7. Every human being has not only the idea of right, but is himself capable of rectitude.

8. Right is not revealed to us as the glory of unapproachable beings, whom we must reverence at a hopeless distance; it is made known to us with the consciousness that rectitude is bound up with our own lives.

9. The faith born of ethics is that man can do the right. The imperative itself brings the power to meet it. There is no duty if I cannot per

THE NEW
FAITH

form it.

10. And as duty exists and charms and binds me, I know I can do it.

11. Men say we are born selfish, avaricious, lustful, and cannot be otherwise. We can be! And the first thing is to feel in our heart of hearts that we ought to be, and the iron weight of that obligation will transform us and give us its iron strength.

12. Thou sayest: "But I feel that this appetite is natural to me, and therefore the gratification of it can be no sin."

13. The inordinate, violent, unruly appetite is no otherwise natural to thee, than as a leprosy is to a leprous generation. And wilt thou love thy disease because it is natural ?

14. It is no otherwise natural than it is to be malicious or revengeful, and to disobey thy governors, and abuse thy neighbours and yet I think they will not judge thee innocent, for rebellion or abuse, because it is natural to thee.

15. Though the appetite be natural, is not reason to rule thee as natural to thee? And is not the subjection of the appetite to reason natural ?

16. If it be not, thou hast lost the nature of man, and art metamorphosed into the nature of a beast.

As natural beings in the strength of nature. 19. Mercy has a human heart,

Pity a human face,

And Love the human form divine,

And Peace the human dress.

20. Truth, and life-lightening Duty, Love, without crown or sword,

MORAL

POWER

That by his might and godhead makes man god and lord;

These have we, these are ours.

21. Thanks to the human heart by which we live.

THERE ARE
TURNING
POINTS

IN LIFE

CHAPTER XII

WE MUST BE BORN AGAIN

1. The epochs of our life are not in the visible facts of our choice of a calling, our marriage, our acquisition of an office, and the like, but in a silent thought by the wayside as we walk; 2. In a thought which revises our entire manner of life, and says: "Thus hast thou done, but it were better thus." And all our after-years like menials serve and wait on this and execute its will.

3. An event or a book, a living word or a stirring example, a sorrowful tale of the present or a radiant glimpse of the future-anything may be the instrument to bring about this momentous crisis.

4. To some it may come with a violent shock, throwing into convulsions the whole of their moral nature; in others, the heart's deepest springs will be opened, as by the touch of a friendly hand.

5. But all those who have pledged themselves for life and for death to any great cause whatsoever, must have passed through such a moment of moments, for no amount of accumulated impressions can take the place of this one vivifying touch.

6. How would a thief be reformed if he slowly reduced the number of his burglaries, or a wife-beater, by

gradually diminishing the number of his blows? "Let him that stole steal no more," is the only feasible, the only moral, and the only humane way.

7. One little weakness, we are apt to fancy, all men must be allowed, and we even claim a certain indulgence for that apparent necessity of nature which we call our besetting sin.

8. But if contact at this point be not broken off, we are virtually in contact still with the whole environment. 9. Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

CONVERSION

IS A NEW

10. Conversion does not alter, but only reveal, a man's spiritual obligations and position: it puts him into no divine kingdom, where he was not already.

INSIGHT

11. He stands in the same universe in which he stood before, only the scales have fallen from his eyes.

12. Those who are truly converted are kind-hearted, indulgent, praising the works of their neigh- THE FRUITS bour as far as they can, and they rejoice in

OF CONVERSION

his well-being, and have sympathy with him in his troubles.

13. They speak mildly, using soft words, and seek reconciliation with those who have done them wrong.

14. They are ever merciful, ready to assist without regard to their own advantage.

15. They maintain their love, enjoyment and cheerfulness under distress, poverty, and contempt.

16. They are decorous in the satisfying of their

natural wants, shunning all excess, and if they by accident transgress, avoiding it for the future.

17. They are careful to fill up their time with useful undertakings, rejoicing in spirit as they exercise themselves in good works.

HOW FALSE CONVERSION

18. The falsely converted are spiteful, and look with an evil eye on the usefulness or piety of others; they are ready to breed mischief with ITSELF a taunt, and are revengeful, sneering, and puffed up in their own conceits.

BETRAYS

19. They burn like a furnace with the desire of temporal things, and seek their own pleasure and ease when and how they may.

20. They want to have praise and reward for all that they do.

21. Those who are not truly converted deem all their works and services of great value, and it is not at all to their taste to be subject to others;

22. And they are fond of reproving others unnecessarily, and of discoursing on lofty matters, and boast themselves proudly of all that belongs to them, and yet cover all this under a specious show of piety and humility, that men may not take it amiss of them.

23. If any seem to put a slight upon them they are contentious, and defend and justify themselves to the utmost that they can.

24. They are arrogant and ambitious, and unyielding in their hardness of spirit. These are all still in the hands of the enemy, yea, did they wear the Pope's tiara.