CLXIII

Under its theological aspect, morality is obedience to the will of God;

and the ground for such obedience is two-fold: either we ought to obey

God because He will punish us if we disobey Him, which is an argument

based on the utility of obedience; or our obedience ought to flow from

our love towards God, which is an argument based on pure feeling and for

which no reason can be given. For, if any man should say that he takes

no pleasure in the contemplation of the ideal of perfect holiness, or,

in other words, that he does not love God, the attempt to argue him

into acquiring that pleasure would be as hopeless as the endeavour to

persuade Peter Bell of the "witchery of the soft blue sky."

Aphorisms and Reflections from the Works of T. H. Huxley · 第 164 / 386 题