THE NECESSITY OF A MORAL OR RELIGIOUS SENSE IN THE FORMATION OF GOOD

CITIZENS

BY HIS EMINENCE, CARDINAL GIBBONS

I HOLD that religion is the only solid basis of society. If the social edifice rests not on this eternal and immutable foundation, it will soon crumble to pieces. It would be as vain to establish society without religion as to erect a palace in the air or on shifting sands or to hope to reap a crop from seed scattered on the ocean's surface. Religion is to society what cement is to the building; it makes all parts compact and coherent. "He who destroys religion," says Plato, overthrows the foundations of human society."

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Religion is the bond that unites man with his Creator. It is a virtue by which due honor and worship are paid to God. It embraces all those fundamental truths that involve God's sovereignty over us and our entire dependence on Him. I employ religion here in its broadest and most comprehensive sense as embodying the existence of God, His infinite power and knowledge, His providence over us, the recognition of a divine law, the moral freedom and responsibility of man, the distinction between good and evil, the duty of rendering our homage to God and justice and charity to our neighbor, and finally the existence of a future state of rewards and punishments.

This implies a moral training, so that when I speak of the necessity of religion for good citizenship, I have in mind too the moral training which true religion imparts.

The social body is composed of individuals who have constant relations with one another; and the very life and preservation of society demand that the members of the community discharge towards one another various and complex duties.

What is needed for good citizenship? What does society require of your rulers and magistrates? What does it require of you? It demands of your rulers that they dispense justice with an even hand. It demands of you that you be loyal to your country, zealous in her defence, faithful in the observance of her laws, conscientious in the payment of imposts and taxes for her maintenance and support. It demands that you be scrupulous in observing your oaths and vows, just in the fulfilment of your contracts and obligations, honest in your dealings, and truthful in your promises. It demands that you honor and respect your lawful superiors and that you be courteous to your equals, condescending to your inferiors, faithful to your friends, magnanimous to your enemies, and merciful to the poor and the oppressed. It demands of the married couple conjugal fidelity, of parents provident vigilance, of children filial love. In a word, it demands that you "render to all men their dues, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor" and render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's."

that you

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How can these virtues be practised without sufficient motives? These motives must be strong and powerful, because you have passions and self-interest to overcome. They must be universal, because they are binding on all members of society. They must be permanent, because they apply to all times and places.

What motives, religion apart, are forcible enough to compel

legislators, rulers, and magistrates to be equitable and impartial in their decisions? What guarantee have we that they will not be biassed by prejudice and self-interest? Will a thirst for fame and a desire for public approbation prove a sufficient incentive for them to do right? How often has not this very love of glory and esteem impelled them to trample on the rights and liberties of the many in order to win the approbation of a few sycophants, just as Roboam oppressed his subjects that he might be admired and praised by his young courtiers, and as Alexander enslaved nations to receive the applause of the fickle Athenians.

What principles without religion are binding enough to exact of you that obedience which you owe to society and to the laws of your country? Is it the dread of civil punishment? But the civil power takes cognizance only of overt acts. It has no jurisdiction over the heart, which is the seat of rebellion, the secret council chamber where dark schemes are concocted. The civil power cannot enter the hidden recesses of the soul and quell the tumults raging there. It cannot invade the domestic circle to expel the intemperance and lewdness that enervate and debauch both body and mind. It cannot suppress those base calumnies, whispered in the dark, which poison the social atmosphere with their foul breath and breed hatred, resentment, and death. You might as well expect to preserve a tree from decay by lopping off a few withered branches while allowing the worms to gnaw at the roots as to preserve the social tree from moral corruption by preventing some external crimes while leaving the heart to be wormeaten by vice.

Besides, if you are so disposed, can you not in many instances escape the meshes of the law by resorting to gifts, bribes, and ingenious frauds?

If the civil sword even with the aid of religion can scarcely restrain public disorders, how futile would be the attempt to do so without the coöperation of moral and religious influence!

Still less do you fear the judgment that posterity may pronounce on your conduct. For if you believe neither in God nor in a life to come, the condemnation of after ages will not disquiet you, the censures of future generations will not disturb your ashes reposing in the tomb.

Nor can you suppose the emoluments of office an adequate incentive to induce you to be an upright and law-abiding member of society. The emoluments of office are reserved for the privileged few; the great bulk of society will always be consigned to private life.

Do not imagine, because you happen to be a man of irreproachable private life, integrity of character, and incorruptible justice, that your fellow-citizens will seek you out, as the Romans sought Cincinnatus at the plough, that they will cordially embrace you, force you from your cherished seclusion, and bestow upon you some office of trust and distinction.

"The office should seek the man and not the man the office" is a beautiful but Utopian maxim, a maxim so antiquated as to deserve a place in the cabinet of national curiosities. The most successful officeholder usually has been and usually will be the most industrious office seeker, and his chances of success are not always improved by a delicate sense of honor and an inflexible adhesion to principle.

The esteem of your fellow-men will not be sufficient inducement to make you a virtuous citizen, for the great mass of virtues, even of those virtues that influence the well-being of society, are practised in private and are hidden from the eyes of men, like the root that gives life and bloom to the tree,

or the gentle dew from heaven which silently sheds its blessing on the labors of the husbandman.

Nor should you be surprised if your good action, instead of winning the applause of your fellow-citizens, will sometimes even draw upon you their suspicion, their jealousy, their odium, and their calumny. The wisdom and integrity of Aristides were such that the Athenians called him "The Just," yet they condemned him to exile. On the day on which the people were to vote upon the question of his banishment an illiterate burgher, who did not know him personally, requested him to write the name of Aristides upon his ballot. "Has that man done you any injury?" asked Aristides. "No," answered the other, "nor do I even know him. But I am tired of hearing him everywhere called 'The Just.'"

The case of the Founder of the Christian religion is still more familiar to the reader. Who was so great a benefactor to society as He? He went about doing good to all men. He gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and walking to the lame, and strength to the paralyzed limb, and comfort to the afflicted, and even life to the dead. He promulgated the most sublime and beneficent laws that were ever given to man. He invariably inculcated respect for ruling powers and obedience to their authority, and yet He was branded as a seditious man, an enemy of Caesar, and He was put to death by the very people whom He had sought to deliver from spiritual bondage.

But perhaps you will say that a natural sense of justice, independently of religion, can exercise sufficient influence in inducing you to practise the duties of an upright citizen. But to discard religion and yet profess to believe in natural justice is self-contradictory. It is grasping at the shadow and rejecting the substance. It is unconsciously clothing oneself