pedantic micrologist who wastes his time on the minutiae of
conduct. But where custom relates to things not indifferent, where
a principle is involved, there is no detail of conduct so minute as
not to challenge the most vigorous protest, the utmost assertion of
independence. The ethically-minded man is one who endeavors to
shake off the yoke of custom, wherever it interferes with the
affirmation of the great principles of life; who disdains to follow
the multitude in doing not only what is palpably wrong, but what is
morally unfine. He seeks to be a free man, an independent being,
and to assert without acrimony or invidious criticism of others, yet
firmly and unflinchingly, a strong and self-poised manhood. This,
then, is one consequence that flows from our point of view:
namely, that in the moral sphere the small occasions are to be
treated as if they were grand occasions. As the poet puts it,
"Rightly to be great is not to stir without great argument, but
greatly to find quarrel in a straw when honor is at stake," or, as we
should put it, greatly to find quarrel in the straws of life when
principle is at stake.

And the second consequence is the obverse of this: To treat what
seem to be great occasions because of their outward results, as if
they were small. Is it a fortune that smiles upon you, that you can
win by suppressing a moral scruple, by transgressing the eternal
law? Put it aside as a thing not worth a second glance, if the price
exacted be the loss of self-respect, if the bargain to which you
must subscribe be the betrayal of principle. Is it life itself that is at
stake; the dear life to which we cling so fondly? Yes, life is
precious in its nobler uses; but life itself shall not be esteemed as
great in the hour in which we must choose between it and fidelity
to principle. And that it is really possible to take this high attitude
the example of the world's great martyrs shows.

********************************

The leading thoughts I have endeavored to state in these addresses
are the following: Spirituality is morality carried out to the finish.
It depends on always keeping the ultimate end of existence in
view, and on not resting in the partial ends. Intervals set aside for
self-recollection and the facing of the thought of death are useful
aids. The ultimate end itself is to elicit worth in others, and, by
so doing, in one's self. The indispensable condition of this attitude
is to ascribe worth to