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o£ heroism as of higlier value than any amount of material 

 prosperity, of intellectual progress, of artistic sensibility. The 

 personalities that have touched and will continue to touch the 

 universal heart to the end of time are the patriot dying on the 

 field of battle, or murdered by the political assassin, or 

 toiling for the relief of human suffering; the prophet and the 

 martyr giving their testimony to the sacred rights of con- 

 science ; ay, and thousands more of brave men and 

 single-hearted women, who in the path of duty cheerfully 

 face death in order to benefit others. Such acts as these 

 could hardly be conceived apart from the existence of Evil; 

 and may go for something in the educative value of suffering 

 in the history of the human race. 



13. If we take very much lower ground, we find that the 

 Pessimists are confuted by ordinary experience. They say 

 that life is so miserable that it is not worth having. But the 

 vast majority of mankind do not think so. They are quite 

 content to live. Indeed, they are very reluctant, as a rule, to 

 leave off living. Life is evidently desired for its own sake, 

 even where there is no high standard of religious faith, or 

 indeed no religion at all. The Esquimaux in their snowy 

 deserts, the savage African under the blazing sun of the 

 equator are all attached to life, where the motives for living 

 seem so much less powerful than in the case of cultivated 

 races. This love of life in itself is a fact, which the Pessimists 

 are bound to account for. As it is so universal, it must 

 spring from universal causes and may perhaps be partially 

 explained by (1) the strong instinct of self-preservation, which 

 makes itself felt by us all in momentary danger, (2) the satis- 

 faction and self-approbation arising from doing honest work, 

 (3) the pleasure of property, even in small things, (4) the 

 happiness of married Hfe and the sweet love of children, (5) 

 the hope of improving one^s condition. These ordinary 

 motives, apart from higher ones, are, probably, quite strong 

 enough to counteract in practice all the fine-spun theories of 

 the Pessimist. 



14. War. — Pessimists have said some hard things about 

 war. This opens up such a wide field of discussion that it is, 

 perhaps, presumptuous to treat it in a cursory manner. But 

 a few words may be said in answer to the wild exaggerations 

 current on this subject. We may ask how else can the 

 religious and political liberties of one state be defended against 

 the encroachments of another. European culture would have 

 perished in the bud, if the little band of small Greek states had 

 not combined together against the vast aggregate of the Persian 

 Empire. And in modern times the overwhelming supremacy. 



