CHARACTER AND CONDUCT 



F men's dictum that " the whole gist of ethics 

 is in the regulation of life from the stand- 

 point of eternity " be true, it would be idle 

 to ascribe any character to the beasts that 

 perish, since we dare not dogmatise as to 

 their mental position. 

 Yet, if it would go beyond our experience to yield them 

 such a standpoint, it would equally falsify our experience 

 not to admit that they show the outward and visible signs 

 of most inward and spiritual graces. 



It may be that the gentle beasts see, more clearly than 

 we do, the folly of attempting to dissociate one part of 

 Eternity from another by labelling it Time — since if 

 Eternity exists at all it must exist in this present. It may 

 be that they have a firmer grip than we have on the whole 

 mystery of Life and Death ; but if so, we know it not. 

 They are dumb, devoid, so far as we know, of creed or 

 questioning. 



But so (as far also as our knowledge goes) is many a 

 man from whose outward actions we unhesitatingly infer 

 inward motives ; although we know from experience that, 

 without some confession of faith by which to test the true 

 bearings of action, it is impossible to distinguish unconscious 



