and finite.  Though we consider the preceding generations as means of developing the last and perfected, still we cannot escape the inquiry of earnest Reason:  “Wherefore then these last?” Given a human race on the earth, its existence must indeed be in accordance with Reason, and not contrary to it.  It must become all that it can become on earth.  But why should it exist at all—­this human race?  Why might it not as well have remained in the womb of the Nothing?  Reason is not for the sake of existence, but existence for the sake of Reason.  An existence which does not, in itself, satisfy Reason and solve all her questions, cannot possibly be the true one.

Then, too, are the actions commanded by the voice of Conscience, whose dictates I must not speculate about, but obey in silence—­are they actually the means, and the only means, of accomplishing the earthly aim of mankind?  That I cannot refer them to any other object but this, that I can have no other intent with them, is unquestionable.  But is this, my intent, fulfilled in every case?  Is nothing more needed but to will the best, in order that it may be accomplished?  Alas! most of our good purposes are, for this world, entirely lost, and some of them seem even to have an entirely opposite effect to that which was proposed.  On the other hand, the most despicable passions of men, their vices and their misdeeds, seem often to bring about the good more surely than the labors of the just man, who never consents to do evil that good may come.  It would seem that the highest good of the world grows and thrives quite independently of all human virtues or vices, according to laws of its own, by some invisible and unknown power, just as the heavenly bodies run through their appointed course, independently of all human effort; and that this power absorbs into its own higher plan all human designs, whether good or ill, and, by its superior strength, appropriates what was intended for other purposes to its own ends.

If, therefore, the attainment of that earthly goal could be the design of our existence, and if no further question concerning it remained to Reason, that aim, at least, would not be ours, but the aim of that unknown Power.  We know not at any moment what may promote it.  Nothing would be left us but to supply to that Power, by our actions, so much material, no matter what, to work up in its own way, for its own ends.  Our highest wisdom would be, not to trouble ourselves about things in which we have no concern, but to live, in each case, as the fancy takes us, and quietly leave the consequences to that Power.  The moral law within us would be idle and superfluous, and wholly unsuited to a being that had no higher capacity and no higher destination.  In order to be at one with ourselves, we should refuse obedience to the voice of that law and suppress it as a perverse and mad enthusiasm.

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