348 Reconciliation

The World

Even the world, so mondain as it is, still holds instinctively
and as a matter of faith unquestionable that those who have
died by the altar are worthier than those who have lived by it,
when to die was duty.

Blasphemy

I begin to understand now what Christ meant when he
said that blasphemy against the Holy Ghost was unforgiveable,
while speaking against the Son of Man might be forgiven.
He must have meant that a man may be pardoned for being
unable to believe in the Christian mythology, but that if he
made light of that spirit which the common conscience of
all men, whatever their particular creed, recognises as divine,
there was no hope for him. No more there is.

Gaining One's Point

It is not he who gains the exact point in dispute who
scores most in controversy, but he who has shown the most
forbearance and the better temper.

The Voice of Common Sense

It is this, and not the Voice of the Lord, which maketh
men to be of one mind in an house. But then, the Voice of
the Lord is the voice of common sense which is shared by all
that is.

Amendes Honorables

There is hardly an offence so great but if it be frankly
apologised for it is easily both forgiven and forgotten. There
is hardly an offence so small but it rankles if he who has
committed it does not express proportionate regret. Ex-
pressions of regret help genuine regret and induce amendment
of life, much as digging a channel helps water to flow,
though it does not make the water. If a man refuses to
make them and habitually indulges his own selfishness at the
expense of what is due to other people, he is no better than a