Fond sighs tor old tlmigs, shouts tor new,— did reign."*

In the midst of this the ordinary individual, who has
no taste for complex thought but longs only for peace
with honor, is often in a sad condition. He is like the
little neutral country caught up into the struggle of con-
tending Powers and overrun by all of them, unable to
stand alone or to find a sure support

But the more deeply the ground is rent the more fun-
damental are the truths revealed. A conflict that de-
stroys accepted principles almost certainly brings to light
others that are more general and permanent, because after
all life 19 rational, it seems, and the social mmd, when
pushed to it, has usually been able to discover as much
of this rationality as it really needed. As regards religious
belief we can already see that ideas of a scope' and depth
that few could have attained fifty years ago are now
becoming domesticated in every-day thought. The con-
flict in this field has resulted in the perception that none
of the contending creeds and forms is essential, but that
the permanently himian and divine reality, not confined
in any formulation, creates new expressbn for itself along
with the general growth of life.
Indeed it would seem that the struggles of the age have
given us at least one principle which change cannot easily
overthrow; the prii^dple, namely, that life itself is a
process rathertbaif a state; so that we no longer expect
anything fiuCl, but look to discover in the movement
itself sufficient matter for reason and faith.
• Luler, To Richard Wagner.
