Page:Sin and Crime.pdf/4

 often arises from the ambiguity thus occasioned. It means (a) observed sequence of phænomena; all "natural" laws mean this and nothing more. It has been observed that pieces of matter tend to move towards each other; e.g., a stone, unsupported in the air, moves to the ground. The fact that all matter tends thus to move is expressed by the phrase, "the law of gravitation". This law is not a command, but a registration. It does not say to matter, "Thou shalt thus move"; it simply records, "Matter tends thus to move".

Law also means (b) an enactment, issued by some recognised authority, with a penalty attached to a breach thereof. It says distinctly, "Thou shalt", or "Thou shalt not".

Law in sense (a) cannot be broken, though it may be disregarded; a man who leaps from the height of a tower does not break the law of gravitation; he disregards it, and his mangled limbs as he lies on the ground bear mute witness that the sequence is unbroken. All suffering consequent on disregard of natural law is the result of the law itself remaining unbroken; no arbitrary penalty is attached to the disregard; the results of the disregard prove the infrangibility of the law.

Law in sense (b) can be broken; the command can be disobeyed. And although disobedience may meet with penalty, the penalty has no necessary connexion with the infraction of the law, and may be evaded altogether. A theft, punishable with imprisonment, remains unpunished if the thief be unknown, and the imprisonment is an arbitrary penalty, changeable at will.

The word "moral" I define, in its narrowest sense, as "tending to increase the general happiness". In its wider sense it is applied to all philosophy which deals with conduct. Moral conduct is conduct which tends to increase general happiness. Moral science is science that deals with conduct; distinguishes the tendency of actions on society; marks them with approval or disapproval as they tend to promote or injure the general welfare.

Moral law, then, is law regulating conduct, and may be of either of the two types noted above. Moral law of type (a) is the registration of observed sequences of moral phænomena, the scientific statement of human experience in matters of conduct. Moral law of type (b) is the code