THE SPIRIT OF LIFE 175 



" ideals." We idealize self-sacrifice not selfish- 

 ness, industry not lust, kindness not cruelty, 

 liberty not habit. We speak, it is true, of " artis- 

 tic ideals " ; but these are, in fact, hardly com- 

 parable with the ideals which have led human 

 society up the path of progress. We may reflect 

 upon the thought that these impulses are endorsed 

 very markedly by Christian doctrine may, in- 

 deed, be described as fundamental principles of 

 unsophisticated Christianity. There is not a 

 point in our contrast between Life and Matter 

 but is authoritatively endorsed by texts of 

 Scripture. To "do unto others as we would that 

 they should do unto us " is an ideal expression of 

 the social instinct. Upon the impulse to foresee 

 is grafted man's hope of immortality and of 

 the ultimate redress of this world's injustice ; 

 and, if no encouragement is given to the amassing 

 of wealth, industry is not dishonoured : laborare 

 est or are is a maxim of the Church. The heart of 

 Christ was aglow with kindness for all men, and 

 during the cruellest ages of Christendom some 

 reflections of this glow were caught by those who 

 turned their faces towards Him : ideas of kindness 

 inspired St. Paul with one of his sublimest ex- 

 hortations : unless they were instinct with kind- 

 ness, his zeal and eloquence, he confessed, were 

 " as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal." And, 

 whatever be the opinion of modern divines, self- 

 restraint, hardening into actual asceticism, has 

 undoubtedly been sanctified by the example of 

 Christ and the teaching of His apostles. In the 

 character of our Lord the impulses of Life 

 irradiate humanity with supernatural lustre. His 

 face was set against the morality of habit, turned 

 towards the spontaneous flowerings of the conscious 

 will. He was vehemently opposed to the ordered 

 sanctimony of convinced self -righteousness, strong 



