In conclusion, as all true morality pre-supposes religion, so it is only religion which can supply the strongest incentive and encouragement to the good life; for it is religion alone which has the promise that the Good shall and must prevail, that the stars in their courses are fighting on the side of right and truth, and that it shall be well or ill with us according as we range ourselves on that side or in opposition to it. Take away the idea of a God whose will is that righteousness shall triumph, that life shall be lord of death, and {191} love victorious over all, and we have no guarantee but that all the efforts and sacrifices of martyr and reformer may be in vain, and the hope of the world a delusion. It is only the believer who can never despair, who knows that his work will endure and enrich the world--that there will be no collapse or final disarray, that the world is no blot nor blank, but means intensely and means good. It is that faith which makes endeavour and surrender worth while; that faith--the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen--which alone gives us a right to sing Felix Adler's noble hymn:-- And the work that we have builded, Oft with bleeding hands and tears, Oft in error, oft in anguish, Will not perish with our years, It will rise and shine transfigured In the final reign of light; It will pass into the splendours Of the City of the Light. For the assurance which breathes in these lines rests on a previous, deeper assurance: it is that which the Christian expresses in the words, "_If God be for us, who is against us?_" [1] _Ethical Religion_, p. 48. [2] _Ibid_, p. 39. [3] See _A Few Points about Ethical Societies_, a tract issued by the Union of Ethical Societies. [4] _Ethical Religion_, pp. 81, 84, 86, 89; for a concise treatment of this subject the reader may be referred to the present writer's _Jesus or Christ_? chapter iv. [5] _History of European Morals_, ii., p. 26. [6] _Op. cit._, p. 38. [7] _Ibid._ pp. 16-18. [8] _Op. cit._, p. 17. [9] _Ibid._, p. 57. [10] "If for the word 'God' you read the 'universal life,'" writes the Rev. R. J. Campbell, "you have at once gained the ear of every high-minded thinking man to whom you appeal." (_The Christian Commonwealth_, April 14th, 1909.) Are we, then, to understand that if we want to appeal to high-minded thinking men, we must drop the term "God" and substitute for it, as being less offensive to these higher thinkers, some non-committal phrase like "universal life?" We say quite frankly that we are not prepared to pay such a price for making such a successful appeal; for the "universal life"--just because it is universal and all-embracing--is no more "good" than "bad"--it has no moral character, and hence can exercise no moral authority, nor generate any moral enthusiasm. [11] _What the Ethical Movement is_, by Harry Snell. {192} CHAPTER XI PROBLEMS OF PRAYER