This  conception  of  life  is  magnificently
expressed  in  Browning's  "  Rabbi  ben  Ezra."
Nowhere  is  the  need  and  justification  for
care,  for  striving,  for  pain,  more  clearly  and
more  poetically  put  forward.  But  it  is  also
urged  that  a  time  should  come — if  life  be
spared  —  when  peace  is  legitimate,  when,
lifted  above  the  strife — the  struggle  having
so  far  reached  its  term— a  man  may  know
and  be  at  rest.  Yet  we  rightly  feel  that
this  mere  succession  of  states  or  virtues  is
not  completely  satisfactory.  We  want  some-
thing more.  We  want,  to  some  extent,  at
every  period  of  manhood  and  womanhood,


152  ON  PEACE  xi

to  strive  and  attain  together  ;  we  want  both
struggle  and  rest.  If  peace  is  the  end,  it
must  not  merely  be  an  end  deferred  till  the
close  of  existence  or  enjoyed  beyond  the
grave.  So  too,  on  the  other  hand,  we  feel
that  movement,  progress  and  development,
though  not  necessarily  strife  and  struggle,
can  hardly  be  dissociated  from  any  human
or  desired  existence,  whether  in  this  life  or
in  another.  When  we  think  of  God  him-
self, we  can  conceive  him  as  enjoying,  or  as
being,  either  perfect  and  continuous  rest  or
perfect  and  continuous  activity.  That  rest
upon  the  Sabbath  day  which  is  ascribed  to
him  may  be  regarded  as  a  figure  for  his
permanent  condition ;  and,  on  the  other
hand,  his  joyous  activity,  .as  elsewhere  de-
picted in  human  terms,  may  be  also  regarded
as  a  figure  for  what  he  continually  is.
Hence  we  see  that,  though  peace  and
discontent  may  be  opposed  to  each  other,
peace  and  activity  are  not.  The  highest
activity  may  be  symbolised  by  the  machine
which  works  with  the  least  possible  friction.
