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338 SYSTEMS OF ETHICS

We ought not to be satisfied with the pleasures of
sensation, which satisfy the brute, nor say with Pope,

" Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense,
Lie in three words : Health, peace, and competence."

We find a higher enjoyment than pleasure in the
satisfaction taken in our own success or in the success
of our friends, in possessions, attainments, achieve-
ments, in the deserved good opinion of our fellows, in
the contemplation of the true, the beautiful, and the
good.
What, then, should be sought? The highest moral
character, a thoroughly trained intellect, and good
health, as subjective conditions; then, as objective con-
ditions, a competence of wealth, satisfactory social rela-
tions, and, above all, a oneness with God and co-opera-
tion with him in the great work of lifting humanity to
the high plane of righteousness. So much for the
preparation, and now for action. In moral effort we
are to consider not only the immediate end, but so far
as we can the remote consequences; then scan the mo-
tives, make a right decision, direct the aim, execute the
act with energy and skill. In doing this we attain the
ultimate good, and may call it, with Green, self-realiza-
tion, in actual experience, of the normal possibilities of hu-
man nature, with tfieir attendant satisfactions.
