THE INFOLUTIONARY ASCENT 103 



advancement does not originate) either in adminis- 

 tration or thought. Whoever has known any such 

 men will accept the statement, which they themselves 

 constantly make, that no ambition, however lofty, 

 would be sufficient to carry them through the unex- 

 citing toil, the constant disappointments, the ever 

 present uncertainty of result, which are involved in 

 the intellectual organisation of a modern commu- 

 nity." 4 



Although material conditions, habits and senti- 

 ments are necessary to the welding of a people, they 

 do not suffice to give rise to the new life. That has 

 its inception alone in the spiritual bond of common 

 ideals. Only thus is the individual born again. 

 " America is not the government," says Mary Antin ; 

 " it is a spiritual state. America is a matter of the 

 inner man." Need we fear that personal worth and 

 aspiration are lost to the involute when thus essen- 

 tial even to its inauguration ? 5 



* GRAHAM WALLAS: The Great Society, p. 146. 



5 The old order changeth, yielding place to new, 

 And God fulfils himself in many ways, 

 Lest one good custom should corrupt the world. 



TENNYSON. 



