Morality and Free Thought (translated from the Revue des duex Mondes) [pp. 494-513]

508 MORALITY AND FREE THOUGHT. [Julyr
it not? How many generous and tender spirits, how many en
lightened and wise spirits, how many combining both wisdom
generosity, are, nevertheless, powerless before temptation! Of
those good intentions with which hell is paved, how many are
inspired by the heart and the reason, which are betrayed by
the will! There must then always be a last resource, a supreme
effort, a personal act of resolution to finish the virtuous deed.
It is this last resource, which moves without being moved, that
is called liberty. What is it? In what does it consist? What
is the essence of it? We cannot say. There is in us some —
thing more profoundly personal, or if it comes from without,
it is tbe point where the divine is transformed into an individ- -
ual personality; where the incomprehensible passage is made
from the universal to the individual; where are united in an inseparable act grace and free-will. Without doubt, the will is of
myself, and who could will if not myself? but the strength of
will does not come from myself, for I have not created myself, -
I have not given myself my will-otherwise I should have given
it to myself absolutely, and I know too well that such is not
the case. I should have given it to myself all-powerful against
evil, entirely obedient to the good; and I know too well that it
is powerless against the one whilst hating it, and rebels against
the other whilst loving it.
There still remain to be noticed fine discussions on the subject of moral sanction, the immortality of the soul, the future
life. The philosopher who does not doubt law cannot doubt
the sanction of law. He believes in a divine sanction, since
all human sanction is insufficient, and the doctrine of the future life is as dazzling to his eyes as the light of the sun. If
he is asked to express in a word the character of this future
life, he calls it a deliverance. Do not say that it is a recompense, as the multitude understand it; do not speak of it as a
right which the worthy man may claim; do not put virtue on
one side, on the other the happiness which is added to it as a
reward; no, the future life is virtue itself freed from the bonds
which fetter it here below-it is deliverance, it is salvation. He
admires especially the comprehensiveness of this word salvation, one of the strongest expressions of theological language.
But perhaps the metaphysician feels all this but too keenly
0, sage! could you give us a glimpse of what shall follow this