chapter 15
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In other words Religion tells us in obeying the law of our being we must obey the true law of our being, not the animal or al law of our being called by St. Paul the law of the mind of the flesh, and very well defined by the famous disciple of Auguste te, Monsieur Littre, as the law of self preservation and reprodu; but the true law of our being called by St. Paul the law of the mind of the Spirit, and defined by fucius as the law of the gentleman. In short, this true law of our being, which Religion tells us to obey, is what Christ calls the Kingdom of God within us. Thus we see, as fucius says. Religion is a refined, spiritualized, well-ordered moral law, a deeper higher standard of moral law than the moral law of the philosopher and moralist. Therefore, Christ said: "Except yhteousness (or morality) exceed the righteousness (or morality) of the Scribes and Pharisees (ie., philosopher and moralist) ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. "Now, like Religion, the law of the gentleman of fucius isalso a refined, well-ordered moral law_a deeper higher standard of moral law than the moral law of the philosopher and moralist. The moral law of the philosopher and moralist tells us we must obey the law of our being called by the philosopher, Reason, and by the moralist, sce. But, like Religion, the law of the gentleman of fucius tells us we must obey the true law of our being, not the law of being of the average man ireet or of the vulgar and impure person, but the law of being of what Emerson calls "the simplest and purest minds" in the world. In fact, in order to know what the law of being of the gentleman is, we must first be a gentleman and have, in the words of Emerson, the simple and pure mind of the gentleman developed in him. For this reason fucius says: "It is the man that raise the standard of the moral law, and not the moral law that raise the standard of the man. "<cite>.99ｌｉｂ?</cite> *
heless fucius says we know what the law of the gentleman is, if we will study and try to acquire the fine feeling ood taste of the gentleman. The word in ese li (U) food taste ieag of fucius has been variously translated as ceremony, propriety, and good manners, but the word means really good taste. Now? this good taste, the fine feeling and good taste of a gentleman, when applied to moral a, is what, in European language, is called the sense of honour. In fact, the law of the gentleman of fucius is nothing else but the sense of honour. This sense of honour, called by fucius the law of the gentleman, is not like the moral law of the philosopher and moralist, a dry, dead knowledge of the form or formula ht and wrong, but like the Righteousness of the Bible in Christianity, an instinctive, living, vivid perception of the indefinable, absolute essence ht and wrong or justice, the life and soul of justice called Honour.
Now, we ahe question: How did the man and woman who first reised the relation of husband and wife, discover the secret, the secret of Goethe, the law of the gentleman of fucius? The man and woman who discovered this secret, discovered it because they had the fine feeling, the good taste of the gentleman, called w?９9ｌｉb.</cite>en applied to moral a the sense of honour, which made them see the undefinable, absolute essence ht and wrong or justice, the life and soul of justice called Honour. But then what gave, what inspired the man and woman to have this fine feeling, this good taste or sense of honour which made them see the soul of justice called Honour? This beautiful sentence of Joubert will explain it. Joubert says: "Les hommes no sont justes qu envers ceux qu ils aiment. Man ot be truly just to his neighbour unless he loves him. Therefore the inspiration which made the man and woman see what Joubert calls true justice, the soul of justice called Honour, and thus ehem to discover the secret_the ope of Goethe, the law of the gentleman of Coufucius _is Love_the love between the man and the woman which gave birth, so to speak, to the law of the gentleman; that secret, the possession of which has enabled mankind not only to build up society and civilisation, but also to establish religion_to find God. You ow uand Goethes fession of faith which he puts into the mouth of Faust, beginning with the words:
Lifts not the Heaven its dome above? Doth not the firm-set Earth beh us lie?
Now, I told you that it is not the belief in God taught by religion, which makes <s></s>mehe rules of moral duct. What really makes mehe rules of moral duct is the law of the gentleman_the Kingdom of Heaven within us_to which religion appeals. Therefore the law of the gentleman is really the life ion, whereas the belief in God together with the rules of moral duct which religion teaches, is only the body, so to speak, ion. But if the life ion is the law of the gentleman, the soul ion, the source of inspiration in religion, _is Love. This love does not merely mean the love between a man and a woman from whom mankind only first learn to know it. Love includes all true human affe, the feelings of affe between parents and children as well as the emotion of love and kindness, pity, passion, mercy towards all creatures; in fact, all true humaions tained in that ese word Jen(~H), for which the equivalent in the European languages is, in the old dialect of Christianity, godliness, because it is the most godlike quality in man, and in modern dialect, h<tt></tt>umanity, love of humanity, or, in one word, love. In short, the soul ion, the source of inspiration in religion is this ese word Jen, love_or call it by what name you like_which first came into the world as love between a man and a woman. This, then, is the inspiration in religion, the paramount virtue in religion, upon which religion, as I said, depends principally to make men, to enable and make even the mass of mankind obey the rules of moral duoral laws whi part of the Divine Order of the universe. fucius says: "The law of the gentleman begins with the reition of husband and wife; but in its utmost reaches, it reigns and rules supreme over heaven ah_the whole universe. "
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