Speaker 1: Morality and religion. The wise man, by adding thought to thought,
indeed to deed, in ways of good, buildeth his character.
Little by little, he accomplishes his noble ends in quiet patience,
works diligently daily. He builds his heart and mind, pure thoughts,
high aspirations, selfless deeds, until at last the edifice of
truth is finished, and behold, there rises and appears the
temple of perfection. There is no sure indication of confusion
and decadence in spiritual matters than the severance of morality
from religion. He is a highly moral man, but he
is not religious. He is exceptionally good and virtuous, but
is not all that spiritual. Are common expressions on the
lips of large numbers of people who thus regard religion
as something quite distinct from goodness, purity, and right liace living.
If religion be regarded merely and only as worship combined
with adherence to a particular form of faith, then it
would be correct to say he is a very good man,
but is not religious in some instances, just as it
would be equally correct to say he is an immoral
man but is very religious in other instances. For murderers,
thieves and other evildoers are sometimes devout worshippers and zealous
adherents to a creed. Such a narrowing down of religion, however,
would render much of the Sermon on the Mount Superlifus
from a religious point of view, and would lead to
the confounding of the means of religion with its end
the idolizing of the letter of religion to the exclusion
of the spirit. And this is what actually occurs when
morality is severed from religion and is regarded as something
alien and distinct from it. Religion, however, has a broader
significance than this, and the most obscure creed embodies in
its ritual some longing human cry for that goodness, that virtue,
that morality which many, with thoughtless judgment, divorce from religion
and is not a life of moral excellence, of good
and noble character, of pure heartedness. The very end and
object of religion is not the substance and spirit of
which worship and adherence to a form of faith are,
but the shadow and letter. In religion, as in other things,
there are the means and the end, the methods and
the attainment worship. Beliefs about God adherence to creeds. These
are some of the means, goodness, virtue, morality, These are
the ends. The methods are many and various, and they
are embodied in countless forms of faith. But the end
is one. It is moral grandeur. Thus the moral man,
far from being irrelition, because he may not openly profess
some form of worship, possesses the substance of religion diffuses.
Its spirit has attained its end, and when the sweet
kernel of religion is found and enjoyed, the shell, protective
and necessary in its place, has served its purpose and
may be dispensed with. Let us not, however, be misunderstood.
The moral man does not refer to one who has
only the outward form of morality, appearing moral in the
eyes of the world, but keeping his vices secret. Nor
does it refer to him whose morality extends only to
legal limits, nor to those who are proud of their morality,
for pride is the reverse of moral But to those
who delight impurity, who are gracious, gentle, unselfish, and thoughtful,
who being good at heart pour forth. The fragrance of
pure thoughts and good deeds by the moral is meant
the good good, The pure the noble and the true hearted.
A man may call himself Christian, Jew, Buddhist, Mohammedan, Hindu,
or by any other name and be immoral. But if
one is pure hearted, he is true and noble and
beautiful in character. In a word, if he is moral,
then he is an inhabitant of the Holy City, in
which there is no temple. He is, by example and influence,
a regenerator of mankind. He is one of the company
of the children of the Light.