that virtue stands in need of the approval of destiny or of worlds, has not yet within him the veritable sense of virtue.  Truly to act well we must do good because of our craving for good, a more intimate knowledge of goodness being all we expect in return.  “With no witness save his heart alone,” said St. Just.  In the eyes of a God there must surely be marked distinction between the soul of the man who believes that the rays of a virtuous deed shall shine through furthest space, and the soul of the other who knows they illumine his heart alone.  There may be greater momentary strength in the overambitious truth, but the strength that is brought by the humble human truth is far more earnest and patient.  Is it wiser to be as the soldier who imagines that each blow he strikes brings victory nearer, or as the other who knows his little account in the combat but still fights sturdily on?  The upright man would scorn to deceive his neighbour, but is ever unduly inclined to regard some measure of self-deception as inseparable from his ideal.

If there were profit in virtue, then would the noblest of men be compelled to seek happiness elsewhere; and God would destroy their main object in life were He to reward them often.  Nothing is indispensable, perhaps, or even necessary; and it may be that if the joy of doing good for sake of good were taken from the soul, it would find other, purer joys; but in the meantime, it is the most beautiful joy we know, therefore let us respect it.  Let us not resent the misfortunes that sometimes befall virtue, lest we at the same time disturb the limpid essence of its happiness.  The soul that has this happiness dreams no more of reward, than others expect punishment because of their wickedness.  They only are ever clamouring for justice who know it not in their lives.

74.  There is wisdom in the Hindu saying:  “Work as they work, who are ambitious.  Respect life, as they respect it who desire it.  Be happy, as they are happy who live for happiness alone.”

And this is indeed the central point of human wisdom—­to act as though each deed must bear wondrous, everlasting, fruit, and yet to realise the insignificance of a just action before the universe; to grasp the disproportion of things, and yet to march onwards as though the proportions were established by man; to keep our eyes fixed on the great sphere, and ourselves to move in the little sphere with as much confidence and earnestness, with as much assurance and satisfaction, as though the great sphere were contained within it.

Is there need of illusion to keep alive our desire for good? then must this desire stand confessed as foreign to the nature of man.  It is a mistake to imagine that the heart will long cherish within it the ideas that reason has banished; but within the heart there is much that reason may take to itself.  And at last the heart becomes the refuge to which reason is apt to fly, ever more and more simply, each