The Principles of Secularism

by George Jacob Holyoake

IV.

It is necessary to point out that Sincerity does not imply infallibility. "There is a truth, which could it be stamped on every human mind, would exterminate all bigotry and persecution. I mean the truth, that worth of character and true integrity, and, consequently, God's acceptance, are not necessarily connected with any particular set of opinions."* If you admit that Mark and Paul were honest, most Christians take that to be an admission of the truth of all related under their names. Yet if a man in defending his opinions, affirm his own sincerity, Christians quickly see that is no proof of their truth, and proceed to disprove them. Sincerity may account for a man holding his opinions, but it does not account for the opinions themselves. Nothing is more common than uninformed, misinformed, mistaken, or self-deluded honesty. But sincere error, though dangerous enough, has not the attribute of crime about it—personal intention of mischief. "Because human nature is frail and fallible, the ground of our acceptance with God, under the Gospel, is sincerity. A sincere desire to know and do the will of God, is the only condition of obtaining the Christian salvation. Every honest man will be saved."** But Sincerity, if the reader recurs to our definition of it, includes a short intellectual and moral education with respect to it. Those worthy of the high descriptive "sincere," are those who have thought, inquired, examined, are in earnest, have a sense of duty with regard to their conviction, which is only satisfied by acting upon it. These processes may not bring a man to the truth, but they bring him near to it. The chances of error are reduced hereby as far as human care can reduce them. Secularism holds that the Protestant right of private judgment includes the moral innocency of that judgment, when conscientiously formed, whether for or against received opinion; that though all sincere opinion is not equally true, nor equally useful, it is yet equally without sin; that it is not sameness of belief but sincerity of belief which justifies conduct, whether regard be had to the esteem of men or the approval of God. Sincerity, we repeat, is not infallibility. The conscientious are often as mischievous as the false, but he who acts according to the best of his belief is free from criminal intention. The sincerity commended by the fortuitous, insipid, apathetic, inherited consent, which so often passes for honesty, because too indolent or too cowardly to inquire, and too stupid to doubt. The man who holds merely ready-made opinions is not to be placed on the same level with him whose convictions are derived from experience. True sincerity is an educated and earnest sentiment. Secularist is an active sentiment seeking the truth and acting upon it.

* Dr. Price.
** John Foster's Tracts on Heresy,

V.

In the formation and judgment of opinions we must take into account the consequences to mankind involved in their adoption. But when an opinion seems true in itself and beneficial to society, the consequences in the way of inconvenience to ourselves is not sufficient reason for refusing to act upon it. If a particular time of enforcing it seem to be one when it will be disregarded, or misunderstood, or put back, and the sacrifice of ourselves on its behalf produce no adequate advantage to society, it may be lawful to seek a better opportunity. We must, however, take care that this view of the matter is not made a pretext of cowardice or evasion of duty. And in no case is it justifiable to belie conscience or profess a belief the contrary of that which we believe to be true. There may in extreme cases be neutrality with regard to truth, but in no case should there be complicity in falsehood. So much with respect to this life. With respect to Deity or another life, we may in all cases rely upon this, that in truth alone is safety. With God, conscience can have no penal consequences. Conscience is the voice of honesty, and honesty, with all its errors, a God of Truth will regard. "We have," says Blanco White, "no revealed rule which will ascertain, with moral certainty, which doctrines are right and which are wrong—that is, as they are known to God."—"Salvation, therefore, cannot depend on orthodoxy; it cannot consist in abstract doctrines, about which men of equal abilities, virtue, and sincerity are, and always have been, divided."—"No error on abstract doctrines can be heresy, in the sense of a wrong belief which endangers the soul." "The Father of the Universe accommodates not His judgments to the wretched wranglings of pedantic theologians, but every one who seeks truth, whether he findeth it or not, and worketh righteousness, will be accepted of Him."*

* Bishop Watson's Theological Tracts. Introductory.

Thomas Carlyle was the first English writer, having the ear of the public, who declared in England that "sincere doubt is as much entitled to respect as sincere belief."

VI.

Going to a distant town to mitigate some calamity there, will illustrate the principle of action prescribed by Secularism. One man will go on this errand from pure sympathy with the unfortunate; this is goodness. Another goes because his priest bids him; this is obedience. Another goes because the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew tells him that all such persons will pass to the right hand of the Father; this is calculation. Another goes because he believes God commands him; this is piety. Another goes because he believes that the neglect of suffering will not answer; this is utilitarianism. But another goes on the errand of mercy, because it is an errand of mercy, because it is an immediate service to humanity; and he goes to attempt material amelioration rather than spiritual consolation; this is Secularism, which teaches that goodness is sanctity, that Nature is guidance, that reason is authority, that service is duty, and that Materialism is help.

VII.