THE HARMONY OF VIRTUE

4 The Harmony of VirtueKeshav: And they are many who dissent from you, are theynot?Wilson: Oh without doubt.Keshav: And you would impose your ethical scheme on them?Wilson: No; but I imagine it to be the goal whither all humanityis tending.Keshav: That is a very different question. Do you think thatwhen a man's life is in harmony with his own creed, but notwith yours, he is therefore not virtuous, or in your own phrase,deviates from his duty?Wilson: God forbid!Keshav: Then you really do believe that a man does his dutywhen he lives in harmony with the ethical scheme patronised byhis own religion, as a Mohammadan if he follows the injunctionsof the Prophet, a Hindu if he obeys the Vedic Scriptures, aChristian if his life is a long self-denial.Wilson: That I admit.Keshav: Then the ethical scheme of Islam is as much thevery law of God, as the ethical scheme of Christianity, and themorals of Hinduism are not less divine than the morals of Islam.Wilson: I hardly understand how you arrive at that conclusion.Keshav: Did you not say, Broome, that religion is an infallibletest of duty, because it is the very law of God?Wilson: I still say so.Keshav: And that everyone must adopt his own religion asthe test of what he should do or not do.Wilson: I cannot deny it.Keshav: Then must you not either admit the reason to beinvalid, or that any one's peculiar religion, whatever species itmay belong to, is the very law of God.Wilson: I prefer the second branch of the dilemma.Keshav: But though every religion is the very law of God,nevertheless you will often find one enjoining a practice whichto another is an abomination. And can God contradict himself?Wilson: You mistake the point. Islam, Hinduism, indeed allscriptural religions were given because the people professing