THE BEST POLICY. 159 



on this ground alone is to take tlje very lowest 

 possible view of our moral and religious obliga- 

 tions. Though the belief in the future retribution 

 is indeed j)resent, it is not the ehief or the only 

 nu)tive ; in the holiest characters it is tlie very 

 least of motives. To do riglit merely for tlie sake 

 of avoiding punishment or of obtaining reward, 

 though, of course, a great deal better than doing 

 wrong, is by no means the highest and truest mo- 

 rality. Far grander and nobler is the aim so 

 beautifully set forth by the greatest of living 

 English poets : — 



" To live by law, 

 Actlnj? the law we live by without fear, 

 And because right i.s ri^lit to follow right, 

 Were wisdom in the bforn of consequence." 



From the standpoint of the higher ethics, there- 

 fore, it is really a quite allowable question to ask 

 whether honesty is or is not actually the best pol- 

 icy. Even if it should turn out as the result of 

 our inquiry that it is not so, right-tloing would 

 thereby receive no detriment; for, whether a 

 thing is profitable or not has nothing at all to do, 

 in reality, with the ultimate question whether we 

 can lawfully j)ursue it or otherwise. Happily, 

 however, for the frailties of human nature, the 

 old proverb does really seem to enclose the genu- 

 ine kernel of a profound truth. There can be 

 very little doubt that, on the average, and iu the 



