man exclaim, "Within me there
is more;" every law of morality, every intelligible mystery. There may
be many others, above us and below us; but if these are to remain for
ever unknown, they become for us as though they were not; and should
their existence one day be revealed to us; it can only be because they
already are in us, already are ours. "Within me there is more;" and we
are entitled to add, perhaps, "I have nothing to fear from that which
is in me."
This much at least is certain, that the one active, inhabited region of
the mystery of justice is to be found within ourselves. Other regions
lack consistency; they are probably imaginary, and must inevitably be
deserted and sterile. They may have furnished mankind with illusions
that served some purpose, but not always without doing harm; and though
we may scarcely be entitled to demand that all illusions should be
destroyed, they should at least not be too manifestly opposed to our
conception of the universe. To-day we seek in all things the illusion
of truth. It is not the last, perhaps, or the best, or the only one
possible; but it is the one which we at present regard as the most
honourable and the most necessary. Let us limit ourselves therefore to
recognising the admirable love of justice and truth that exists in the
heart of man. Proceeding thus, yielding admiration only where it is
incontestably due, we shall gradually acquire some knowledge of this
passion, which is the distinguishing note of man; and one thing, most
important of all, we shall most undoubtedly learn--the means whereby we
can purify it, and still further increase it. As we observe its
incessant activity in the depths of our heart, the only temple where it
can truly be active: as we watch it blending with all that we think,
and feel, and do, we shall quickly discover which are the things that
throw light upon it, and which those that plunge it in darkness; which
are the things that guide it, and which those that lead it astray; we
shall learn what nourishes it and what atrophies, what defends and what
attacks.
Is justice no more than the human instinct of preservation and defence?
Is it the purest product of our reason; or rather to be regarded as
composed of a number of those sentimental forces which so often are
right, though directly opposed to our reason--forces that in themselves
are a kind of unconscious, vaster reason, to which our conscious reason
invariably accords its
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