," that the course of human
events is never wholly retrograde.

And, now, what is the truth about the "judgment to come"? What is the
ethical equivalent of "hell fire"? In the first place, we refuse to
believe in a "last judgment" because we know that judgment is not only
pronounced but executed instantaneously, automatically, I would say, on
the commission of wrong. There is no need to wait for the day of
judgment or even for the hour of death. If a man has done wrong he
sits condemned that self-same moment. _Illo nocens se damnat quo
peccat die_. There is no need of God, angel or devil, to announce the
fact or deliver judgment; the man has pronounced his own sentence,
executed judgment on himself. This is, in essence, the ethical
doctrine of compensation, that this universe is so woven, that the
nature of things is such that "things are what they are, that the
consequences of things will be what they will be," that we can no more
hope to avert them by crying out for help to man, saint or God, than we
can hope to hurl back the waves that dash upon the strand at flood
tide. Our view is that moral laws are as irresistible as physical, and
admit of no more dispensation than the everlasting order of Nature.
One of our main reasons for repudiating the conception of the
miraculous is that it involves a violation of eternal order and
therefore of eternal reason, and if freely admitted in the physical,
would doubtless be speedily introduced into the moral order, to the
destruction of civilised society. We believe that this universe is "so
magically woven" that it is absolutely impossible to escape the
consequences of our deeds, and if the Buddhist doctrine of Karma
represents that teaching, then we are among its most enthusiastic
adherents, because it is absolutely true to fact.

But let us look at the matter more closely.[1]

Have we ever sufficiently reflected how that "all things are double,
one against the other," in this mysteriously governed world, that
everything has its counterpart? the world appears to be split into
halves, which yet cleave to each other, as a man is haunted by his
shadow. "An inevitable dualism bisects Nature, so that each thing is
half, and suggests another thing to make it whole." Thus--spirit,
matter; man, woman; odd, even; subjective, objective; in, out; upper,
under; action, rest; yea, nay. "All things are double, one against the
other."

All the woes of existence arise from our