intercourse; that in him meet all that they can imagine
of goodness, truth, and beauty; that they can see his footprints
everywhere in nature, and feel his presence within them as the very
life of their life, so that in proportion as they come to themselves
they come to him. They tell us what separates us from him and from
happiness is, first, self-seeking in all its forms; and secondly,
sensuality in all its forms; that these are the ways of darkness and
death, which hide from us the face of God; while the path of the just
is like a shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect
day."

They are these:--

1. A feeling of being in a wider life than that of this world's
selfish little interests; and a conviction, not merely intellectual,
but as it were sensible, of the existence of an Ideal Power. In
Christian saintliness this power is always personified as God; but
abstract moral ideals, civic or patriotic utopias, or inner versions of
holiness or right may also be felt as the true lords and enlargers of
our life, in ways which I described in the lecture on the Reality of
the Unseen.[154]

[154] The "enthusiasm of humanity" may lead to a life which coalesces
in many respects with that of Christian saintliness. Take the
following rules proposed to members of the Union pour l'Action morale,
in the Bulletin de l'Union, April 1-15, 1894. See, also, Revue Bleue,
August 13, 1892.

"We would make known in our own persons the usefulness of rule, of
discipline, of resignation and renunciation; we would teach the
necessary perpetuity of suffering, and explain the creative part which
it plays. We would wage war upon false optimism; on the base hope of
happiness coming to us ready made; on the notion of a salvation by
knowledge alone, or by material civilization alone, vain symbol as this
is of civilization, precarious external arrangement ill-fitted to
replace the intimate union and consent of souls. We would wage war
also on bad morals, whether in public or in private life; on luxury,
fastidiousness, and over-refinement, on all that tends to increase the
painful, immoral, and anti-social multiplications of our wants; on all
that excites envy and dislike in the soul of the common people, and
confirms the notion that the chief end of life is freedom to enjoy. We
would preach by our example the respect of superiors and equals, the
respect of all men; affectionate simplicity in our relations with
inferi