ar
more inspiring than the most ardent reveries of imaginative men. The
knowledge that there is in the world an inflexible order, and that we
shall see what we shall see, and not what we would like to believe, is
infinitely refreshing and sustaining. I feel that I am journeying
onwards into what is unknown to me, but into something which is
inevitably there, and not to be altered by my own hopes and fancies.
It is like taking a voyage, the pleasure of which is that the sights
in store are unexpected and novel; for a voyage would be a very poor
thing if we knew exactly what lay ahead, and poorer still if we could
determine beforehand what we meant to see, and could only behold the
pictures of our own imaginations. That is the charm and the use of
experience, that it is not at all what we expect or hope. It is in
some ways sadder and darker; but it is in most ways far more rich and
wonderful and radiant than we had dreamed.

What I grow impatient of are the censures of rigid people, who desire
to limit the hopes and possibilities of others by the little foot-rule
which they have made for themselves. That is a very petty and even a
very wicked thing to do, that old persecuting instinct which says, "I
will make it as unpleasant for you as I can, if you will not consent
at all events to pretend to believe what I think it right to believe."
A man of science does not want to persecute a child who says
petulantly that he will not believe the law of gravity. He merely
smiles and goes on his way. The law of gravity can look after itself!
Persecution is as often as not an attempt to reassure oneself about
one's own beliefs; it is not a sign of an untroubled faith.

We must not allow ourselves to be shaken by any attempt to dictate to
us what we should believe. We need not always protest against it,
unless we feel it a duty to do so; we may simply regard another's
certainties as things which are not and cannot be proved. Argument on
such subjects is merely a waste of time; but at the same time we ought
to recognise the vitality which lies behind such tenacious beliefs,
and be glad that it is there, even if we think it to be mistaken.

And this brings me back to my first point, which is that it is good
for us to try to realise the hidden life of the world, and to rejoice
in it even though it has no truth for us. We must never disbelieve in
life, even though in sickness and sorrow and age it may seem to ebb
from us; and we must tr