28 THE WORKING FAITH OF 



sequences follow the assaults against it of which the 

 reformer had not dreamed. The forces of the past and 

 of the future, the good that was and the good that ought 

 to be, range themselves in opposition ; passion awakes, 

 and the reformer is caught up amongst powers which are 

 greater than he knew and which he cannot control. The 

 characteristic that marks him as a hero is that his courage 

 mounts with the call that is made upon him, and his ideas 

 widen as he moves. He dares more and more. But all 

 his daring is obedience to the demand of moving circum- 

 stance. There is nothing a priori in his procedure ; and 

 he brings to his task, not distant ideals, not fair Utopias, 

 but the intelligence to interpret what everyone sees, and 

 the heart to dare what many desire. His work for man- 

 kind is, in fact, due to the contact of times that are ripe 

 with a spirit that is great enough to understand and to 

 obey them ; and he himself is, in a sense, little more than 

 their instrument. 



It is not, however, from the fear of speculation that I 

 thus urge reverence for the past and loyalty to the existing 

 institutions of the state, but from distrust of the shallow, 

 abstract, mischievous thought that is not in touch with 

 facts. If the reformer plants his feet well upon actual 

 experience, devoting to the understanding of it a mind 

 trained to the severe, impersonal, disinterested methods of 

 science which alone can bring him to the facts, he can then 

 be as speculative as he pleases at least in this country. 

 For, of all the peoplejnjhejworld, the least likelyJiLsuffer 

 from excessive speculation in-social and political matters 

 is the English. Their tendency is to see no evil till they 

 stumble over it. Distrust of ideas is in their blood. 

 They are not an unheroic people, but their heroism is the 



