e--our patriot or martyr, let Lee or Newton, {209} let whoever
is filled with the right spirit of loyalty--whoever, through the
light that he trims, intends to lighten and to unify so much of the
spiritual world as he can ever reach by his deed--let _such_ a loyal
being utter Griselda's word. Let him utter it as in the presence of
the master of life, who offers to all the loyal the divine grace of
finding themselves through their devotion to their cause. Let him
address this word

"As unto one that hears
A cry above the conquered years."

Let him utter this word as the summary and confession of his whole
life of loyalty. And then Griselda's word is no longer slavish. It is
full of the resolute courage, of the splendid contempt for mere
fortune, of the unconquerable spiritual self-assertion, yes, it is
full of the deathless will, which are of the very essence of loyalty,
and which, indeed, must overcome and, in the eternal realm, do
overcome the world.

Griselda's word was this:

"But certes, Lord, for none adversitie,
To dien in this case it shall not be
That I in herte and minde should aye repente,
That I you gave my soul with whole intente."

Whoever thus addresses his word, not to a human individual, but as
unto the master of life, and then. {210} sincerely and persistently
and lovingly, lives that word out in his life, has solved the
religious paradox. From out the lonely and darkened depths of his
personal finitude, from out the chaos of his social promptings and of
his worldly ambitions, amid all the storms of fortune, "midst of
hell's laughter and noises appalling," he has heard the voice of the
Spirit. He has heard, and--however unlearned--he has understood. His
own lamp is burning, and through his deed the eternal light shines in
the darkness of this world.

{211}

VI

THE RELIGIOUS MISSION OF SORROW

{212}

{213}

VI

THE RELIGIOUS MISSION OF SORROW

It very often happens to us that to reach any notable result, either
in life or in insight, is even thereby to introduce ourselves to a new
problem. In the present state of the undertaking of these lectures
such is our experience. The religious insight whose source is the
loyal spirit was our topic in the foregoing lecture. If my own view is
correct, this source is by far the most important that we have yet
considered. It unites the spirit and