The practice of judging and condemning morally,

is the favourite revenge of the intellectually shallow on those who are less so, it is also a kind of indemnity for their being badly endowed by nature, and finally, it is an opportunity for acquiring spirit and BECOMING subtle. Malice spiritualises.

They are glad in their inmost heart that there is a standard according to which those who are over-endowed with intellectual goods and privileges, are equal to them, they contend for the 'equality of all before God,' and almost NEED the belief in God for this purpose. It is among them that the most powerful antagonists of atheism are found.

If anyone were to say to them 'A lofty spirituality is beyond all comparison with the honesty and respectability of a merely moral man' - it would make them furious.

[FN]