230 The Ideal State 



less of self and more of others — the final completion 

 of this spirit being the thought of self-sacrifice and 

 pleasure therein when directed towards the help and 

 the welfare of others. This is the Ideal, which the 

 Eternal has ordained for men. " The growth of the 

 public conscience ? " How do we explain the appear- 

 ance of such a phenomenon, for it is so just as much 

 as the law of gravitation ? We can only reiterate 

 the lesson of history, that it is due to the operation 

 in men's minds of the altruism, the sweet reasonable- 

 ness, the love and self-sacrifice inculcated by the 

 Founder of our religion, distilling its influence in the 

 hearts of men, and establishing a public conscience 

 which becomes more potent from day to day in 

 ameliorating the evils and abuses of commerce and in- 

 dustry in so far as the conditions of the workers are 

 concerned. But what we want now is public acknow- 

 ledgment, from the Labour party and all organisations 

 desiring to secure social betterment, of this influence, 

 and expression of gratitude to the Teacher of this 

 ethical principle, who has made such things possible. 

 The world is every day becoming " more and more 

 religious," but it is time the Labourists recognised the 

 necessity of proclaiming their submission to the 

 Eternal, to the law of righteousness, in the spirit of 

 Him who inculcated love to all men, rich and poor 

 alike. There must be no desire of revenge ; indigna- 

 tion there may be at the many injustices of the past, 

 but no gratification of the passion of hate ; the social 

 betterment will be much more rapid if it is pursued in 

 the spirit of love to all men irrespective of class. The 

 display of such a spirit will hasten the movement more 

 than any other method. 



And this acknowledgment of the power of religion 

 is all the more necessary now that the enemies of 

 social evolution have pursued an active propaganda. 



