material world all things are reciprocally whatever they can be to themselves, as well as very sincere. According to our ideas, things are all that they possibly can be towards one another, but man is not. He seems rather to be something that he ought not to be. The art of self-concealment—our dislike of letting ourselves be seen naked, both intellectually and morally—is carried to extraordinary lengths.
What with their preparations for the Heaven that is to come, a good many people seem to me to overlook those which they should make for the earth. I should have thought that man would have acted most wisely in leaving the former concerns severely alone. For if we have been placed in this spot by some wise Being—a truth not to be doubted—why, then, I say, let us do the best we can in that station, and not let ourselves be blinded by revelations. What is necessary for man’s happiness to know, he certainly knows without any further revelations than those which he has by Nature.
One of the arts which man finds most difficult to master is that of taking courage. Those who lack courage find it most readily under the powerful protection of one who, possessing it, is able to come to our help when all else fails. Since there is so much misery in the world, and no human creature can lend the weak sufficient strength to meet it with courage, religion is an excellent thing. This is at bottom the art of procuring courage and
