At our last meeting, we considered the healthy-minded temperament, the temperament which hasconstitutional incapacity for prolonged suffering, and in which the tendency to see thingso(a) ptimistically is like a water of crystallization in which the individual's character is set. We sawhow this temperament may become the basis for a peculiar type of religion, a religion in whichgood, even the good of this world's life, is regarded as the essential thing for a rational being toattend to. This religion directs him to settle his scores with the more evil aspects of the universe bysystematically declining to lay them to heart or make much of them, by ignoring them in hisreflective calculations, or even, on occasion, by denying outright that they exist. Evil is a disease;and worry over disease is itself an additional form of disease, which only adds to the originalcomplaint. Even repentance and remorse, affections which come in the character of ministers ofgood, may be but sickly and relaxing impulses. The best repentance is to up and act forrighteousness, and forget that you ever had relations with sin.

Spinoza's philosophy has this sort of healthy-mindedness woven into the heart of it, and this hasbeen one secret of its fascination. He whom Reason leads, according to Spinoza, is led altogetherby the influence over his mind of good. Knowledge of evil is an "inadequate" knowledge, fit onlyfor slavish minds. So Spinoza categorically condemns repentance. When men make mistakes, hesays-"One might perhaps expect gnawings of conscience and repentance to help to bring them on theright path, and might thereupon conclude (as every one does conclude) that these affections aregood things. Yet when we look at the matter closely, we shall find that not only are they not good,but on the contrary deleterious and evil passions. For it is manifest that we can always get alongbetter by reason and love of truth than by worry of conscience and remorse. Harmful are these andevil, inasmuch as they form a particular kind of sadness; and the disadvantages of sadness," hecontinues, "I have already proved, and shown that we should strive to keep it from our life with her,he wouldsanctioneverything at oncehe answered. . Just sowe should endeavor, since uneasiness of conscience and remorse are of this kind of complexion, toflee and shun these states of mind."[66]

[66] Tract on God, Man, and Happiness, Book ii. ch. x.

Within the Christian body, for which repentance of sins has from the beginning been the criticalreligious act, healthy-mindedness has always come forward with its milder interpretation.

Repentance according to such healthy-minded Christians means GETTING AWAY FROM thesin, not groaning and writhing over its commission. The Catholic practice of confession andabsolution is in one of its aspects little more than a systematic method of keeping healthymindednesson top. By it a man's accounts with evil are periodically squared and audited, so thathe may start the clean page with no old debts inscribed. Any Catholic will tell us how clean andfresh and free he feels after the purging operation. Martin Luther by no means belonged to thehealthy-minded type in the radical sense in which we have discussed it, and he repudiated priestlyabsolution for sin. Yet in this matter of repentance he had some very healthy-minded ideas, due inthe main to the largeness of his conception of God.

"When I was a monk," he says "I thought that I was utterly cast away, if at any time I felt the lustof the flesh: that is to say, if I felt any evil motion, fleshly lust, wrath, hatred, or envy against anybrother. I assayed many ways to help to quiet my conscience, but It would not be; for theconcupiscence and lust of my flesh did always return, so that I could not rest, but was continuallyvexed with these thoughts: This or that sin thou hast committed: thou art infected with envy, withimpatiency, and such other sins: therefore thou art entered into this holy order in vain, . But if then I had rightly understood these sentences of Paul: 'Theflesh lusteth contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit contrary to the flesh; and these two are oneagainst another, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would do,' I should not have so miserablytormented myself, but should have thought and said to myself, as now commonly I do, 'Martin,thou shalt not utterly be without sin, for thou hast flesh; thou shalt therefore feel the battle thereof.'

I remember that Staupitz was wont to say, 'I have vowed unto God above a thousand times that Iwould become a better man: but I never performed that which I vowed. Hereafter I will make nosuch vow: for I have now learned by experience that I am not able to perform it. Unless, therefore,God be favorable and merciful unto me for Christ's sake, I shall not be able, with all my vows andall my good deeds, to stand before him.' This (of Staupitz's) was not only a true, but also a godlyand a holy desperation; and this must they all confess, both with mouth and heart, who will besaved. For the godly trust not to their own righteousness. They look unto Christ their reconcilerwho gave his life for their sins. Moreover, they know that the remnant of sin which is in their fleshis not laid to their charge, but freely pardoned. Notwithstanding, in the mean while they fight inspirit against the flesh, lest they should FULFILL the lusts thereof; and although they feel the fleshto rage and rebel, and themselves also do fall sometimes into sin through infirmity, yet are they notdiscouraged, nor think therefore that their state and kind of life, and the works which are doneaccording to their calling, displease God; but they raise up themselves by faith."[67]

[67] Commentary on Galatians, Philadelphia, 1891, pp. 510-514 (abridged)
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