a scientific forecast can already see the end of it.

In the second place, it is nothing absolute, and not being absolute is
incapable of being enforced.

In the third place, its value, such as it is, is measured only by the
_conscious_ happiness that its possession gives us, or the conscious
pains that its loss gives us.

Still it may be contended with plausibility that the moral end, when
once seen, is sufficient to attract us by its own inalienable charm, and
can hold its own independently of any further theories as to its nature
and its universality. It remains now to come to practical life, and see
if this really be so; to see if the pleasures in life that are supposed
the highest will not lose their attractiveness when robbed of the three
characteristics of which the positive theory robs them.

FOOTNOTES:

[11] Vide _Pessimism_, by James Sully.

[12] Professor Clifford; 'Ethics of Belief,' _Contemporary Review_, Jan.
1877.

[13] '_An awful privilege, and an awful responsibility, that we should
help to create a world in which posterity will live!_'--Professor
Clifford.

[14] Goethe, translated by Carlyle.