were they? Ah! that was a difficult matter; there were
so many, and the rules which governed them were sometimes so subtle, that
mistakes always had and always would be made; it was just this that made it
impossible to reduce life to an exact science. There was a rough-and-ready
rule-of-thumb test of truth, and a number of rules as regards exceptions which
could be mastered without much trouble, yet there was a residue of cases in
which decision was difficult - so difficult that a man had better follow his
instinct than attempt to decide them by any process of reasoning.
    Instinct then is the ultimate court of appeal. And what is instinct? It is a
mode of faith in the evidence of things not actually seen. And so my hero
returned almost to the point from which he had started originally, namely that
the just shall live by faith.
    And this is what the just - that is to say reasonable people - do as regards
those daily affairs of life which most concern them. They settle smaller matters
by the exercise of their own deliberation; more important ones, such as the cure
of their own bodies, and those of any whom they may love, the investment of
their money, the extrication of their affairs from any serious mess - these
things they generally entrust to others of whose capacity they know little save
from general report; they act therefore on the strength of faith, not knowledge.
So the English nation entrusts the welfare of its fleet and naval defences to a
First Lord of the Admiralty, who, not being a sailor, can know nothing about
these matters except by acts of faith. There can be no doubt about faith and not
reason being the ultima ratio.
    Even Euclid who has laid himself as little open to the charge of credulity
as any writer who ever lived cannot get beyond this. He has no demonstrable
first premise. He requires postulates and axioms which transcend demonstration,
and without which he can do nothing. His superstructure indeed is demonstration,
but his ground is faith. Nor again can he get further than telling a man that he
is a fool if he persists in differing from him. He says »which is absurd,« and
declines to discuss the matter further. Faith and authority therefore prove to
be as necessary for him as for anyone else. »By faith in what, then,« asked
Ernest of himself, »shall a just man endeavour to live at this present time?« He
answered to himself, »At any rate not by faith in the supernatural element of
the Christian religion