great differences between
the normal moral state of the heathen and that of the Christian. The
Greek hoped for all things in this world and for nothing in the next;
the Christian, on the contrary, looks for a happiness to come hereafter,
while fundamentally denying the reality of any earthly joy whatsoever
in the present. Man, however, is so constituted as to find it almost
impossible to put faith in either bliss alone, without helping his
belief by borrowing some little refreshment from the hope of the other.
The wisest of the Greeks believed the soul to be immortal; the sternest
of Christians cannot forget that once or twice in his life he had been
contemptibly happy, and condemns himself for secretly wishing that he
might be as happy again before all is over. Faith is the evidence of
things unseen, but hope is the unreasoning belief that unseen things may
soon become evident. The definition of faith puts earthly disappointment
out of the question; that of hope introduces it into human affairs as a
constant and imminent probability.

The development of psychologic research in our day has proved beyond
a doubt that individuals of a certain disposition may be conscious of
events actually occurring, or which have recently occurred, at a great
distance; but it has not shown satisfactorily that things yet to happen
are foreshadowed by that restless condition of the sensibilities which
we call presentiment. We may, and perhaps must, admit that all that is
or has been produces a real and perceptible impression upon all else
that is. But there is as yet no good reason for believing that an
impression of what shall be can be conveyed by anticipation--without
reasoning--to the mind of man.

But though the realisation of a presentiment may be as doubtful as any
event depending upon chance alone, yet the immense influence which a
mere presentiment may exercise is too well known to be denied. The human
intelligence has a strong tendency to believe in its own reasonings,
of which, indeed, the results are often more accurate and reliable than
those reached by the physical perceptions alone. The problems which can
be correctly solved by inspection are few indeed compared with those
which fall within the province of logic. Man trusts to his reason, and
then often confounds the impressions produced by his passions with the
results gained by semi-conscious deduction. His love, his hate, his
anger create fears, and these supply him wit