pposes; its object is victory, not insight; and it
thus fails in that modified mercy to men which springs from an interior
knowledge of their characters. Even when it is the undaunted force
through which moral wrath expresses its hatred of injustice and wrong,
its want of imaginative perception makes it somewhat caricature the
sinners it inveighs against. It converts imperfect or immoral men into
perfect demons, which humanity as well as reason refuses to accept; and
it is therefore not surprising that the prayer of its indignant morality
sometimes is, "Almighty God, condemn them, for they _know_ what they
do!" But we cannot forget that there sounds down the ages, from the
saddest and most triumphant of all martyrdoms, a different and a diviner
prayer,--"Father, forgive them, for they know _not_ what they do!"

Indeed, however much we may be struck with the startling immediateness
of effect which follows the exercise of practical force, we must not
forget the immense agency in human affairs of the ideal powers of the
soul. These work creatively from within to mould character, not only
inflaming great passions, but touching the springs of pity, tenderness,
gentleness, and love,--above all, infusing that wide-reaching sympathy
which sends the individual out of the grit-guarded fortress of his
personality into the wide plain of the race. The culmination of these
ideal powers is in genius and heroism, which draw their inspiration from
ideal and spiritual sources, and radiate it in thoughts beautifully
large and deeds beautifully brave. They do not merely exert power, they
communicate it. If you are overcome by a man of grit, he insolently
makes you conscious of your own weakness. If you are overcome by genius
and heroism, you are made participants in their strength; for they
overcome only to invigorate and uplift. They sweep on their gathering
disciples to the object they have in view, by making it an object of
affection as well as duty. Their power to allure and to attract is not
lost even when their goal is the stake or the cross. They never, in
transient ignominy and pain, lose sight and feeling of the beauty and
bliss inseparably associated with goodness and virtue; and the happiest
death-beds have often been on the rack or in the flame of the
hero-martyr. And they are also, in their results, great practical
influences; for they break down the walls which separate man from
man,--by magnanimous thought or magnanimous act