and aristocrats and geniuses and lackeys and superior persons!  Perhaps the highest value of astronomy is that it renders more vivid the ironical significance of such a vision, and thus brings home to us the truth that in spite of all the differences which we have invented, mankind is a fellowship of brothers, overshadowed by insoluble and fearful mysteries, and dependent upon mutual goodwill and trust for the happiness it may hope to achieve. * * * Let us remember that Christmas is, among other things, the winter solstice, and that the bottom has not yet been knocked out of the winter solstice, nor is likely to be in the immediate future!

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It is a curious fact that the one faith which really does flourish and wax in these days should be faith in the idea of social justice.  For social justice simply means the putting into practice of goodwill and the recognition of the brotherhood of mankind.  Formerly, people were enthusiastic and altruistic for a theological idea, for a national idea, for a political idea.  You could see men on the rack for the sake of a dogma; you could see men of a great nation fitting out regiments and ruining themselves and going forth to save a small nation from destruction.  You could see men giving their lives to the aggrandisement of an empire.  And the men who did these things had the best brains and the quickest wits and the warmest hearts of their time.  But today, whenever you meet a first-class man who is both enthusiastic and altruistic, you may be sure that his pet scheme is neither theological, military nor political; you may be sure that he has got into his head the notion that some class of persons somewhere are not being treated fairly, are not being treated with fraternal goodwill, and that he is determined to put the matter right, or perish.

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In England, nearly all the most interesting people are social reformers:  and the only circles of society in which you are not bored, in which there is real conversation, are the circles of social reform.  These people alone have an abounding and convincing faith.  Their faith has, for example, convinced many of the best literary artists of the day, with the result that a large proportion of the best modern imaginative literature has been inspired by the dream of social justice.  Take away that idea from the works of H.G.  Wells, John Galsworthy and George Bernard Shaw, and there would be exactly nothing left.  Despite any appearance to the contrary, therefore, the idea of universal goodwill is really alive upon the continents of this planet:  more so, indeed, than any other idea—­for the vitality of an idea depends far less on the numbers of people who hold it than on the quality of the heart and brain of the people who hold it.  Whether the growth of the idea is due to the spiritual awe and humility which are the consequence of increased scientific knowledge, I cannot say, and I do not seriously care.