Morality as a Religion

as a Religion, by W. R.
Washington Sullivan

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Title: Morality as a Religion An exposition of some first principles
Author: W. R. Washington Sullivan
Release Date: July 30, 2007 [EBook #22177]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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MORALITY AS A RELIGION ***

Produced by Al Haines

MORALITY AS A RELIGION
AN EXPOSITION OF SOME FIRST PRINCIPLES
BY

W. R. WASHINGTON SULLIVAN

"Religion is Morality recognised as a Divine command."
--IMMANUEL KANT
"The mind of this age has fallen away from theology to morals. I
conceive it an advance." --EMERSON

LONDON
SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO., LIM.
NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO.
1898
[All rights reserved]

PREFACE.
A recent work by M. Guyau was originally announced under the title of
The Non-Religion of the Future, and, doubtless, an impression is
generally prevalent that, with the modification or disappearance of
traditional forms of Belief, the fate of Religion itself is involved.
The present volume is a plea for a reconsideration of the Religious
question, and an inquiry as to the possibility of reconstructing Religion
by shifting its basis from inscrutable dogmas to the unquestionable
facts of man's moral nature. It is now some fifty years since Emerson
wrote that "the progress of Religion is steadily towards its identification
with Morals," and foretold "a new Church founded on Moral
Science . . . the Church of men to come". It is more than a century since
the immortal Immanuel Kant startled Europe by the betrayal of the
immensity of the emotion whereby the contemplation of "man's sense

of law" filled his soul, shedding henceforth an unfading glory about the
ideal of Duty and Virtue, and elevating it in the strictest sense to the
supreme height of Religion. What these men--the prophet and
philosopher of the New Idealism--thought and did has borne fruit in the
foundation in America, Great Britain and Ireland, in France, Germany,
Austria and Italy, of Centres or Societies of Ethical Culture which
assume as axiomatic that there is, there can be, no Religion but that
which makes us one with the Moral Progress of Humanity, by incessant
co-operation with "the Power that makes for Righteousness". If
Religion be, what its name signifies, the unifying principle of mankind,
in no other wise can we be possibly made One with each other and with
the Universal Power than by so living as to secure the ends for which
worlds and men exist. As the great Ethical prophet of the West
expressed the truth: "My Father worketh even until now, and I also
work". In such co-operation by moral life we place the very essence of
Religion.
With a view to propagating such a conception of Religion, wholly
based on Morality, a Society was founded in the autumn of the past
year which assumed the title of "The Ethical Religion Society," and
described itself as a branch of "The Ethical Church," "the Church of
men to come," which is one day to emerge from the united efforts of all
who believe in the everlasting "Sovereignty of Ethics," the
unconditioned Supremacy of the Moral Law. The Ethical Movement is
now beginning to spread in Europe and America. It is represented very
largely in the United States, where, indeed, it was inaugurated some
twenty years ago by Dr. Felix Adler, of New York; in Germany, by a
score or more of Societies; in Italy, in Austria, in Hungary, and quite
recently in France and Norway. London, of course, is represented by
numerous Societies, and Ireland possesses one at Belfast. So far, there
has been nothing definite accomplished towards a federation of these
representative Bodies, though some preliminary steps have been taken
in the formation of an international committee. The various Societies
are quite independent, nor are their speculative opinions always in
agreement. One only principle is universally and unreservedly
acknowledged, namely, the absolute supremacy and independence of
Morality, whatever philosophical differences may exist as to

speculative matters connected therewith. The Movement stands for
freedom. In certis, unitas; in dubiis, libertas.
As regards the Ethical Religion Society, which meets at Steinway Hall,
Portman Square, and for which alone the present volume has any claim
to speak, it may be said that it expresses the Ethical interpretation with
which the teaching of Kant and Emerson, and the Idealist school
generally, have made us familiar. During the year of its existence it
may be said to have met a certain need, and to have