ix THE DOCTRINE OF IMMORTALITY 207 



well as for good; and it appears utterly irrecon- 

 cilable with our notions of justice that he should 

 punish another for that which he has, in fact, done 

 himself. Moreover, just punishment bears a 

 proportion to the offence, while suffering which is 

 infinite is ipso facto disproportionate to any finite 

 deed. 



" Why then eternal punishment for the temporary 

 offences of so frail a creature as man ? Can any one ap- 

 prove of Alexander's rage, who intended to exterminate a 

 whole nation because they had seized his favourite horse 

 Bucephalus ? 



" Heaven and hell suppose two distinct species of men, 

 the good and the bad; but the greatest part of mankind 

 float betwixt vice and virtue. Were one to go round the 

 world with the intention of giving a good supper to the 

 righteous and a sound drubbing to the wicked, he would 

 frequently be embarrassed in his choice, and would find 

 the merits and demerits of most men and women scarcely 

 amount to the value of either." * 



One can but admire the broad humanity and 

 the insight into the springs of action manifest in 

 this passage. Comprendre est a moitie pardonner. 



* " So reason also shows, that for man to expect to earn 

 for himself by the practice of virtue, and claim, as his 

 just right, an immortality of exalted happiness, is a most 

 extravagant and groundless pretension." Whately, 1. c. p. 

 101. On the other hand, however, the Archbishop sees no 

 unreasonableness in a man's earning for himself an immor- 

 tality of intense unhappiness by the practice of vice. So 

 that life is, naturally, a venture in which you may lose all, 

 but can earn nothing. It may be thought somewhat hard 

 upon mankind if they are pushed into a speculation of this 

 sort, willy-nilly. 



