ure to
reward; and second, abomination of all contrary religious tenets and
practices--of asceticism, for instance, because it denies the will; of
idolatry and myth, because they render divinity concrete rather than
relative to inner cravings and essentially responsive; finally of
tradition and institutional authority, because these likewise jeopardise
the soul's experimental development as, in profound isolation, she
wrestles with reality and with her own inspiration.

[Sidenote: and of courage.]

In thus meeting the world the soul without experience shows a fine
courage proportionate to its own vigour. We may well imagine that lions
and porpoises have a more masculine assurance that God is on their side
than ever visits the breast of antelope or jelly-fish. This assurance,
when put to the test in adventurous living, becomes in a strong and
high-bred creature a refusal to be defeated, a gallant determination to
hold the last ditch and hope for the best in spite of appearances. It is
a part of Protestantism to be austere, energetic, unwearied in some
laborious task. The end and profit are not so much regarded as the mere
habit of self-control and practical devotion and steadiness. The point
is to accomplish something, no matter particularly what; so that
Protestants show on this ground some respect even for an artist when he
has once achieved success. A certain experience of ill fortune is only a
stimulus to this fidelity. So great is the antecedent trust in the world
that the world, as it appears at first blush, may be confidently defied.

[Sidenote: but the voice of inexperience.]

Hence, in spite of a theoretic optimism, disapproval and proscription
play a large part in Protestant sentiment. The zeal for righteousness,
the practical expectation that all shall be well, cannot tolerate
recognised evils. Evils must be abolished or at least hidden; they must
not offend the face of day and give the lie to universal sanctimony.
This austerity and repression, though they involve occasional hypocrisy,
lead also to substantial moral reconstruction. Protestantism, springing
from a pure heart, purifies convention and is a tonic to any society in
which it prominently exists. It has the secret of that honest simplicity
which belongs to unspoiled youth, that keen integrity native to the
ungalled spirit as yet unconscious of any duplicity in itself or of any
inward reason why it should fail. The only evils it recognises seem so