Hardy's Spirit of the Years, he is the mere affirmation of things as they
are:

"I view, not urge; nor more than mark
What designate your titles Good and Ill.
'Tis not in me to feel with, or against,
These flesh-hinged mannikins Its hand upwinds
{248}
To click-clack off Its preadjusted laws;
But only through my centuries to behold
Their aspects, and their movements, and their mould." [17]

Morally, there could be no more sinister interpretation of life. It
offers itself as a philosophy of hope, promising the lover of good that
his purpose shall be fulfilled, nay, that it is fulfilled from all
eternity. But when the pledge is redeemed, it is found to stipulate that
the good shall mean only life as it is already possessed. In other
words, man is promised what he wants if he will agree to want what he
has. This is worse than a sorry jest. It is a philosophy of moral
dissolution, discrediting every downright judgment of good and evil,
removing the grounds upon which is based every single-minded endeavor to
purify and consummate life. John Davidson says: "Irony integrates good
and evil, the constituents of the universe. It is that
Beyond-Good-and-Evil which somebody clamoured for." [18] Irony is indeed
the last refuge of that uncompromising optimism that equates goodness and
being.

VI

But the bankruptcy of metaphysical idealism does not end the matter.
There is another idealism in which religious faith both confirms moral
endeavor and gives it the incentive of hope. This {249} idealism
establishes itself upon an unequivocal acceptance of moral truth. It
calls good good and evil evil, with all the finality which attaches to
the human experience of these things, leaving no room for compromise.
Its faith lies in the expectation that the world shall become good
through the elimination of evil; it manifests itself in the resolution to
hasten that time. God is loved for the enemies he has made. Evil is
hated without reservation as none of his doing, and man is free to
reverence the Lord his God with all his heart.

From the stand-point of _moral idealism_ the universe resumes something
of its pristine ruggedness and grandeur. If, as James says, "the world
appears as something more epic than dramatic," the dignity of life is
enhanced and not diminished on that account.[19] Life is not a spiritual
exercise the results of which are discounted in advance; but is actually
creative, fashi