But there comes a deeper breath to the man who
realizes that morality and religion long antedate the Jewish
revelation, and comes to see God in the tens and hundreds of thousands
of years of slow but splendid human progress. Historical codes of
morals are, indeed, seamed with superstition and are progressively
displaced; but morality persists. At no time has man wholly solved
the problem of life, but he must ever live by the best solution he
has found. The innumerable codes are so many experiments, their very
differences bearing witness to the need of some set of guiding
principles for conduct.
It is sometimes said that morality, being a merely human invention,
may be discarded when we choose. To this we may reply that morality
bears, indeed, the indisputable marks of human instinct, will, and
reason; but it is not an invention; it is a lesson, slowly learned.
In its humanness lies its value. It is not an alien code, irrelevant
to human nature; it is a natural function; it is the greatest of human
institutions unless that be religion, which is its flower and
consummation. Morality is made for man, for his use and guidance; what
could possibly have greater sanctity or authority for him? Rebel as
he may, and chafe under its restraints, he always comes back to morality;
perhaps to a revised code, but to essentially the same control; for
he cannot do without it. Our morality has its defects, but it is on
the right track.
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