CHAPTER II.
THE PRIZE OF LIFE.
'_The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hid in a field._' Having thus seen broadly what is meant by that claim for life that we are about to analyse, we must now examine it more minutely, as made by the positive school themselves.
This will at once make evident one important point.

The worth in question is closely bound up with what we call _morality_.

In this respect our deniers of the supernatural claim to be on as firm a footing as the believers in it.

They will not admit that the earnestness of life is lessened for them; or that they have opened any door either to levity or to licentiousness.

It is true indeed that it is allowed occasionally that the loss of a faith in God, and of the life in a future, may, under certain circumstances, be a real loss to us.