shall glorify
God our Father. This duty, however, as Fichte points out, 'has often
been viewed very incorrectly, as if we could be obliged to do this or
that, which otherwise we would not have needed to do, for the sake of a
good example.'[27] That which I am commanded {215} to do I must do for
its own sake without regard to its effect upon others. Esteem can be
neither outwardly compelled nor artistically produced; it manifests
itself voluntarily and spontaneously. A modern novelist[28] ironically
exposes this form of altruism by putting into the mouth of one of her
characters the remark, 'I always make a point of going to church in
order to show a good example to the domestics.' At the same time no
one can withhold one's influence; and while the supreme motive must be,
not to make a display, but to please God, he who is faithful to his
station and its duties cannot fail to affect his fellow-men for good.
The most effective example is given unconsciously, as the rose exhales
its sweetest perfume without effort, or the light sheds its radiance
simply by being what it is.

3. _Duties in Relation to God_.--Here morality runs up into religion,
and indeed since all duties are in their last analysis duties toward
God, Kant and other moralists have objected to the admission into
Ethics of a special class of religious obligations. It has been well
remarked that the genuine Christian cannot be known by particular
professions or practices, but only by the heavenly spirit of his
life.[29] Hence religious duty cannot be formulated in a number of
precise rules. Love to God finds expression not in mechanical
obedience, but in the spontaneous outflow of the heart. The special
duties to the Divine Being may be briefly described under the main
heads of Recognition, Obedience, and Worship.

(1) _Recognition_.--The acknowledgment of God rests upon knowledge.
Without some comprehension of what God is there can be no intelligent
allegiance to Him. We cannot, indeed, by logical reasoning demonstrate
the existence of the Deity any more than we can demonstrate our own
being. But He has not left Himself without a witness, and He speaks to
man with many voices. The material creation is the primary word of
God. The beauty, and still more the sublimity, of nature are a
revelation through {216} matter of something beyond itself, a message
of the spiritual, bearing 'authentic tidings of invisible things.' But
nature is symbolic. I