146 APHORISMS AND REFLECTIONS 



the " customs of matter ") is wholly just. The more 

 I know intimately of the lives of other men (to say 

 nothing of my own), the more obvious it is to me 

 that the wicked does not flourish nor is the righteous 

 punished. But for this to be clear we must bear in 

 mind what almost all forget, that the rewards of life 

 are contingent upon obedience to the -whole law 

 physical as well as moral and that moral obedience 

 will not atone for physical sin, or vice versa. 



The ledger of the Almighty is strictly kept, and 

 every one of us has the balance of his operations 

 paid over to him at the end of every minute of his 

 existence. 



Life cannot exist without a certain conformity to 

 the surrounding universe that conformity involves a 

 certain amount of happiness in excess of pain. In 

 short, as we live we are paid for living. 



It is to be recollected in view of the apparent dis- 

 crepancy between men's acts and their rewards that 

 Nature is juster than we. She takes into account 

 what a man brings with him into the world, which 

 human justice cannot do. If I, born a bloodthirsty 

 and savage brute, inheriting these qualities from 

 others, kill you, my fellow-men will very justly hang 

 me, but I shall not be visited with the horrible 

 remorse which would be my real punishment if, my 

 nature being higher, I had done the same thing. 



The absolute justice of the system of things is as 

 clear to me as any scientific fact. The gravitation of 



