'Above this one was the angel of God, sitting on the threshold, bright as a diamond.
'Up the three steps my master led me with goodwill and then he said, "Beg humbly that he unlock the door."'[4]
Like this, the path man has to tread is not an easy progress. But he is rising all the time and he rises on steps of his own past. He sees reflected in them the image of himself, and he sees too the deep faults in his nature, and the rough surface of his path through time. The last step, tinged by his own blood, gives access to a higher dwelling, firm and bright and leading higher still. But it is open only after a long ascent, and to the human spirit that has worked faithfully, with love for his comrades and leaders, and reverence for the laws which bind both the world and him.
Books for Reference
John Grote, Examination of Utilitarian Philosophy.
Kant, Principles of Politics (translated by Hastie and published by Clark) contains his smaller works on Universal History, Perpetual Peace, and the Principle of Progress. See also the Essay on Herder.
Comte's Positive Polity, vols. i. and ii, passim.
FOOTNOTES:
'usus et impigrae simul experientia mentis
paulatim docuit pedetemtim progredientes.'