one another in
a moment as we will." We may before long have reduced the crossing of
the Atlantic from five days to one, or even less; but in that
direction, too, there is a limit to progress; no invention will enable
us to arrive before we start. The conquest of physical disease seems
to be well within view; the possibilities of intensive cultivation and
selective breeding in plants and animals are likely to be rapidly
developed. When such material problems cease to exercise the first
fascination upon the enquiring mind, the mental sciences, psychology
and sociology, with the great neglected art of education, may come
into their kingdom. Then the atheism which avers that the world stands
still, or moves only in a circle, will no longer be possible. Then all
reasonable men will feel themselves soldiers in "a mighty army which
has won splendid victories (though here and there chequered with
defeats) on its march out of the dim and tragic past, and is clearly
destined to far greater triumphs in the future, if only each man does,
with unflinching loyalty, the duty assigned to him." That loyalty will
then be the conscious and acknowledged rule of life, as it is now in
an instinctive and half-realized fashion. It will help us, more than
all the personifications in the world, to "turn away from self." It
will not take the sting from death, but it will enable us to feel that
we have earned our rest, and brought no disgrace upon the colors of
our regiment.

Is it necessary to protest once more that this assurance of progress
towards the good is not to be confounded with optimism? For it is
clear that "good" is a question-begging word. The only possible
definition of "good" is "that which makes for life"--for life, not
only measured by quantity, but by quality and intensity--"that ye may
have life more abundantly." Why is egoism evil? Because a world in
which it reigned supreme would very soon come to an end, or at any
rate could not support anything like the abundance of life which is
rendered possible by mutual aid and co-operation. Why are order,
justice, courage, humanity good? Because they enable more people to
lead fuller lives than would be possible in the absence of such
guiding principles. But in all this we assume the validity of the
standard--"life"--which is precisely what pessimism denies. And
pessimism may quite conceivably be in the right on't. It is quite
conceivable that, having made the best that can possibly