he fleshly
wrappings of the soul hide it, at the same time that they make it
visible.

And if there are physical limits to friendship, there are greater
mental limits. The needs of living press on us, and drive us into
different currents of action. Our varied experience colors all our
thought, and gives a special bias to our mind. There is a personal
equation which must always be taken into account. This is the charm of
intercourse, but it is also a limitation. We do not travel over the
same ground; we meet, but we also part. However great the sympathy, it
is not possible completely to enter into another man's mind, and look
at a subject with his eyes. Much of our impatience with each other,
and most of our misunderstandings, are caused by this natural
limitation. The lines along which our minds travel can at the best be
asymptotic, approaching each other indefinitely near, but never quite
coinciding.

The greatest limit of friendship, of which these other are but
indications, is the spiritual fact of the separate personality of each
human being. This is seen most absolutely in the sphere of morals.
The ultimate standard for a man is his own individual conscience, and
neither the constraint of affection, nor the authority of numbers, can
atone for falseness there. One of the most forceful illustrations of
this final position of all religion is to be found, in the passage of
terrific intensity from the Book of Deuteronomy, which we have
transcribed as a preface to this chapter. The form of the passage of
course gets its coloring from the needs of the time and the temper of
the age. The Book of Deuteronomy is so sure that the law of God is
necessary for the life of Israel, and that departure from it will mean
national ruin, that it will shrink from nothing needed to preserve the
truth. Its warnings against being led away to idolatry are very
instant and solemn. Every precaution must be taken; nothing must be
allowed to seduce them from their allegiance, not the most sacred ties,
nor the most solemn authority. No measure of repression can be too
stern. In that fierce time it was natural that apostasy should be
thought worthy of death; for apostasy from religion meant also treason
to the nation: much more those who used their influence to seduce men
to apostasy were to be condemned. The passage is introduced by the
assertion that if even a prophet, a recognized servant of God,
attesting his prophecy with