s this capable of explaining or
accounting for all that seems so inexplicable to us in the morality of
the universe, that we at times feel almost compelled to believe an
intelligent Judge must exist? When we deceive or overcome our
neighbour, have we deceived or overcome all the forces of justice? Are
all things definitely settled then, and may we go boldly on: or is
there a graver, deeper justice, one less visible perhaps, but less
subject to error; one that is more universal, and mightier?

That such a justice exists we all of us know, for we all have felt its
irresistible power. We are well aware that it covers the whole of our
life, and that at its centre there reigns an intelligence which never
deceives itself, which none can deceive. But where shall we place it,
now that we have torn it down from the skies? Where does it weigh good
and evil, happiness and disaster? Whence does it issue to deal out
reward and punishment? These are questions that we do not often ask
ourselves, but they have their importance. The nature of justice, and
all our morality, depend on the answer; and it cannot be fruitless
therefore to inquire how that great idea of mystic and sovereign
justice, which has undergone more than one transformation since history
began, is being received to-day in the mind and the heart of man. And
is this mystery not the loftiest, the most passionately interesting, of
all that remain to us: does it not intertwine with most of the others?
Do its vacillations not stir us to the very depths of our soul? The
great bulk of mankind perhaps know nothing of these vacillations and
changes, but for the evolution of thought it suffices that the eyes of
the few should see; and when the clear consciousness of these has
become aware of the transformation, its influence will gradually attain
the general morality of men.

2

In these pages we shall naturally have much to say of social justice:
of the justice, in other words, that we mutually extend to each other
through life; but we shall leave on one side legal or positive justice,
which is merely the organisation of one side of social justice. We
shall occupy ourselves above all with that vague but inevitable
justice, intangible and yet so effective, which accompanies and sets
its seal upon every action of our life; which approves or disapproves,
rewards or punishes. Does this come from without? Does an inflexible,
undeceivable moral principle exist, indep