transmuting, and simplifying his animal desires; now he commences to transmute and simplify his intellect. He has, so far, been adjusting his feelings to his Ideal; he now begins to adjust his thoughts to that Ideal, which also assumes at this point larger and more beautiful proportions; and for the first time he perceives what really constitutes a permanent and imperishable Principle. He sees that the righteousness for which he has been searching is fixed and unvariable; that it cannot be acommodated to man, but that man must reach up to and obey it; that it consists of an undeviating line of conduct, apart from all considerations of loss or gain, of reward or punishment; that, in reality, it consists in abandoning self, with all the sins of desire, opinion, and self-interest of which that self is composed, and in living the blameless life of perfect love toward all men and creatures. Such a life is fixed and perfect; it is without turning, change, or qualification, and demands a sinless and perfect conduct. It is the direct antithesis of the worldly life of self.
