to which
modern science has given a death-bl >w. The theology even of
professedly orthodox teachers can never again be what it once was.
But while science is thus pulling down and clearing away the
rubbish of centuries, another hand no less Divine and loyal to
truth is building up—we will not arrogantly. say a true, but a
truer theology—a more reasonable Faith. Despite all the mourn
ful and even shameless instances of se fish m ss and cruelty, this age
is undoubtedly blessed with an out-pouring of brotherly love and
sympathy, such as the world has never before seen. This love
colours everything it touches with a golden light. It manifests
itself through every virtue ennobling, justice, truthfulness,honesty,
industry, breaking down the barriers of caste and class, not by level
ing the higher to the lower, but by endeavouring to lift every lower
to the standard of the higher. Love is at work among the rich
and amcng the poor as it never was be'ore No interest is without
ir>s passionate adherents; no oppressed soul without a champion
and would-be deliverer. Men of high degree think it now their
first poiut of honour to defend the weak against the strong, and
offer as a justification for their championship, Noblesse oblige. The
rich consider themselves most blessed when they give of their
abundance to the helpless and poor. The bounty of the world is
beautiful to behold; and it comes not so much from ostentation or the
love of fame, as from tender love and sympathy with distress; for
what we see and read is not a thousandth part of what is being
done in secret through the length and br adth of our land and
nearly all over the world.
No soorner is any grand discovery made than a hundred kindly
hands are stretched out to render it practically beneficial to the
rest of mankind. The wise and learned no longer write their
books in dead languages, but in the common tongue of the people
among whom they scatter the words of wisdom and truth—very
often without money and without price. Illustrations are endless.
Never surely was benevolence so active, so enthusiastic as now.
And this, I say, is beginning to build up a new faith—new, not so
much in words as in deeds - a faith whiih is no metaphysic, but
a soul’s trust in the Soul of Goodness. Little by little it is teaching
�5
us the alphabet of scientific Theology. The old astrological or
alchemical stage of Theology is passing away—driven out by
scientific knowledge. The new stage of Theology as a science is
now coming, led by the gentle instincts of that spirit of love which
is the genius of our times. Men’s eyes are beginning to see that
if they care so much for each other, God Himself can care no less,
that if they find their supreme happiness in doing good and
rendering helpful service to each other, the bliss of the most
Blessed God must be the same — only so much the more as it is the
bliss of one who knows that His kind purpose cannot fail. All our
conceptions of the Divine are confined to spiritual and moral
qualities. We have abandoned every theory as to His nature and
mode of existence as hopelessly inscrutable to us as we are. But
we attribute to Him only such moral beauty as we ourselves in
our highest moments adore; and strange to say that the very act
of so doing seems to add to our grounds for believing in a God
at all. Our highest religious emotions are their own justification.
What may lie beyond forourselves in the future, or for our posterity,
we do not know, nor pretend to foretell; only that the past of man
kind leads us to expect with confidence that, as the present is
better tlnn the past, so the future will be better than the present.
If ever the day comes when God will not be deemed loving and
trustworthy, and an “ ever present help in time of trouble,” it
will be when human experience and human growth shall have
dwarfed these present virtues which we deem so grand; it will not
be because our notions of good and evil can ever be reversed.
There can be no possible retrogression in morals any more than in
science.
Our own integrity, sympathy, and trustworthiness towards each
other are, and I believe were intended to be, the only revelation to
us of the Divine qualities. As we grow in these, we grow in our
conception of Him, and, of course, the more these are practised,
the surer is the ground of our hope. Bor if God will not do what
we now deem to be the greatest possible kindness in those who
love one another, it must be not because He is wanting in kindness,
but b' cause He has an excess of it, and will only deny us that,
in erder to confer some better gift, some larger blessing
still.
�6
These are not only different views of God and His relation to
man, but they differ in kind from the unscientific theology of the
past, as the ground on which they stand differs from the old
foundations.
The old Theology said “ It is written,” or <f It is decreed by the
Church,” always having an assumption which either could not be
verified or could be easily disproved.
The new Theology asks “ What has God done ?” “ What is He
doing ?” and answers by pointing both to the phenomenal world
outside of us, and to the mental, moral, and emotional nature
within us. These, if there be a God, are the works of God; and
though they can only tell us a very very little of Him, inasmuch
as this whole globe is only a drop in the stream of existence, and
all the history of it we know, but one drop in the ocean of past
eternity, still that little must be true so far as it goes, and enough,
if we use it aright, to lighten our darkness, and to cheer us in
the gloom.
Science, at all events testifies there is method in the arrangement
and action of the forces. The soul of man denies it not, but says
there must be mind and will, or some infinitely higher some.hings
to correspond. Science says there is a great deal of rough play
and even cruel sport in these forces of nature. The som of man
denies it not, but says there must be love behind these sorrows and
tortures, for even to our eyes they are not all unmixed evils, but
some are disguised mercies as we have proved , and we know that
as we would not inflict wanton injury upon any sensitive cieatuie,
so neither would we bring any creature into existence purely to
torment it. Science says—I can see no good in it. The soul of
man replies—You have not seen it all yet. Wait till the end
comes, or for more light. Those who have suffered most have least
repined.
The really tortured souls whose pains never leave them till they
end in death are for the most part silent and patient, often praise
and bless God’s Holy Name for all His mercies
11 And publish with their latest breath,
His love and guardian care.”
Certain it is that the soul of man must be the interpreter of
nature’s awful mysteries. Just as his head can weigh its forces
�and tell to a nicety the machinery by which her massacres are
perpetrated, so his heart must learn the moral significance of the
deeper problem, and interpret the end and purpose for which her
catastrophes were permitted.
My friends, we claim it as our special function to pursue
religious enquiry on these principles forswearing alike all violence
to scientific conclusions, and all neglect of the testimony borne by
the human soul to the existence of the Divine. Hitherto, all
sects in Christendom have professed to base their belief on a book
or person, or some authority external to themselves. The New
School of Theology which is represented by Theodore Parker,
Professor Newman, Frances Power Cobbe and the Brahmo Somaj
of India, and lastly by ourselves, openly disclaim all ^external
authority, and as we do not rest upon it, so neither do we attempt
to claim for ourselves any right to impose our faith upon others.
We desire only to be nourished out of the wealth of the human
soul, and guarded against error by science. We are but a small
number by comparison with the Christian world. But our views
have already conquered a third, if not more, of the Unitarian
Church, are held at this moment by hundreds of the clergy and
thousands of the laity of the Church of England and spreading
rapidly through every church and sect in Christendom. We make
no new sect. It is our honour to be only leaven.
When we give God thanks for “all the truth which may have
been spoken ” let us gratefully remember that it is from the faith,
fill and earnest students of nature that we first heard those words
of truth to which this day we owe not only our freedom and
safety, but our emancipation of soul from the grovelling super
stitions which darkened the lives of our remote ancestry.
Religion will one day repay science for her somewhat stern but
faithful correction, by returning to her bosom, pure and unblem.
ished, lovely in form, and having a sound mind.
Eastern Post Steam Printing Works. 89, Worship-street, Finsbury, E.C.
��
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Victorian Blogging
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Trinity Sunday: a sermon, preached at St George's Hall, Langham Place, May 31st, 1874
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Voysey, Charles [1828-1912]
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Place of publication: [London]
Collation: 7 p. ; 19 cm.
Notes: Printed by Eastern Post June 6th, 1874. Part of Morris Miscellaneous Tracts 6.
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[Eastern Post]
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[1874]
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Trinity
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Athanasian Creed
Morris Tracts
Trinity
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to Bi due.
Vtut Religion an
A SERMON,
PREACHED AT ST. GEORGE’S HALL, LANGHAM PLACE,
JULY 27th, 1873,
by the
REV. CHARLES VOYSEY.
[From the Eastern Post, August 2nd, 1873.]
On Sunday (July 27th) at St. George’s Hall, the Rev. Charles
Voysey took his text from Psalm xvi., 9, “ I have set God always
before me. He is on my right hand; therefore I shall not fall.”
He said—Our meditations on the supremacy of virtue would
hardly be complete without an effort to discern more clearly the
relation between morality and religion. One of the most important
questions that can be asked is, “ What is the help which Religion
gives to true Virtue ?” I do not say that Religion ought to be
abandoned if it could be proved to be of no value in the promotion
of virtue, because Religion has other functions to fulfil in the
economy of man; but it must be owned that Religion would lose
nine-tenths of its value if it were of no moral use; and our duty
would be to abandon it altogether if it were found to be a hindrance
to morality. I am here forced to stand on the threshold of our
enquiry in order to explain what is meant in this discourse by the
word Religion. One is quite overwhelmed at the mass of different
senses in which this and kindred terms are used, and it is positively
alarming to think of the confusion that must overtake posterity
in trying to understand the theological productions of this age.
One can hardly take up a book or a magazine, or a weekly news
paper, without perceiving the perfect Babel we are in through our
use of ambiguous terms, without any effort at definition. Contro
versy will one day come to a full stop, being choked by its own
jargon. Theological polemic will at length fall into disuse when
the light of day shall reveal every belligerent in the act of “beating
the air,” and thrusting at shadows.
�2
To pass over the long list of senses in which the term religion
is used, I will briefly repeat the definition, or rather the explana
tion, of it which I have often already given. Of course I do not
give this as arbitrary and dogmatic, but only in order to leave no
mistake as to my meaning.
Religion, as I understand and use the term, is the consciousness
of a supreme God and of our relation to Him. It is the conviction
of the heart that there is an invisible One who is Source and
Ruler of the whole universe, and is especially the Lord of our
hearts and lives; whose will is always good and must be obeyed ;
whose purpose is always kind, and may, therefore, be implicitly
trusted; to whom we may turn for guidance, and on whom we
may rest all our hope—in the words of my text, “ I have set God
always before me; He is on my right hand, &c.” To have this
conviction is to be religious. To be destitute of all sense of God,
so as to doubt gravely whether there be a God or not, is to be
irreligious. Again, Religion is not merely an intellectual assent to
the proposition, “ There is a God, and He is good,” for a man may
arrive at this conclusion in various ways, and yet not have any
feeling of loyalty, or trust, or love towards God in his heart.
Religion is intensely, but not exclusively, a matter of emotion.
Observe further, that Religion is much more than mere awe and
reverence. The Pantheist and even the Atheist may feel the
emotions of awe and reverence excited by the contemplation of the
grandeur and beauty of Nature; but while it is regarded as
unconscious, and therefore irresponsive to human aspiration and
devotion, it is impossible to regard it with religious feelings. The
laws of Nature, which is the God of the Pantheist, are regarded
by him as supreme, and nobly loyal to them he endeavours to
become ; but he owns that Nature does not know nor care whether
he obeys her laws or not—that is his own business—nor is she
conscious in the least degree of his loyalty or admiration. The
Pantheist may be ravished with the sight of Nature’s beauty, but
there is no return of his loving gaze, no gratified sense on her part
of having filled her worshipper with bliss. The Pantheist may
also be a very optimist of content and hope, abiding in the immu
tability and certainty of Nature’s operations; but he can never
feel that rest and peace which those souls feel who know what it
�is “to cast their burden on the Lord.” In the Pantheist’s God
there is no consciousness, no individual will, no heart. But
Religion recognises in God all these. It is the characteristic of
religion to attribute to God more than all else—next to righteous
ness—tender sympathy and affection.
I am willing to admit that some of this, which I have called
Religion, may be erroneous, and must be defective. We know how
religion hitherto has been mixed up with errors and falsehood too
patent to remain for ever rooted in men’s minds. But Religion
has outlived all primseval superstitions, and seems to have a
vitality of its own by which it rises from the ashes of burned and
buried creeds. In spite of the thousands who are just now destitute
of all religion whatever, owing to the solemn mockery of maintain
ing a creed no longer credible, and owing in other cases to the
intense disgust at having been so long the dupe of groundless
superstitions; in spite of these, I say, Religion is taking fresh and
stronger root than ever, and is putting forth new leaves, and even
already bearing fresh and wholesome fruit for the healing of the
nations. While morality owes scarcely a single thread of its
binding power to the dying religions of modern Christendom, the
true essence of religion, set free by the destruction of the tissue of
creeds, is filling the air with its fragrance, and making glad the
hearts of those who wept when their idols were shattered.
A modern wit has immortalised himself by describing the present
State of religious feeling—if feeling it may be called—-throughout
orthodox Europe, in these terms : “To believe implicitly what one
knows to be false.” Let us hope that the time will come when it
may be truly described thus : “ To deny openly what one knows
to be false,” and when this stage is reached, “To know certainly what
one believes to be true.” Till this blessed change is consummated,
we have but one duty in regard to, religion. To be utterly true to
the convictions of the hour, and to be honest enough as well as
brave enough to abandon any position proved to be untenable. It
is impossible on this, the deepest and highest of all themes, to
attain the certainty of demonstration ; to have such knowledge of
God as would enable us, or warrant us, to teach with authority, as
if it were scientifically verified, what we feel in our hearts to be
true about God. It is alike impossible for the irreligious to know
�4
that our convictions are false, or our feelings groundless, and it is
unbecoming to dogmatise in the negative, as the orthodox have
dogmatised in the affirmative. Time alone will show who is right
and where lies the truth. Both , of us are on the side of virtue;
both alike regard it as supreme; both of us measure the worth or
the worthlessness of any religion by its influence on the culture of
morals. What better task could we pursue than to investigate to
the very foundation the claim made for religion, that in so far as
it approximates to the truth, or is set free from false admixtures,
it is . a very powerfu laid to virtue1?
Between the orthodox God, whose system is one of bribes and
threats, and the God of Matthew Arnold, who is a “ Power that
makes for righteousness,” and yet has no faculties for knowing
when we are righteous and when we are not; who does not even
know what righteousness is and has no power to think about any
thing—between these two—there is the God of pure Theism, who
“ thinks, and knows, and lovesand is present to the soul as the
most Holy One, the searcher of hearts, the Divine Father who
loves to see His child willingly good—good from choice; a God
who uses no coercion or enticement; who only whispers “ Do this,
because it is right.” “ Do not that, because it is wrong.” Now,
whether this be or be not a delusion of the mind which transfigures
the human conscience into a Divine voice, at all events, it gives a
sanction to the moral sense far more weighty than any other sup
position yet known. It is only natural and human in the highest
degree to attach unspeakable importance to what we believe to be
mandates of the Eternal Will. Every thought, word, or deed,
becomes magnified for good or ill, beyond all calculation, when it
is regarded as conforming to, or rebelling against, the law of the
most Holy One. And this part of religion—our recognition of a
Divine Law-giver, an accuser and a judge—would never fail of its
moral power were we always to 'realise what we profess to believe,
were we “ to set God always before us.” We fail, not because it
is for one instant a matter of indifference to us whether we obey
God or not; but because we cannot, in the presence of temptation,
and under pressure of physical allurements, realize to ourselves
that God Himself is warning us from temptation, or urging us to
perform some arduous duty. Indeed, we are religious in exact
�5
proportion as we do realise His right of control, and in the same
proportion is our religion a help to our virtue.
But, passing from the sense of Divine authority we come to the
still higher conviction of the Divine friendliness—God’s will that
we should be good, joined with God’s willingness to help us to
become good; not by miracle, not by invariable answei' to prayer,
not by uniform rescue from temptation; but by the whole and
mingled method of His discipline. Sometimes we are helped to
virtue by being suffered to taste the bitter fruits of disobedience,
oi’ to be stung by the remorse which belongs to it. But to feel
sure from first to last that One above, the most Holy, has devised
all our past, present, and future as a means for the perfecting of
our natures and the reproduction in ourselves of His own spotless
image, must, without doubt, be a tremendous moral force, because
it adds hope and encouragement of the highest order to the sense
of solemn obligation. I know nothing more terrible than the
weight of sin which used to be heaped upon our young heads by
the reiterated falsehood that we had broken the whole of God’s
law if we were guilty in only one point. It was simple agony to
be assured that a Perfect God demanded, and would be satisfied
with, nothing less than a perfect obedience from man, which we
knew could not possibly be rendered; and one only wonders why
more brains did not give way under the never-to-be-forgotten
weight of sin and doom. It made matters worse; resistance of
temptation more difficult; hope of renewal impossible. One’s only
refuge was in atonement and substitution and imputed righteous
ness ; leaving one no better than before and only an ungrateful
slave. But now, what a change ! Over again we can calmly
repeat, but with an infinitely higher meaning, the old orthodox
formula, “ a Perfect God requires perfect obedience from man,”
Yes, indeed! But when? Not until he can render it. Notone
moment sooner than all his faculties and surroundings shall have
made it possible to him. But what does a “Perfect God” mean, but
one perfectly just, and therefore requiring of us no more than we
can render; so that perfect obedience is only doing our very best
under our circumstances. A Perfect God can require no more;
but He can require no less. Here the burdened sinner is pacified
and encouraged; assured that God does not blame him one grain
�mor© than he Must blame himself; and consoled by the hope that
his present exertions, and even failures, shall work in at length
to the purification of his soul. It is something to be virtuous for,
if one knows that virtue in one little thing will lead to being
virtuous in many great things; and that the more one tries the
sooner one will succeed. It is some encouragement to be as
virtuous us we can be now, to beheve that we shall be perfectly
virtuous hereafter. And this hope and encouragement, I say, are
the direct fruits of true religion. Perfect trust in God’s good
purposes does provide this invaluable aid to virtue. Just, in fact,
as the old falsehood paralysed moral effort through utter despair
of success, and then sent conscience to slumber by saying, “ All
your righteousness is as filthy ragsso the new truth stimulates
to an enthusiasm of virtuous effort, and comforts the soul, not only
by assurances of Divine approval, but by promise of entire success.
Moreover, a religion like this which recognises the universal and
impartial love of God for all mankind is a powerful aid to virtue,
by inspiring affection between man and man. It was, perhaps,
excusable under the old creed to hate those whom God was supposed
to hate, and to count them our enemies; but it is impossible to
feel the same animosity towards anyone in v horn at the time we
recognise one who is very dear to God, and who, like ourselves, is
destined to perfect holiness. The mere fact of our common
relationship to one Divine Father, and our common hope of being
thoroughly cleansed from all sin and cured of all defects, must have
its influence in softening down our asperity, and in awakening our
mercy and forbearance. Whatever helps to kindle affection between
man and man is a real help to virtue. It would be an evil day for
mankind, if a mere sense of duty—invaluable as that is—only re
mained as a spur to right conduct; if our motives for doing good
were to be stripped of the lovely adornments of tender feeling and
sympathy, and our lives were only regulated by the cut and dried
rules of mechanical morals. In truth, it seems to me, though I say
it with all diffidence, that love is the real root of all virtue, and
not its tardy fruit. Men have begun by acting from tender
emotions and kind feelings, and then have discovered that their
conduct was beneficial. Even Utilitarianism must fall back on
love and kindness and the desire to do good, as the root of all
�7
morality. For why should it be right to promote the greatest
happiness of the greatest number, instead of promoting the greatest
happiness of the few who are best able to enjoy and appreciate
happiness 1 Because, behind and beneath it lies the native kindli
ness of the human heart, the instinct of generosity, the longing
that all may share in our happiness, which, when wisely directed
and organised, is called morality or virtue. Most true it is that
we need, the help of reason in the discovery of the best method of
showing kindness j and our defective reasoning requires the cor
rection of experience that we may learn how to select, and how to
perform, what is really best for the common good. But, in general,
the impulses of a kind heart go straight to the point, and are, in
nine cases out of ten, infallibly virtuous.
It is through his affections chiefly that man has ever attained a
true morality, and it is by his’affections mainly that the standard
of morals is kept steadily rising, Love deepens and widens
sympathy, sympathy thus enlarged reveals to us wants and wrongs
and sorrows of others to which we had before been blind, and this
revelation is followed instantly by fresh calls upon our sense of
duty, by new demands of the conscience. If I am my brother’s
keeper, and try to behave accordingly, the longer I keep him, the
more faithfully I watch over'his needs and perils, the morel shall
have to do for him, and the greater will be the claims made upon
my love and sympathy. It is notorious how we grow to love
more those to whom we have shown kindness. In this sense also
it is true that “it is more blessed to give than to receive.” The
love born out of bounty is far greater than the love born of
gratitude.
If love then be rightly regarded as the proper root of virtue,
and a religion be found which tends to inspire love between man
and man, that religion must be a powerful auxiliary in promoting
virtue. It is on this ground that we must admire those precepts
of Christianity, and of all other religions, which inculcate “love to
the brethren,” and also detest and abjure those principles, beliefs,
and precepts which inculcate first exclusiveness, and then hatred,
malice and all uneharitableness towards those who are not theolo
gically “ brethren.” As a religion, Christianity—as developed in
Europe and America—has been nearly as much a source of strife
�8
and hatred and selfish ambition, as a source of peace, charity, and
good-will. It has hitherto, therefore, been nearly as great a
hindrance to true virtue as a help to it. By its fruits it can be
known; and by its fruits it must be judged. And in so far as it
has taught what is true, it has blessed mankind; in so far as it has
taught what is false, Christianity has been its bane.
The same sifting will be applied to the Religion of which I have
spoken to-day. Its faults will show its truth and its falsehood ;
will disclose its weakness while declaring its power. Meanwhile, it
is a comfort to know that in the long run truth alone is friend to
mankind, while every falsehood is its foe.
*
EASTERN
Post
Steam Printing Works, 89, Worship Street, Finsbury E.CJ
�
Dublin Core
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Title
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Victorian Blogging
Description
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
Creator
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
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2018
Publisher
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
Text
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Original Format
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Pamphlet
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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True religion an aid to virtue: a sermon, preached at St. George's Hall, Langham Place, July 27th 1873
Creator
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Voysey, Charles [1828-1912]
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: [London]
Collation: 8 p. ; 19 cm.
Notes: Part of Morris Miscellaneous Tracts 6. Printed by Eastern Post: August 2nd 1873.
Publisher
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[Eastern Post]
Date
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[1873]
Identifier
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G3419
Subject
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Sermons
Rights
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (True religion an aid to virtue: a sermon, preached at St. George's Hall, Langham Place, July 27th 1873), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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application/pdf
Type
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Text
Language
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English
Conduct of life
Morris Tracts
Virtue