THE TRIUMPH OF THE BEST. 85 



"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of 

 heaven." 



We must be on our guard against unfeelingsternne.ss, 

 yet on the other hand let us not drop into the other ex- 

 treme. We must be on our guard against ethical senti- 

 mentality also. There is too much preaching about the 

 sweetness of religion and the rapturous delight of ethics. 

 Yet this saccharine religiosity is just as impotent and use- 

 less as that ovine morality which glorifies in its weakness 

 and does not struggle for strength. 



Austere rigidity in religion and ethics is like a rose 

 without odor, it is life without gladness, and obedience 

 without loving devotion. The passivity of a lamb-like 

 submission is idealized weakness fortified and strength- 

 ened by moral vanity and sugared over with sentimental 

 enthusiasm. 



Religion and ethics, we do not deny, are full of sweet- 

 ness and noble joys, yet at the same time they are stern; 

 they are of an unrelenting severity and majesty. It is 

 only the unison of both, the strength of austerity and the 

 fervor of sentiment, that makes morality wholesome, 

 sound, and healthy. 



The moral law is a natural law, it may be contrasted 

 to, but does not stand in contradiction with, the other 

 natural laws of a lower order. The deeper we investigate 

 the more we shall be convinced that benefits acquired by 

 injustice will prove to be injurious in the end : very often 

 they are even the beginning of the ruin. Truth and jus- 

 tice are the most powerful weapons in the struggle for 

 existence. Truth and justice will always conquer in the 

 end. It often takes more time than the life of a single 

 individual to see the triumph of truth ; but we can be sure, 

 even if the defenders of truth and justice die, if they suc- 

 cumb to their immoral enemies, that truth and justice will 

 survive. 



It is the belief in truth and justice which lies at the 



