,,is ,,life ,,worth ,,living8 ,,by ,,william ,,hurrell ,,mallock ,,author ,,of ',,the ,,new ,,republic' ,,etc4 99 99 99 99 99 ',man walketh in a vain shadow1 and disquieteth himself in vain4' ',how dieth the wise man8 ,as the fool4444 ,that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth the beasts1 even one thing befalleth them2 as the one dieth so dieth the other1 yea they have all one breath2 so that man hath no preeminence above a beast2 for all is vanity4' ',greek3 talaipros eg anthrpos1 tis me rudetai ek tou smatos tou thanatou toutou2' 99 99 99 99 99 ,,new ,,york ,g4,p4 ,,putnam',s ,,sons #ahb ,fifth ,avenue #ahgi ,i ,,inscribe ,,this ,,book ,,to ,,john ,,ruskin ,,to ,,john ,,ruskin4 ,my dear ,mr4 ,ruskin1--,you have given me very great pleasure by allowing me to inscribe this book to you1 and for two reasons2 for ,i have two kinds of acknowledgment that ,i wish to make to you--first1 that of an intellectual debtor to a public teacher2 secondly1 that of a private friend to the kindest of private friends4 ,the tribute ,i have to offer you is1 it is true1 a small one2 and it is possibly more blessed for me to give than it is for you to receive it4 ,in so far1 at least1 as ,i represent any influence of yours1 you may very possibly not think me a satisfactory representative4 ,but there is one fact--and ,i will lay all the stress ,i can on it--which makes me less diffident than ,i might be1 in offering this book either to you or to the world generally4 ,the import of the book is independent of the book itself1 and of the author of it2 nor do the arguments it contains stand or fall with my success in stating them2 and these last at least ,i may associate with your name4 ,they are not mine4 ,i have not discovered or invented them4 ,they are so obvious that any one who chooses may see them2 and ,i have been only moved to meddle with them1 because1 from being so obvious1 it seems that no one will so much as deign to look at them1 or at any rate to put them together with any care or completeness4 ,they might be before everybody's eyes2 but instead they are under everybody's feet4 ,my occupation has been merely to kneel in the mud1 and to pick up the truths that are being trampled into it1 by a headstrong and uneducated generation4 ,with what success ,i have done this1 it is not for me to judge4 ,but though ,i cannot be confident of the value of what ,i have done1 ,i am confident enough of the value of what ,i have tried to do4 ,from a literary point of view many faults may be found with me4 ,there may be faults yet deeper1 to which possibly ,i shall have to plead guilty4 ,i may--,i cannot tell--have unduly emphasized some points1 and not put enough emphasis on others4 ,i may be convicted--nothing is more likely--of many verbal inconsistencies4 ,but let the arguments ,i have done my best to embody be taken as a whole1 and they have a vitality that does not depend upon me2 nor can they be proved false1 because my ignorance or weakness may here or there have associated them with1 or illustrated them by1 a falsehood4 ,i am not myself conscious of any such falsehoods in my book2 but if such are pointed out to me1 ,i shall do my best to correct them4 ,if what ,i have done prove not worth correction1 others coming after me will be preferred before me1 and are sure before long to address themselves successfully to the same task in which ,i perhaps have failed4 ,what indeed can we each of us look for but a large measure of failure1 especially when we are moving not with the tide but against it--when the things we wrestle with are principalities and powers1 and spiritual stupidity in high places--and when we are ourselves partly weakened by the very influences against which we are struggling8 ,but this is not all4 ,there is in the way another difficulty4 ,writing as the well-wishers of truth and goodness1 we find1 as the world now stands1 that our chief foes are they of our own household4 ,the insolence1 the ignorance1 and the stupidity of the age has embodied itself1 and found its mouthpiece1 in men who are personally the negations of all that they represent theoretically4 ,we have men who in private are full of the most gracious modesty1 representing in their philosophies the most ludicrous arrogance2 we have men who practise every virtue themselves1 proclaiming the principles of every vice to others2 we have men who have mastered many kinds of knowledge1 acting on the world only as embodiments of the completest and most pernicious ignorance4 ,i have had occasion to deal continually with certain of these by name4 ,with the exception of one--who has died prematurely1 whilst this book was in the press--those ,i have named oftenest are still living4 ,many of them probably are known to you personally1 though none of them are so known to me2 and you will appreciate the sort of difficulty ,i have felt1 better than ,i can express it4 ,i can only hope that as the falsehood of their arguments cannot blind any of us to their personal merits1 so no intellectual demerits in my case will be prejudicial to the truth of my arguments4 ,to me the strange thing is that such arguments should have to be used all2 and perhaps a thing stranger still that it should fall to me to use them--to me1 an outsider in philosophy1 in literature1 and in theology4 ,but the justification of my speaking is that there is any opening for me to speak2 and others must be blamed1 not ,i1 if the lyre so long divine ,degenerates into hands like mine4 ,at any rate1 however all this may be1 what ,i here inscribe to you1 my friend and teacher1 ,i am confident is not unworthy of you4 ,it is not what ,i have done2 it is what ,i have tried to do4 ,as such ,i beg you to accept it1 and to believe me still1 though now so seldom near you1 ,your admiring and affectionate friend1 ,w4,h4 ,,mallock4 ,p4,s4--,much of the substance of the following book you have seen already1 in two ,essays of mine that were published in the ',contemporary ,review1' and in five ,essays that were published in the ',nineteenth ,century4' ,it had at one time been my intention1 by the kindness of the respective ,editors1 to have reprinted these ,essays in their original form4 ,but there was so much to add1 to omit1 to rearrange1 and to join together1 that ,i have found it necessary to rewrite nearly the whole2 and thus you will find the present volume virtually new4 ,torquay1 ,may1 #ahgi4 ,,contents ,,chapter ,i4 ,,the ,,new ,,import ,,of ,,the ,,question4 ,,page ,the question may seem vague and useless2 but if we consider its real meaning we shall see that it is not so #a ,in the present day it has acquired a new importance #b ,its exact meaning4 ,it does not question the fact of human happiness #c ,but the nature of happiness1 and the permanence of its basis #d ,for what we call the higher happiness is essentially a complex thing #e ,we cannot be sure that all its elements are permanent #g ,without certain of its elements it has been declared by the wisest men to be valueless #h ,and it is precisely the elements in question that modern thought is eliminating #aa ,it is contended that they have often been eliminated before2 and that yet the worth of life has not suffered #ac ,but this contention is entirely false4 ,they were never before eliminated as modern thought is eliminating them now #ag ,the present age can find no genuine parallels in the past #ai ,its position is made peculiar by three facts #ai ,firstly1 by the existence of ,christianity #ai ,secondly1 the insignificance to which science has reduced the earth #bc ,thirdly1 the intense self-consciousness that has been developed in the modern world #be ,it is often said that a parallel to our present case is to be found in ,buddhism #bg ,but this is absolutely false4 ,buddhist positivism is the exact reverse of ,western positivism #bi ,in short1 the life-problem of our day is distinctly a new and an as yet unanswered one #ca ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,morality ,,and ,,the ,,prize ,,of ,,life4 ,the worth the positive school claim for life1 is essentially a moral worth #cc ,as its most celebrated exponents explicitly tell us #cd ,this means that life contains some special prize1 to which morality is the only road #cd ,and the value of life depends on the value of this prize #ce ,j4,s4 ,mill1 ,g4 ,eliot1 and ,professor ,huxley admit that this is a correct way of stating the case #cf ,but all this language as it stands at present is too vague to be of any use to us #ch ,the prize in question is to be won in this life1 if anywhere2 and must therefore be more or less describable #ci ,what then is it8 #dj ,unless it is describable it cannot be a moral end at all #da ,as a consideration of the raison d'tre of all moral systems will show us #db ,the value of the prize must be verifiable by positive methods #dc ,and be verifiably greater1 beyond all comparison1 than that of all other prizes #dd ,has such a prize any real existence8 ,this is our question #dd ,it has never yet been answered properly #de ,and though two sets of answers have been given it1 neither of them are satisfactory #de ,i shall deal with these two questions in order #dg ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,sociology ,,as ,,the ,,foundation ,,of ,,morality4 ,the positive theory is that the health of the social organism is the real foundation of morals #di ,but social health is nothing but the personal health of all the members of the society #ea ,it is not happiness itself1 but the negative conditions that make happiness for all #ea ,still less is social health any high kind of happiness #ed ,it can only be maintained to be so1 by supposing #ee ,either1 that all kinds of happiness are equally high that do not interfere with others #ee ,or1 that it is only a high kind of happiness that can be shared by all #ef ,both of which suppositions are false #eg ,the conditions of social health are a moral end only when we each feel a personal delight in maintaining them #eh ,in this case they will supply us with a small portion of the moral aid needed #ei ,but this case is not a possible one #fj ,there is indeed the natural impulse of sympathy that might tend to make it so #fa ,but this is counterbalanced by the corresponding impulse of selfishness #fc ,and this impulse of sympathy itself is of very limited power #fc ,except under very rare conditions #fc ,the conditions of general happiness are far too vague to do more than very slightly excite it #fd ,or give it power enough to neutralise any personal temptation #ff ,at all events they would excite no enthusiasm #fg ,for this purpose there must be some prize before us1 of recognised positive value1 more or less definite #fg ,and before all things1 to be enjoyed by us individually #fg ,unless this prize be of great value to begin with1 its value will not become great because great numbers obtain it #ga ,nor until we know what it is1 do we gain anything by the hope that men may more completely make it their own in the future #gb ,the modern positive school requires a great general enthusiasm for the general good #gc ,they therefore presuppose an extreme value for the individual good #gd ,our first enquiry must be therefore what the higher individual good is #gf ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,goodness ,,as ,,its ,,own ,,reward4 ,what has been said in the last chapter is really admitted by the positive school themselves #gg ,as we can learn explicitly from ,george ,eliot #gh ,in ,daniel ,deronda #gh ,that the fundamental moral question is1 ',in what way shall the individual make life pleasant8' #gi ,and the right way1 for the positivists1 as for the ,christians1 is an inward way #hj ,the moral end is a certain inward state of the heart1 and the positivists say it is a sufficient attraction in itself1 without any aid from religion #ha ,and they support this view by numerous examples #hb ,but all such examples are useless #hc ,because though we may get rid of religion in its pure form #hc ,there is much that we have not got rid of1 embodied still in the moral end #hd ,to test the intrinsic value of the end1 we must sublimate this religion out of it #hf ,for this purpose we will consider1 first1 the three general characteristics of the moral end1 viz4 #hh ,its inwardness #hh ,its importance #hi ,and its absolute character #ia ,now all these three characteristics can be explained by religion #ic ,and cannot be explained without it #if ,the positive moral end must therefore be completely divested of them #ajj ,the next question is1 will it be equally attractive then8 #ajj ,,chapter ,v4 ,,love ,,as ,a ,,test ,,of ,,goodness4 ,the positivists represent love as a thing whose value is self-dependent #aja ,and which gives to life a positive and incalculable worth #ajc ,but this is supposed to be true of one form of love only #ajd ,and the very opposite is supposed to hold good of all other forms #aje ,the right form depends on the conformity of each of the lovers to a certain inward standard #aje ,as we can see exemplified in the case of ,othello and ,desdemona1 etc4 #ajg ,the kind and not the degree of the love is what gives love its special value #ajh ,and the selection of this kind can be neither made nor justified on positive principles #aji ,as the following quotations from ,thophile ,gautier will show us #aaj ,which are supposed by many to embody the true view of love #aaj ,according to this view1 purity is simply a disease both in man and woman1 or at any rate no merit #aaf ,if love is to be a moral end1 this view must be absolutely condemned #aag ,but positivism cannot condemn it1 or support the opposite view #aag ,as we shall see by recurring to ,professor ,huxley's argument #aah ,which will show us that all moral language as applied to love is either distinctly religious or else altogether ludicrous #abb ,for it is clearly only on moral grounds that we can give that blame to vice1 which is the measure of the praise we give to virtue #abc ,the misery of the former depends on religious anticipations #abd ,and so does also the blessedness of the latter #abe ,as we can see in numerous literary expressions of it #abf ,positivism1 by destroying these anticipations1 changes the whole character of the love in question #abh ,and prevents love from supplying us with any moral standard #aca ,the loss sustained by love will indicate the general loss sustained by life #aca ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,life ,,as ,,its ,,own ,,reward4 ,we must now examine what will be the practical result on life in general of the loss just indicated #acb ,to do this1 we will take life as reflected in the mirror of the great dramatic art of the world #acd ,and this will show us how the moral judgment is the chief faculty to which all that is great or intense in this art appeals #acf ,we shall see this1 for instance1 in ,macbeth #acg ,in ,hamlet #acg ,in ,antigone #acg ,in ,measure for ,measure1 and in ,faust #ach ,and also in degraded art just as well as in sublime art #aci ,in profligate and cynical art1 such as ,congreve's #adj ,and in concupiscent art #ada ,such as ,mademoiselle de ,maupin #ada ,or such works as that of ,meursius1 or the worst scenes in ,petronius #adb ,the supernatural moral judgment is the chief thing everywhere #adc ,take away this judgment1 and art loses all its strange interest #add ,and so will it be with life #ade ,the moral landscape will be ruined #ade ,even the mere sensuous joy of living in health will grow duller #adf ,nor will culture be of the least avail without the supernatural moral element #adh ,nor will the devotion to truth for its own sake1 which is the last refuge of the positivists when in despair #adi ,for this last has no meaning whatever1 except as a form of concrete theism #aeb ,the reverence for ,nature is but another form of the devotion to truth1 and its only possible meaning is equally theistic #aeg ,thus all the higher resources of positivism fail together #afa ,and the highest positive value of life would be something less than its present value #afa ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,the ,,superstition ,,of ,,positivism4 ,from what we have just seen1 the visionary character of the positivist conception of progress becomes evident #afc ,its object is far more plainly an illusion than the ,christian heaven #afd ,all the objections urged against the latter apply with far more force to the former #afe ,as a matter of fact1 there is no possible object sufficient to start the enthusiasm required by the positivists #afg ,to make the required enthusiasm possible human nature would have to be completely changed #afh ,two existing qualities1 for instance1 would have to be magnified to an impossible extent--imagination #afi ,and unselfishness #agj ,if we state the positive system in terms of common life1 its visionary character becomes evident #agb ,the examples which have suggested its possibility are quite misleading #agc ,the positive system is really far more based on superstition than any religion #age ,its appearance can only be accounted for by the characters and circumstances of its originators #age ,and a consideration of these will help us more than anything to estimate it rightly #agh ,and will let us see that its only practical tendency is to deaden all our present interests1 not to create any new ones #agi ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,,the ,,practical ,,prospect4 ,it is not contended that the prospect just described will1 as a fact1 ever be realised #ahc ,but only that it will be realised if certain other prospects are realised #ahe ,which prospects may or may not be visionary #ahf ,but the progress towards which is already begun #ahg ,and also the other results1 that have been described already #ahg ,positive principles have already produced a moral deterioration1 even in places where we should least imagine it #ahg ,as we shall see if we pierce beneath the surface #ahi ,in the curious condition of men who have lost faith1 but have retained the love of virtue #ahi ,the struggle was hard1 when they had all the helps of religion #aij ,it is harder now #aij ,conscience still survives1 but it has lost its restraining power #aia ,temptation almost inevitably dethrones it #aib ,and its full prestige can never be recovered #aic ,it can do nothing but deplore2 it cannot remedy #aid ,in such cases the mind's decadence has begun2 and its symptoms are #aid ,self-reproach #aie ,life-weariness #aie ,and indifference #aie ,the class of men to whom this applies is increasing1 and they are the true representatives of the work of positive thought #aif ,it is hard to realise this ominous fact #aig ,but by looking steadily and dispassionately at the characteristics of the present epoch we may learn to do so #aih ,we shall see that the opinions now forming will have a weight and power that no opinions ever had before #aii ,and their tendency1 as yet latent1 towards pessimism is therefore most momentous #bjj ,if it is to be cured1 it must be faced #bjj ,it takes the form of a suppressed longing for the religious faith that is lost #bjj ,and this longing is wide-spread1 though only expressed indirectly #bja ,it is felt even by men of science #bjb ,but the longing seems fruitless #bjc ,this dejection is in fact shared by the believers #bjc ,and is even authoritatively recognised by ,catholicism #bjd ,the great question for the world now1 and the one on which its whole future depends1 is1 will the lost faith ever be recovered8 #bje ,the answer to this will probably have to be decisive1 one way or the other #bjf ,,chapter ,,ix4 ,,the ,,logic ,,of ,,scientific ,,negation4 ,what gives the denials of positivism their general weight1 is the impression that they represent reason #bjh ,they are supported by three kinds of arguments3 physical1 moral1 and historical #bji ,the two first bear upon all religion2 the latter only on special revelations #baj ,natural religion is the belief in ,god1 immortality1 and the possibility of miracles generally #baj ,physical science prefers to destroy natural religion by its connection of mind with matter #baj #ast4 ,making conscious life a function of the brain4 #bnd4 ,evolving the living organisms from lifeless matter4 #crd4 ,making this material evolution automatic #baj ,thus all external proofs of ,god are destroyed #bab ,and also of the soul's immortality #bac ,external proof is declared to be the test of reality #bac ,and therefore all religion is set down as a dream #bae ,but we believe that proof is the test of reality1 not because it is proved to be so1 but because of the authority of those who tell us so #bae ,but it will be found that these men do not understand their own principle #baf ,and1 that in what they consider their most important conclusions they emphatically disregard it #bag ,one or other1 therefore1 of their opinions is worthless--their denial of religion or their affirmation of morality #bai ,but we shall see this more clearly in considering the question of consciousness and will #bbj ,we shall see that1 as far as science can inform us1 man is nothing but an automaton #bbj ,but the positive school are afraid to admit this #bba ,and not daring to meet the question1 they make a desperate effort to confuse it #bbb ,two problems are involved in the matter3 #ast4 ,how is brain action connected with consciousness #bbc #bnd4 ,is the consciousness that is connected with it something separable from1 and independent of it #bbc ,the first of these problems has no bearing at all on any moral or religious question4 ,it is insoluble4 ,it leaves us not in doubt but in ignorance #bbd ,the doubt1 and the religious question is connected solely with the second problem #bbh ,to which there are two alternative solutions #bbh ,and modern science is so confused that it will accept neither #bbh ,as ,dr4 ,tyndall's treatment of the subject very forcibly shows us #bcj ,and ,dr4 ,tyndall in this way is a perfect representative of the whole modern positive school #bca ,let us compare the molecules of the brain to the six moving billiard-balls #bca ,the question is1 are these movements due to the stroke of one cue or of two #bcc ,the positive school profess to answer this question both ways #bcd ,but this profession is nonsense #bcf ,what they really mean is1 #ast4 ,that the connection of consciousness with matter is a mystery2 as to that they can give no answer4 #bnd4 ,that as to whether consciousness is wholly a material thing or no1 they will give no answer #bcg ,but why are they in this state of suspense8 #bch ,though their system does not in the least require the hypothesis of an immaterial element in consciousness #bci ,they see that the moral value of life does #bci ,the same reasons that will warrant their saying it may exist1 will constrain them to say it must #bdj ,physical science1 with its proofs1 can say nothing in the matter1 either as to will1 immortality1 or ,god #bdb ,but1 on the other hand1 it will force us1 if we believe in will1 to admit the reality of miracles #bdc ,so far as science goes1 morality and religion are both on the same footing #bdc ,,chapter ,x4 ,,morality ,,and ,,natural ,,theism4 ,supposing science not to be inconsistent with theism1 may not theism be inconsistent with morality8 #bdg ,it seems to be so2 but it is no more so than is morality with itself4 ,two difficulties common to both3--#ast4 ,the existence of evil2 #bnd4 ,man's free will and ,god's free will #bdh ,james ,mill's statement of the case represents the popular anti-religious arguments #bdi ,but his way of putting the case is full of distortion and exaggeration #bej ,though certain of the difficulties he pointed out were real #bea ,and those we cannot explain away2 but if we are to believe in our moral being at all1 we must one and all accept #beb ,we can escape from them by none of the rationalistic substitutes for religion #beb ,a similar difficulty is the freedom of the will #beg ,this belief is an intellectual impossibility #beh ,but at the same time a moral necessity #bfj ,it is typical of all the difficulties attendant on an assent to our own moral nature #bfj ,the vaguer difficulties that appeal to the moral imagination we must meet in the same way #bfa ,,chapter ,,xi4 ,,the ,,human ,,race ,,and ,,revelation4 ,should the intellect of the world return to theism1 will it ever again acknowledge a special revelation8 #bfd ,we can see that this is an urgent question #bfe ,by many general considerations #bfe ,especially the career of ,protestantism #bfg ,which is visibly evaporating into a mere natural theism #bfh ,and1 as such1 is losing all restraining power in the world #bga ,where then shall we look for a revelation8 ,not in any of the ,eastern creeds #bge ,the claims of the ,roman ,church are the only ones worth considering #bgf ,her position is absolutely distinct from that of ,protestantism1 and she is not involved in its fall #bgg ,in theory she is all that the enlightened world could require #bgi ,the only question is1 is she so in practice8 ,this brings us to difficulties #bhb #ast4 ,the partial success of her revelation2 and her supposed condemnation of the virtues of unbelievers4 ,but her partial success is simply the old mystery of evil #bhb ,and through her infinite charity1 she does nothing to increase that difficulty #bhc ,the value of orthodoxy is analogous to the value of true physical science #bhe ,all should try to learn the truth who can2 but we do not condemn others who cannot #bhf ,even amongst ,catholics generally no recondite theological knowledge is required #bhg ,the facts of the ,catholic religion are simple4 ,theology is the complex scientific explanation of them #bhh ,catholicism is misunderstood because the outside world confuses with its religion--#ast4 ,the complex explanations of it #bhi #bnd4 ,matters of discipline1 and practical rules #bij #crd4 ,the pious opinions1 or the scientific errors of private persons1 or particular epochs #bia ,none of which really are any integral part of the ,church #bic ,neither are the peculiar exaggerations of moral feeling that have been prevalent at different times #bic ,the ,church theoretically is a living1 growing1 self-adapting organism #bie ,she is1 in fact1 the growing1 moral sense of mankind organised and developed under a supernatural tutelage #bie ,,chapter ,,xii4 ,,universal ,,history ,,and ,,the ,,claims ,,of ,,the ,,christian ,,church4 ,we must now consider the ,church in relation to history and external historical criticism #big #ast4 ,the history of ,christianity2 #bnd4 ,the history of other religions #bih ,criticism has robbed the ,bible of nearly all the supposed internal evidences of its supernatural character #bih ,it has traced the chief ,christian dogmas to non-,christian sources #cjj ,it has shown that the histories of other religions are strangely analogous to the history of ,christianity #cjj ,and to ,protestantism these discoveries are fatal #cjb ,but they are not fatal to ,catholicism1 whose attitude to history is made utterly different by the doctrine of the perpetual infallibility of the ,church #cje ,the ,catholic ,church teaches us to believe the ,bible for her sake1 not her for the ,bible's #cje ,and even though her dogmas may have existed in some form elsewhere1 they become new revelations to us1 by her supernatural selection of them #cjf ,the ,church is a living organism1 for ever selecting and assimilating fresh nutriment #cjg ,even from amongst the wisdom of her bitterest enemies #cji ,all false revelations1 in so far as they have professed to be infallible1 are1 from the ,catholic standpoint1 abortive ,catholicisms #caa ,catholicism has succeeded in the same attempt in which they have failed #cac ,,chapter ,,xiii4 ,,belief ,,and ,,will4 ,the aim of this book #cae ,has been to clear the great question as to man's nature1 and the proper way of regarding him1 from the confusion at present surrounding it #cag ,and to show that the answer will finally rest1 not on outer evidence1 but on himself1 and on his own will1 if he have a will #cai ,,note4 ,in this book the words 'positive1' 'positivist1' and 'positivism' are of constant occurrence as applied to modern thought and thinkers4 ,to avoid any chance of confusion or misconception1 it will be well to say that these words as used by me have no special reference to the system of ,comte or his disciples1 but are applied to the common views and position of the whole scientific school1 one of the most eminent members of which--,i mean ,professor ,huxley--has been the most trenchant and contemptuous critic that 'positivism' in its narrower sense has met with4 ,over 'positivism' in this sense ,professor ,huxley and ,mr4 ,frederic ,harrison have had some public battles4 ,positivism in the sense in which it is used by me1 applies to the principles as to which the above writers explicitly agree1 not to those as to which they differ4 ,w4,h4,m4 ,is ,life ,worth ,living8 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,the ,,new ,,import ,,of ,,the ,,question4 ,a change was coming over the world1 the meaning and direction of which even still is hidden from us1 a change from era to era4--,froude's ,history of ,england1 ch4 i4 ,what ,i am about to deal with in this book is a question which may well strike many1 at first sight1 as a question that has no serious meaning1 or none at any rate for the sane and healthy mind4 ,i am about to attempt inquiring1 not sentimentally1 but with all calmness and sobriety1 into the true value of this human life of ours1 as tried by those tests of reality which the modern world is accepting1 and to ask dispassionately if it be really worth the living4 ,the inquiry certainly has often been made before2 but it has never been made properly2 it has never been made in the true scientific spirit4 ,it has always been vitiated either by diffidence or by personal feeling2 and the positive school1 though they rejoice to question everything else1 have1 at least in this country1 left the worth of life alone4 ,they may now and then1 perhaps1 have affected to examine it2 but their examination has been merely formal1 like that of a customs-house officer1 who passes a portmanteau1 which he has only opened4 ,they have been as tender with it as ,don ,quixote was with his mended helmet1 when he would not put his card-paper vizor to the test of the steel sword4 ,i propose to supply this deficiency in their investigations4 ,i propose to apply exact thought to the only great subject to which it has not been applied already4 ,to numbers1 as ,i have just said1 this will of course seem useless4 ,they will think that the question never really was an open one2 or that1 if it ever were so1 the common sense of mankind has long ago finally settled it4 ,to ask it again1 they will think idle1 or worse than idle4 ,it will express to them1 if it expresses anything1 no perplexity of the intellect1 but merely some vague disease of the feelings4 ,they will say that it is but the old ejaculation of satiety or despair1 as old as human nature itself2 it is a kind of maundering common to all moral dyspepsia2 they have often heard it before1 and they wish they may never hear it again4 ,but let them be a little less impatient4 ,let them look at the question closer1 and more calmly2 and it will not be long before its import begins to change for them4 ,they will see that though it may have often been asked idly1 it is yet capable of a meaning that is very far from idle2 and that however old they may think it1 yet as asked by our generation it is really completely new--that it bears a meaning which is indeed not far from any one of them1 but which is practical and pressing--,i might almost say portentous--and which is something literally unexampled in the past history of mankind4 ,i am aware that this position is not only not at first sight obvious1 but that1 even when better understood1 it will probably be called false4 ,my first care1 therefore1 will be to explain it at length1 and clearly4 ,for this purpose we must consider two points in order2 first1 what is the exact doubt we intend to express by our question2 and next1 why in our day this doubt should have such a special and fresh significance4 ,let us then make it quite plain1 at starting1 that when we ask ',is life worth living8' we are not asking whether its balance of pains is necessarily and always in excess of its balance of pleasures4 ,we are not asking whether any one has been1 or whether any one is happy4 ,to the unjaundiced eye nothing is more clear than that happiness of various kinds has been1 and is1 continually attained by men4 ,and ingenious pessimists do but waste their labour when they try to convince a happy man that he really must be miserable4 ,what ,i am going to discuss is not the superfluous truism that life has been found worth living by many2 but the profoundly different proposition that it ought to be found worth living by all4 ,for this is what life is pronounced to be1 when those claims are made for it that at present universally are made2 when1 as a general truth1 it is said to be worth living2 or when any of those august epithets are applied to it that are at present applied so constantly4 ,at present1 as we all know1 it is called sacred1 solemn1 earnest1 significant1 and so forth4 ,to withhold such epithets is considered a kind of blasphemy4 ,and the meaning of all such language is this3 it means that life has some deep inherent worth of its own1 beyond what it can acquire or lose by the caprice of circumstance--a worth1 which though it may be most fully revealed to a man1 through certain forms of success1 is yet not destroyed or made a minus quantity by failure4 ,certain forms of love1 for instance1 are held in a special way to reveal this worth to us2 but the worth that a successful love is thus supposed to reveal is a worth that a hopeless love is supposed not to destroy4 ,the worth is a part of life's essence1 not a mere chance accident1 as health or riches are2 and we are supposed to lose it by no acts but our own4 ,now it is evident that such a worth as this1 is1 in one sense1 no mere fancy4 ,numbers actually have found it2 and numbers actually still continue to find it4 ,the question is not whether the worth exists1 but on what is the worth based4 ,how far is the treasure incorruptible2 and how far will our increasing knowledge act as moth and rust to it8 ,there are some things whose value is completely established by the mere fact that men do value them4 ,they appeal to single tastes1 they defy further analysis1 and they thus form1 as it were1 the bases of all pleasures and happiness4 ,but these are few in number2 they are hardly ever met with in a perfectly pure state2 and their effect1 when they are so met1 is either momentary1 or far from vivid4 ,as a rule they are found in combinations of great complexity1 fused into an infinity of new substances by the action of beliefs and associations2 and these two agents are often of more importance in the result than are the things they act upon4 ,take for instance a boy at ,eton or ,oxford1 who affects a taste in wine4 ,give him a bottle of gooseberry champagne2 tell him it is of the finest brand1 and that it cost two hundred shillings a dozen4 ,he will sniff1 and wink at it in ecstasy2 he will sip it slowly with an air of knowing reverence2 and his enjoyment of it probably will be far keener1 than it would be1 were the wine really all he fancies it1 and he had lived years enough to have come to discern its qualities4 ,here the part played by belief and associations is of course evident4 ,the boy's enjoyment is real1 and it rests to a certain extent on a foundation of solid fact2 the taste of the gooseberry champagne is an actual pleasure to his palate4 ,anything nauseous1 black dose for instance1 could never raise him to the state of delight in question4 ,but this simple pleasure of sense is but a small part of the pleasure he actually experiences4 ,that pleasure1 as a whole1 is a highly complex thing1 and rests mainly on a basis that1 by a little knowledge1 could be annihilated in a moment4 ,tell the boy what the champagne really is1 he has been praising2 and the state of his mind and face will undergo a curious transformation4 ,our sense of the worth of life is similar in its complexity to the boy's sense of the worth of his wine4 ,beliefs and associations play exactly the same part in it4 ,the beliefs in this last case may of course be truer4 ,the question that ,i have to ask is1 are they8 ,in some individual cases certainly1 they have not been4 ,miss ,harriet ,martineau1 for instance1 judging life from her own experience of it1 was quite persuaded that it was a most solemn and satisfactory thing1 and she has told the world as much1 in no hesitating manner4 ,but a part at least of the solemn satisfaction she felt in it was due to a grotesque over-estimate of her own social and intellectual importance4 ,here1 then1 was a worth in life1 real enough to the person who found it1 but which a little knowledge of the world would have at once taken away from her4 ,does the general reverence with which life is at present regarded rest in any degree upon any similar misconception8 ,and if so1 to what extent does it8 ,will it fall to pieces before the breath of a larger knowledge8 or has it that firm foundation in fact that will enable it to survive in spite of all enlightenment1 and perhaps even to increase in consequence of it8 ,such is the outline of the question ,i propose to deal with4 ,i will now show why it is so pressing1 and why1 in the present crisis of thought1 it is so needful that it should be dealt with4 ,the first impression it produces1 as ,i have said1 is that it is superfluous4 ,our belief in life seems to rest on too wide an experience for us to entertain any genuine doubt of the truth of it4 ,but this first impression does not go for much4 ,it is a mere superficial thing1 and will wear off immediately4 ,we have but to remember that a belief that was supposed to rest on an equally wide basis--the belief in ,god1 and in a supernatural order--has in these days1 not been questioned only1 but has been to a great degree1 successfully annihilated4 ,the only philosophy that belongs to the present age1 the only philosophy that is a really new agent in progress1 has declared this belief to be a dissolving dream of the past4 ,and this belief1 as we shall see presently1 is1 amongst civilized men at least1 far older than the belief in life2 it has been far more widely spread1 and experience has been held to confirm it with an equal certainty4 ,if this then is inevitably disintegrated by the action of a widening knowledge1 it cannot be taken for granted that the belief in life will not fare likewise4 ,it may do so2 but until we have examined it more closely we cannot be certain that it will4 ,common consent and experience1 until they are analysed1 are fallacious tests for the seekers after positive truth4 ,the emotions may forbid us to ask our question2 but in modern philosophy the emotions play no part as organs of discovery4 ,they are facts in themselves1 and as such are of course of value2 but they point to no facts beyond themselves4 ,that men loved ,god and felt his presence close to them proves nothing1 to the positive thinker1 as to ,god's existence4 ,nor will the mere emotion of reverence towards life necessarily go any farther towards proving that it deserves reverence4 ,it is distinctly asserted by the modern school that the right state in which to approach everything is a state of enlightened scepticism4 ,we are to consider everything doubtful1 until it is proved certain1 or unless1 from its very nature1 it is not possible to doubt it4 ,nor is this all2 for1 apart from these modern canons1 the question of life's worth has1 as a matter of fact1 been always recognised as in a certain sense an open one4 ,the greatest intellects of the world1 in all ages1 have been at times inclined to doubt it4 ,and these times have not seemed to them times of blindness2 but on the contrary1 of specially clear insight4 ,scales1 as it were1 have fallen from their eyes for a moment or two1 and the beauty and worth of existence has appeared to them as but a deceiving show4 ,an entire book of the ,hebrew ,scriptures is devoted to a deliberate exposition of this philosophy4 ,in 'the most high and palmy state' of ,athens it was expressed fitfully also as the deepest wisdom of her most triumphant dramatist4#a ,and in ,shakspeare it appears so constantly1 that it must evidently have had for him some directly personal meaning4 ,this view1 however1 even by most of those who have held it1 has been felt to be really only a half-view in the guise of a whole one4 ,to ,shakspeare1 for instance1 it was full of a profound terror4 ,it crushed1 and appalled1 and touched him2 and there was not only implied in it that for us life does mean little1 but that by some possibility it might have meant much4 ,or else1 if the pessimism has been more complete than this1 it has probably been adopted as a kind of solemn affectation1 or has else been lamented as a form of diseased melancholy4 ,it is a view that healthy intellects have hitherto declined to entertain4 ,its advocates have been met with neglect1 contempt1 or castigation1 not with arguments4 ,they have been pitied as insane1 avoided as cynical1 or passed over as frivolous4 ,and yet1 but for one reason1 to that whole ,european world whose progress we are now inheriting1 this view would have seemed not only not untenable1 but even obvious4 ,the emptiness of the things of this life1 the incompleteness of even its highest pleasures1 and their utter powerlessness to make us really happy1 has been1 at least for fifteen hundred years1 a commonplace1 both with saints and sages4 ,the conception that anything in this life could of itself be of any great moment to us1 was considered as much a puerility unworthy of a man of the world1 as a disloyalty to ,god4 ,experience of life1 and meditation on life1 seemed to teach nothing but the same lesson1 seemed to preach a sermon de contemptu mundi4 ,the view the eager monk began with1 the sated monarch ended with4 ,but matters did not end here4 ,there was something more to come1 by which this view was altogether transmuted1 and which made the wilderness and the waste place at once blossom as the rose4 ,judged of by itself1 this life would indeed be vanity2 but it was not to be judged of by itself4 ,all its ways seemed to break short aimlessly into precipices1 or to be lost hopelessly in deserts4 ,they led to no visible end4 ,true2 but they led to ends that were invisible--to spiritual and eternal destinies1 to triumphs beyond all hope1 and portentous failures beyond all fear4 ,this all men might see1 if they would only choose to see4 ,the most trivial of our daily actions became thus invested with an immeasurable meaning4 ,life was thus evidently not vanity1 not an idiot's tale1 not unprofitable2 those who affected to think it was1 were naturally disregarded as either insane or insincere3 and we may thus admit that hitherto1 for the progressive nations of the world1 the worth of life has been capable of demonstration1 and safe beyond the reach of any rational questioning4 ,but now1 under the influence of positive thought1 all this is changing4 ,life1 as we have all of us inherited it1 is coloured with the intense colours of ,christianity2 let us ourselves be personally ,christians or not1 we are instinct with feelings with regard to it that were applicable to it in its ,christian state3 and these feelings it is that we are still resolved to retain4 ,as the most popular ,english exponent of the new school says3 ',all positive methods of treating man1 of a comprehensive kind1 adopt to the full all that has ever been said about the dignity of man's moral and spiritual life4' ,but here comes the difficulty4 ,this adoption we speak of must be justified upon quite new reasons4 ,indeed it is practically the boast of its advocates that it must be4 ,an extreme value1 as we see1 they are resolved to give to life2 they will not tolerate those who deny its existence4 ,but they are obliged to find it in the very place where hitherto it has been thought to be conspicuous by its absence4 ,it is to be found in no better or wider future1 where injustice shall be turned to justice1 trouble into rest1 and blindness into clear sight2 for no such future awaits us4 ,it is to be found in life itself1 in this earthly life1 this life between the cradle and the grave2 and though imagination and sympathy may enlarge and extend this for the individual1 yet the limits of its extension are very soon arrived at4 ,it is limited by the time the human race can exist1 by the space in the universe that the human race occupies1 and the capacities of enjoyment that the human race possesses4 ,here1 then1 is a distinct and intelligible task that the positive thinkers have set themselves4 ,they have taken everything away from life that to wise men hitherto has seemed to redeem it from vanity4 ,they have to prove to us that they have not left it vain4 ,they have to prove those things to be solid that have hitherto been thought hollow2 those things to be serious that have hitherto been thought contemptible4 ,they must prove to us that we shall be contented with what has never yet contented us1 and that the widest minds will thrive within limits that have hitherto been thought too narrow for the narrowest4 ,now1 of course1 so far as we can tell without examining the matter1 they may be able to accomplish this revolution4 ,there is nothing on the face of it that is impossible4 ,it may be that our eyes are only blinded to the beauty of the earth by having gazed so long and so vainly into an empty heaven1 and that when we have learnt to use them a little more to the purpose1 we shall see close at hand in this life what we had been looking for1 all this while1 in another4 ,but still1 even if this revolution be possible1 the fact remains that it is a revolution1 and it cannot be accomplished without some effort4 ,our positive thinkers have a case to be proved4 ,they must not beg the very point that is most open to contradiction1 and which1 when once duly apprehended1 will be most sure to provoke it4 ,if this life be not incapable of satisfying us1 let them show us conclusively that it is not4 ,but they can hardly expect that1 without any such showing at all1 the world will deliberately repel as a blasphemy what it has hitherto accepted as a commonplace4 ,this objection is itself so obvious that it has not escaped notice4 ,but the very fact of its obviousness has tended to hide the true force of it1 and coming so readily to the surface1 it has been set down as superficial4 ,it is1 however1 very constantly recognised1 and is being met on all sides with a very elaborate answer4 ,it is this answer that ,i shall now proceed to consider4 ,it is a very important one1 and it deserves our most close attention1 as it contains the chief present argument for the positive faith in life4 ,i shall show how this argument is vitiated by a fundamental fallacy4 ,it is admitted that to a hasty glance there may certainly seem some danger of our faith in life's value collapsing1 together with our belief in ,god4 ,it is admitted that this is not in the least irrational4 ,but it is contended that a scientific study of the past will show us that these fears are groundless1 and will reassure us as to the future4 ,we are referred to a new branch of knowledge1 the philosophy of history1 and we are assured that by this all our doubts will be set at rest4 ,this philosophy of history resembles1 on an extended scale1 the practical wisdom learnt by the man of the world4 ,as long as a man is inexperienced and new to life1 each calamity as it comes to him seems something unique and overwhelming1 but as he lives on1 suffers more of them1 and yet finds that he is not overwhelmed1 he learns to reduce them to their right dimensions1 and is able1 with sufficient self-possession1 to let each of them teach some useful lesson to him4 ,thus we1 it is said1 if we were not better instructed1 might naturally take the present decline of faith to be an unprecedented calamity that was ushering in an eve of darkness and utter ruin4 ,but the philosophy of history puts the whole matter in a different light4 ,it teaches us that the condition of the world in our day1 though not normal1 is yet by no means peculiar4 ,it points to numerous parallels in former ages1 and treats the rise and fall of creeds as regular phenomena in human history1 whose causes and recurrence we can distinctly trace4 ,other nations and races have had creeds1 and have lost them2 they have thought1 as some of us think1 that the loss would ruin them3 and yet they have not been ruined4 ,creeds1 it is contended1 were imaginative1 provisional1 and mistaken expressions of the underlying and indestructible sense of the nobility of human life4 ,they were artistic1 not scientific4 ,a statue of ,apollo1 for instance1 or a picture of the ,madonna1 were really representations of what men aimed at producing on earth1 not of what actually had any existence in heaven4 ,and if we look back at the greatest civilisations of antiquity1 we shall find1 it is said1 that what gave them vigour and intensity were purely human interests3 and though religion may certainly have had some reflex action on life1 this action was either merely political or was else injurious4 ,it is thus that intense ,greek life is presented to us1 the influence of which is still felt in the world4 ,its main stimulus we are told was frankly human4 ,it would have lost none of its keenness if its theology had been taken from it4 ,and there1 it is said1 we see the positive worth of life2 we see already realised what we are now growing to realise once more4 ,christianity1 with its supernatural aims and objects1 is spoken of as an 'episode of disease and delirium2' it is a confusing dream1 from which we are at last awaking2 and the feelings of the modern school are expressed in the following sentence of a distinguished modern writer3#b ',just as the traveller1' he says1 'who has been worn to the bone by years of weary striving among men of another skin1 suddenly gazes with doubting eyes upon the white face of a brother1 so if we travel backwards in thought over the darker ages of the history of ,europe we at length reach back with such bounding heart to men who had like hopes with ourselves1 and shake hands across that vast with 444 our own spiritual ancestors4' ,nor are the ,greeks the only nation whose history is supposed to be thus so reassuring to us4 ,the early ,jews are pointed to1 in the same way1 as having felt pre-eminently the dignity of this life1 and having yet been absolutely without any belief in another4 ,but the example1 which for us is perhaps the most forcible of all1 is to be found in the history of ,rome1 during her years of widest activity4 ,we are told to look at such men as ,cicero or as ,csar--above all to such men as ,csar--and to remember what a reality life was to them4 ,csar certainly had little religion enough2 and what he may have had1 played no part in making his life earnest4 ,he took the world as he found it1 as all healthy men have taken it2 and1 as it is said1 all healthy men will still continue to take it4 ,nor was such a life as ,csar's peculiar to himself4 ,it represents that purely human life that flourished generally in such vigour amongst the ,romans4 ,and the consideration of it is said to be all the more instructive1 because it flourished in the face of just the same conditions that we think so disheartening now4 ,there was in those times1 as there is in ours1 a wide disintegration of the old faiths2 and to many1 then as now1 this fact seemed at once sad and terrifying4 ,as we read ,juvenal1 ,petronius1 ,lucian1 or ,apuleius1 we are astounded at the likeness of those times to these4 ,even in minute details1 they correspond with a marvellous exactness4 ,and hence there seems a strange force in the statement that history repeats itself1 and that the wisdom learnt from the past can be applied to the present and the future4 ,but all this1 though it is doubtless true1 is in reality only half the truth2 and as used in the arguments of the day1 it amounts practically to a profound falsehood4 ,history in a certain sense1 of course1 does repeat itself2 and the thing that has been is in a certain sense the thing that shall be4 ,but there is a deeper and a wider sense in which1 this is not so4 ,let us take the life of an individual man1 for instance4 ,a man of fifty will retain very likely many of the tastes and tricks that were his1 when a boy of ten3 and people who have known him long will often exclaim that he is just the same as he always was4 ,but in spite of this1 they will know that he is very different4 ,his hopes will have dwindled down2 the glow1 the colour1 and the bright haze will have gone from them2 things that once amused him will amuse him no more3 things he once thought important1 he will consider weary trifles2 and if he thinks anything serious at all1 they will not be things he thought serious when a boy4 ,the same thing is true of the year1 and its changing seasons4 ,the history of a single year may be1 in one sense1 said to repeat itself every day4 ,there is the same recurrence of light and darkness1 of sunrise and of sunset3 and a man who had lived only for a month or two1 might fancy that this recurrence was complete4 ,but let him live a little longer1 and he will come to see that this is not so4 ,slowly through the summer he will begin to discern a change2 until at last he can contrast the days and nights of winter with the days and nights of summer1 and see how flowers that once opened fresh every morning1 now never open or close at all4 ,then he will see that the two seasons1 though in many points so like each other1 are yet1 in a far deeper way1 different4 ,and so it is with the world's history4 ,isolate certain phenomena1 and they do1 without doubt1 repeat themselves2 but it is only when isolated that they can be said to do so4 ,in many points the ,european thought and civilisation of to-day may seem to be a repetition of what has been before2 we may fancy that we recognise our brothers in the past1 and that we can1 as the writer above quoted says1 shake hands with them across the intervening years4 ,but this is really only a deceiving fancy1 when applied to such deep and universal questions as those we have now to deal with--to religion1 to positive thought1 and to the worth of life4 ,the positivists and the unbelievers of the modern world1 are not the same as those of the ancient world4 ,even when their language is identical1 there is an immeasurable gulf between them4 ,in our denials and assertions there are certain new factors1 which at once make all such comparisons worthless4 ,the importance of these will by-and-by appear more clearly1 but ,i shall give a brief account of them now4 ,the first of these factors is the existence of ,christianity1 and that vast and undoubted change in the world of which it has been at once the cause and the index4 ,it has done a work1 and that work still remains3 and we all feel the effects of it1 whether we will or no4 ,described in the most general way1 that work has been this4 ,the supernatural1 in the ancient world1 was something vague and indefinite3 and the classical theologies at any rate1 though they were to some extent formal embodiments of it1 could embody really but a very small part4 ,zeus and the ,olympian hierarchies were dimly perceived to be encircled by some vaster mystery2 which to the popular mind was altogether formless1 and which even such men as ,plato could only describe inadequately4 ,the supernatural was like a dim and diffused light1 brighter in some places1 and darker in others1 but focalised and concentrated nowhere4 ,christianity has focalised it1 united into one the scattered points of brightness1 and collected other rays that were before altogether imperceptible4 ,that vague 'idea of the good1' of which ,plato said most men dimly augured the existence1 but could not express their augury1 has been given a definite shape to by ,christianity in the form of its ,deity4 ,that ,deity1 from an external point of view1 may be said to have acquired ,his sovereignty as did the ,roman ,csar4 ,he absorbed into ,his own person the offices of all the gods that were before him1 as the ,roman ,csar absorbed all the offices of the state2 and in ,his case also1 as has been said of the ,roman ,csar1 the whole was immeasurably greater than the mere sum of the parts4 ,scientifically and philosophically ,he became the first cause of the world2 ,he became the father of the human soul1 and its judge2 and what is more1 its rest and its delight1 and its desire4 ,under the light of this conception1 man appeared an ampler being4 ,his thoughts were for ever being gazed on by the great controller of all things2 he was made in the likeness of the ,lord of lords2 he was of kin to the power before which all the visible world trembled2 and every detail in the life of a human soul became vaster1 beyond all comparison1 than the depths of space and time4 ,but not only did the sense of man's dignity thus develop1 and become definite4 ,the accompanying sense of his degradation became intenser and more definite also4 ,the gloom of a sense of sin is to be found in schylus1 but this gloom was vague and formless4 ,christianity gave to it both depth and form2 only the despair that might have been produced in this way was now softened by hope4 ,christianity has1 in fact1 declared clearly a supernatural of which men before were more or less ignorantly conscious4 ,the declaration may or may not have been a complete one1 but at any rate it is the completest that the world has yet known4 ,and the practical result is this3 when we1 in these days1 deny the supernatural1 we are denying it in a way in which it was never denied before4 ,our denial is beyond all comparison more complete4 ,the supernatural1 for the ancient world1 was like a perfume scenting life1 out of a hundred different vessels1 of which only two or three were visible to the same men or nations4 ,they therefore might get rid of these1 and yet the larger part of the scent would still remain to them4 ,but for us1 it is as though all the perfume had been collected into a single vessel2 and if we get rid of this1 we shall get rid of the scent altogether4 ,our air will be altogether odourless4 ,the materialism of ,lucretius is a good instance of this4 ,in many ways his denials bear a strong resemblance to ours4 ,but the resemblance ceases a little below the surface4 ,he denied the theology of his time as strongly as our positive thinkers deny the theology of ours4 ,but the theology he denied was incomplete and puerile4 ,he was not denying any ',all-embracer and ,all-sustainer1' for he knew of none such4 ,and his denial of the gods he did deny left him room for the affirmation of others1 whose existence1 if considered accurately1 was equally inconsistent with his own scientific premisses4 ,again1 in his denial of any immortality for man1 what he denied is not the future that we are denying4 ,the only future he knew of was one a belief in which had no influence on us1 except for sadness4 ,it was a protraction only of what is worst in life2 it was in no way a completion of what is best in it4 ,but with us the case is altogether different4 ,formerly the supernatural could not be denied completely1 because it was not known completely4 ,not to affirm is a very different thing from to deny4 ,and many beliefs which the positivists of the modern world are denying1 the positivists of the ancient world more or less consciously lived by4 ,next1 there is this point to remember4 ,whilst during the ,christian centuries1 the devotion to a supernatural and extramundane aim has been engendering1 as a recent writer has observed with indignation1 a degrading 'pessimism as to the essential dignity of man1'#c the world which we have been to a certain extent disregarding has been changing its character for us4 ,in a number of ways1 whilst we have not been perceiving it1 its objective grandeur has been dwindling2 and the imagination1 when again called to the feat1 cannot reinvest it with its old gorgeous colouring4 ,once the world1 with the human race1 who were the masters of it1 was a thing of vast magnitude--the centre of the whole creation4 ,the mind had no larger conceptions that were vivid enough to dwarf it4 ,but now all this has changed4 ,in the words of a well-known modern ,english historian1 ',the floor of heaven1 inlaid with stars1 has sunk back into an infinite abyss of immeasurable space2 and the firm earth itself1 unfixed from its foundations1 is seen to be but a small atom in the awful easiness of the universe4'#d ,the whole position1 indeed1 is reversed4 ,the skies once seemed to pay the earth homage1 and to serve it with light and shelter4 ,now they do nothing1 so far as the imagination is concerned1 but spurn and dwarf it4 ,and when we come to the details of the earth's surface itself1 the case is just the same4 ,it1 in its extent1 has grown little and paltry to us4 ,the wonder and the mystery has gone from it4 ,a ,cockney excursionist goes round it in a holiday trip2 there are no ,golden cities1 ten months journey deep1 ,in far ,tartarian wilds2#e nor do the confines of civilisation1 melt as they once did1 into any unknown and unexplored wonderlands4 ,and thus a large mass of sentiment that was once powerful in the world is now rapidly dwindling1 and1 so far as we can see1 there is nothing that can ever exactly replace it4 ,patriotism1 for instance1 can never again be the religion it was to ,athens1 or the pride it was to ,rome4 ,men are not awed and moved as once they were by local and material splendours4 ,the pride of life1 it is true1 is still eagerly coveted2 but by those at least who are most familiar with it1 it is courted and sought for with a certain contempt and cynicism4 ,it is treated like a courtesan1 rather than like a goddess4 ,whilst as to the higher enthusiasm that was once excited by external things1 the world in its present state could no more work itself up to this than a girl1 after three seasons1 could again go for dissipation to her dolls4 ,she might look back to the time of dolls with regret4 ,she might see that the interest they excited in her was1 perhaps1 far more pleasing than any she had found in love4 ,but the dolls would never rival her lovers1 none the less4 ,and with man1 and his aims and objects1 the case is just the same4 ,and we must remember that to realise keenly the potency of a past ideal1 is no indication that practically it will ever again be powerful4 ,briefly1 then1 the positive school of to-day we see thus far to be in this position4 ,it has to make demands upon human life that were never made before2 and human life is1 in many ways1 less able than it ever was to answer to them4 ,but this is not all4 ,there is a third matter yet left to consider--a third factor in the case1 peculiar to the present crisis4 ,that is the intense self-consciousness that is now developed in the world1 and which is something altogether new to it4 ,during the last few generations man has been curiously changing4 ,much of his old spontaneity of action has gone from him4 ,he has become a creature looking before and after2 and his native hue of resolution has been sickled over by thought4 ,we admit nothing now without question2 we have learnt to take to pieces all motives to actions4 ,we not only know more than we have done before1 but we are perpetually chewing the cud of our knowledge4 ,thus positive thought reduces all religions to ideals created by man2 and as such1 not only admits that they have had vast influence1 but teaches us also that we in the future must construct new ideals for ourselves4 ,only there will be this difference4 ,we shall now know that they are ideals1 we shall no longer mistake them for objective facts4 ,but our positive thinkers forget this4 ,they forget that the ideals that were once active in the world were active amongst people who thought that they were more than ideals1 and who very certainly did mistake them for facts2 and they forget how different their position will be1 as soon as their true nature is recognised4 ,there is no example1 so far as ,i know1 to be found in all history1 of men having been stimulated or affected in any important way--none1 at any rate1 of their having been restrained or curbed--by a mere ideal that was known to have no reality to correspond to it4 ,a child is frightened when its nurse tells it that a black man will come down the chimney and take it away4 ,the black man1 it is true1 is only an ideal2 and yet the child is affected4 ,but it would cease to be affected the instant it knew this4 ,as we go on with our enquiry these considerations will become plainer to us4 ,but enough has even now been said to show how distinct the present position is from any that have gone before it1 and how little the experience of the past is really fitted to reassure us4 ,greek and ,roman thought was positive1 in our sense of the word1 only in a very small degree4 ,the thought of the other ancient empires was not positive at all4 ,the oldest civilisation of which any record is left to us--the civilisation of ,egypt--was based on a theism which1 of all other theisms1 most nearly approaches ours4 ,and the doctrine of a future life was first learnt by the ,jews from their masters during the ,captivity4 ,we search utterly in vain through history for any parallel to our own negations4 ,i have spoken hitherto of those peoples only whose history more or less directly has affected ours4 ,but there is a vast portion of the human race with which1 roughly speaking1 our progress has had no connection2 and the religions of these races1 which are now for the first time beginning to be accurately studied1 are constantly being appealed to in support of the positive doctrines4 ,thus it is urged by ,mr4 ,leslie ,stephen that 'the briefest outline of the religious history of mankind shows that creeds which can count more adherents than ,christianity1 and have flourished through a longer period1 have omitted all that makes the ,christian doctrine of a future state 'valuable in the eyes of the supporters2' and ,dr4 ,tyndall points with the same delighted confidence to the gospel of ,buddhism1 as one of 'pure human ethics1 divorced not only from ,brahma and the ,brahminic ,trinity1 but even from the existence of ,god4'#f ,many other such appeals are made to what are somewhat vaguely called 'the multitudinous creeds of the ,east2' but it is to ,buddhism1 in its various forms1 that they would all seem to apply4 ,let us now consider the real result of them4 ,our positivists have appealed to ,buddhism1 and to ,buddhism they shall certainly go4 ,it is one of the vastest and most significant of all human facts4 ,but its significance is somewhat different from what it is popularly supposed to be4 ,that the ,buddhist religion has had a wide hold on the world is true4 ,indeed1 forty per cent4 of the whole human race at this moment profess it4 ,except the ,judaic1 it is the oldest of existing creeds2 and beyond all comparison it numbers most adherents4 ,and it is quite true also that it does not1 in its pure state1 base its teaching on the belief in any personal ,god1 or offer as an end of action any happiness in any immortal life4 ,but it does not for this reason bear any real resemblance to our modern ,western positivism1 nor give it any reason to be sanguine4 ,on the contrary1 it is most absolutely opposed to it2 and its success is due to doctrines which ,western positivism most emphatically repudiates4 ,in the first place1 so far from being based on exact thought1 ,buddhism takes for its very foundation four great mysteries1 that are explicitly beyond the reach either of proof or reason2 and of these the foremost and most intelligible is the transmigration and renewal of the existence of the individual4 ,it is by this mystical doctrine1 and by this alone1 that ,buddhism gains a hold on the common heart of man4 ,this is the great fulcrum of its lever4 ,then further--and this is more important still--whereas the doctrine of ,western positivism is that human life is good1 or may be made good2 and that in the possibility of the enjoyment of it consists the great stimulus to action2 the doctrine of ,buddhism is that human life is evil1 and that man's right aim is not to gratify1 but to extinguish1 his desire for it4 ,love1 for instance1 as ,i have said before1 is by most ,western positivists held to be a high blessing4 ,buddhism tells us we should avoid it 'as though it were a pit of burning coals4' ,the most influential positive writer in ,england#g has said3 ',i desire no future that will break the ties of the past4' ,buddhism says that we should desire no present that will create any ties for the future4 ,the beginning of the ,buddhist teaching is the intense misery of life2 the reward of ,buddhist holiness is to1 at last1 live no longer4 ,if we die in our sins1 we shall be obliged to live again on the earth2 and it will not be1 perhaps1 till after many lives that the necessity for fresh births will be exhausted4 ,but when we have attained perfection1 the evil spell is broken2 and 'then the wise man1' it is said1 'is extinguished as this lamp4' ,the highest life was one of seclusion and asceticism4 ,the founder of ,buddhism was met1 during his first preaching1 with the objection that his system1 if carried out fully1 would be the ruin and the extermination of humanity4 ,and he did not deny the charge2 but said that what his questioners called ruin1 was in reality the highest good4 ,it is then hard to conceive an appeal more singularly infelicitous than that which our modern positivists make to ,buddhism4 ,it is the appeal of optimists to inveterate pessimists1 and of exact thinkers to inveterate mystics4 ,if the consideration of it tells us anything of importance1 it tells us this--that by far the largest mass of mankind that has ever been united by a single creed has explicitly denied every chief point that our ,western teachers assert4 ,so far then from helping to close the question we are to deal with--the question as to the positive worth of life1 the testimony of ,buddhism1 if it be of any weight at all1 can only go to convince us that the question is at once new and open--new1 because it has never yet been asked so fully2 and open1 because in so far as it has been asked1 nearly half mankind has repudiated the answer that we are so desirous of giving it4 ,mr4 ,leslie ,stephen calls ,buddhism 'a stupendous fact1' and ,i quite agree with him that it is so2 but taken in connection with the present philosophy of ,europe1 it is hardly a fact to strengthen our confidence in the essential dignity of man1 or the worth of man's life4 ,in short1 the more we consider the matter1 and the more various the points from which we do so1 the more plain will it become to us that the problem the present age is confronted by is an altogether unanswered one2 and that the closest seeming parallels to be found amongst other times and races1 have far less really of parallelism in them than of contrast4 ,the path of thought1 as it were1 has taken a sudden turn round a mountain2 and our bewildered eyes are staring on an undreamed-of prospect4 ,the leaders of progress thus far have greeted the sight with acclamation1 and have confidently declared that we are looking on the promised land4 ,but to the more thoughtful1 and to the less impulsive1 it is plain that a mist hangs over it1 and that we have no right to be sure whether it is the promised land or no4 ,they see grave reasons for making a closer scrutiny1 and for asking if1 when the mist lifts1 what we see will be not splendour1 but desolation4 ,such1 in brief outline1 is the question we are to deal with4 ,we will now go on to approach it in a more detailed way4 ,,footnotes3 #a ,vide ,sophocles1 ,o,edipus ,coloneus4 #b ,professor ,clifford1 whose study of history leads him to regard ,catholicism as nothing more than an 'episode' in the history of ,western progress4 #c ,mr4 ,frederic ,harrison4 #d ,mr4 ,froude1 ,history of ,england1 chap4 i4 #e ,wordsworth4 #f ,quoted by ,dr4 ,tyndall from ,professor ,blackie4 #g ,george ,eliot4 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,the ,,prize ,,of ,,life4 ',the kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hid in a field4' ,having thus seen broadly what is meant by that claim for life that we are about to analyse1 we must now examine it more minutely1 as made by the positive school themselves4 ,this will at once make evident one important point4 ,the worth in question is closely bound up with what we call morality4 ,in this respect our deniers of the supernatural claim to be on as firm a footing as the believers in it4 ,they will not admit that the earnestness of life is lessened for them2 or that they have opened any door either to levity or to licentiousness4 ,it is true indeed that it is allowed occasionally that the loss of a faith in ,god1 and of the life in a future1 may1 under certain circumstances1 be a real loss to us4 ,others again contend that this loss is a gain4 ,such views as these1 however1 are not much to the purpose4 ,for those even1 according to whom life has lost most in this way1 do not consider the loss a very important1 still less a fatal one4 ,the good is still to be an aim for us1 and our devotion to it will be more valuable because it will be quite disinterested4 ,thus ,dr4 ,tyndall informs us that though he has now rejected the religion of his earlier years1 yet granting him proper health of body1 there is 'no spiritual experience1' such as he then knew1 'no resolve of duty1 no word of mercy1 no act of self-renouncement1 no solemnity of thought1 no joy in the life and aspects of nature1 that would not still be' his4 ,the same is the implicit teaching of all ,george ,eliot's novels2 whilst ,professor ,huxley tells us that come what may to our 'intellectual beliefs and even education1' 'the beauty of holiness and the ugliness of sin' will remain for those that have eyes to see them1 'no mere metaphors1 but real and intense feelings4' ,these are but a few examples1 but the view of life they illustrate is so well known that these few will suffice4 ,the point on which the modern positivist school is most vehement1 is that it does not destroy1 but that on the contrary it intensifies1 the distinction between right and wrong4 ,and now let us consider what1 according to all positive theories1 this supremacy of morality means4 ,it means that there is a certain course of active life1 and a certain course only1 by which life can be made by everyone a beautiful and a noble thing3 and life is called earnest1 because such a prize is within our reach1 and solemn because there is a risk that we may fail to reach it4 ,were this not so1 right and wrong could have no general and objective meaning4 ,they would be purely personal matters--mere misleading names1 in fact1 for the private likes and the dislikes of each of us2 and to talk of right1 and good1 and morality1 as things that we ought all to conform to1 and to live by1 would be simply to talk nonsense4 ,what the very existence of a moral system implies is1 that whatever may be our personal inclinations naturally1 there is some common pattern to which they should be all adjusted2 the reason being that we shall so all become partakers in some common happiness1 which is greater beyond comparison than every other kind4 ,here we are presented with two obvious tasks3 the first1 to enquire what this happiness is1 what are the qualities and attractions generally ascribed to it2 the second1 to analyse it1 as it is thus held up to us1 and to see if its professed ingredients are sufficient to make up the result4 ,to proceed then1 all moral systems must1 as we have just seen1 postulate some end of action1 an end to which morality is the only road4 ,further1 this end is the one thing in life that is really worth attaining2 and since we have to do with no life other than this one1 it must be found amongst the days and years of which this short life is the aggregate4 ,on the adequacy of this universal end depends the whole question of the positive worth of life1 and the essential dignity of man4 ,that this is at least one way of stating the case has been often acknowledged by the positive moralists themselves4 ,the following passage1 for instance1 is from the autobiography of ,j4,s4 ,mill4 ',from the winter of #ahba1' he writes1 'when ,i first read ,bentham4444 ,i had what might truly be called an object in life1 to be a reformer of the world4444 ,i endeavoured to pick up as many flowers as ,i could by the way2 but as a serious and permanent personal satisfaction to rest upon1 my whole reliance was placed on this4444 ,but the time came when ,i awakened from this as from a dream4444 ,it occurred to me to put the question directly to myself3 ,suppose that all your objects in life realised2 that all the changes in institutions and opinions which you were looking forward to1 could be completely effected in this very instant1 would this be a very great joy and happiness to you8 ,and an irrepressible self-consciousness distinctly answered ,no6 ,at this my heart sank within me3 the whole foundation on which my life was constructed fell down4444 ,the end had ceased to charm1 and how could there ever again be any interest in the means8 ,i seemed to have nothing left to live for4444 ,the lines in ,coleridge's ,dejection exactly describe my case3-- ,o grief without a pang1 void1 dark and drear1 ,a dreary1 stifled1 unimpassioned grief1 ,which finds no natural outlet nor relief ,in word1 or sigh1 or tear4 99 99 99 99 99 ,work without hope draws nectar in a sieve1 ,and life without an object cannot live4' ,and the foregoing confession is made more significant by the author's subsequent comment on it4 ',though my dejection1' he says1 'honestly looked at1 could not be called other than egotistical1 produced by the ruin1 as ,i thought1 of my fabric of happiness1 yet the destiny of mankind was ever in my thoughts1 and could not be separated from my own4 ,i felt that the flaw in my life must be a flaw in life itself2 and that the question was whether1 if the reformers of society and government could succeed in their objects1 and every person in the community were free1 and in a state of physical comfort1 the pleasures of life being no longer kept up by struggle and privation1 would cease to be pleasures4 ,and ,i felt that unless ,i could see some better hope than this for human happiness in general1 my dejection must continue4' ,it is true that in ,mill's case the dejection did not continue2 and that in certain ways at which it is not yet time to touch1 he succeeded1 to his own satisfaction1 in finding the end he was thus asking for4 ,i only quote him to show how necessary he considered such an end to be4 ,he acknowledged the fact1 not only theoretically1 or with his lips1 but by months of misery1 by intermittent thoughts of suicide1 and by years of recurring melancholy4 ,some ultimate end of action1 some kind of satisfying happiness--this1 and this alone1 he felt1 could give any meaning to work1 or make possible any kind of virtue4 ,and a yet later authority has told us precisely the same thing4 ,he has told us that the one great question that education is of value for answering1 is this very question that was so earnestly asked by ,mill4 ',the ultimate end of education1' says ,professor ,huxley1 'is to promote morality and refinement1 by teaching men to discipline themselves1 and by leading them to see that the highest1 as it is the only content1 is to be attained not by grovelling in the rank and steaming valleys of sense1 but by continually striving towards those high peaks1 where1 resting in eternal calm1 reason discerns the undefined but bright ideal of the highest good--a cloud by day1 a pillar of fire by night4' ,and these words are an excellent specimen of the general moral exhortations of the new school4 ,now all this is very well as far as it goes2 and were there not one thing lacking1 it would be just the answer that we are at present so anxious to elicit4 ,but the one thing lacking1 is enough to make it valueless4 ,it may mean a great deal2 but there is no possibility of saying exactly what it means4 ,before we can begin to strive towards the 'highest good1' we must know something of what this 'highest good' is4 ,we must make this 'higher ideal' stand and unfold itself4 ,if it cannot be made to do this1 if it vanishes into mist as we near it1 and takes a different shape to each of us as we recede from it2 still more1 if only some can see it1 and to others it is quite invisible--then we must simply set it down as an illusion1 and waste no more time in pursuit of it4 ,but that it is not an illusion is the great positivist claim for it4 ,heaven and the love of ,god1 we are told1 were illusions4 ,this 'highest good' we are offered1 stands out in clear contradistinction to these4 ,it is an actual attainable thing1 a thing for flesh and blood creatures2 it is to be won and enjoyed by them in their common daily life4 ,it is1 as its prophets distinctly and unanimously tell us1 some form of happiness that results in this life to us1 from certain conduct2 it is a thing essentially for the present2 and 'it is obviously1' says ,professor ,huxley1 'in no way affected by abbreviation or prolongation of our conscious life4' ,this being the case1 it is clearly not unreasonable to demand some explicit account of it2 or if no sound account of it be extant1 to enquire diligently what sort of account of it is possible4 ,and let it be remembered that to make this demand is in no way to violate the great rule of ,aristotle1 and to demand a greater accuracy than the nature of the subject will admit of4 ,the 'highest good1' it is quite possible1 may be a vague thing2 not capable1 like a figure in ,euclid1 of being defined exactly4 ,but many vague things can be described exactly enough for all practical purposes4 ,they can be described so that we at once know what is meant1 and so that we can at once find and recognise them4 ,feelings1 characters1 and personal appearance are things of this sort2 so too is the taste of food1 the style of furniture1 or the general tone and tenour of our life1 under various circumstances4 ,and the 'good' we are now considering can surely be not less describable than these4 ,when therefore our exact thinkers speak to us about the highest happiness1 we want to know what meaning they attach to the words4 ,has ,professor ,huxley1 for instance1 ever enjoyed it himself1 or does he ever hope to do so8 ,if so1 when1 where1 and how8 ,what must be done to get it1 and what must be left undone8 ,and when it is got1 what will it be like8 ,is it something brief1 rapturous1 and intermittent1 as the language often used about it might seem to suggest to one8 ,is it known only in brief moments of ,neoplatonic ecstasy1 to which all the acts of life should be stepping stones8 ,it certainly cannot be that4 ,our exact thinkers are essentially no mystics1 and the highest happiness must be something far more solid than transcendental ecstasies4 ,surely1 therefore1 if it exists at all we must be able somewhere to lay our hands upon it4 ,it is a pillar of fire by night2 surely then it will be visible4 ,it is to be lifted up1 and is to draw all men unto it4 ,it is nothing if not this3 and we shall see more clearly if we consider the matter further4 ,this chief good1 or this highest happiness1 being the end of moral action1 one point about it is at once evident4 ,its value is of course recognised by those who practise morality1 or who enunciate moral systems4 ,virtuous men are virtuous because the end gained by virtue is an end that they desire to gain4 ,but this is not enough2 it is not enough that to men who are already seeking the good the good should appear in all its full attractiveness4 ,it must be capable of being made attractive for those who do not know it1 and who have never sought it1 but who have1 on the contrary1 always turned away from everything that is supposed to lead to it4 ,it must be able1 in other words1 not only to satisfy the virtuous of the wisdom of their virtue1 it must be able to convince the vicious of the folly of their vice4 ,vice is only bad in the eye of the positive moralist because of the precious something that we are at the present moment losing by it4 ,he can only convince us of our error by giving us some picture of our loss4 ,and he must be able to do this1 if his system is worth anything2 and in promulgating his system he professes that he can do it4 ,the physician's work is to heal the sick2 his skill must not end in explaining his own health4 ,it is clear that if a morality is incapable of being preached1 it is useless to say that it is worthy of being practised4 ,the statement will be meaningless1 except to those for whom it is superfluous4 ,it is therefore essential to the moral end that in some way or other it be generally presentable1 so that its excellence shall appeal to some common sense in man4 ,and again1 be it observed1 that we are demanding no mathematical accuracy4 ,we demand only that the presentation shall be accurate enough to let us recognise its corresponding fact in life4 ,now what is a code of morals1 and why has the world any need of one8 ,a code of morals is a number of restraining orders2 it rigorously bids us walk in certain paths4 ,but why8 ,what is the use of bidding us8 ,because there are a number of other paths that we are naturally inclined to walk in4 ,the right path is right because it leads to the highest kind of happiness2 the wrong paths are wrong because they lead to lower kinds of happiness4 ,but when men choose vice instead of virtue1 what is happening8 ,they are considering the lower or the lesser happiness better than the greater or the higher4 ,it is this mistake that is the essence and cause of immorality2 it is this mistake that mankind is ever inclined to make1 and it is only because of this inclination that any moral system is of any general value4 ,were we all naturally inclined to morality1 the analysis of it1 it is true1 might have great speculative interest2 but a moral system would not be needed as it is for a great practical purpose4 ,the law1 as we all know1 has arisen because of transgressions1 and the moralist has to meddle with human nature mainly because it is inconstant and corrupted4 ,it is a wild horse that has not so much to be broken1 once for all1 as to be driven and reined in perpetually4 ,and the art of the moralist is1 by opening the mind's eye to the true end of life1 to make us sharply conscious of what we lose by losing it4 ,and the men to whom we shall chiefly want to present this end are not men1 let us remember1 who desire to see it1 or who will seek for it of their own accord1 but men who are turned away from it1 and on whose sight it must be thrust4 ,it is not the righteous but the sinners that have to be called to repentance4 ,and not this only3 not only must the end in question be thus presentable1 but when presented it must be able to stand the inveterate criticism of those who fear being allured by it1 who are content as they are1 and have no wish to be made discontented4 ,these men will submit it to every test by which they may hope to prove that its attractions are delusive4 ,they will test it with reason1 as we test a metal by an acid4 ,they will ask what it is based upon1 and of what it is compounded4 ,they will submit it to an analysis as merciless as that by which their advisers have dissolved theism4 ,here then is a fact that all positive morality presupposes4 ,it presupposes that life by its very nature contains the possibility in it of some one kind of happiness1 which is open to all men1 and which is better than all others4 ,it is sufficiently presentable even to those who have not experienced it2 and its excellence is not vaguely apparent only1 but can be exactly proved from obvious and acknowledged facts4 ,further1 this happiness must be removed from its alternatives by some very great interval4 ,the proudest1 the serenest1 the most successful life of vice1 must be miserable when compared with the most painful life of virtue1 and miserable in a very high degree2 for morality is momentous exactly in proportion to the interval between the things to be gained and escaped by it4 ,and unless this interval be a very profound one1 the language at present current as to the importance of virtue1 the dignity of life1 and the earnestness of the moral struggle1 will be altogether overstrained and ludicrous4 ,now is such a happiness a reality or is it a myth8 ,that is the great question4 ,can human life1 cut off utterly from every hope beyond itself--can human life supply it8 ,if it cannot1 then evidently there can be no morality without religion4 ,but perhaps it can4 ,perhaps life has greater capacities than we have hitherto given it credit for4 ,perhaps this happiness may be really close at hand for each of us1 and we have only overlooked it hitherto because it was too directly before our eyes4 ,at all events1 wherever it is let it be pointed out to us4 ,it is useless1 as we have seen1 if not generally presentable4 ,to those who most need it1 it is useless until presented4 ,indeed1 until it is presented we are but acting on the maxim of its advocates by refusing to believe in its existence4 ',no simplicity of mind1' says ,professor ,clifford1 'no obscurity of station1 can escape the universal duty of questioning all that we believe4' ,the question1 then1 that we want answered has by this time1 ,i think1 been stated with sufficient clearness1 and its importance and its legitimacy been placed beyond a doubt4 ,i shall now go on to explain in detail how completely unsatisfactory are the answers that are at present given it2 how it is evaded by some and begged by others2 and how those that are most plausible are really made worthless1 by a subtle but profound defect4 ,these answers divide themselves into two classes1 which1 though invariably confused by those that give them1 are in reality quite distinct and separable4 ,professor ,huxley1 one of the most vigorous of our positive thinkers1 shall help us to understand these4 ,he is going to tell us1 let us remember1 about the 'highest good'--the happiness1 in other words1 that we have just been discussing--the secret of our life's worth1 and the test of all our conduct4 ,this happiness he divides into two kinds4#h ,he says that there are two things that we may mean when we speak about it4 ,we may mean the happiness of a society of men1 or we may mean the happiness of the members of that society4 ,and when we speak of morality1 we may mean two things also2 and these two things must be kept distinct4 ,we may mean what ,professor ,huxley calls 'social morality1' and of this the test and object is the happiness of societies2 or we may mean what he calls 'personal morality1' and of this the test and object is the happiness of individuals4 ,and the answers which our positive moralists make to us divide themselves into two classes1 according to the sort of happiness they refer to4 ,it is before all things important that this division be understood1 and be kept quite clear in our minds1 if we would see honestly what our positive modern systems amount to4 ,for what makes them at present so very hard to deal with1 is the fact that their exponents are perpetually perplexing themselves between these two classes of answers1 first giving one1 and then the other1 and imagining that1 by a kind of confusion of substance1 they can both afford solutions of the same questions4 ,thus they continually speak of life as though its crowning achievement were some kind of personal happiness2 and then being asked to explain the nature and basis of this1 they at once shift their ground1 and talk to us of the laws and conditions of social happiness4 ,professor ,huxley will again supply us with a very excellent example4 ,he starts with the thesis that both sorts of morality are strong enough to hold their own1 without supernatural aid2 and when we look to see on what ground he holds they are1 we find it to consist in the following explanation that one is4 ',given1' he says1 'a society of human beings under certain circumstances1 and the question whether a particular action on the part of one of its members will tend to increase the general happiness or not1 is a question of natural knowledge1 and as such is a perfectly legitimate subject of scientific inquiry4444 ,if it can be shown by observation or experiment1 that theft1 murder1 and adultery do not tend to diminish the happiness of society1 then1 in the absence of any but natural knowledge1 they are not social immoralities4' ,now1 in the above passage we have at least one thing4 ,we have a short epitome of one of those classes of answers that our positive moralists are offering us4 ,it is with this class that ,i shall deal in the following chapter2 and point out as briefly as may be its complete irrelevance4 ,after that1 ,i shall go on to the other4 ,,footnotes3 #h ,vide ,nineteenth ,century1 ,no4 #c1 pp4 #ecf1 #ecg4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,sociology ,,as ,,the ,,foundation ,,of ,,morality4 ,society1 says ,professor ,clifford1 is the highest of all organisms2#i and its organic nature1 he tells us1 is one of those great facts which our own generation has been the first to state rationally4 ,it is our understanding of this that enables us to supply morals with a positive basis4 ,it is1 he proceeds1 because society is organic1 'that actions which1 as individual1 are insignificant1 are massed together into 444 important movements4 ,co-operation or band-work is the life of it4' ,and 'it is the practice of band-work1' he adds1 that1 unknown till lately though its nature was to us1 has so moulded man as 'to create in him two specially human faculties1 the conscience and the intellect2' of which the former1 we are told1 gives us the desire for the good1 and the latter instructs us how to attain this desire by action4 ,so too ,professor ,huxley1 once more to recur to him1 says that that state of man would be 'a true civitas ,dei1 in which each man's moral faculty shall be such as leads him to control all those desires which run counter to the good of mankind4' ,and ,j4,s4 ,mill1 whose doubts as to the value of life we have already dwelt upon1 professed to have at last satisfied himself by a precisely similar answer4 ,he had never 'wavered in the conviction1' he tells us1 even all through his perplexity1 that1 if life had any value at all1 'happiness' was its one 'end1' and the 'test of its rule of conduct2' but he now thought that this end was to be attained by not making it the direct end1 but 'by fixing the mind on some object other than one's own happiness2 on the happiness of others--on the improvement of mankind4' ,the same thing is being told us on all sides1 and in countless ways4 ,the common name for this theory is ,utilitarianism2 and its great boast1 and its special professed strength1 is that it gives morals a positive basis in the acknowledged science of sociology4 ,whether sociology can really supply such a basis is what we now have to enquire4 ,there are many practical rules for which it no doubt can do so2 but will these rules correspond with what we mean by morals8 ,now the province of the sociologist1 within certain limits1 is clear enough4 ,his study is to the social body what the study of the physician is to the individual body4 ,it is the study of human action as productive1 or non-productive1 of some certain general good4 ,but here comes the point at issue--,what is this general good1 and what is included by it8 ,the positive school contend that it is general happiness2 and there1 they say1 is the answer to the great question--,what is the test of conduct1 and the true end of life8 ,but though1 as we shall see in another moment1 there is some plausibility in this1 there is really nothing in it of the special answer we want4 ,our question is1 ,what is the true happiness8 ,and what is the answer thus far8--,that the true happiness is general happiness2 that it is the happiness of men in societies2 that it is happiness equally distributed4 ,but this avails us nothing4 ,the coveted happiness is still a locked casket4 ,we know nothing as yet of its contents4 ,a happy society neither does nor can mean anything but a number of happy individuals1 so organised that their individual happiness is secured to them4 ,but what do the individuals want8 ,before we can try to secure it for them1 we must know that4 ,granted that we know what will make the individuals happy1 then we shall know what will make society happy4 ,and then social morality will be1 as ,professor ,huxley says1 a perfectly legitimate subject of scientific enquiry--then1 but not till then4 ,but this is what the positive school are perpetually losing sight of2 and the reason of the confusion is not far to seek4 ,within certain limits1 it is quite true1 the general good is a sufficiently obvious matter1 and beyond the reach of any rational dispute4 ,there are1 therefore1 certain rules with regard to conduct that we can arrive at and justify by strictly scientific methods4 ,we can demonstrate that there are certain actions which we must never tolerate1 and which we must join together1 as best we may1 to suppress4 ,actions1 for instance1 that would tend to generate pestilence1 or to destroy our good faith in our fellows1 or to render our lives and property insecure1 are actions the badness of which can be scientifically verified4 ,but the general good by which these actions are tested is something quite distinct from happiness1 though it undoubtedly has a close connection with it4 ,it is no kind of happiness1 high or low1 in particular2 it is simply those negative conditions required equally by every kind4 ,if we are to be happy in any way1 no matter what1 we must of course have our lives1 and1 next to our lives1 our health and our possessions secured to us4 ,but to secure us these does not secure us happiness4 ,it simply leaves us free to secure it1 if we can1 for ourselves4 ,once let us have some common agreement as to what this happiness is1 we may then be able to formulate other rules for attaining it4 ,but in the absence of any such agreement1 the only possible aim of social morality1 the only possible meaning of the general good1 is not any kind or any kinds of happiness1 but the security of those conditions without which all happiness would be impossible4 ,suppose the human race were a set of canaries in a cage1 and that we were in grave doubt as to what seed to give them--hemp-seed1 rape-seed1 or canary-seed1 or all three mixed in certain proportions4 ,that would exactly represent the state of our case thus far4 ,there is the question that we want the positive school to answer4 ,it is surely evident that1 in this perplexity1 it is beside the point to tell us that the birds must not peck each other's eyes out1 and that they must all have access to the trough that we are ignorant how to fill4 ,the fault then1 so continually committed by the positive school1 is this4 ,they confuse the negative conditions of happiness with the positive materials of it4 ,professor ,huxley1 in a passage ,i have already quoted1 is caught1 so to speak1 in the very act of committing it4 ',theft1 murder1 and adultery1' all these three1 it will be remembered1 he classes together1 and seems to think that they stand upon the same footing4 ,but from what has just been pointed out1 it is plain that they do not do so4 ,we condemn theft and murder for one reason4 ,we condemn adultery for quite another4 ,we condemn the former because they are incompatible with any form of happiness4 ,we condemn the latter because it is the supposed destruction of one particular form2 or the substitution1 rather1 of a form supposed to be less complete1 for another form supposed to be more complete4 ,if the 'highest good1' if the best kind of happiness1 be the end we are in search of1 the truths of sociology will help us but a very short way towards it4 ,by the practice of 'band-work' alone we shall never learn to construct a 'true ,civitas ,dei4' ,band-work with the same perfection may be practised for opposite ends4 ,send an army in a just war or an unjust one1 in either case it will need the same discipline4 ,there must be order amongst thieves1 as well as amongst honest men4 ,there can be an orderly brothel as well as an orderly nunnery1 and all order rests on co-operation4 ,we presume co-operation4 ,we require an end for which to co-operate4 ,i have already compared the science of sociology to that of medicine2 and the comparison will again be a very instructive one4 ,the aim of both sciences is to produce health2 and the relation of health to happiness is in both cases the same4 ,it is an important condition of the full enjoyment of anything3 but it will by no means of itself give or guide us to the best thing4 ,a man may be in excellent health1 and yet1 if he be prudent1 be leading a degrading life4 ,so1 too1 may a society4 ,the ,cities of the ,plain may1 for all we know to the contrary1 have been in excellent social health2 indeed1 there is every reason to believe they were4 ,they were1 apparently1 to a high degree strong and prosperous2 and the sort of happiness that their citizens set most store by was only too generally attainable4 ,there were not ten men to be found in them by whom the highest good had not been realised4 ,there are1 however1 two suppositions1 on which the general good1 or the health of the social organism1 can be given a more definite meaning1 and made in some sense an adequate test of conduct4 ,and one or other of these suppositions is apparently always lurking in the positivist mind4 ,but though1 when unexpressed1 and only barely assented to1 they may seem to be true1 their entire falsehood will appear the moment they are distinctly stated4 ,one of these suppositions is1 that for human happiness health is alone requisite--health in the social organism including sufficient wealth and freedom2 and that man's life1 whenever it is not interfered with1 will be moral1 dignified1 and delightful naturally1 no matter how he lives it4 ,but this supposition1 from a moralist1 is of course nonsense4 ,for1 were it true1 as we have just seen1 ,sodom might have been as moral as the tents of ,abraham2 and in a perfect state there would be a fitting place for both4 ,the social organism indeed1 in its highest state of perfection1 would manifest the richest variety in the development of such various parts4 ,it might consist of a number of motley communes#aj of monogamists and of free-lovers1 of ascetics and sybarites1 of saints and ,greek3 paiderastai--each of them being stones in this true ,civitas ,dei1 this holy city of ,god4 ,of course it may be contended that this state of things would be desirable2 that1 however1 is quite a different question4 ,but whatever else it was1 it would certainly not be moral1 in any sense in which the word has yet been used4 ,the second supposition ,i spoke of1 though less openly absurd than this one1 is really quite as false4 ,it consists of a vague idea that1 for some reason or other1 happiness can never be distributed in an equal measure to all1 unless it be not only equal in degree but also the same in kind2 and that the one kind that can be thus distributed is a kind that is in harmony with our conceptions of moral excellence4 ,now this is indeed so far true1 that there are doubtless certain kinds of happiness which1 if enjoyed at all1 can be enjoyed by the few alone2 and that the conditions under which alone the few can enjoy them disturb the conditions of all happiness for the many4 ,the general good1 therefore1 gives us at once a test by which such kinds of happiness can be condemned4 ,but to eliminate these will by no means leave us a residue of virtue2 for these so far from being co-extensive with moral evil1 do in reality lie only on the borders of it2 and the condemnation attached to them is a legal rather than a moral one4 ,it is based1 that is1 not so much on the kind of happiness itself as on the circumstances under which we are at present obliged to seek it4 ,thus the practice of seduction may be said to be condemned sufficiently by the misery brought by it to its victims1 and its victims' families4 ,but suppose the victims are willing1 and the families complacent1 this ground of condemnation goes2 though in the eye of the moralist1 matters in this last will be far worse than in the former4 ,it is therefore quite a mistake to say that the kind of happiness which it is the end of life to realise is defined or narrowed down appreciably by the fact that it is a general end4 ,vice can be enjoyed in common1 just as well as virtue2 nor if wisely regulated will it exhaust the tastes that it appeals to4 ,regulated with equal skill1 and with equal far-sightedness1 it will take its place side by side with virtue2 nor will sociology or social morality give us any reason for preferring the one to the other4 ,we may observe accordingly1 that if happiness of some certain kind be the moral test1 what ,professor ,huxley calls 'social morality'--the rule that is1 for producing the negative conditions of happiness1 it is not in itself morality at all4 ,it may indeed become so1 when the consciousness that we are conforming to it becomes one of the factors of our own personal happiness4 ,it then suffers a kind of apotheosis4 ,it is taken up into ourselves1 and becomes part and parcel of our own personal morality4 ,but it then becomes quite a different matter1 as we shall see very shortly2 and even then it supplies us with but a very small part of the answer4 ,thus far what has been made plain is this4 ,general1 or social happiness1 unless explained farther1 is simply for moral purposes an unmeaning phrase4 ,it evades the whole question we are asking2 for happiness is no more differentiated by saying that it is general1 than food is by saying that everyone at a table is eating it2 or than a language is by saying that every one in a room is talking it4 ,the social happiness of all of us means nothing but the personal happiness of each of us2 and if social happiness have any single meaning--in other words1 if it be a test of morals--it must postulate a personal happiness of some hitherto unexplained kind4 ,else sociology will be subsidiary to nothing but individual license2 general law will be but the protection of individual lawlessness2 and the completest social morality but the condition of the completest personal un-morality4 ,the social organism we may compare to a yew-tree4 ,science will explain to us how it has grown up from the ground1 and how all its twigs must have fitting room to expand in4 ,it will not show us how to clip the yew-tree into a peacock4 ,morality1 it is true1 must rest ultimately on the proved facts of sociology2 and this is not only true but evident4 ,but it rests upon them as a statue rests upon its pedestal1 and the same pedestal will support an ,athen or a ,priapus4 ,the matter1 however1 is not yet altogether disposed of4 ,the type of personal happiness that social morality postulates1 as a whole1 we have still to seek for4 ,but a part of it1 as ,i just pointed out1 will1 beyond doubt1 be a willing obedience by each to the rules that make it in its entirety within the reach of all4 ,about this obedience1 however1 there is a certain thing to remember3 it must be willing1 not enforced4 ,the laws will of course do all they can to enforce it2 but not only can they never do this completely1 but even if they could1 they would not produce morality4 ,conduct which1 if willing1 we should call highly moral1 we shall1 if enforced only1 call nothing more than legal4 ,we do not call a wild bear tame because it is so well caged that there is no fear of its attacking us2 nor do we call a man good because1 though his desires are evil1 we have made him afraid to gratify them4 ,further1 it is not enough that the obedience in question be willing in the sense that it does not give us pain4 ,if it is to be a moral quality1 it must also give us positive pleasure4 ,indeed1 it must not so much be obedience to the law as an impassioned co-operation with it4 ,now this1 if producible1 even though no further moral aim was connected with it1 would undoubtedly be of itself a moral element4 ,suppose two pigs1 for instance1 had only a single wallowing-place1 and each would like naturally to wallow in it for ever4 ,if each pig in turn were to rejoice to make room for his brother1 and were consciously to regulate his delight in becoming filthy himself by an equal delight in seeing his brother becoming filthy also1 we should doubtless here be in the presence of a certain moral element4 ,and though this1 in a human society1 might not carry us so far as we require to be carried1 it would1 without doubt1 if producible1 carry us a certain way4 ,the question is1 ,is this moral element1 this impassioned and unselfish co-operation with the social law1 producible1 in the absence of any farther end to which the social law is to be subordinate8 ,the positive school apparently think it is2 and this opinion has a seeming foundation in fact4 ,we will therefore carefully examine what this foundation is1 and see how far it is really able to support the weight that is laid upon it4 ,that fact1 in itself a quite undoubted one1 is the possession by man of a certain special and important feeling1 which1 viewed from its passive side1 we call sympathy1 and from its active side1 benevolence4 ,it exists in various degrees in different people1 but to some degree or other it probably exists in all4 ,most people1 for instance1 if they hear an amusing story1 at once itch to tell it to an appreciative friend2 for they find that the amusement1 if shared1 is doubled4 ,two epicures together1 for the same reason1 will enjoy a dinner better than if they each dined singly4 ,in such cases the enjoyment of another plays the part of a reflector1 which throws one's own enjoyment back on one4 ,nor is this all4 ,it is not only true that we often desire others to be pleased with us2 we often desire others to be pleased instead of us4 ,for instance1 if there be but one easy chair in a room1 one man will often give it up to another1 and prefer himself to stand1 or perhaps sit on the table4 ,to contemplate discomfort is often more annoying than to suffer it4 ,this is the fact in human nature on which the positive school rely for their practical motive power4 ,it is this sympathy and benevolence that is the secret of the social union2 and it is by these that the rules of social morality are to be absorbed and attracted into ourselves1 and made the directors of all our other impulses4 ,the feelings1 however1 that are thus relied on will be found1 on consideration1 to be altogether inadequate4 ,they are undoubted facts1 it is true1 and are ours by the very constitution of our nature2 but they do not possess the importance that is assigned to them1 and their limits are soon reached4 ,they are unequal in their distribution2 they are partial and capricious in their action2 and they are disturbed and counterbalanced by the opposite impulse of selfishness1 which is just as much a part of our nature1 and which is just as generally distributed4 ,it must be a very one-sided view of the case that will lead us to deny this2 and by such eclectic methods of observation we can support any theory we please4 ,thus there are many stories of unselfish heroism displayed by rough men on occasions such as shipwrecks1 and displayed quite spontaneously4 ,and did we confine our attention to this single set of examples1 we might naturally conclude that we had here the real nature of man bursting forth in all its intense entirety--a constant but suppressed force1 which we shall learn by-and-by to utilise generally4 ,but if we extend our observations a little farther1 we shall find another set of examples1 in which selfishness is just as predominant as unselfishness was in the first set4 ,the sailor1 for instance1 who might struggle to save a woman on a sinking ship1 will trample her to death to escape from a burning theatre4 ,and if we will but honestly estimate the composite nature of man1 we shall find that the sailor1 in this latter case1 embodies a tendency far commoner1 and far more to be counted on1 than he does in the former4 ,no fair student of life or history will1 ,i think1 be able to deny this4 ,the lives of the world's greatest men1 be they ,goethes or ,napoleons1 will be the first to show us that it is so4 ,whilst the world's best men1 who have been most successful in conquering their selfish nature1 will be the first to bear witness to the persistent strength of it4 ,but even giving these unpromising facts the least weight possible1 the case will practically be not much mended4 ,the unselfish impulses1 let them be diffused never so widely1 will be found1 as a general rule1 to be very limited in power2 and to be intense only for short periods1 and under exceptional circumstances4 ,they are intense only--in the absence of any further motive--when the thing to be won for another becomes invested for the moment with an abnormal value1 and the thing to be lost by oneself becomes abnormally depreciated2 when all intermediate possibilities are suddenly swept away from us1 and the only surviving alternatives are shame and heroism4 ,but this never happens1 except in the case of great catastrophes1 of such1 for instance1 as a shipwreck2 and thus the only conditions under which an impassioned unselfishness can be counted on1 are amongst the first conditions that we trust to progress to eliminate4 ,the common state of life1 then1 when the feelings are in this normal state of tension1 is all that in this connection we can really be concerned in dealing with4 ,and there1 unselfishness1 though as sure a fact as selfishness1 is1 spontaneously and apart from a further motive1 essentially unequal to the work it is asked to do4 ,thus1 though as ,i observed just now1 a man may often prefer to sit on a table and give up the arm-chair to a friend1 there are other times when he will be very loth to do so4 ,he will do so when the pleasure of looking at comfort is greater than the pleasure of feeling it4 ,and in certain states of mind and body this is very often the case4 ,but let him be sleepy and really in need of rest1 the selfish impulse will at once eclipse the unselfish1 and1 unless under the action of some alien motive1 he will keep the arm-chair for himself4 ,so1 too1 in the case of the two epicures1 if there be sufficient of the best dainties for both1 each will feel that it is so much the better4 ,but whenever the dainties in question cannot be divided1 it will be the tendency of each to take them furtively for himself4 ,and when we come to the conditions of happiness the matter will be just the same4 ,if without incommoding ourselves we can1 as ,professor ,huxley says1 repress 'all those desires which run counter to the good of mankind1' we shall no doubt all willingly do so2 only in that case little more need be said4 ,the ',civitas ,dei' we are promised may be left to take care of itself1 and it will doubtless very soon begin 'to rise like an exhalation4' ,but if this self-repression be a matter of great difficulty1 and one requiring a constant struggle on our part1 it will be needful for us to intensely realise1 when we abstain from any action1 that the happiness it would take from others will be far greater than the happiness it would give to ourselves4 ,suppose1 for instance1 a man were in love with his friend's wife1 and had engaged on a certain night to take her to the theatre4 ,he would instantly give the engagement up could he know that the people in the gallery would be burnt to death if he did not4 ,he would certainly not give it up because by the sight of his proceedings the moral tone of the stalls might be infinitesimally lowered2 still less would he do so because another wife's husband might be made infinitely jealous4 ,whenever we give up any source of personal happiness for the sake of the happiness of the community at large1 the two kinds of happiness have to be weighed together in a balance4 ,but the latter1 except in very few cases1 is at a great disadvantage3 only a part of it1 so to speak1 can be got into the scale4 ,what adds to my sense of pleasure in the proportion of a million pounds may be only taxing society in the proportion of half a farthing a head4 ,unselfishness with regard to society is thus essentially a different thing from unselfishness with regard to an individual4 ,in the latter case the things to be weighed together are commensurate3 not so is the former4 ,in the latter case1 as we have seen1 an impassioned self-devotion may be at times produced by the sudden presentation to a man of two extreme alternatives2 but in the former case such alternatives are not presentable4 ,i may know that a certain line of conduct will on the one hand give me great pleasure1 and that on the other hand1 if it were practised by everyone1 it would produce much general mischief2 but ,i shall know that my practising it1 will1 as a fact1 be hardly felt at all by the community1 or at all events only in a very small degree4 ,and therefore my choice is not that of the sailor's in the shipwreck4 ,it does not lie between saving my life at the expense of a woman's1 or saving a woman's life at the expense of mine4 ,it lies rather1 as it were1 between letting her lose her ear-ring and breaking my own arm4 ,it will appear1 therefore1 that the general conditions of an entirely undefined happiness form an ideal utterly unfitted to counterbalance individual temptation or1 to give even willingness1 let alone ardour1 to the self-denials that are required of us4 ,in the first place the conditions are so vague that even in the extremest cases the individual will find it difficult to realise that he is appreciably disturbing them4 ,and in the second place1 until he knows that the happiness in question is something of extreme value he will be unable to feel much ardour in helping to make it possible4 ,if we knew that the social organism in its state of completest health had no higher pleasure than sleep and eating1 the cause of its completest health would hardly excite enthusiasm4 ,and even if we did not rebel against any sacrifices for so poor a result as this1 we should at the best be resigned rather than blest in making them4 ,the nearest approach to a moral end that the science of sociology will of itself supply to us is an end that1 in all probability1 men will not follow at all1 or that will produce in them1 if they do1 no happier state than a passionless and passive acquiescence4 ,if we want anything more than this we must deal with happiness itself1 not with the negative conditions of it4 ,we must discern the highest good that is within the reach of each of us1 and this may perhaps supply us with a motive for endeavouring to secure the same blessing for all4 ,but the matter depends entirely on what this highest good is--on the end to which1 given the social health1 the social health will be directed4 ,the real answer to this question can be given1 as ,i have said before1 in terms of the individual only4 ,social happiness is a mere set of ciphers till the unit of personal happiness is placed before it4 ,a man's happiness may of course depend on other beings1 but still it is none the less contained in himself4 ,if our greatest delight were to see each other dance the can-can1 then it might be morality for us all to dance4 ,none the less would this be a happy world1 not because we were all dancing1 but because we each enjoyed the sight of such a spectacle4 ,many young officers take intense pride in their regiments1 and the character of such regiments may in a certain sense be called a corporate thing4 ,but it depends entirely on the personal character of their members1 and all that the phrase really indicates is that a set of men take pleasure in similar things4 ,thus it is the boast of one young officer that the members of his regiment all spend too much1 of another that they all drink too much1 of another that they are distinguished for their high rank1 and of another that they are distinguished for the lowness of their sensuality4 ,what differentiates one regiment from another is first and before all things some personal source of happiness common to all its members4 ,and as it is with the character of a regiment1 so too is it with the character of life in general4 ,when we say that ,humanity may become a glorious thing as a whole1 we must mean that each man may attain some positive glory as an individual4 ,what shall ,i get8 and ,i8 and ,i8 and ,i8 ,what do you offer me8 and me8 and me8 ,this is the first question that the common sense of mankind asks4 ',you must promise something to each of us1' it says1 'or very certainly you will be able to promise nothing to all of us4' ,there is no real escape in saying that we must all work for one another1 and that our happiness is to be found in that4 ,the question merely confronts us with two other facets of itself4 ,what sort of happiness shall ,i secure for others8 and what sort of happiness will others secure for me8 ,what will it be like8 ,will it be worth having8 ,in the positivist ,utopia1 we are told1 each man's happiness is bound up in the happiness of all the rest1 and is thus infinitely intensified4 ,all mankind are made a mighty whole1 by the fusing power of benevolence4 ,benevolence1 however1 means simply the wishing that our neighbours were happy1 the helping to make them so1 and lastly the being glad that they are so4 ,but happiness must plainly be something besides benevolence2 else1 if ,i know that a man's highest happiness is in knowing that others are happy1 all ,i shall try to procure for others is the knowledge that ,i am happy2 and thus the ,utopian happiness would be expressed completely in the somewhat homely formula1 ',i am so glad that you are glad that ,i am glad4' ,but this is1 of course1 not enough4 ,all this gladness must be about something besides itself4 ,our good wishes for our neighbours must have some farther content than that they shall wish us well in return4 ,what ,i wish them and what they wish me must be something that both they and ,i1 each of us1 take delight in for ourselves4 ,it will certainly be no delight to men to procure for others what they will take no delight in themselves1 if procured by others for them4 ',for a joyful life1 that is to say a pleasant life1' as ,sir ,thomas ,more pithily puts it1 'is either evil2 and if so1 then thou shouldest not only help no man thereto1 but rather as much as in thee lieth withdraw all men from it as noisome and hurtful2 or else if thou not only mayest1 but also of duty art bound to procure it for others1 why not chiefly for thyself1 to whom thou art bound to show as much favour and gentleness as to others8' ,the fundamental question is1 then1 what life should a man try to procure for himself8 ,how shall he make it most joyful8 and how joyful will it be when he has done his utmost for it8 ,it is in terms of the individual1 and of the individual only1 that the value of life can at first be intelligibly stated4 ,if the coin be not itself genuine1 we shall never be able to make it so by merely shuffling it about from hand to hand1 nor even by indefinitely multiplying it4 ,a million sham bank notes will not make us any richer than a single one4 ,granting that the riches are really genuine1 then the knowledge of their diffusion may magnify for each of us our own pleasure in possessing them4 ,but it will only do this if the share that is possessed by each be itself something very great to begin with4 ,certain intense kinds of happiness may perhaps be raised to ecstasy by the thought that another shares them4 ,but if the feeling in question be nothing more than cheerfulness1 a man will not be made ecstatic by the knowledge that any number of other people are cheerful as well as he4 ,when the happiness of two or more people rises to a certain temperature1 then it is true a certain fusion may take place1 and there may perhaps be a certain joint result1 arising from the sum of the parts4 ,but below this melting point no fusion or union takes place at all1 nor will any number of lesser happinesses melt and be massed together into one great one4 ,two great wits may increase each other's brilliancy1 but two half-wits will not make a single whole one4 ,a bad picture will not become good by being magnified1 nor will a merely readable novel become more than readable by the publication of a million copies of it4 ,suppose it were a matter of life and death to ten men to walk to ,york from ,london in a day4 ,were this feat a possible one1 they might no doubt each do their best to help the others to accomplish it4 ,but if it were beyond the power of each singly1 they would not accomplish it as a body1 by the whole ten leaving ,charing ,cross together1 and each of them walking one tenth of the way4 ,the distance they could all walk would be no greater than the distance they could each walk4 ,in the same way the value of human life1 as a whole1 depends on the capacities of the individual human being1 as an enjoying animal4 ,if these capacities be great1 we shall be eager in our desire to gratify them--certainly for ourselves1 and perhaps also for others2 and this second desire may perhaps be great enough to modify and to guide the first4 ,but unless these capacities be great1 and the means of gratifying them definite1 our impulses on our own behalf will become weak and sluggish1 whilst those on behalf of others will become less able to control them4 ,it will be apparent farther from this1 that just as happiness1 unless some distinct positive quality1 gains nothing as an end of action1 either in value or distinctness1 by a mere diffusion in the present--by an extension1 as it were1 laterally--so will it gain nothing further by giving it another dimension1 and by prospectively increasing it in the future4 ,we must know what it is first1 before we know whether it is capable of increase4 ,apart from this knowledge1 the conception of progress and the hope of some brighter destiny can add nothing to that required something1 which1 so far as sociology can define it for us1 we have seen to be so utterly inadequate4 ,social conditions1 it is true1 we may expect will go on improving2 we may hope that the social machinery will come gradually to run more smoothly4 ,but unless we know something positive to the contrary1 the outcome of all this progress may be nothing but a more undisturbed ennui or a more soulless sensuality4 ,the rose-leaves may be laid more smoothly1 and yet the man that lies on them may be wearier or more degraded4 ,to-morrow1 and to-morrow1 and to-morrow ,creeps in this petty pace from day to day2 ,and all our yesterdays have lighted fools ,the way to dusty death4 ,this1 for all that sociology can inform us to the contrary1 may be the lesson really taught us by the positive philosophy of progress4 ,but what the positivists themselves learn from it1 is something very different4 ,the following verses are ,george ,eliot's3 ,oh may ,i join the choir invisible ,of those immortal dead who live again ,in lives made better by their presence4 ,so ,to live is heaven4444 ,to make undying music in the world1 ,breathing us beauteous order that controls ,with growing sway the growing life of man4 ,so we inherit that sweet purity ,for which we struggled1 groaned1 and agonised ,with widening retrospect1 that bred despair4444 ,that better self shall live till human time ,shall fold its eyelids1 and the human sky ,be gathered like a scroll within the tomb ,unread for ever4 ,this is life to come1 ,which martyred men have made more glorious ,for us who strive to follow4 ,may ,i reach ,that purest heaven1 and be to other souls ,that cup of strength in some great agony1 ,enkindle generous ardour1 feed pure love1 ,beget the smiles that have no cruelty1 ,be the sweet presence of a good diffused1 ,and in diffusion ever more intense2 ,so shall ,i join that choir invisible ,whose music is the gladness of the world4 ,here is the positive religion of benevolence and progress1 as preached to the modern world in the name of exact thought1 presented to us in an impassioned epitome4 ,here is hope1 ardour1 sympathy1 and resolution1 enough and to spare4 ,the first question is1--,how are these kindled1 and what are they all about8 ,they must1 as we have seen1 be about something that the science of sociology will not discover for us4 ,nor can they last1 if1 like an empty stomach1 they prey only upon themselves4 ,they must have some solid content1 and the great thing needful is to discern this4 ,it is quite true that to suffer1 or even to die1 will often seem dulce et decorum to a man2 but it will only seem so when the end he dies or suffers for is1 in his estimation1 a worthy one4 ,a ,christian might be gladly crucified if by so doing he could turn men from vice to virtue2 but a connoisseur in wine would not be crucified that his best friend might prefer dry champagne to sweet4 ,all the agony and the struggles1 then1 that the positivist saint suffers with such enthusiasm1 depend alike for their value and their possibility on the object that is supposed to cause them4 ,and in the verses just quoted this object is indeed named several times2 but it is named only incidentally and in vague terms1 as if its nature and its value were self-evident1 and could be left to take care of themselves2 and the great thing to be dwelt upon were the means and not the end3 whereas the former are really only the creatures of the latter1 and can have no more honour than the latter is able to bestow upon them4 ,now the only positive ends named in these verses are 'the better self1' 'sweet purity1' and 'smiles that have no cruelty4' ,the conditions of these are beauteous order1' and the result of them is the 'gladness of the world4' ,the rest of the language used adds nothing to our positive knowledge1 but merely makes us feel the want of it4 ,the purest heaven1 we are told1 that the men of any generation can look forward to1 will be the increased gladness that their right conduct will secure for a coming generation3 and that gladness1 when it comes1 will be1 as it were1 the seraphic song of the blessed and holy dead4 ,thus every present1 for the positivist1 is the future life of the past2 earth is heaven perpetually realising itself2 it is1 as it were1 an eternal choir-practice1 in which the performers1 though a little out of tune at present1 are becoming momently more and more perfect4 ,if this be so1 there is a heaven of some sort about us at this moment4 ,there is a musical gladness every day in our ears1 our actual delight in which it might have been a heaven to our great-grandfathers to have anticipated in the last century4 ,now it is plain that this alleged music is not everywhere4 ,where1 then1 is it8 ,and will it1 when we have found it1 be found to merit all the praise that is bestowed upon it8 ,sociology1 as we have seen1 may show us how to secure to each performer his voice or his instrument2 but it will not show us how to make either the voice or the instrument a good one2 nor will it decide whether the orchestra shall perform ,beethoven or ,offenbach1 or whether the chorus shall sing a penitential psalm or a drinking song4 ,when we have discovered what the world's highest gladness can consist of1 we will again come to the question of how far such gladness can be a general end of action4 ,,footnotes3 #i ,vide ,nineteenth ,century1 ,october1 #ahgg4 #aj ',as ,mr4 ,spencer points out1 society does not resemble those organisms which are so highly centralised that the unity of the whole is the important thing1 and every part must die if separated from the rest2 but rather those that will bear separation and reunion2 because1 although there is a certain union and organisation of the parts in regard to one another1 yet the far more important fact is the life of the parts separately4 ,the true health of society depends upon the communes1 the villages and townships1 infinitely more than on the form and pageantry of an imperial government4 ,if in them there is band-work1 union for a common effort1 converse in the working out of a common thought1 there the ,republic is4'--,professor ,clifford1 ,nineteenth ,century1 ,october1 #ahgg4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,goodness ,,as ,,its ,,own ,,reward4 ',who chooses me must give1 and hazard all he hath4' ,inscription on the ,leaden ,casket4 ,merchant of ,venice4 ,what ,i have been urging in the last chapter is really nothing more than the positivists admit themselves4 ,it will be found1 if we study their utterances as a whole1 that they by no means believe practically in their own professions1 or consider that the end of action can be either defined and verified by sociology1 or made attractive by sympathy4 ,on the contrary1 they confess plainly how inadequate these are by themselves1 by continually supplementing them with additions from quite another quarter4 ,but their fault is that this confession is1 apparently1 only half conscious with them2 and they are for ever reproducing arguments as sufficient which they have already in other moments implicitly condemned as meaningless4 ,my aim has been1 therefore1 to put these arguments out of court altogether1 and safely shut the doors on them4 ,hitherto they have played just the part of an idle populace1 often turned out of doors1 but as often breaking in again1 and confusing with their noisy cheers a judgment that has not yet been given4 ,let us have done1 then1 with the conditions of happiness till we know what happiness is4 ,let us have done with enthusiasm till we know if there is anything to be enthusiastic about4 ,i have quoted ,george ,eliot's cheers already1 as expressing what this enthusiasm is4 ,i will now quote her again1 as showing how fully she recognises that its value depends upon its object1 and that its only possible object must be of a definite1 and in the first place1 of a personal nature4 ,in her novel of ,daniel ,deronda1 the large part of the interest hangs on which way the heroine's character will develop itself2 and this interest1 in the opinion of the authoress1 is of a very intense kind4 ,why should it be8 she asks explicitly4 ,and she gives her answer in the following very remarkable and very instructive passage3 ',could there be a slenderer1 more insignificant thread1' she says1 'in human history1 than this consciousness of a girl1 busy with her small inferences of the way in which she could make her life pleasant8 in a time too1 when ideas were with fresh vigour making armies of themselves1 and the universal kinship was declaring itself fiercely3 when women on the other side of the world would not mourn for the husbands and sons who died bravely in a common cause2 and men1 stinted of bread1 on one side of the world1 heard of that willing loss and were patient2 a time when the soul of man was waking the pulses which had for centuries been beating in him unheard1 until their full sense made a new life of terror or of joy4 ',what in the midst of that mighty drama are girls and their blind visions8 ,they are the ,yea or ,nay of that good for which men are enduring and fighting4 ,in these delicate vessels is borne onward through the ages the treasure of human affections4' ,now here we come to solid ground at last4 ,here is an emphatic and frank admission of all that ,i was urging in the last chapter2 and the required end of action and test of conduct is brought to a focus and localized4 ,it is not described1 it is true2 but a narrow circle is drawn round it1 and our future search for it becomes a matter of comparative ease4 ,we are in a position now to decide whether it exists1 or does not exist4 ,it consists primarily and before all things in the choice by the individual of one out of many modes of happiness--the election of a certain 'way1' in ,george ,eliot's words1 'in which he will make his life pleasant4' ,there are many sets of pleasure open to him2 but there is one set1 it is said1 more excellent1 beyond comparison1 than the others2 and to choose these1 and these alone1 is what will give us part in the holy value of life4 ,the choice and the refusal of them is the ,yea and the ,nay of all that makes life worth living2 and is the source1 to the positivists1 of the solemnity1 the terrors1 and sweetness of the whole ethical vocabulary4 ',what then are the alternative pleasures that life offers me8 ,in how many ways am ,i capable of feeling my existence a blessing8 and in what way shall ,i feel the blessing of it most keenly8' ,this is the great life-question2 it may be asked indifferently by any individual2 and in the positivist answer to it1 which will be the same for all1 and of universal application1 must lie the foundation of the positive moral system4 ,and that system1 as ,i have said before1 professes to be essentially a moral one1 in the old religious sense of the word4 ,it retains the old ethical vocabulary2 and lays the same intense stress on the old ethical distinctions4 ,nor is this a mere profession only4 ,we shall see that the system logically requires it4 ,one of its chief virtues--indeed the only virtue in it we have defined hitherto--is1 as has been seen1 an habitual self-denial4 ,but a denial of what8 ,of something1 plainly1 that if denied to ourselves1 can be conveyed as a negative or positive good to others4 ,but the good things that are thus transferable cannot plainly be the 'highest good1' or morality would consist largely of a surrender of its own end4 ,this end must evidently be something inward and inalienable1 just as the religious end was4 ,it is a certain inward state of the heart1 and of the heart's affections4 ,for this inward state to be fully produced1 and maintained generally1 a certain sufficiency of material well-being may be requisite2 but without this inward state such sufficiency will be morally valueless4 ,day by day we must of course have our daily bread4 ,but the positivists must maintain1 just as the ,christians did1 that man does not live by bread alone2 and that his life does not consist in the abundance of the things that he possesses4 ,and thus when they are brought face to face with the matter1 we find them all1 with one consent1 condemning as false the same allurements that were condemned by ,christianity2 and pointing1 as it did1 to some other treasure that will not wax old--some water1 the man who drinks of which will never thirst more4 ,now what is this treasure--this inward state of the heart8 ,what is its analysis1 and why is it so precious8 ,as yet we are quite in the dark as to this4 ,no positive moralist has as yet shown us1 in any satisfactory way1 either of these things4 ,this statement1 ,i know1 will be contradicted by many2 and1 until it is explained further1 it is only natural that it should be4 ,it will be said that a positive human happiness of just the kind needed has been put before the world again and again2 and not only put before it1 but earnestly followed and reverently enjoyed by many4 ,have not truth1 benevolence1 purity1 and1 above all1 pure affection1 been1 to many1 positive ends of action for their own sakes1 without any thought1 as ,dr4 ,tyndall says1 'of any reward or punishment looming in the future'8 ,is not virtue followed in the noblest way1 when its followers1 if asked what reward they look for1 can say to it1 as ,thomas ,aquinas said to ,christ1 ',nil nisi te1 ,domine'8 ,and has not it so been followed8 and is not the positivist position1 to a large extent at any rate1 proved8 ,is it not true1 as has been said by a recent writer1 that#aa 'lives nourished1 and invigorated by a purely human ideal have been1 and still may be1 seen amongst us1 and the appearance of but a single example proves the adequacy of the belief8' ,i reply that the fact is entirely true1 and the inference entirely false4 ,and this brings me at once to a point ,i have before alluded to--to the most subtle source of the entire positivist error--the source secret and unsuspected1 of so much rash confidence4 ,the positive school can1 and do1 as we have seen1 point to certain things in life which have every appearance1 at first sight1 of adequate moral ends4 ,their adequacy seems to be verified by every right feeling1 and also by practical experiment4 ,but there is one great fact that is forgotten4 ,the positive school1 when they deal with life1 profess to exhibit its resources to us wholly free from the false aids of religion4 ,they profess 7if ,i may coin a word7 to have de-religionized it before they deal with it4 ,but about this matter they betray a most strange ignorance4 ,they think the task is far simpler than it is4 ,they seem to look on religion as existing nowhere except in its pure form1 in the form of distinct devotional feeling1 or in the conscious assents of faith2 and1 these once got rid of1 they fancy that life is de-religionized4 ,but the process thus far is really only begun2 indeed1 as far as immediate results go1 it is hardly even begun2 for it is really but a very small proportion of religion that exists pure4 ,the greater part of it has entered into combination with the acts and feelings of life1 thus forming as it were1 a kind of amalgam with them1 giving them new properties1 a new colour1 a new consistence4 ,to de-religionize life1 then1 it is not enough to condemn creeds and to abolish prayers4 ,we must further sublimate the beliefs and feelings1 which prayers and creeds hold pure1 out of the lay life around us4 ,under this process1 even if imperfectly performed1 it will soon become clear that religion in greater or less proportions is lurking everywhere4 ,we shall see it yielded up even by things in which we should least look for it--by wit1 by humour1 by secular ambition1 by most forms of vice1 and by our daily light amusements4 ,much more shall we see it yielded up by heroism1 by purity1 by affection1 and by love of truth--by all those things that the positivists most specially praise4 ,the positivists think1 it would seem1 that they had but to kill ,god1 and that his inheritance shall be ours4 ,they strike out accordingly the theistic beliefs in question1 and then turn instantly to life3 they sort its resources1 count its treasures1 and then say1 ',aim at this1 and this1 and this4 ,see how beautiful is holiness2 see how rapturous is pleasure4 ,surely these are worth seeking for their own sakes1 without any reward or punishment looming in the future4' ,they find1 in fact1 the interests and the sentiments of the world's present life--all the glow and all the gloom of it--lying before them like the colours on a painter's palette1 and think they have nothing to do but set to work and use them4 ,but let them wait a moment2 they are in far too great a hurry4 ,the palette and its colours are not nearly ready for them4 ,one of the colours of life--religion1 that is--a colour which1 by their own admission1 has been hitherto an important one1 they have swept clean away4 ,they have swept it clean away1 and let them remember why they have done so4 ,it may be a pleasing colour1 or it may not3 that is a matter of taste4 ,but the reason why it is to be got rid of is that it is not a fast colour4 ,it is found to fade instantly in the spreading sunlight of knowledge4 ,it is rapidly getting dim and dull and dead4 ,when once it is gone1 we shall never be able to restore it1 and our future pictures of life must be tinted without its aid4 ,they therefore profess loudly that they will employ it no longer4 ,but there is this point1 this all-important point1 that quite escapes them4 ,they sweep the colour1 in its pure state1 clean off the palette2 and then profess to show us by experiment that they can get on perfectly well without it4 ,but they never seem to suspect that it may be mixed up with the colours they retain1 and be the secret of their depth and lustre4 ,let them see whether religion be not lurking there1 as a subtle colouring principle in all their pigments1 even a grain of it producing effects that else were quite impossible4 ,let them only begin this analysis1 and it will very soon be clear to them that to cleanse life of religion is not so simple a process as they seem to fancy it4 ,its actual dogmas may be readily put away from us2 not so the effect which these dogmas have worked during the course of centuries4 ,in disguised forms they are around us everywhere2 they confront us in every human interest1 in every human pleasure4 ,they have beaten themselves into life2 they have eaten their way into it4 ,like a secret sap they have flavoured every fruit in the garden4 ,they are like a powerful drug1 a stimulant1 that has been injected into our whole system4 ,if then we could appraise the vigour and value of life independent of religion1 we can draw no direct conclusions from observing it in its present state4 ,before such observations can teach us anything1 there is a great deal that will have to be made allowance for3 and the positive school1 when they reason from life as it is1 are building therefore on an utterly unsound foundation4 ,it is emphatically untrue to say that a single example in the present day1 or for matter of that any number of examples1 either goes or can go any way towards proving the adequacy of any non-religious formula4 ,for all such formul have first to be further analysed before we know how far they are really non-religious2 and secondly the religious element that will be certainly found existing in them will have1 hypothetically1 to be removed4 ,it would be well if the positive school would spend in this spiritual analysis but a little of that skill they have attained to in their analysis of matter4 ,in their experiments1 for instance1 on spontaneous generation1 what untold pains have been taken6 ,with what laborious thought1 with what emulous ingenuity1 have they struggled to completely sterilise the fluids in which they are to seek for the new production of life6 ,how jealously do they guard against leaving there any already existing germs6 ,how easily do they tell us their experiments may be vitiated by the smallest oversight6 ,surely spiritual matters are worthy of an equally careful treatment4 ,for what we have here to study is not the production of the lowest forms of animal life1 but the highest forms of human happiness4 ,these were once thought to be always due to religion4 ,the modern doctrine is that they are producible without such aid4 ,let us treat1 then1 the beauty of holiness1 the love of truth1 'the treasure of human affection1' and so forth1 as ,dr4 ,tyndall has treated the infusions in which life is said to originate4 ,let us boil them down1 so to speak1 and destroy every germ of religion in them1 and then see how far they will generate the same ecstatic happiness4 ,and let us treat in this way vice no less than virtue4 ,having once done this1 we may honestly claim whatever yet remains to us4 ,then1 we shall see what materials of happiness we can1 as positive thinkers1 call our own4 ,then1 a positive moral system1 if any such be possible1 will begin to have a real value for us--then1 but not till then4 ,such an analysis as this must be naturally a work of time2 and much of it must be performed by each one of us for ourselves4 ,but a sample of the operation can be given here1 which will show plainly enough its nature1 and the ultimate results of it4 ,i shall begin1 for this purpose1 with reconsidering the moral end generally1 and the three primary characteristics that are ascribed1 by all parties1 to it1 as essentials4 ,i shall point out1 generally also1 how much of religion is embodied in all these2 and shall then proceed to one or two concrete examples1 taken from the pleasures and passions that animate the life around us4 ,these three characteristics of the moral end are its inwardness1 its importance1 and1 within certain limits1 its absolute character4 ,i begin with its inwardness4 ,i have spoken of this several times already1 but the matter is so important that it will well bear repetition4 ,by calling the moral end inward1 ,i mean that it resides primarily not in action1 but in motives to action2 in the will1 not in the deed2 not in what we actually do1 but in what we actually endeavour to do2 in the love we give1 rather than in the love that we receive4 ,what defiles a man is that which comes out of his heart--evil thoughts1 murders1 adulteries4 ,the thoughts may never find utterance in a word1 the murders and adulteries may never be fulfilled in act2 and yet1 if a man be restrained1 not by his own will1 but only by outer circumstances1 his immorality will be the same4 ,the primary things we are 'responsible for1' observes a recent positive writer1#ab are 'frames of mind into which we knowingly and willingly work ourselves'3 and when these are once wrong1 he adds1 'they are wrong for ever3 no accidental failure of their good or evil fruits can possibly alter that4' ,and as with what is wrong or vicious1 so with what is right or virtuous2 this in a like manner proceeds out of the mind or heart4 ',the gladness of true heroism1' says ,dr4 ,tyndall1 'visits the heart of him who is really competent to say1 ,i court truth4' ,it is not1 be it observed1 the objective attainment of truth that creates the gladness4 ,it is the subjective desire1 the subjective resolution4 ,the moral end1 for the positivist just as much as for the believer1 is a certain inward state of the heart1 or mind--a state which will of necessity1 if possible1 express itself in action1 but whose value is not to be measured by the success of that expression4 ,the battle-ground of good and evil is within us2 and the great human event is the issue of the struggle between them4 ,and this leads us on to the second point4 ,the language used on all hands respecting this struggle1 implies that its issue is of an importance great out of all proportion to our own consciousness of the results of it1 nay1 even that it is independent of our consciousness4 ,it is implied that though a man may be quite ignorant of the state of his own heart1 and though no one else can so much as guess at it1 what that state is is of great and peculiar moment4 ,if this were not so1 and the importance of our inner state had reference only to our own feelings about it1 self-deception would be as good as virtue4 ,to believe we were upright1 pure1 and benevolent would be as good as to be so4 ,we might have all the pleasures of morality with none of its inconveniences2 for it is easy1 if ,i may borrow a phrase of ,mr4 ,tennyson's1 to become so false that we take ourselves for true2 and thus1 tested by any pain or joy that we ourselves were conscious of1 the results of the completest falsehood would be the same as those of the completest virtue4 ,but let a man be never so perfect an instance of a result like this1 no positivist moralist would contend that he was virtuous1 or that he could be said1 at his death1 to have found the true treasure of life4 ,on the contrary his career would be regarded as1 in the profoundest sense1 a tragedy4 ,it is for this reason that such a value is set at present upon feminine purity1 and that we are accustomed to call the woman ruined that has lost it4 ,the outer harm done may not be great1 and may lead to no ill consequences4 ,the harm is all within3 the tragedy is in the soul itself4 ,but--and this is more important still--even here the harm may not be recognised3 the act in question may lead to no remorse2 and yet despite this1 the case will be made no better4 ,on the contrary it will be made a great deal worse4 ,any father or husband would recognise this1 who was not professedly careless about all moral matters altogether4 ,it would not1 for instance1 console a positivist for his daughter's seduction to know that the matter was hushed up1 and that it gave the lady herself no concern whatever4 ,it is implied in the language of all who profess to regard morality1 that whether the guilty person be conscious or no of any remorse or sorrow1 the same harm has been done by what we call guilt4 ,there is1 however 7and this brings us to the third point71 a very large part of the world that1 as a fact1 no matter what it professes1 really sets upon morality no true value whatever4 ,if it has ever realised at all what morality is1 it has done so only partially2 it has been more impressed with its drawbacks than with its attractions1 and it becomes practically happier and more contented1 the more it forgets the very idea of virtue4 ,but it is implied1 as we have seen1 in the usual language of all of us that1 let the vicious be as happy as possible1 they have no right to such a happiness1 and that if they choose to take it1 it will in some way or other be the worse for them4 ,this language evidently implies farther that there is some standard by which happiness is to be measured1 quite apart from its completeness1 and from our individual desire for it4 ,that standard is something absolute1 beyond and above the taste of any single man or of any body of men4 ,it is a standard to which the human race can be authoritatively ordered to conform1 or be despised1 derided1 and hated1 if it refuse to do so4 ,it is implied that those who find their happiness in virtue have a right to order and to force1 if possible1 all others to do the same4 ,unless we believed this there would be no such thing as moral earnestness in the propagation of any system4 ,there could1 indeed1 be no such thing as propagandism at all4 ,if a man 7to use an example of ,mill's7 preferred to be a contented pig rather than a discontented ,socrates1 we should have no positive reason for thinking him wrong2 even did we think so we should have no motive for telling him so2 even if we told him1 we should have no means of convincing him4 ,those1 then1 who regard morality as the rule of action1 and the one key that can unlock for each of us the true treasure of life1 who talk of things being noble and sacred and heroic1 who call our responsibilities and our privileges#ac awful1 and who urge on a listless world the earnestness and the solemnity of existence--all those1 ,i say1 who use such language as this1 imply of the moral end three necessary things3 first1 that its essence is inward1 in the heart of man2 secondly1 that its value is incalculable1 and its attainment the only true happiness for us2 thirdly1 that its standard is something absolute1 and not in the competence of any man or of all men to alter or abolish4 ,that this is true may be very easily seen4 ,deny any one of these propositions2 say that the moral end consists in something outward and alienable1 not in something inward and inalienable2 that its importance is small1 and second to many other things2 that its standard is not absolute1 but varies according to individual taste2 and morality becomes at once impossible to preach1 and not worth preaching4 ,now for all these characteristics of the end of life1 the theism that modern thought is rejecting could offer a strictly logical basis4 ,and first1 as to its importance4 ,here it may be said1 certainly1 that theism cuts the knot1 and does not untie it4 ,but at all events it gets rid of it2 and in the following way4 ,the theist confesses freely that the importance of the moral end is a thing that the facts of life1 as we now know them1 will never properly explain to us4 ,it can at present be divined and augured only2 its value is one of promise rather than of performance2 and the possession itself is a thing that passes understanding4 ,it belongs to a region of mystery into which neither logic nor experiment will ever suffice to carry us2 and whose secrets are beyond the reach of any intellectual aeronaut4 ,but it is a part of the theistic creed that such a region is2 and that the things that pass understanding are the most important things of life4 ,nothing would be gained1 however1 by postulating merely a mystery--an unknowable4 ,this must be so far known by the theist1 that he knows its connection with himself4 ,he must know1 too1 that if this connection is to have any effect on him1 it must be not merely temporary1 but permanent and indissoluble4 ,such a connection he finds in his two distinctive doctrines--the existence of a personal ,god1 which gives him the connection2 and his own personal immortality1 which perpetuates it4 ,thus the theist1 upon his own theory1 has an eye ever upon him4 ,he is in constant relationship with a conscious omnipotent ,being1 in whose likeness he is in some sort formed1 and to which he is in some sort kin4 ,to none of his actions is this ,being indifferent2 and with this ,being his relations for good or evil will never cease4 ,thus1 though he may not realise their true nature now1 though he may not realise how infinitely good the good is1 or how infinitely evil the evil1 there is a day in store for him when his eyes will be opened1 and what he now sees only through a glass darkly1 he will see face to face4 ,the objectivity of the moral end--or rather the objective standard of the subjective end--is explained in the same way4 ,the standard is ,god's will1 not man's immediate happiness4 ,and yet to this will1 as soon as1 by natural or supernatural means1 we discern it1 the ,godlike part of our nature at once responds3 it at once acknowledges it as eternal and divine1 although we can give no logical reasons for such acknowledgment4 ,by the light1 too1 of these same beliefs1 the inwardness of the moral end assumes an explicable meaning4 ,man's primary duty is towards ,god2 his secondary duty is towards his brother men2 and it is only from the filial relation that the fraternal springs4 ,the moral end1 then1 is so precious in the eyes of the theist1 because the inward state that it consists of is agreeable to what ,god wills--a ,god who reads the heart1 and who cannot be deceived4 ,and the theist's peace or gladness in his highest moral actions springs not so much from the consciousness of what he does or is1 as of the reasons why he does or is it--reasons that reach far away beyond the earth and its destinies1 and connect him with some timeless and holy mystery4 ,thus theism1 whether it be true or no1 can give a logical and a full account of the supposed nature of the moral end1 and of its supposed importance4 ,let us turn now to positivism1 and consider what is its position4 ,the positivist1 we must remember1 conceives of the moral end in the same way1 and sets upon it the same value4 ,let us see how far his own premisses will give him any support in this4 ,these premisses1 so far as they differ from those of theism1 consist of two great denials3 there is no personal ,god1 and there is no personal immortality4 ,we will glance rapidly at the direct results of these4 ,in the first place1 they confine all the life with which we can have the least moral connection to the surface of this earth1 and to the limited time for which life and consciousness can exist upon it4 ,they isolate the moral law1 as ,i shall show more clearly hereafter1 from any law or force in the universe that may be wider and more permanent4 ,when the individual dies1 he can only be said to live by metaphor1 in the results of his outward actions4 ,when the race dies1 in no thinkable way can we say that it will live at all4 ,everything will then be as though it never had been4 ,whatever humanity may have done before its end arrives1 however high it may have raised itself1 however low it may have sunk itself1 ,the event ,will trammel up the consequence1 and catch ,with its success surcease4 ,all the vice of the world1 and all its virtue1 all its pleasures and all its pains1 will have effected nothing4 ,they will all have faded like an unsubstantial pageant1 and not left a wrack behind4 ,here1 then1 the importance of morality at once changes both its dimensions and its kind4 ,it is confined within narrow limitations of space and time4 ,it is no longer a thing we can talk vaguely about1 or to which any sounding but indefinite phrases will be applicable4 ,we can no longer say either to the individual or the race1 ,choose well1 and your choice is ,brief1 but yet endless4#ad ,we can only say that it is brief1 and that bye and bye what it was will be no matter to anyone4 ,still within these limits it may be said1 certainly1 that it is a great thing for us that we should be happy2 and if it be true that the moral end brings the greatest happiness1 then it is man's greatest achievement to attain to the moral end4 ,but when we say that the greatest happiness resides in the moral end1 we must be careful to see what it is we mean4 ,we may mean that as a matter of fact men generally give a full assent to this1 and act accordingly1 which is the most obvious falsehood that could be uttered on any subject2 or we may mean--indeed1 if we mean anything we must mean--that they would give a full assent1 and act accordingly1 could their present state of mind undergo a complete change1 and their eyes be opened1 which at present are fast closed4 ,but according to the positivist theory1 this hypothesis is in most cases an impossibility4 ,the moral end1 as we have seen1 is an inward state of the heart2 and the heart1 on the showing of the positivists1 is for each man an absolute solitude4 ,no one can gain admission to it but by his assistance2 and to the larger part no one can ever gain admission at all4 ,thus in the seas of life enisled1 ,with echoing straits between us thrown1 ,dotting the shoreless watery wild1 ,we mortal myriads live alone4 ,so says ,mr4 ,matthew ,arnold2 and the gentle ,keble utters the same sentiment1 remarking1 with a delicate pathos1 how seldom those even who have known us best and longest ,know half the reason why we smile or sigh4 ,thus in the recesses of his own soul each man is1 for the positivist1 as much alone as if he were the only conscious thing in the universe2 and his whole inner life1 when he dies1 will1 to use some words of ,george ,eliot's that ,i have already quoted1 ,be gathered like a scroll within the tomb1 ,unread for ever4 ,no one shall enquire into his inward thoughts1 much less shall anyone judge him for them4 ,to no one except himself can he in any way have to answer for them4 ,such is the condition of the individual according to the positivist theory4 ,it is evident1 therefore1 that one of the first results of positivism is to destroy even the rudiments of any machinery by which one man could govern1 with authority1 the inward kingdom of another2 and the moral imperative is reduced to an empty vaunt4 ,for what can be an emptier flourish than for one set of men1 and these a confessed minority1 to proclaim imperious laws to others1 which they can never get the others to obey1 and which are essentially meaningless to the only people to whom they are not superfluous8 ,suppose that1 on positive grounds1 ,i find pleasure in humility1 and my friend finds pleasure in pride1 and so far as we can form a judgment the happiness of us both is equal2 what possible grounds can ,i have for calling my state better than his8 ,were ,i a theist1 ,i should have the best of grounds1 for ,i should believe that hereafter my friend's present contentment would be dissipated1 and would give place to despair4 ,but as a positivist1 if his contentment do but last his lifetime1 what can ,i say except this1 that he has chosen what1 for him1 was his better part for ever1 and no ,god or man will ever take it away from him8 ,to say then that his immoral state was worse than my moral state would be a phrase incapable of any practical meaning4 ,it might mean that1 could my friend be made to think as ,i do1 he would be happier than he is at present2 but we have here an impossible hypothesis1 and an unverifiable conclusion4 ,it is true enough that ,i might present to my friend some image of my own inward state1 and of all the happiness it gave me2 but if1 having compared his happiness and mine as well as he could1 he still liked his own best1 exhortation would have no power1 and reproach no meaning4 ,here1 then1 are three results--simple1 immediate1 and necessary--of positivism1 on the moral end4 ,of the three characteristics at present supposed essential to it1 positivism eliminates two and materially modifies the third4 ,in the first place1 the importance of the moral end is altogether changed in character4 ,it has nothing in it whatever of the infinite1 and a scientific forecast can already see the end of it4 ,in the second place1 it is nothing absolute1 and not being absolute is incapable of being enforced4 ,in the third place1 its value1 such as it is1 is measured only by the conscious happiness that its possession gives us1 or the conscious pains that its loss gives us4 ,still it may be contended with plausibility that the moral end1 when once seen1 is sufficient to attract us by its own inalienable charm1 and can hold its own independently of any further theories as to its nature and its universality4 ,it remains now to come to practical life1 and see if this really be so2 to see if the pleasures in life that are supposed the highest will not lose their attractiveness when robbed of the three characteristics of which the positive theory robs them4 ,,footnotes3 #aa ,vide ,pessimism1 by ,james ,sully4 #ab ,professor ,clifford2 ',ethics of ,belief1' ,contemporary ,review1 ,jan4 #ahgg4 #ac ',an awful privilege1 and an awful responsibility1 that we should help to create a world in which posterity will live6'--,professor ,clifford4 #ad ,goethe1 translated by ,carlyle4 ,,chapter ,v4 ,,love ,,as ,a ,,test ,,of ,,goodness4 ,greek3 ,erta de1 ton tyrannon andrn1 ,ton tas ,aphroditas ,philtatn thalamn ,kldouchon1 ou sebizomen1 ,perthonta4--,euripides4 ,i will again re-state1 in other words than my own1 the theory we are now going to test by the actual facts of life4 ',the assertion1' says ,professor ,huxley1 'that morality is in any way dependent on certain philosophical problems1 produces the same effect on my mind as if one should say that a man's vision depends on his theory of sight1 or that he has no business to be sure that ginger is hot in his mouth1 unless he has formed definite views as to the nature of ginger4' ,or1 to put the matter in slightly different language1 the sorts of happiness1 we are told1 that are secured to us by moral conduct are facts1 so far as regards our own consciousness of them1 as simple1 as constant and as universal1 as is the perception of the outer world secured to us by our eyesight1 or as the sensation formed on the palate by the application of ginger to it4 ,love1 for instance1 according to this view1 is as simple a delight for men in its highest forms as it is for animals in its lowest4 ,what ,george ,eliot calls 'the treasure of human affection' depends as little for its value on any beliefs outside itself as does the treasure of animal appetite2 and just as no want of religious faith can deprive the animals of the last1 so no want of religious faith can deprive mankind of the first4 ,it will remain a stable possession to us1 amid the wreck of creeds1 giving life a solemn and intense value of its own4 ,it will never fail us as a sure test of conduct4 ,whatever guides us to this treasure we shall know is moral2 whatever tends to withdraw us from it we shall know is immoral4 ,such is the positivist theory as to all the higher pleasures of life1 of which affection confessedly is one of the chief1 and also the most obviously human4 ,let us proceed now from generalities to special concrete facts1 and see how far this theory is borne out by them4 ,and we can find none better than those which are now before us--the special concrete facts of affection1 and of sexual affection in particular4 ,the affection of man for woman--or1 as it will be best to call it1 love--has been ever since time was1 one of the chief elements in the life of man4 ,but it was not till ,christianity had very fully developed itself that it assumed the peculiar importance that is now claimed for it4 ,for the ancient world it was a passion sure to come to most men1 and that would bring joy or sorrow to them as the case might be4 ,the worldly wisdom of some convinced them that it gave more joy than sorrow2 so they took and used it as long as it chanced to please them4 ,the worldly wisdom of others convinced them that it gave more sorrow than joy1 so they did all they could1 like ,lucretius1 to school themselves into a contempt for it4 ,but for the modern world it is on quite a different footing1 and its value does not depend on such a chance balance of pains and pleasures4 ,the latter are not of the same nature as the former1 and so cannot be outweighed by them4 ,in the judgment of the modern world1 ',tis better to have loved and lost ,than never to have loved at all4 ,to love1 in fact1 though not exactly said to be incumbent upon all men1 is yet endowed with something that is almost of the nature of a duty4 ,if a man cannot love1 it is looked on as a sort of moral misfortune1 if not as a moral fault in him4 ,and when a man can love1 and does love successfully1 then it is held that his whole nature has burst out into blossom4 ,the imaginative literature of the modern world centres chiefly about this human crisis2 and its importance in literature is but a reflection of its importance in life4 ,it is1 as it were1 the sun of the world of sentiment--the source of its lights and colours1 and also of its shadows4 ,it is the crown of man's existence2 it gives life its highest quality2 and1 if we can believe what those who have known it tell us1 earth under its influence seems to be melting into1 and to be almost joined with1 heaven4 ,all this language1 however1 about love1 no matter how true in a certain sense it may be1 is emphatically true about it in a certain sense only1 and is by no means to be taken without reserve4 ,it is emphatically not true about love in general1 but only about love as modified in a certain special way4 ,the form of the affection1 so to speak1 is more important than the substance of it4 ,it will need but little consideration to show us that this is so4 ,love is a thing that can take countless forms2 and were not the form1 for the modern world1 the thing of the first importance1 the praise bestowed upon all forms of it would be equal1 or graduated only with reference to intensity4 ,but the very reverse of this is the case really4 ,in our estimate of an affection1 its intensity1 though doubtless of great importance1 is yet of an importance that is clearly secondary4 ,else things that the modern world regards as the most abominable might be on a level with the things it regards as most pure and holy2 the lovers of ,athens might even put to shame with their passion the calm sacramental constancy of many a ,christian pair2 and the whole fabric of modern morals would be undermined4 ,for1 according to the modern conception of morals1 love can not only give life its highest quality1 but its lowest also4 ,if it can raise man to the angels1 it can also sink him below the beasts2 and as to its intensity1 it is a force which will carry him in the one direction just as well as the other4 ,kind and not degree is the first thing needful4 ,it is the former1 and not the latter1 that essentially separates ,david and ,jonathan from ,harmodius and ,aristogeiton1 ,st4 ,elizabeth from ,cleopatra1 the beloved disciple from ,antinous4 ,how shall we love8 is the great question for us4 ,it comes long before1 ,how much shall we love8 ,let us imagine a bride and bridegroom of the type that would now be most highly reverenced1 and try to understand something of what their affection is4 ,it is1 of course1 impossible here to treat such a subject adequately2 for1 as ,mr4 ,carlyle says1 'except musically1 and in the language of poetry1 it can hardly be so much as spoken about4' ,but enough for the present purpose can perhaps be said4 ,in the first place1 then1 the affection in question will be seen to rest mainly upon two things--firstly1 on the consciousness of their own respective characters on the part of each2 and1 secondly1 on the idea formed by each of the character of the other4 ,each must have a faith1 for instance1 in his or her own purity1 and each must have a like faith1 also in the purity of the other4 ,thus1 to begin with the first requisites1 a man can only love a woman in the highest sense when he does so with a perfectly clear conscience4 ,there must be no obstacle between them which shocks his sense of right1 or which1 if known by the woman1 would shock hers4 ,were the affection indulged in1 in spite of such an obstacle1 its fine quality would be injured1 no matter how great its intensity2 and1 instead of a moral blessing1 it would become a moral curse4 ,an exquisite expression of the necessity of this personal sense of rightness may be read into the well-known lines1 ,i could not love thee1 dear1 so well1 ,loved ,i not honour more4 ,nor shall we look on honour here as having reference only to external acts and conditions4 ,it has reference equally1 if not more1 to the inward state of the heart4 ,the man must be conscious not only that he is loving the right woman1 but that he is loving her in the right way4 ',if ,i loved not purity more than you1' he would say to her1 ',i were not worthy of you4' ,and further1 just as he requires to possess this taintless conscience himself1 so does he require to be assured that the like is possessed by her4 ,unless he knows that she loves purity more than him1 there is no meaning in his aspiration that he may be found worthy of her4 ,the gift of her affection that is of such value to him1 is not of value because it is affection simply1 but because it is affection of a high kind2 and its elevation is of more consequence to him than its intensity1 or even than its continuance4 ,he would sooner that at the expense of its intensity it remained pure1 than that at the expense of its purity it remained intense4 ,othello was certainly not a husband of the highest type1 and yet we see something of this even in his case4 ,his sufferings at his wife's supposed inconstancy have doubtless in them a large selfish element4 ,much of them is caused by the mere passion of jealousy4 ,but the deepest sting of all does not lie here4 ,it lies rather in the thought of what his wife has done to herself1 than of what she has done to him4 ,this is what overcomes him4 ,the bawdy wind1 that kisses all it meets1 ,is hushed within the hollow mine of earth1 ,and will not hear it4 ,he could have borne anything but a soul's tragedy like this3 ,alas6 to make me ,a fixed figure for the time of scorn ,to point his slow unmoving finger at6 ,yet ,i could bear that too1 well--very well3 ,but there1 where ,i have garnered up my heart1 ,where ,i must either live1 or bear no life2 ,the fountain from the which my current runs ,or else dries up2 to be discarded thence6 ,or keep it as a cistern for foul toads ,to knot and gender in6 ,whenever he was with her1 ,desdemona might still be devoted to him4 ,she might only give to ,cassio what she could not give to her husband4 ,but to ,othello this would be no comfort4 ,the fountain would be polluted 'from which his current runs'2 and though its waters might still flow for him1 he would not care to touch them4 ,if this feeling is manifest in such a love as ,othello's1 much more is it manifest in love of a higher type4 ,it is expressed thus1 for instance1 by the heroine of ,mrs4 ,craven's ',rcit d'une ,soeur4' ',i can indeed say1' she says1 'that we never loved each other so much as when we saw how we both loved ,god3' and again1 ',my husband would not have loved me as he did1 if he had not loved ,god a great deal more4' ,this language is of course distinctly religious2 but it embodies a meaning that is appreciated by the positive school as well4 ,in positivist language it might be expressed thus3 ',my husband would not have loved me as he did1 if he would not1 sooner than love me in any other way1 have ceased to love me altogether4' ,it is clear that this sentiment is proper1 nay essential1 to positivist affection1 just as well as to ,christian4 ,any pure and exalted love would at once change its character1 if1 without any further change1 it merely believed it were free to change it4 ,its strongest element is the consciousness1 not that it is of such a character only1 but that this character is the right one4 ,the ideal bride and bridegroom1 the ideal man and wife1 would not value purity as they are supposed to do1 did they not believe that it was not only different from impurity1 but essentially and incalculably better than it4 ,for the positivist1 just as much as the ,christian1 this sense of rightness in love is interfused with the affection proper1 and does as it were give wings to it4 ,it far more than makes good for the lovers any loss of intensity that may be created by the chastening down of passion3 and figuratively at least1 it may be said to make them conscious that 'underneath them are the everlasting arms4' ,here then in love1 as the positive school at present offer it to us1 are all these three characteristics to which that school1 as we have seen1 must renounce all right4 ,it is characterised as conforming to some special and absolute standard1 of which no positive account can be given2 the conformity is inward1 and so cannot be enforced2 and for all that positive knowledge can show us1 its importance may be a dream4 ,we shall realise this better if we consider a love from which these three characteristics have1 as far as possible1 been abstracted--a love which professes frankly to rest upon its own attractions1 and which repudiates all such epithets as worse or better4 ,this will at once show us not only of what various developments the passion of love is capable1 but also how false it is to imagine that the highest kind need naturally be the most attractive4 ,i have quoted ,othello1 and ,mrs4 ,craven's heroine as types of love when religionized4 ,we will go to the modern ,parisian school for the type of love when de-religionized--a school which1 starting from the same premisses as do the positive moralists1 yet come to a practical teaching that is singularly different4 ,and let us remember that just as the ideal we have been considering already1 is the ideal most ardently looked to by one part of the world1 so is the ideal we are going to consider now1 looked to with an equal ardour by another part of the world4 ,the writer in particular from whom ,i am about to quote has been one of the most popular of all modern romancers2 and has been hailed by men of the most fastidious culture as a preacher to these latter generations of a bolder and more worthy gospel4 ',this1'#ae says one of the best known of our living poets1 of the work that ,i select to quote from-- ,this is the golden book of spirit and sense1 ,the holy writ of beauty4 ,of this 'holy writ' the chief theme is love4 ,let us go on to see how love is there presented to us4 ',you know1' says ,thophile ,gautier's best-known hero1 in a letter to a friend1 'you know the eagerness with which ,i have sought for physical beauty1 the importance ,i attach to outward form1 and how the world ,i am in love with is the world that the eyes can see3 or to put the matter in more conventional language1 ,i am so corrupt and blas that my faith in moral beauty is gone1 and my power of striving after it also4 ,i have lost the faculty to discern between good and evil1 and this loss has well nigh brought me back to the ignorance of the child or savage4 ,to tell the plain truth1 nothing seems to me to be worthy either of praise or blame1 and ,i am but little perturbed by even the most abnormal actions4 ,my conscience is deaf and dumb4 ,adultery seems to me the most commonplace thing possible4 ,i see nothing shocking in a young girl selling herself4'444 ',i find that the earth is all as fair as heaven1 and virtue for me is nothing but the perfection of form4' ',many a time and long1' he continues farther on1 'have ,i paused in some cathedral1 under the shadow of the marble foliage1 when the lights were quivering in through the stained windows1 when the organ unbidden made a low murmuring of itself1 and the wind was breathing amongst the pipes2 and ,i have plunged my gaze far into the pale blue depths of the almond-shaped eyes of the ,madonna4 ,i have followed with a tender reverence the curves of that wasted figure of hers1 and the arch of her eyebrows1 just visible and no more than that4 ,i have admired her smooth and lustrous brow1 her temples with their transparent chastity1 and her cheeks shaded with a sober virginal colour1 more tender than the colour of a peach-flower4 ,i have counted one by one the fair and golden lashes that threw their tremulous shade upon it4 ,i have traced out with care in the subdued tone that surrounds her1 the evanescent lines of her throat1 so fragile and inclined so modestly4 ,i have even lifted with an adventuring hand the folds of her tunic1 and have seen unveiled that bosom1 maiden and full of milk1 that has never been pressed by any except divine lips4 ,i have traced out the rare clear veins of it1 even to their faintest branchings4 ,i have laid my finger on it1 to draw the white drops forth1 of the draught of heaven4 ,i have so much as touched with my lips the very bud of the rosa mystica4 ',well1 and ,i confess it honestly1 all this immaterial beauty1 this thing so winged and so aerial that one knows well enough it is soon going to fly away from one1 has never moved me to any great degree4 ,i love the ,venus ,anadyomene better1 better a thousand times4 ,these old-world eyes1 slightly raised at the corners6 these lips so pure and so firmly chiselled1 so amorous1 and so fit for kissing6 this low1 broad brow6 these tresses with the curves in them of the sea water1 and bound behind her head in a knot1 negligently6 these firm and shining shoulders6 this back1 with its thousand alluring contours6 all these fair and rounded outlines1 this air of superhuman vigour in a body so divinely feminine--all this enraptures and enchants me in a way of which you can have no idea--you the ,christian and the philosopher4 ',mary1 despite the humble air affected by her1 is a deal too haughty for me4 ,it is as much as her foot does1 swathed in its white coverings1 if it just touches the earth1 now purpling where the old serpent writhes4 ,her eyes are the loveliest eyes in the world2 but they are always turned heavenwards1 or else they are cast down4 ,they never look you straight in the face4 ,they have never served as the mirror of a human form4444 ,venus comes1 from the sea to take possession of the world1 as a goddess who loves men should--quite naked and quite alone4 ,earth is more to her liking than is ,olympus1 and amongst her lovers she has more men than gods4 ,she drapes herself in no faint veils of mystery4 ,she stands straight upright1 her dolphin behind her1 and her foot upon her opal-coloured shell4 ,the sun strikes full upon her smooth limbs1 and her white hand holds in air the waves of her fair locks1 which old father ,ocean has sprinkled with his most perfect pearls4 ,one can see her4 ,she hides nothing2 for modesty was only made for those who have no beauty4 ,it is an invention of the modern world2 the child of the ,christian contempt for form and matter4 ',oh ancient world6 all that you held in reverence is held in scorn by us4 ,thine idols are overthrown in the dust2 fleshless anchorites clad in rags and tatters1 martyrs with the blood fresh on them1 and their shoulders torn by the tigers of thy circuses1 have perched themselves on the pedestals of thy fair desirable gods4 ,the ,christ has enveloped the whole world in his winding-sheet4444 ,oh purity1 plant of bitterness1 born on a blood-soaked soil1 and whose degenerate and sickly blossom expands with difficulty in the dank shade of cloisters1 under a chill baptismal rain2 rose without scent1 and spiked all round with thorns1 thou hast taken the place for us of the glad and gracious roses1 bathed with nard and wine1 of the dancing girls of ,sybaris6 ',the ancient world knew thee not1 oh sterile flower6 thou wast never enwoven in its chaplets of delirious perfume4 ,in that vigorous and healthy society they would have spurned thee under foot disdainfully4 ,purity1 mysticism1 melancholy--three words unknown to thee1 three new maladies brought into our life by the ,christ6444 ,for me1 ,i look on woman in the old world manner1 like a fair slave1 made only for our pleasures4 ,christianity1 in my eyes1 has done nothing to rehabilitate her4444 ,to say the truth1 ,i cannot conceive for what reason there should be this desire in woman to be looked on as on a level with men4444 ,i have made some love-verses in my time1 or at least something that aspired to pass for such 444 and there is not a vestige in them of the modern feeling of love4444 ,there is nothing there1 as in all the love-poetry since the ,christian era1 of a soul which1 because it loves1 begs another soul to love it back again2 nothing there of a blue and shining lake1 which begs a stream to pour itself into its bosom1 that both together they may mirror the stars of heaven2 nothing there of a pair of ring-doves1 opening their wings together1 that they may both together fly to the same nest4'#af ,such is the account the hero gives of the nature of his love for woman4 ,nor does he give this account regretfully1 or think that it shows him to be in any diseased condition4 ,it shows rather a return1 on his part1 to a health that others have lost4 ,as he looks round upon the modern world and the purity that ,george ,eliot says in her verses she would die for1 ',woman1' he exclaims mournfully1 'is become the symbol of moral and physical beauty4 ,the real fall of man was on the birthday of the babe of ,bethlehem4'#ag ,it will be instructive to notice further that these views are carried out by him to their full legitimate consequences1 even though this1 to some degree1 is against his will4 ',sometimes1' he says1 ',i try to persuade myself that such passions are abominable1 and ,i say as much to myself in as severe a way as ,i can4 ,but the words come only from my lips4 ,they are arguments that ,i make4 ,they are not arguments that ,i feel4 ,the thing in question really seems quite natural to me1 and anyone else in my place would1 it seems to me1 do as ,i do4'#ah ,nor is this conception of love peculiar to the hero only4 ,the heroine's conception is its exact counterpart1 and exactly fits it4 ,the heroine as completely as the hero has freed herself from any discernment between good and evil4 ,she recoils from abnormal impurity no more than from normal1 and the climax of the book is her full indulgence in both4 ,now here we have a specimen of love raised to intensity1 but divested as far as possible of the religious element4 ,i say divested as far as possible1 because even here1 as ,i shall prove hereafter1 the process is not complete1 and something of religion is still left fermenting4 ,but it is quite complete enough for our present purpose4 ,it will remind us in the sharpest and clearest way that love is no force which is naturally constant in its development1 or which if left to itself can be in any way a moral director to us4 ,it will show us that many of its developments are what the moralist calls abominable1 and that the very worst of these may perhaps be the most attractive1 and be deliberately presented to us as such by men of the most elaborate culture4 ,we shall thus see that love as a test of conduct1 as an aim of life1 or as an object of any heroic devotion1 is not love in general1 but love of a special kind1 and that to fulfil this function it must not only be selected from the rest1 but also removed from them1 and set above them at a quite incalculable distance4 ,and the kind thus chosen1 let me repeat again 7for this1 though less obvious1 is more important still71 is not chosen because it is naturally intense1 but it becomes intense because it is the chosen one4 ,here then lies the weak point in the position of the positive moralists1 when they hold up such love to us as so supreme a treasure in life4 ,they observe1 and quite correctly1 that it is looked upon as a treasure2 but the source of its preciousness is something that their system expressly takes from it4 ,that choice amongst the loves1 so solemn and so imperious and yet so tender1 which descends like a tongue of flame upon the love it delights to honour2 which fixes on a despised and a weak affection1 taking it like ,elisha from his furrows1 or like ,david from his pastures1 setting it above all its fellows1 and making it at once a queen and prophetess--this is a choice that positivism has no power to make2 or which1 if it makes1 it makes only a caprice1 or a listless preference4 ,it does not1 indeed1 confound pure love with impure1 but it sets them on an equal footing2 and those who contend that the former under these conditions is intrinsically more attractive to men than the latter1 betray a most nave ignorance of what human nature is4 ,supposing1 for argument's sake1 that to themselves it may be so1 this fact is not of the slightest use to them4 ,it is merely the possession on their part of a certain personal taste1 which those who do not share it may regard as disease or weakness1 and which they themselves can neither defend nor inculcate4 ,it is true they may call their opponents hard names if they choose2 but their opponents can call them hard names back again2 but in the absence of any common standard1 the recriminations on neither side can have the least sting in them4 ,could1 however1 any argument on such a matter be possible1 it is the devotees of impurity that would have the strongest case2 for the pleasures of indulgence are admitted by both sides1 while the merits of abstention are admitted by only one4 ,let us go back1 for instance1 in connection with this matter1 to what ,professor ,huxley has told us is the grand result of education4 ,it leads us away1 he says1 from 'the rank and steaming valleys of sense1' up to the 'highest good1' which is 'discerned by reason1' 'resting in eternal calm4' ,and let us ask him again1 what1 as uttered by a positivist1 these words can by any possibility mean4 ',the rank and steaming valleys of sense'6 ,why are they rank and steaming8 ,or1 if they are1 why is that any condemnation of them8 ,or1 if we do condemn them1 what else are we to praise8 ,the entire raw material1 not of our pleasures only1 but of our knowledge also1 is given us1 say the positive school1 by the senses4 ,surely then to condemn the senses must be to condemn life4 ,let us imagine ,professor ,huxley talking in this way to ,thophile ,gautier4 ,let us imagine him frowning grimly at the licentious ,frenchman1 and urging him with all vehemence to turn to the highest good4 ,the answer will at once be1 ',that is exactly1 my dear ,professor1 what ,i do turn to4 ,and1 listen1' he might say--the following is again a passage from his own writings--'to the way in which ,i figure the highest good to myself4 ,it is a huge building1 with its outer walls all blind and windowless2 a huge court within1 surrounded by a colonnade of white marble2 in the midst a musical fountain with a jet of quick-silver in the ,arabian fashion2 leaves of orange-trees and pomegranates placed alternately2 overhead the bluest of skies and the mellowest of suns2 great long-nosed greyhounds should be sleeping here and there2 from time to time barefoot negresses with golden ankle-rings1 fair women servants white and slender1 and clad in rich strange garments1 should pass between the hollow arches1 basket on arm1 or urn poised on head4#ai ,three things give me pleasure1 gold1 marble1 and purple--brilliance1 mass1 and colour4 ,these are the stuffs out of which my dreams are made2 and all my ideal palaces are constructed of these materials4'#bj ,what answer could ,professor ,huxley make to this that would not seem to the other at once barbarous and nonsensical8 ,the best answer he could make would be simply1 ',i do not agree with you4' ,and to this again the answer would at once be1 ',that is because you are still hampered by prejudices1 whose only possible foundations we have both removed2 and because ,i am a man of culture1 and you are not4' ,let us also consider again that other utterance of ,professor ,huxley's1 with which ,i began this chapter4 ,according to the positive view of morals1 he says1 those special sets of happiness that a moral system selects for us1 have no more to do with any theory as to the reason of their selection1 than a man's sight has to do with his theory of vision1 or than the hot taste of ginger has to do with a knowledge of its analysis4 ,that is a most clear and succinct statement of the whole positive position2 and we shall now be able to profit by its clearness1 and to see how all that it does is to reveal confusion4 ,in the first place1 ,professor ,huxley's comparisons really illustrate the very fact that he designs them to invalidate4 ,it is precisely on his theory of vision that a man's sight practically does depend4 ,all sight1 so far as it conveys any meaning to him1 is an act of inference2 and though generally this process may be so rapid that it is not perceived by him1 yet the doubt often felt about distant or unusual objects will make him keenly conscious of it4 ,whilst as to ginger and the taste produced by it1 the moral question is not whether it is hot or not2 but whether or no it will be for our advantage to eat it2 and this resolves itself into two further questions2 firstly1 whether its heat is pleasant1 and secondly whether its heat is wholesome4 ,on the first of these ,professor ,huxley throws no light whatever2 whilst as to the second1 it really hangs entirely on the very point that he cited as indifferent4 ,we must have some knowledge1 even though it be only vague and negative1 of the nature of a food1 before we know whether it will be well for us in the long run to habitually eat it1 or to abstain from it4 ,let us apply this illustration to love4 ,professor ,huxley's ginger shall stand for the sort of love he would most approve of2 and love1 as a whole1 will be represented by a varied dessert1 of which ginger is one of the dishes4 ,now what ,professor ,huxley has to do is to recommend this ginger1 and to show that it is divided by an infinite gulf--say from prunes or from ,huntley and ,palmer's biscuits4 ,but how is he to do this8 ,to say that ginger is hot is to say nothing4 ,to many1 that may condemn instead of recommending it3 and they will have as much to say for their own tastes if they rejoin that prunes and biscuits are sweet4 ,if he can prove to them that what they choose is unwholesome1 and that if they eat it they will be too unwell to say their prayers1 then1 supposing they want to say their prayers1 he will have gained his point4 ,but if he cannot prove that it is unwholesome1 or if his friends have no prayers to say1 his entire recommendation dwindles to a declaration of his own personal taste4 ,but in this case his whole tone will be different4 ,there will be nothing in it of the moral imperative4 ,he will be only laughed at and not listened to1 if he proclaims his own taste in sweetmeats with all the thunders of ,sinai4 ,and the choice between the various kinds of love is1 on positive principles1 only a choice between sweetmeats4 ,it is this1 and nothing more1 than this1 avowedly2 and yet the positivists would keep for it the earnest language of the ,christian1 for whom it is a choice1 not between sweetmeats and sweetmeats1 but between a confectioner's wafer and the ,host4 ,it may perhaps be urged by some that1 according to this view of it1 purity is degraded into a bitter something1 which we only accept reluctantly1 through fear of the consequences of its alternatives4 ,and it is quite true that a fear of the consequences of wrong love is inseparably connected with our sense of the value of right love4 ,but this is a necessity of the case2 the quality of the right love is in no way lowered by it1 and it will lead us to consider another important point4 ,it is impossible to hold that one thing is incalculably better than others1 without holding also that others are incalculably worse than it4 ,indeed1 the surest test we can give of the praise we bestow on what we choose1 is the measure of condemnation we bestow on what we reject4 ,if we maintain that virtuous love constitutes its own heaven1 we must also maintain that vicious love constitutes its own hell4 ,if we cannot do the last we certainly cannot do the first4 ,and the positive school can do neither4 ,it can neither elevate one kind of love nor depress the others2 and for this reason4 ,the results of love in both cases are1 according to their teaching1 bounded by our present consciousness2 and our present consciousness1 divorced from all future expectation1 has no room in it for so vast an interval as all moral systems postulate between the right love and the wrong4 ,indeed1 if happiness be the test of right1 it cannot1 as a general truth1 be said that they are practically separable at all4 ,it is notorious that1 as far as the present life goes1 a man of even the vilest affections may effectually elude all pain from them4 ,sometimes they may injure his health1 it is true2 but they need not even do that2 and if they do1 it necessitates no moral condemnation of them1 for many heroic labours would do just the same4 ,injury to the health1 at any rate1 is a mere accident2 so is also injury to the reputation2 and conditions are easily conceivable by which both these dangers would be obviated4 ,the supposed evils of impurity have but a very slight reference to these4 ,they depend1 not on any present consciousness1 but on the expectations of a future consciousness--a consciousness that will reveal things to us hereafter which we can only augur here4 ,i do not know them now1 but after death ,god knows ,i know the faces ,i shall see3 ,each one a murdered self with last low breath1 ',i am thyself2 what hast thou done to me8' ',and ,i1 and ,i thyself6' lo each one saith1 ',and thou thyself1 to all eternity4'#ba ,such is the expectation on which the supposed evils of impurity depend4 ,according to positive principles1 the expectation will never be fulfilled2 the evils therefore exist only in a diseased imagination4 ,and with the beauty of purity the case is just the same4 ,according to the view which the positivists have adopted1 so little counting the cost of it1 a pure human affection is a union of two things4 ,it is not a possession only1 but a promise2 not a sentiment only1 but a pre-sentiment2 not a taste only1 but a foretaste2 and the chief sweetness said to be found in the former1 is dependent altogether upon the latter4 ',blessed are the pure in heart1 for they shall see ,god1' is the belief which1 whether true or false as a fact1 is implied in the whole modern cultus of love1 and the religious reverence with which it has come to be regarded4 ,in no other way can we explain either its eclecticism or its supreme importance4 ,nor is the belief in question a thing that is implied only4 ,continually it is expressed also1 and this even by writers who theoretically repudiate it4 ,goethe1 for instance1 cannot present the moral aspects of ,margaret's love-story without assuming it4 ,and ,george ,eliot has been obliged to presuppose it in her characters1 and to exhibit the virtues she regards as noblest1 on the pedestal of a belief that she regards as most irrational4 ,but its completest expression is naturally to be found elsewhere4 ,here1 for instance1 is a verse of ,mr4 ,robert ,browning's1 who1 however we rank him otherwise1 is perhaps unrivalled for his subtle analysis of the emotions3 ,dear1 when our one soul understands ,the great soul that makes all things new1 ,when earth breaks up1 and heaven expands1 ,how will the change strike me and you1 ,in the house not made with hands8 ,here1 again1 is another1 in which the same sentiment is presented in a somewhat different form3 ,is there nought better than to enjoy8 ,no deed which done1 will make time break1 ,letting us pent-up creatures through ,into eternity1 our due-- ,no forcing earth teach heaven's employ8 ,no wise beginning1 here and now1 ,which cannot grow complete 7earth's feat7 ,and heaven must finish there and then8 ,no tasting earth's true food for men1 ,its sweet in sad1 its sad in sweet8 ,to the last of these verses a singular parallel may be found in the works of a much earlier1 and a very different writer1 only the affection there dealt with is filial and not marital4 ,in spite of this difference1 however1 it will still be much in point4 ',the day was fast approaching1' says ,augustine1 'whereon my mother was to depart this life1 when it happened1 ,lord1 as ,i believe by thy special ordinance1 that she and ,i were alone together1 leaning in a certain window that looked into the garden of the house1 where we were then staying at ,ostia4 ,we were talking together alone1 very sweetly1 and were wondering what the life would be of ,god's saints in heaven4 ,and when our discourse was come to that point1 that the highest delight and brightest of all the carnal senses seemed not fit to be so much as named with that life's sweetness1 we1 lifting ourselves yet more ardently to the ,unchanging ,one1 did by degrees pass through all things bodily--beyond the heaven even1 and the sun and stars4 ,yea1 we soared higher yet by inward musing4 ,we came to our own minds1 and we passed beyond them1 that we might reach that place of plenty1 where ,thou feedest ,israel for ever with the food of truth1 and where life is the ,wisdom by which all these things are made4 ,and whilst we were discoursing and panting after her1 we slightly touched on her with the whole effort of our heart2 and we sighed1 and there left bound the first fruits of the spirit1 and came back again to the sounds of our own mouths--to our own finite language4 ,and what we then said was in this wise3 ,if to any the tumult of the flesh were hushed1 hushed the images of the earth and air and waters1 hushed too the poles of heaven1 yea the very soul be hushed to herself1 and by not thinking on self transcend self1 hushed all dreams and imaginary revelations1 every tongue and every sign1 and whatever exists only in transition--if these should all be hushed1 having only roused our ears to ,him that made them1 and ,he speak alone1 not by them but by ,himself1 that we might hear ,his word1 not through any tongue of flesh1 nor angel's voice1 nor sound of thunder1 nor in the dark riddle of a similitude1 but might hear ,him1 whom in these things we love--,his very self without any aid from these 7even as we two for that brief moment had touched the eternal ,wisdom7--could this be continued on1 and other visions1 far unlike it1 be withdrawn1 and this one ravish and absorb and wrap up its beholders amid these inward joys1 so that life might be for ever like that one moment of understanding1 were not this1 ,enter thou into the joy of thy ,lord8 ,and when shall that be8 ,shall it be when we rise again1 but shall not all be changed8'#bb ,in this exceedingly striking passage we have the whole case before us4 ,the belief on which modern love rests1 and which makes it so single and so sacred is1 as it were1 drawn for us on an enlarged scale3 and we see that it is a belief to which positivism has no right4 ,the belief1 indeed1 is by no means a modern thing4 ,rudiments of it on the contrary are as old as man himself1 and may represent a something that inheres in his very nature4 ,but none the more for this will it be of any service to the positivist2 for this something can only be of power or value if the prophecy it inevitably developes into be regarded as a true one4 ,in the consciousness of the ancient world it lay undeciphered like the dark sentence of an oracle2 and though it might be revered by some1 it could not be denied by any4 ,but its meaning is now translated for us1 and there is a new factor in the case4 ,we now can deny it2 and if we do1 its whole power is paralysed4 ,this when once recognised must be evident enough4 ,but a curious confusion of thought has prevented the positive school from seeing it4 ,they have imagined that what religion adds to love is the hope of prolongation only1 not of development also2 and thus we find ,professor ,huxley curtly dismissing the question by saying that the quality of such a pleasure 'is obviously in no way affected by the abbreviation or prolongation of our conscious life4' ,how utterly this is beside the point may be shown instantly by a very simple example4 ,a painter1 we will say1 inspired with some great conception1 sets to work at a picture1 and finds a week of the intensest happiness in preparing his canvas and laying his first colours4 ,now the happiness of that week is1 of course1 a fact for him4 ,it would not have been greater had it lasted a whole fortnight2 and it would not have been less had he died at the week's end4 ,but though obviously1 as ,professor ,huxley says1 it in no way depends on its prolongation1 what it does depend on is the belief that it will be prolonged1 and that in being prolonged it will change its character4 ,it depends on the belief on the painter's part that he will be able to continue his painting1 and that as he continues it1 his picture will advance to completion4 ,the positivists have confused the true saying that the pleasure of painting one picture does not depend on the fact that we shall paint many1 with the false saying that the pleasure of beginning that one does not depend on the belief that we shall finish it4 ,on this last belief it is plain that the pleasure does depend1 largely if not entirely2 and it is precisely this last belief that positivism takes away4 ,to return again1 then1 to the subject of human love--we are now in a position to see that1 as offered us at present by the positive school of moralists1 it cannot1 properly speaking1 be called a positive pleasure at all1 but that1 it is still essentially a religious one2 and that when the religious element is eradicated1 its entire character will change4 ,it may be1 of course1 contended that the religious element is ineradicable3 but this is simply either to call positivism an impossibility1 or religion an incurable disease4 ,here1 however1 we are touching on a side issue1 which ,i shall by and by return to1 but which is at present beside the point4 ,my aim now is not to argue either that positivism can or cannot be accepted by humanity1 but to show what1 if accepted1 it will have to offer us4 ,i wish to point out the error1 for instance1 of such writers as ,george ,eliot1 who1 whilst denying the existence of any sun-god in the heavens1 are yet perpetually adoring the sunlight on the earth2 who profess to extinguish all fire on principle1 and then offer us boiling water to supply its place2 or who1 sending love to us as a mere ,cassandra1 continue to quote as ,scripture the prophecies they have just discredited4 ,thus far what we have seen is this4 ,love as a positive pleasure1 if it be ever reduced to such1 will be a very different thing from what our positivist moralists at present see it to be4 ,it will perform none of those functions for which they now look to it4 ,it will no longer supply them1 as now1 with any special pinnacle on which human life may raise itself4 ,the one type of it that is at present on an eminence will sink to the same level as the others4 ,all these will be offered to us indiscriminately1 and our choice between them will have no moral value4 ,none of the ethical epithets by which these varieties are at present so sharply distinguished from each other will have any virtue left in them4 ,morality in this connection will be a word without a meaning4 ,i have as yet dealt only with one of those resources1 which have been supposed to impart to life a positive general value4 ,this one1 however1 has been the most important and the most comprehensive of all2 and its case will explain that of the others1 and perhaps1 with but few exceptions1 include them4 ,one or two of these others ,i shall by and by treat separately2 but we will first enquire into the results on life of the change we have been considering already4 ,,footnotes3 #ae ,mr4 ,a4,c4 ,swinburne4 #af ,mademoiselle de ,maupin1 pp4 #bac-bbb4 ,ed4 ,paris4 #ahge4 #ag ,mademoiselle de ,maupin1 p4 #bbc4 #ah ,ibid41 p4 #bbe4 #ai ,mademoiselle de ,maupin1 p4 #bbb4 #bj ,ibid41 p4 #baa4 #ba ,dante ,gabriel ,rosetti4 #bb ,aug4 ,conf41 lib4 ix4 ,in the earlier part of the passage the extreme redundancy of the original has been curtailed somewhat4 ,in the rendering here given ,i have to a great extent followed ,dr4 ,pusey4 ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,life ,,as ,,its ,,own ,,reward4 ',if in this life only we have hope--' ,what we have now before us is a certain subtraction sum4 ,we have to take from life one of its strongest present elements2 and see as well as we can what will then be the remainder4 ,an exact answer we shall1 of course1 not expect2 but we can arrive at an approximate one without much difficulty4 ,what we have to subtract has been shown in the previous chapter2 but it may again be described briefly in the following way4 ,life in its present state1 as we have just seen1 is a union of two sets of feelings1 and of two kinds of happiness1 and is partly the sum of the two1 and partly a compromise between them4 ,its resources1 by one classification1 are separable into two groups1 according as in themselves they chance to repel or please us2 and the most obvious measure of happiness would seem to be nothing more than our gain of what is thus pleasant1 and our shirking of what is thus painful4 ,but if we examine life as it actually exists about us1 we shall see that this classification has been traversed by another4 ,many things naturally repellent have received a supernatural blessing2 many things naturally pleasant have received a supernatural curse2 and thus our highest happiness is often composed of pain1 and our profoundest misery is nearly always based on pleasure4 ,accordingly1 whereas happiness naturally would seem the test of right1 right has come supernaturally to be the test of happiness4 ,and so completely is this notion engrained in the world's consciousness1 that in all our deeper views of life1 no matter whether we be saints or sinners1 right and wrong are the things that first appeal to us1 not happiness and misery4 ,a certain supernatural moral judgment1 in fact1 has become a primary faculty with us1 and it mixes with every estimate we form of the world around us4 ,it is this faculty that positivism1 if accepted fully1 must either destroy or paralyse2 it is this1 therefore1 that in imagination we must now try to eliminate4 ,to do this--to see what will be left in life to us1 without this faculty1 we must first see in general1 how much is at present dependent on it4 ,this might at first sight seem a hard task to perform2 the interests we shall have to deal with are so many and so various4 ,but the difficulty may be eluded4 ,i have already gone to literature for examples of special feelings on the part of individuals1 and under certain circumstances4 ,we will now go to it for a kindred1 though not for the same assistance2 and for this end we shall approach it in a slightly different way4 ,what we did before was this4 ,we took certain works of literary art1 and selecting1 as it were1 one or two special patches of colour1 we analysed the composition of these4 ,what we shall now do will be to take the pictures as organic wholes1 with a view to analysing the effect of them as pictures--the harmony or the contrast of their colours1 and the massing of their lights and shadows4 ,if we reflect for a moment what art is--literary and poetical art in particular--we shall at once see how1 examined in this way1 it will be of use to us4 ,in the first place1 then1 what is art8 and what is the reason that it pleases us8 ,it is a reflection1 a reproduction of the pleasures of life1 and is altogether relative to these1 and dependent on them4 ,we should1 for instance1 take no interest in portraits unless we took some interest in the human face4 ,we should take none in statues if we took none in the human form4 ,we must know something of love as a feeling1 or we should never care for love-songs4 ,art may send us back to these with intenser appreciation of them1 but we must bring to art from life the appreciation we want intensified4 ,art is a factor in common human happiness1 because by its means common men are made partakers in the vision of uncommon men4 ,great art is a speculum reflecting life as the keenest eyes have seen it4 ,all its forms and imagery are of value only as this4 ,taken by themselves1 'the best in this kind are but shadows4' ,we have to 'piece out their imperfections1 with our thoughts2' 'imagination has to amend them1' and 'it must be our imagination1 not theirs4'#bc ,in examining a work of art1 then1 we are examining life itself2 or rather1 in examining the interest which we take in a work of art1 in examining the reasons why we think it beautiful1 or great1 or interesting1 we are examining our own feelings as to the realities represented by it4 ,and now remembering this1 let us turn to certain of the world's greatest works of art--,i mean its dramas3 for just as poetry is the most articulate of all the arts1 so is the drama the most comprehensive form of poetry4 ,in the drama we have the very thing we are now in want of4 ,we have life as a whole--that complex aggregate of details1 which forms1 as it were1 the mental landscape of existence1 presented to us in a 'questionable shape1' at once concentrated and intensified4 ,and it is no exaggeration to say that the reasons why men think life worth living1 can be all found in the reasons why they think a great drama great4 ,let us turn1 then1 to some of the greatest works of ,sophocles1 of ,shakespeare1 and of ,goethe1 and consider briefly how these present life to us4 ,let us take ,macbeth1 ,hamlet1 ,measure for ,measure1 and ,faust4 ,we have here five presentations of life1 under what confessedly are its most striking aspects1 and with such interests as men have been able to find in it1 raised to their greatest intensity4 ,such1 at least1 is the way in which these works are regarded1 and it is only in virtue of this estimate that they are called great4 ,now1 in producing this estimate1 what is the chief faculty in us that they appeal to8 ,it will need but little thought to show us that they appeal primarily to the supernatural moral judgment2 that this judgment is perpetually being expressed explicitly in the works themselves2 and1 which is far more important1 that it is always pre-supposed in us4 ,in other words1 these supreme presentations of life are presentations of men struggling1 or failing to struggle1 not after natural happiness1 but after supernatural right2 and it is always pre-supposed on our part that we admit this struggle to be the one important thing4 ,and this importance1 we shall see further1 is based1 not on the external and the social consequences of conduct1 but essentially and primarily on its internal and its personal consequences4 ,in ,macbeth1 for instance1 the main incident1 the tragic-colouring matter of the drama1 is the murder of ,duncan4 ,but in what aspect of this does the real tragedy lie8 ,not in the fact that ,duncan is murdered1 but in the fact that ,macbeth is the murderer4 ,what appals us1 what purges our passions with pity and with terror as we contemplate it1 is not the external1 the social effect of the act1 but the personal1 the internal effect of it4 ,as for ,duncan1 he is in his grave2 after life's fitful fever he sleeps well4 ,what our minds are made to dwell upon is not that ,duncan shall sleep for ever1 but that ,macbeth shall sleep no more2 it is not the extinction of a dynasty1 but the ruin of a character4 ,we see in ,hamlet precisely the same thing4 ,the action there that our interest centres in1 is the hero's struggle to conform to an internal personal standard of right1 utterly irrespective of use to others1 or of natural happiness to himself4 ,in the course of this struggle1 indeed1 he does nothing but ruin the happiness around him2 and this ruin adds greatly to the pathos of the spectacle4 ,but we are not indignant with ,hamlet1 as being the cause of it4 ,we should have been indignant rather with him if the case had been reversed1 and if1 instead of sacrificing social happiness for the sake of personal right1 he had sacrificed personal right for the sake of social happiness4 ,in ,antigone the case is just the same1 only there its nature is yet more distinctly exhibited4 ,we have for the central interest the same personal struggle after right1 not after use or happiness2 and one of the finest passages in that whole marvellous drama is a distinct statement by the heroine that this is so4 ,the one rule she says1 that she is resolved to live by1 and not live by only1 but if needs be to die for1 is no human rule1 is no standard of man's devising1 nor can it be modified to suit our changing needs2 but it is ,the unwritten and the enduring laws of ,god1 ,which are not of to-day nor yesterday1 ,but live from everlasting1 and none breathes ,who knows them1 whence begotten4 ,in ,measure for ,measure and ,faust we can see the matter reduced to a narrower issue still4 ,in both these plays we can see at once that one moral judgment at least1 not to name others1 is before all things pre-supposed in us4 ,this is a hard and fixed judgment with regard to female chastity1 and the supernatural value of it4 ,it is only because we assent to this judgment that ,isabella is heroic to us2 and primarily for the same reason that ,margaret is unfortunate4 ,let us suspend this judgment for a moment1 and what will become of these two dramas8 ,the terror and the pity of them will vanish instantly like a dream4 ,the fittest name for both of them will be ',much ,ado about ,nothing4' ,it will thus be seen1 and the more we consider the matter the more plain will it become to us--that in all such art as that which we have been now considering1 the premiss on which all its power and greatness rests is this3 ,the grand relation of man is not first to his brother men1 but to something else1 that is beyond humanity--that is at once without and also beyond himself2 to this first1 and to his brother men through this4 ,we are not our own2 we are bought with a price4 ,our bodies are ,god's temples1 and the joy and the terror of life depends on our keeping these temples pure1 or defiling them4 ,such are the solemn and profound beliefs1 whether conscious or unconscious1 on which all the higher art of the world has based itself4 ,all the profundity and solemnity of it is borrowed from these1 and exists for us in exact proportion to the intensity with which we hold them4 ,nor is this true of sublime and serious art only4 ,it is true of cynical1 profligate1 and concupiscent art as well4 ,it is true of ,congreve as it is true of ,sophocles2 it is true of ,mademoiselle de ,maupin as it is true of ,measure for ,measure4 ,this art differs from the former in that the end presented in it as the object of struggle is not only not the morally right1 but is also to a certain extent essentially the morally wrong4 ,in the case of cynical and profligate art this is obvious4 ,for such art does not so much depend on the substitution of some new object1 as in putting insult on the present one4 ,it does not make right and wrong change places2 on the contrary it carefully keeps them where they are2 but it insults the former by transferring its insignia to the latter4 ,it is not the ignoring of the right1 but the denial of it4 ,cynicism and profligacy are essentially the spirits that deny1 but they must retain the existing affirmations for their denial to prey upon4 ,their function is not to destroy the good1 but to keep it in lingering torture4 ,it is a kind of spiritual bear-baiting4 ,they hate the good1 and its existence piques them2 but they must know that the good exists none the less4 ',i'd no sooner1' says one of ,congreve's characters1 'play with a man that slighted his ill-fortune1 than ,i'd make love to a woman who undervalued the loss of her reputation4' ,in this one sentence is contained the whole secret of profligacy2 and profligacy is the same as cynicism1 only it is cynicism sensualized4 ,now we have in the above sentence the exact counterpart to the words of ,antigone that ,i have already quoted4 ,for just as her life lay in conformity to ',the unwritten1 and the enduring laws of ,god1' so does the life of the profligate lie in the violation of them4 ,to each the existence of laws is equally essential4 ,for profligacy is not merely the gratification of the appetites1 but the gratification of them at the expense of something else4 ,beasts are not profligate4 ,we cannot have a profligate goat4 ,in what ,i have called concupiscent art1 the case might seem different1 and to a certain extent it is so4 ,the objects of struggle that we are there presented with are meant to be presented as pleasures1 not in defiance of right and wrong1 but independently of them4 ,the chief of these1 indeed1 as ,thophile ,gautier has told us1 are the physical endearments of a man and a woman1 with no other qualification than that they are both of them young and beautiful4 ,but though this art professes to be thus independent of the moral judgment1 and to trust for none of its effects to the discernment between good and evil1 this really is very far from being the case4 ,let us turn once again to the romance we have already quoted from4 ,the hero says1 as we have seen already1 that he has completely lost the power of discernment in question4 ,now1 even this1 as might be shown easily1 is not entirely true2 for argument's sake1 however1 we may grant him that it is so4 ,the real point in the matter to notice is that he is at any rate conscious of the loss4 ,he is a man tingling with the excitement of having cast off some burden4 ,the burden may be gone1 but it is still present in the sharp effects of its absence4 ,he is a kind of moral poacher1 who1 though he may not live by law1 takes much of his life's tone from the sense that he is eluding it4 ,his pleasures1 though pleasurable in themselves1 yet have this quality heightened by the sense of contrast4 ',i am at any rate not virtuous1' his mistress says to him1 'and that is always something gained4' ,george ,eliot says of ,maggie ,tulliver1 that she liked her aunt ,pullet chiefly because she was not her aunt ,gleg4 ,thophile ,gautier's hero likes the ,venus ,anadyomene1 partly at least1 because she is not the ,madonna4 ,nay1 let us even descend to worse spectacles--to the sight of men struggling for enjoyments that are yet more obviously material1 more devoid yet of any trace of mind or morals1 and we shall see plainly1 if we consult the mirror of art1 that the moral element is present even here4 ,we shall trace it even in such abnormal literature of indulgence as the erotic work commonly ascribed to ,meursius4 ,we shall trace it in the orgies of ,tiberius at ,capri2 or of ,quartilla1 as ,petronius describes them1 at ,neapolis4 ,it is like a ray of light coming in at the top of a dark cavern1 whose inmates see not it1 but by it2 and which only brings to them a consciousness of shadow4 ,it is this supernatural element that leavens natural passion1 and gives its mad rage to it4 ,it creates for it 'a twilight where virtues are vices4' ,the pleasures thus sought for are supposed to enthral men not in proportion to their intensity 7for this through all their varieties would be probably nearly equal7 but in proportion to their lowness--to their sullying power4 ,degradation is the measure of enjoyment2 or rather it is an increasing numeral by which one constant figure of enjoyment is multiplied4 ,ah1 where shall we go then1 for pastime1 ,if the worst that can be has been done8 ,this is the great question of the votaries of such joys as these4#bd ,thus if we look at life in the mirror of art1 we shall see how the supernatural is ever present to us4 ,if we climb up into heaven it is there2 if we go down into hell it is there also4 ,we shall see it at the bottom of those two opposite sets of pleasures1 to the one or the other of which all human pleasures belong4 ,the source of one is an impassioned struggle after the supernatural right1 or an impassioned sense of rest upon attaining it2 the source of the other is the sense of revolt against it1 which in various ways flatters or excites us4 ,in both cases the supernatural moral judgment is the sense appealed to1 primarily in the first case1 and secondarily if not primarily in the second4 ,all the life about us is coloured by this1 and naturally if this be destroyed or wrecked1 the whole aspect of life will change for us4 ,what then will this change be8 ,looking still into the mirror of art1 the general character of it will be very readily perceptible4 ,i noticed just now1 in passing1 how ,measure for ,measure and ,faust would suffer in their meaning and their interest1 by the absence on our part of a certain moral judgment4 ,they would become like a person singing to a deaf audience--a series of dumb grimaces with no meaning in them4 ,the same thing is equally true in all the other cases4 ,antigone's heroism will evaporate2#be she will be left obstinate only4 ,the lives of ,macbeth and ,hamlet will be tales of little meaning for us1 though the words are strong4 ,they will be full of sound and fury1 but they will signify nothing4 ,what they produce in us will be not interest but a kind of wondering weariness--weariness at the weary fate of men who could 'think so brainsickly of things4' ,so in like manner will all the emphasis and elaboration in the literature of sensuality become a weariness without meaning1 also4 ,congreve's caustic wit will turn to spasmodic truism2 and ,thophile ,gautier's excess of erotic ardour1 into prolix and fantastic affectation4 ,all its sublimity1 its brilliance1 and a large part of its interest1 depend in art on the existence of the moral sense1 and would in its absence be absolutely unproducible4 ,the reason of this is plain4 ,the natural pains and pleasures of life1 merely manipulated by the imagination and the memory1 have too little variety or magnitude in them without further aid4 ,art without the moral sense to play upon1 is like a pianist whose keyboard is reduced to a single octave4 ,and exactly the same will be the case with life4 ,life will lose just the same qualities that art will--neither more nor less4 ,there will be no introduction of any new interests1 but merely the elimination of certain existing ones4 ,the subtraction of the moral sense will not revolutionise human purposes1 but simply make them listless4 ,it will reduce to a parti-coloured level the whole field of pains and pleasures4 ,the moral element gives this level a new dimension4 ,working underneath it as a subterranean force1 it convulses and divides its surface4 ,here vast areas subside into valleys and deep abysses2 there mountain peaks shoot up heavenwards4 ,mysterious shadows begin to throng the hollows2 new tints and half-tints flicker and shift everywhere2 mists hang floating over ravines and precipices2 the vegetation grows more various1 here slenderer1 there richer and more luxuriant2 whilst high over all1 bright on the topmost summits1 is a new strange something--the white snows of purity1 catching the morning streaks on them of a brighter day1 that has never as yet risen upon the world below4 ,with the subtraction1 or nullifying1 of the moral force1 all this will go4 ,the mountains will sink1 the valleys be filled up2 all will be once more dead level--still indeed parti-coloured1 but without light and shadow1 and with the colours reduced in number1 and robbed of all their vividness4 ,the chiaro-oscuro will have gone from life2 the moral landscape1 whose beauty and grandeur is at present so much extolled1 will have dissolved like an insubstantial pageant4 ,vice and virtue will be set before us in the same grey light2 every deeper feeling either of joy or sorrow1 of desire or of repulsion1 will lose its vigour1 and cease any more to be resonant4 ,it may be said indeed1 and very truly1 that under favourable circumstances there must always remain a joy in the mere act of living1 in the exercising of the bodily functions1 and in the exciting and appeasing of the bodily appetites4 ,will anything1 it may be asked1 for instance1 rob the sunshine of its gladness1 or deaden the vital influence of a spring morning8--when the sky is a cloudless blue1 and the sea is like a wild hyacinth1 when the pouring brooks seem to live as they sparkle1 and the early air amongst the woodlands has the breath in it of unseen violets8 ,all this1 it is quite true1 will be left to us2 this and a great deal more4 ,this1 however1 is but one side of the picture4 ,if life has its own natural gladness which is expressed by spring1 it has also its own natural sadness which is expressed by winter2 and the worth of life1 if this is all we trust to1 will be as various and as changing as the weather is4 ,but this is not all4 ,even this worth1 such as it is1 depends for us at present1 in a large measure1 upon religion--not directly indeed1 but indirectly4 ,this life of air1 and nerve1 and muscle1 this buoyant consciousness of joyous and abounding health1 which seems so little to have connection with faiths or theories1 is for us impregnated with a life that is impregnated with these1 and thus their subtle influence pervades it everywhere4 ,there is no impulse from without which stirs or excites the senses1 that does not either bring to us1 or send us on to1 a something beyond itself4 ,in each of these pleasures that seems to us so simple1 floats a swarm of hopes and memories1 like the gnats in a summer twilight4 ,there is not a sight1 a sound1 a smell1 not a breath from sea or garden1 that is not full of them1 and on which1 busy and numberless1 they are not wafted into us4 ,and each of these volatile presences brings the notions of right and wrong with it2 and it is these that make sensuous life tingle with so strange and so elaborate an excitement4 ,indirectly then1 though not directly1 the mere joy in the act of living will suffer from the loss of religion1 in the same manner1 though perhaps not in the same degree1 as the other joys will4 ,it will not lose its existence1 but it will lose zest4 ,the fabric of its pleasures will of course remain what it ever was2 but its brightest inhabitants will have left it4 ,it will be as desolate as ,mayfair in ,september1 or as a deserted college during a long vacation4 ,we may here pause in passing1 to remark on the shallowness of that philosophy of culture1 to be met with in certain quarters1 which1 whilst admitting all that can be said as to the destruction for us of any moral obligation1 yet advises us still to profit by the variety of moral distinctions4 ',each moment1' says ,mr4 ,pater for instance1 'some form grows perfect in hand or face2 some tone on the hills or sea is choicer than the rest2 some mood of passion or insight or intellectual excitement1 is irresistibly real and attractive for us4' ,and thus1 he adds1 'while all melts under our feet1 we may well catch at any exquisite passion1 or any contribution to knowledge1 that seems by a lifted horizon to set the spirit free for a moment1 or any stirring of the senses1 strange dyes1 strange flowers1 and curious odours1 or the work of the artist's hand1 or the face of one's friend4' ,it is plain that this positive teaching of culture is open to the same objections1 and is based on the same fallacy1 as the positive teaching of morals4 ,it does not teach us1 indeed1 to let right and wrong guide us in the choice of our pleasures1 in the sense that we should choose the one sort and eschew the other2 but teaching us to choose the two1 in one sense indifferently1 it yet teaches us to choose them as distinct and contrasted things4 ,it teaches us in fact to combine the two fruits without confusing their flavours4 ,but in the case of good and evil1 as has been seen1 this is quite impossible2 for good is only good as the thing that ought to be chosen2 evil is only evil as the thing that ought not to be chosen2 and the only reasons that could justify us in combining them would altogether prevent our distinguishing them4 ,the teachings of positive culture1 in fact1 rest on the nave supposition that shine and shadow1 as it were1 are portable things2 and that we can take bright objects out of the sunshine1 and dark objects out of the shadow1 and setting them both together in the diffused grey light of a studio1 make a magical mosaic out of them1 of gloom and glitter4 ,or such teachings1 to put the matter yet more simply1 are like telling us to pick a primrose at noonday1 and to set it by our bed-side for a night-light4 ,it is plain therefore that1 in that loss of zest and interest1 which the deadening of the moral sense1 as we have seen1 must bring to life1 we shall get no help there4 ,the massy fabric of which saints and heroes were the builders1 will never be re-elected by this mincing moral dandyism4 ,but there is another last resource of the modern school1 which is far more worthy of attention1 and which1 being entirely sui generis1 ,i have reserved to treat of here4 ,that resource is the devotion to truth as truth2 not for the sake of its consequences1 but in scorn of them4 ,here we are told we have at least one moral end that can never be taken away from us4 ,it will still survive to give life a meaning1 a dignity1 and a value1 even should the pursuit of it prove destructive to all the others4 ,the language used by the modern school upon this subject is very curious and instructive4 ,i will take two typical instances4 ,the common argument1 says ,dr4 ,tyndall1 in favour of belief is the comfort and the gladness that it brings us1 its redemption of life1 in fact1 from that dead and dull condition we have been just considering4 ',to this1' he says1 'my reply is that ,i choose the nobler part of ,emerson when1 after various disenchantments1 he exclaimed ,i covet truth6 ,the gladness of true heroism1 visits the heart of him who is really competent to say this4' ,the following sentences are ,professor ,huxley's3 ',if it is demonstrated to me1' he says1 'that without this or that theological dogma the human race will lapse into bipedal cattle1 more brutal than the beasts by reason of their greater cleverness1 my next question is to ask for the proof of the dogma4 ,if this proof is forthcoming1 it is my conviction that no drowning sailor ever clutched a hen-coop more tenaciously than mankind will hold by such dogma1 whatever it may be4 ,but if not1 then ,i verily believe that the human race will go its own evil way2 and my only consolation lies in the reflection that1 however bad our posterity may become1 so long as they hold by the plain rule of not pretending to believe what they have no reason to believe1 because it may be to their advantage so to pretend1 they will not have reached the lowest depths of immorality4' ,i will content myself with these two instances1 but others of a similar kind might be multiplied indefinitely4 ,now by a simple substitution of terms1 such language as this will reveal at once one important fact to us4 ,according to the avowed principles of positive morality1 morality has no other test but happiness4 ,immorality1 therefore1 can have no conceivable meaning but unhappiness1 or at least the means to it1 which in this case are hardly distinguishable from the end2 and thus1 according to the above rigid reasoners1 the human race will not have reached the lowest depths of misery so long as it rejects the one thing which ex hypothesi might render it less miserable4 ,either then all this talk about truth must really be so much irrelevant nonsense1 or else1 if it be not nonsense1 the test of conduct is something distinct from happiness4 ,the question before us is a plain one1 which may be answered in one of two ways1 but which positivism cannot possibly answer in both4 ,is truth to be sought only because it conduces to happiness1 or is happiness only to be sought for when it is based on truth8 ,in the latter case truth1 not happiness1 is the test of conduct4 ,are our positive moralists prepared to admit this8 ,if so1 let them explicitly and consistently say so4 ,let them keep this test and reject the other1 for the two cannot be fused together4 ,greek3 oxos t' aleipha t' egcheas taut kutei dichostatount an ou philoin prosennepois4 ,this inconsistency is here1 however1 only a side point--a passing illustration of the slovenliness of the positivist logic4 ,as far as my present argument goes1 we may let this pass altogether1 and allow the joint existence of these mutually exclusive ends4 ,what ,i am about to do is to show that on positive grounds the last of these is more hopelessly inadequate than the first--that truth as a moral end has even more of religion in its composition than happiness1 and that when this religion goes1 its value will even more hopelessly evaporate4 ,at first sight this may seem impossible4 ,the devotion to truth may seem as simple as it is sacred4 ,but if we consider the matter further1 we shall soon think differently4 ,to begin then2 truth1 as the positivists speak of it1 is plainly a thing that is to be worshipped in two ways--firstly by its discovery1 and secondly by its publication4 ,thus ,professor ,huxley1 however much it may pain him1 will not hide from himself the fact that there is no ,god2 and however bad this knowledge may be for humanity1 his highest and most sacred duty still consists in imparting it4 ,now why should this be8 ,i ask4 ,is it simply because the fact in question is the truth8 ,that surely cannot be so1 as a few other examples will show us4 ,a man discovers that his wife has been seduced by his best friend4 ,is there anything very high or very sacred in that discovery8 ,having made it1 does he feel any consolation in the knowledge that it is the entire truth8 ,and will the 'gladness of true heroism' visit him if he proclaims it to everyone in his club8 ,a chattering nurse betrays his danger to a sick man4 ,the sick man takes fright and dies4 ,was the discovery of the truth of his danger very glorious for the patient8 or was its publication very sacred in the nurse8 ,clearly the truths that it is sacred to find out and to publish are not all truths1 but truths of a certain kind only4 ,they are not particular truths like these1 but the universal and eternal truths that underlie them4 ,they are in fact what we call the truths of ,nature1 and the apprehension of them1 or truth as attained by us1 means the putting ourselves en rapport with the life of that infinite existence which surrounds and sustains all of us4 ,now since it is this kind of truth only that is supposed to be so sacred1 it is clear that its sacredness does not depend on itself1 but on its object4 ,truth is sacred because ,nature is sacred2 ,nature is not sacred because truth is2 and our supreme duty to truth means neither more nor less than a supreme faith in ,nature4 ,it means that there is a something in the ,infinite outside ourselves that corresponds to a certain something within ourselves2 that this latter something is the strongest and the highest part of us1 and that it can find no rest but in communion with its larger counterpart4 ,truth sought for in this way is evidently a distinct thing from the truth of utilitarianism4 ,it is no false reflection of human happiness in the clouds4 ,for it is to be sought for none the less1 as our positivists decidedly tell us1 even though all other happiness should be ruined by it4 ,now what on positive principles is the groundwork of this teaching8 ,all ethical epithets such as sacred1 heroic1 and so forth--all the words1 in fact1 that are by implication applied to ,nature--have absolutely no meaning save as applied to conscious beings2 and as a subject for positive observation1 there exists no consciousness in the universe outside this earth4 ,by what conceivable means1 then1 can the positivists transfer to ,nature in general qualities which1 so far as they know1 are peculiar to human nature only8 ,they can only do this in one of two ways--both of which they would equally repudiate--either by an act of fancy1 or by an act of faith4 ,tested rigidly by their own fundamental common principles1 it is as unmeaning to call the universe sacred as to say that the moon talks ,french4 ,let us however pass this by2 let us refuse to subject their teaching to the extreme rigour of even their own law2 and let us grant that by some mixed use of fancy or of mysticism1 they can turn to ,nature as to some vast moral hieroglyph4 ,what sort of morality do they find in it8 ,nature1 as positive observation reveals her to us1 is a thing that can have no claim either on our reverence or our approbation4 ,once apply any moral test to her conduct1 and as ,j4,s4 ,mill has so forcibly pointed out1 she becomes a monster4 ,there is no crime that men abhor or perpetrate that ,nature does not commit daily on an exaggerated scale4 ,she knows no sense either of justice or mercy4 ,continually indeed she seems to be tender1 and loving1 and bountiful2 but all that1 at such times1 those that know her can exclaim to her1 is ,miseri quibus ,intentata nites4 ,at one moment she will be blessing a country with plenty1 peace1 and sunshine2 and she will the next moment ruin the whole of it by an earthquake4 ,now she is the image of thrift1 now of prodigality2 now of the utmost purity1 now of the most revolting filth2 and if1 as ,i say1 she is to be judged by any moral standard at all1 her capacities for what is admirable not only make her crimes the darker1 but they also make her virtues partake of the nature of sin4 ,how1 then1 can an intimacy with this eternal criminal be an ennobling or a sacred thing8 ,the theist1 of course1 believes that truth is sacred4 ,but his belief rests on a foundation that has been altogether renounced by the positivists4 ,he values truth because1 in whatever direction it takes him1 it takes him either to ,god or towards ,him--,god1 to whom he is in some sort akin1 and after whose likeness he is in some sort made4 ,he sees ,nature to be cruel1 wicked1 and bewildering when viewed by itself4 ,but behind ,nature he sees a vaster power--his father--in whom mysteriously all contradictions are reconciled4 ,nature for him is ,god's1 but it is not ,god2 and 'though ,god slay me1' he says1 'yet will ,i trust in ,him4' ,this trust can be attained to only by an act of faith like this4 ,no observation or experiment1 or any positive method of any kind1 will be enough to give it us2 rather1 without faith1 observation and experiment will do nothing but make it seem impossible4 ,thus a belief in the sacredness of ,nature1 or1 in other words1 in the essential value of truth1 is as strictly an act of religion1 as strictly a defiance of the whole positive formula1 as any article in any ecclesiastical creed4 ,it is simply a concrete form of the beginning of the ,christian symbol1 ',i believe in ,god the ,father ,almighty4' ,it rests on the same foundation1 neither more nor less4 ,nor is it too much to say that without a religion1 without a belief in ,god1 no fetish-worship was ever more ridiculous than this cultus of natural truth4 ,this subject is so important that it will be well to dwell on it a little longer4 ,i will take another passage from ,dr4 ,tyndall1 which presents it to us in a slightly different light1 and which speaks explicitly not of truth itself1 but of that sacred ,object beyond1 of which truth is only the sacramental channel to us4 ',two things1 said ,imanuel ,kant' 7it is thus ,dr4 ,tyndall writes71 'fill me with awe--the starry heavens1 and the sense of moral responsibility in man4 ,and in the hours of health and strength and sanity1 when the stroke of action has ceased1 and when the pause of reflection has set in1 the scientific investigator finds himself overshadowed by the same awe4 ,breaking contact with the hampering details of earth1 it associates him with a power which gives fulness and tone to his existence1 but which he can neither analyse nor comprehend4' ,this1 ,dr4 ,tyndall tells us1 is the only rational statement of the fact of that 'divine communion1' whose nature is 'simply distorted and desecrated' by the unwarranted assumptions of theism4 ,now let us try to consider accurately what ,dr4 ,tyndall's statement means4 ,knowledge of ,nature1 he says1 associates him with ,nature4 ,it withdraws him from 'the hampering details of earth1' and enables the individual human being to have communion with a something that is beyond humanity4 ,but what is communion8 ,it is a word with no meaning at all save as referring to conscious beings4 ,there could be no communion between two corpses2 nor1 again1 between a corpse and a living man4 ,dr4 ,tyndall1 for instance1 could have no communion with a dead canary4 ,communion implies the existence on both sides of a common something4 ,now what is there in common between ,dr4 ,tyndall and the starry heavens1 or that 'power' of which the starry heavens are the embodiment8 ,dr4 ,tyndall expressly says that he not only does not know what there is in common1 but that he 'dare' not even say that1 as conscious beings1 they two have anything in common at all4#bf ,the only things he can know about the power in question are that it is vast1 and that it is uniform2 but a contemplation of these qualities by themselves1 must tend rather to produce in him a sense of separation from it than of union with it4 ,united with it1 in one sense1 he of course is2 he is a fraction of the sum of things1 and everything1 in a certain way1 is dependent upon everything else4 ,but in this union there is nothing special4 ,its existence is an obvious fact1 common to all men1 whether they dwell upon it or no3 and though by a knowledge of ,nature we may grow to realise it more keenly1 it is impossible to make the union in the least degree closer1 or to turn it into anything that can be in any way called a communion4 ,indeed1 for the positivists to talk about communion or association with ,nature is about as rational as to talk about communion or association with a steam-engine4 ,the starry skies at night are doubtless an imposing spectacle2 but man1 on positive principles1 can be no more raised by watching them than a commercial traveller can by watching a duke--probably far less3 for if the duke were well behaved1 the commercial traveller might perhaps learn some manners from him2 but there is nothing in the panorama of the universe that can in any way be any model for the positivist4 ,there are but two respects in which he can compare himself to the rest of nature--firstly1 as a revealed force2 and1 secondly1 as a force that works by law4 ,but the forces that are revealed by the stars1 for instance1 are vast1 and the force revealed in himself is small2 and he1 as he considers1 is a self-determining agent1 and the stars are not4 ,there are but two points of comparison between the two2 and in these two points they are contrasts1 and not likenesses4 ,it is true1 indeed1 as ,i said just now1 that a sense of awe and of hushed solemnity is1 as a fact1 born in us at the spectacle of the starry heavens--world upon luminous world shining and quivering silently2 it is true1 too1 that a spontaneous feeling connects such a sense somehow with our deepest moral being4 ,but this1 on positive principles1 must be feeling only4 ,it means absolutely nothing3 it can have no objective fact that corresponds to it4 ,it is an illusion1 a pathetic fallacy4 ,and to say that the heavens with their stars declare to us anything high or holy1 is no more rational than to say that ,brighton does1 which itself1 seen at night from the sea1 is a long braid of stars descended upon the wide horizon4 ,all that the study of nature1 all that the love of truth1 can do for the positivist is not to guide him to any communion with a vaster power1 but to show him that no such communion is possible4 ,his devotion to truth1 if it mean anything--and the language he often uses about it betrays this--let us know the worst1 not let us find out the best3--a wish which is neither more nor less noble than the wish to sit down at once in a slop upon the floor rather than sustain oneself any longer above it on a chair that is discovered to be rickety4 ,here then again1 in this last resource of positivism we have religion embodied as a yet more important element than in any of the others2 and when this element is driven out of it1 it collapses yet more hopelessly than they do4 ,by the whole positive system we are bound to human life4 ,there is no mystical machinery by which we can rise above it4 ,it is by its own isolated worth that this life must stand or fall4 ,and what1 let us again ask1 will this worth1 be8 ,the question is of course1 as ,i have said1 too vague to admit of more than a general answer1 but a general answer1 as ,i have said also1 may be given confidently enough4 ,man when fully imbued with the positive view of himself1 will inevitably be an animal of far fewer capacities than he at present is4 ,he will not be able to suffer so much2 but also he will not be able to enjoy so much4 ,surround him1 in imagination1 with the most favourable circumstances2 let social progress have been carried to the utmost perfection2 and let him have access to every happiness of which we can conceive him capable4 ,it is impossible even thus to conceive of life as a very valuable possession to him4 ,it would at any rate be far less valuable than it is to many men now1 under outer circumstances that are far less favourable4 ,the goal to which a purely human progress is capable of conducting us1 is thus no vague condition of glory and felicity1 in which men shall develop new and ampler powers4 ,it is a condition in which1 the keenest life attainable has continually been far surpassed already1 without anything having been arrived at that in itself seemed of surpassing value4 ,,footnotes3 #bc ',hippolyta4--,this is the silliest stuff ,i ever heard4 ,theseus4--,the best in this kind are but shadows1 and the worst no worse1 if imagination amend them4 ,hippolyta4--,it must be your imagination then1 not theirs4'--,midsummer's ,night's ,dream1 ,act ,v4 ',piece out our imperfections with your thoughts4'--,prologue to ,henry ,v4 #bd ,seneca says of virtue1 ',non quia delectat placet1 sed quia placet delectat4' ,of vice in the same way we may say1 ',non quia delectat pudet1 sed quia pudet delectat4' #be ,it will be of course recollected that in this abstraction of the moral sense1 we have to abstract it from the characters as well as ourselves4 #bf ',when ,i attempt to give the power which ,i see manifested in the universe an objective form1 personal or otherwise1 it slips away from me1 declining all intellectual manipulation4 ,i dare not1 save poetically1 use the pronoun ,he regarding it4 ,i dare not call it a ,mind4 ,i refuse even to call it a ,cause4 ,its mystery overshadows me2 but it remains a mystery1 while the objective frames which my neighbours try to make it fit1 simply distort and desecrate it4'--,dr4 ,tyndall1 ',materialism and its ,opponents4' ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,the ,,superstition ,,of ,,positivism4 ,glendower4 ,i can call spirits from the vasty deep4 ,hotspur4 ,why so can ,i1 or so can any man1 ,but will they come when you do call for them8 ,henry ,,iv4 ,part #a4 ,general and indefinite as the foregoing considerations have been1 they are quite definite enough to be of the utmost practical import4 ,they are definite enough to show the utter hollowness of that vague faith in progress1 and the glorious prospects that lie before humanity1 on which the positive school at present so much rely1 and about which so much is said4 ,to a certain extent1 indeed1 a faith in progress is perfectly rational and well grounded4 ,there are many imperfections in life1 which the course of events tends manifestly to lessen if not to do away with1 and so far as these are concerned1 improvements may go on indefinitely4 ,but the things that this progress touches are1 as has been said before1 not happiness1 but the negative conditions of it4 ,a belief in this kind of progress is not peculiar to positivism4 ,it is common to all educated men1 no matter what their creed may be4 ,what is peculiar to positivism is the strange corollary to this belief1 that man's subjective powers of happiness will go on expanding likewise4 ,it is the belief not only that the existing pleasures will become more diffused1 but that they will1 as ,george ,eliot says1 become 'more intense in diffusion4' ,it is this belief on which the positivists rely to create that enthusiasm1 that impassioned benevolence1 which is to be the motive power of their whole ethical machinery4 ,they have taken away the ,christian heaven1 and have thus turned adrift a number of hopes and aspirations that were once powerful4 ,these hopes and aspirations they acknowledge to be of the first necessity2 they are facts1 they say1 of human nature1 and no higher progress would be possible without them4 ,what the enlightened thought is to do is not to extinguish1 but to transfer them4 ,they are to be given a new object more satisfactory than the old one2 not our own private glory in another world1 but the common glory of our whole race in this4 ,now let us consider for a moment some of the positive criticisms on the ,christian heaven1 and then apply them to the proposed substitute4 ,the belief in heaven1 say the positivists1 is to be set aside for two great reasons4 ,in the first place there is no objective proof of its existence1 and in the second place there is subjective proof of its impossibility4 ,not only is it not deducible1 but it is not even thinkable4 ,give the imagination carte blanche to construct it1 and the imagination will either do nothing1 or will do something ridiculous4 ',my position with regard to this matter' says a popular living writer1#bg 'is this--,the idea of a glorified energy in an ampler life1 is an idea utterly incompatible with exact thought1 one which evaporates in contradictions1 in phrases1 which when pressed have no meaning4' ,now if this criticism has the least force1 as used against the ,christian heaven1 it has certainly far more as used against the future glories of humanity4 ,the positivists ask the ,christians how they expect to enjoy themselves in heaven4 ,the ,christians may1 with far more force1 ask the positivists how they expect to enjoy themselves on earth4 ,for the ,christians' heaven being ex hypothesi an unknown world1 they do not stultify their expectations from being unable to describe them4 ,on the contrary it is a part of their faith that they are indescribable4 ,but the positivists' heaven is altogether in this world2 and no mystical faith has any place in their system4 ,in this case1 therefore1 whatever we may think of the other1 it is plain that the tests in question are altogether complete and final4 ,to the ,christians1 indeed1 it is quite open to make their supposed shame their glory1 and to say that their heaven would be nothing if describable4 ,the positivists have bound themselves to admit that theirs is nothing unless describable4 ,what then1 let us ask the enthusiasts of humanity1 will humanity be like in its ideally perfect state8 ,let them show us some sample of the general future perfection2 let them describe one of the nobler1 ampler1 glorified human beings of the future4 ,what will he be like8 ,what will he long for8 ,what will he take pleasure in8 ,how will he spend his days8 ,how will he make love8 ,what will he laugh at8 ,and let him be described in phrases which when pressed do not evaporate in contradictions1 but which have some distinct meaning1 and are not incompatible with exact thought4 ,do our exact thinkers in the least know what they are prophesying8 ,if not1 what is the meaning of their prophecy8 ,the prophecies of the positive school are rigid scientific inferences2 they are that or nothing4 ,and one cannot infer an event of whose nature one is wholly ignorant4 ,let these obvious questions be put to our positive moralists--these questions they have themselves suggested1 and the grotesque unreality of this vague optimism will be at once apparent4 ,never was vagary of medival faith so groundless as this4 ,the ,earthly ,paradise that the medival world believed in was not more mythical than the ,earthly ,paradise believed in by our exact thinkers now2 and ,george ,eliot might just as well start in a ,cunard steamer to find the one1 as send her faith into the future to find the other4 ,could it be shown that these splendid anticipations were well founded1 they might perhaps kindle some new and active enthusiasm2 though it is very doubtful1 even then1 if the desire would be ardent enough to bring about its own accomplishment4 ,this1 however1 it is quite useless to consider1 the anticipations in question being simply an empty dream4 ,a certain kind of improvement1 as ,i have said1 we are no doubt right in looking for1 not only with confidence1 but with complacency4 ,but positivism1 so far from brightening this prospect1 makes it indefinitely duller than it would be otherwise4 ,the practical results therefore to be looked for from a faith in progress may be seen at their utmost already in the world around us2 and the positivists may make the sobering reflection that their system can only change these from what they already see them1 not by strengthening1 but by weakening them4 ,take the world then as it is at present1 and the sense1 on the individual's part1 that he personally is promoting its progress1 can belong to1 and can stimulate1 exceptional men only1 who are doing some public work2 and it will be found even in these cases that the pleasure which this sense gives them is largely fortified 7as is said of wine7 by the entirely alien sense of fame and power4 ,on the generality of men it neither has1 nor can have1 any effect whatever1 or even if it gives a glow to their inclinations in some cases1 it will at any rate never curb them in any4 ,the fact indeed that things in general do tend to get better in certain ways1 must produce in most men not effort but acquiescence4 ,it may1 when the imagination brings it home to them1 shed a pleasing light occasionally over the surface of their private lives3 but it would be as irrational to count on this as a stimulus to farther action1 as to expect that the summer sunshine would work a steam-engine4 ,if we consider1 then1 that even the present condition of things is far more calculated to produce the enthusiasm of humanity than the condition that the positivists are preparing for themselves1 we shall see how utterly chimerical is their entire practical system4 ,it is like a drawing of a cathedral1 which looks magnificent at the first glance1 but which a second glance shows to be composed of structural impossibilities--blocks of masonry resting on no foundations1 columns hanging from the roofs1 instead of supporting them1 and doors and windows with inverted arches4 ,the positive system could only work practically were human nature to suffer a complete change--a change which it has no spontaneous tendency to make1 which no known power could ever tend to force on it1 and which1 in short1 there is no ground of any kind for expecting4 ,there are two characteristics in men1 for instance1 which1 though they undoubtedly do exist1 the positive system requires to be indefinitely magnified--the imagination1 and unselfishness4 ,the work of the imagination is to present to the individual consciousness the remote ends to which all progress is to be directed2 and the desire to work for these is1 on the positive supposition1 to conquer all mere personal impulses4 ,now men have already had an end set before them1 in the shape of the joys of heaven1 which was far brighter and far more real to them than these others can ever be2 and yet the imagination has so failed to keep this before them1 that its small effect upon their lives is a commonplace with the positivists themselves4 ,how then can these latter hope that their own pale and distant ideal will have a more vivid effect on the world than that near and glowing one1 in whose place they put it8 ,will it incite men to virtues to which heaven could not incite them8 or lure them away from vices from which hell-fire would not scare them8 ,before it can do so1 it is plain that human nature must have completely changed1 and its elements have been re-mixed1 in completely new proportions4 ,in a state of things where such a result was possible1 a man would do a better day's work for a penny to be given to his unborn grandson1 than he would now do for a pound to be paid to himself at sunset4 ,for argument's sake1 however1 let us suppose such a change possible4 ,let us suppose the imagination to be so developed that the remote end of progress--that happier state of men in some far off century--is ever vividly present to us as a possibility we may help to realise4 ,another question still remains for us4 ,to preserve this happiness for others1 we are told1 we must to a large extent sacrifice our own4 ,is it in human nature to make this sacrifice8 ,the positive moralists assure us that it is1 and for this reason4 ,man1 they say1 is an animal who enjoys vicariously with almost as much zest as in his own person2 and therefore to procure a greater pleasure for others makes him far happier than to procure a less one for himself4 ,in this statement1 as ,i have observed in an earlier chapter1 there is no doubt a certain general truth2 but how far it will hold good in particular instances depends altogether on particular circumstances4 ,it depends on the temperament of the person who is to make the sacrifice1 on the nature of his feelings towards the person for whom he is to make it1 and on the proportion between the pleasure he is to forego himself1 and the pleasure he is to secure for another4 ,now if we consider human nature as it is1 and the utmost development of it that on positive grounds is possible1 the conditions that can produce the requisite self-sacrifice will be found to be altogether wanting4 ,the future we are to labour for1 even when viewed in its brightest light1 will only excel the present in having fewer miseries4 ,so far as its happiness goes it will be distinctly less intense4 ,it will1 as we have seen already1 be but a vapid consummation at its best2 and the more vividly it is brought before us in imagination1 the less likely shall we be to 'struggle1 groan1 and agonize1' for the sake of hastening it in reality4 ,it will do nothing1 at any rate1 to increase the tendency to self-sacrifice that is now at work in the world2 and this1 though startling us now and then by some spasmodic manifestation1 is not strong enough to have much general effect on the present2 still less will it have more effect on the future4 ,vicarious happiness as a rule is only possible when the object gained for another is enormously greater than the object lost by self2 and it is not always possible even then3 whilst when the gains on either side are nearly equal1 it ceases altogether4 ,and necessarily so4 ,if it did not1 everything would be at a dead-lock4 ,life would be a perpetual holding back1 instead of a pushing forward4 ,everyone would be waiting at the door1 and saying to everyone else1 ',after you4' ,but all these practical considerations are entirely forgotten by the positivists4 ,they live in a world of their own imagining1 in which all the rules of this world are turned upside down4 ,there1 the defeated candidate in an election would be radiant at his rival's victory4 ,when a will was read1 the anxiety of each relative would be that he or she should be excluded in favour of the others2 or more probably still that they should be all excluded in favour of a hospital4 ,two rivals1 in love with the same woman1 would be each anxious that his own suit might be thwarted4 ,and a man would gladly involve himself in any ludicrous misfortune1 because he knew that the sight of his catastrophe would rejoice his whole circle of friends4 ,the course of human progress1 in fact1 would be one gigantic donkey-race1 in which those were the winners who were farthest off from the prize4 ,we have but to state the matter in terms of common life1 to see how impossible is the only condition of things that would make the positive system practicable4 ,the first wonder that suggests itself1 is how so grotesque a conception could ever have originated4 ,but its genesis is not far to seek4 ,the positivists do not postulate any new elements in human nature1 but the reduction of some1 elimination of others1 and the magnifying of others4 ,and they actually find cases where this process has been effected4 ,but they quite forget the circumstances that have made such an event possible4 ,they forget that in their very nature they have been altogether exceptional and transitory2 and that it is impossible to construct a ,utopia in which they shall exist at all4 ,we can1 for instance1 no doubt point to ,leonidas and the three hundred as specimens of what human heroism can rise to2 and we can point to the ,stoics as specimens of human self-control4 ,but to make a new ,thermopyl we want a new ,barbarian2 and before we can recoil from temptation as the ,stoics did1 we must make pleasure as perilous and as terrible as it was under the ,roman emperors4 ,such developments of humanity are at their very essence abnormal2 and to suppose that they could ever become the common type of character1 would be as absurd as to suppose that all mankind could be kings4 ,i will take another instance that is more to the point yet4 ,a favourite positivist parable is that of the miser4 ,the miser in the first place desires gold because it can buy pleasure4 ,next he comes to desire it more than the pleasure it can buy4 ,in the same way1 it is said1 men can be taught to desire virtue by investing it with the attractions of the end1 to which1 strictly speaking it is no more than the means4 ,but this parable really disproves the very possibility it is designed to illustrate4 ,it is designed to illustrate the possibility of our choosing actions that will give pleasure to others1 in contradistinction to actions that will give pleasure to ourselves4 ,but the miser desires gold for an exactly opposite reason4 ,he desires it as potential selfishness1 not as potential philanthropy4 ,secondly1 we are to choose the actions in question because they will make us happy4 ,but the very name we give the miser shows that the analogous choice in his case makes him miserable4 ,thirdly1 the material miser is an exceptional character2 there is no known means by which it can be made more common2 and with the moral miser the case will be just the same4 ,lastly1 if such a character be barely producible even in the present state of the world1 much less will it be producible when human capacities shall have been curtailed by positivism1 when the pleasures that the gold of virtue represents are less intense than at present1 and the value of the coveted coin is indefinitely depreciated4 ,much more might be added to the same purpose1 but enough has been said already to make these two points clear3--firstly1 that the positive system1 if it is to do any practical work in the world1 requires that the whole human character shall be profoundly altered2 and secondly1 that the required alteration is one that may indeed be dreamt about1 but which can never possibly be made4 ,even were it made1 the results would not be splendid2 but no matter how splendid they might be1 this is of no possible moment to us4 ,there are few things on which it is idler to speculate than the issues of impossible contingencies4 ,and the positivists would be talking just as much to the purpose as they do now1 were they to tell us how fast we should travel supposing we had wings1 or what deep water we could wade through if we were twenty-four feet high4 ,these last1 indeed1 are just the suppositions that they do make4 ,between our human nature and the nature they desiderate there is a deep and fordless river1 over which they can throw no bridge1 and all their talk supposes that we shall be able to fly or wade across it1 or else that it will dry up of itself4 ,rusticus expectat dum defluat amnis1 at ille ,labitur et labetur1 in omne volubilis vum4 ,so utterly grotesque and chimerical is this whole positive theory of progress1 that1 as an outcome of the present age1 it seems little short of a miracle4 ,professing to embody what that age considers its special characteristics1 what it really embodies is the most emphatic negation of these4 ,it professes to rest on experience1 and yet no ,christian legend ever contradicted experience more4 ,it professes to be sustained by proof1 and yet the professions of no conjuring quack ever appealed more exclusively to credulity4 ,its appearance1 however1 will cease to be wonderful1 and its real significance will become more apparent1 if we consider the class of thinkers who have elaborated and popularised it4 ,they have been men and women1 for the most part1 who have had the following characteristics in common4 ,their early training has been religious2#bh their temperaments have been naturally grave and earnest2 they have had few strong passions2 they have been brought up knowing little of what is commonly called the world2 their intellects have been vigorous and active2 and finally they have rejected in maturity the religion by which all their thoughts have been coloured4 ,the result has been this4 ,the death of their religion has left a quantity of moral emotions without an object2 and this disorder of the moral emotions has left their mental energies without a leader4 ,a new object instantly becomes a necessity4 ,they are ethical ,don ,quixotes in want of a ,dulcinea2 the best they can find is happiness and the progress of ,humanity2 and to this their imagination soon gives the requisite glow4 ,their strong intellects1 their activity1 and their literary culture each supplements the power that it undoubtedly does give1 with a sense of knowing the world that is altogether fictitious4 ,they imagine that their own narrow lives1 their own feeble temptations1 and their own exceptional ambitions represent the universal elements of human life and character2 and they thus expect that an object which has really been but the creature of an impulse in themselves1 will be the creator of a like impulse in others2 and that in the case of others1 it will revolutionise the whole natural character1 whereas it has only been a symbol of it in their own4 ,most of our positive moralists1 at least in this country1 have been and are people of such excellent character1 and such earnest and high purpose1 that there is something painful in having to taunt them with an ignorance which is not their own fault1 and which must make their whole position ridiculous4 ,the charge1 however1 is one that it is quite necessary to make1 as we shall never properly estimate their system if we pass it over4 ,it will be said1 probably1 that the simplicity as to worldly matters ,i attribute to them1 so far from telling against them1 is really essential to their character as moral teachers4 ,and to moral teachers of a certain kind it may be essential4 ,but it is not so to them4 ,the religious moralist might well instruct the world1 though he knew little of its ways and passions2 for the aim of his teaching was to withdraw men from the world4 ,but the aim of the positive moralist is precisely opposite2 it is to keep men in the world4 ,it is not to teach men to despise this life1 but to adore it4 ,the positions of the two moralists are in fact the exact converses of each other4 ,for the divine1 earth is an illusion1 heaven a reality2 for the positivist1 earth is a reality1 and heaven an illusion4 ,the former in his retirement studied intensely the world that he thought real1 and he could do this the better for being not distracted by the other4 ,the positivists imitate the divine in neglecting what they think is an illusion2 but they do not attempt to imitate him in studying what they think is the reality4 ,the consequence is1 as ,i have just been pointing out1 that the world they live in and to which alone their system could be applicable1 is a world of their own creation1 and its bloodless populations are all of them idola specs4 ,if we will but think all this calmly over1 and try really to sympathise with the position of these poor enthusiasts1 we shall soon see their system in its true light1 and shall learn at once to realise and to excuse its fatuity4 ,we shall see that it either has no meaning whatever1 or that its meaning is one that its authors have already repudiated1 and only do not recognise now1 because they have so inadequately re-expressed it4 ,we shall see that their system has no motive power at all in it1 or that its motive power is simply the theistic faith they rejected1 now tied up in a sack and left to flounder instead of walking upright4 ,we shall see that their system is either nothing1 or that it is a mutilated reproduction of the very thing it professes to be superseding4 ,once set it upon its own professed foundations1 and the entire quasi-religious structure1 with its visionary hopes1 its impossible enthusiasms--all its elaborate apparatus for enlarging the single life1 and the generation that surrounds it1 falls to earth instantly like a castle of cards4 ,we are left simply each of us with our own lives1 and with the life about us1 amplified indeed to a certain extent by sympathy1 but to a certain extent only--an extent whose limits we are quite familiar with from experience1 and which positivism1 if it tends to move them at all1 can only narrow1 and can by no possibility extend4 ,we are left with this life1 changed only in one way4 ,it will have nothing added to it1 but it will have much taken from it4 ,everything will have gone that is at present keenest in it--joys and miseries as well4 ,in this way positivism is indeed an engine of change1 and may inaugurate if not complete a most momentous kind of progress4 ,that progress is the gradual de-religionizing of life1 the slow sublimating out of it of its concrete theism--the slow destruction of its whole moral civilisation4 ,and as this progress continues there will not only fade out of the human consciousness the things ,i have before dwelt on--all capacity for the keener pains and pleasures1 but there will fade out of it also that strange sense which is the union of all these--the white light woven of all these rays2 that is1 the vague but deep sense of some special dignity in ourselves--a sense which we feel to be our birthright1 inalienable except by our own act and deed2 a sense which1 at present1 in success sobers us1 and in failure sustains us1 and which is visible more or less distinctly in our manners1 in our bearing1 and even in the very expression of the human countenance3 it is1 in other words1 the sense that life is worth living1 not accidentally but essentially4 ,and as this sense goes its place will be taken by one precisely opposite--the sense that life1 in so far as it is worth living at all1 is worth living not essentially1 but accidentally2 that it depends entirely upon what of its pleasures we can each one of us realise2 that it will vary as a positive quantity1 like wealth1 and that it may become also a various quantity1 like poverty2 and that behind and beyond these vicissitudes it can have no abiding value4 ,to realise fully a state of things like this is for us not possible4 ,but we can1 however1 understand something of its nature4 ,i conceive those to be altogether wrong who say that such a state would be one of any wild license1 or anything that we should call very revolting depravity4 ,offences1 certainly1 that we consider the most abominable would doubtless be committed continually and as matters of course4 ,such a feeling as shame about them would be altogether unknown4 ,but the normal forms of passion would remain1 ,i conceive1 the most important2 and it is probable1 that though no form of vice would have the least anathema attached to it1 the rage for the sexual pleasures would be far less fierce than it is in many cases now4 ,the sort of condition to which the world would be tending would be a condition rather of dulness than what we1 in our parlance1 should now call degradation4 ,indeed the state of things to which the positive view of life seems to promise us1 and which to some extent it is actually now bringing on us1 is exactly what was predicted long ago1 with an accuracy that seems little less than inspired1 at the end of ,pope's ,dunciad4 ,in vain1 in vain3 the all-composing hour ,resistless falls6 the muse obeys the power4 ,she comes6 she comes6 the sable throne behold ,of night primval and of chaos old4 ,before her1 fancy's gilded clouds decay1 ,and all its varying rainbows die away4 ,wit shoots in vain its momentary fires1 ,the meteor drops1 and in a flash expires4 ,as one by one1 at dread ,medea's strain1 ,the sickening stars fade off the ethereal plain2 ,as ,argus' eyes1 by ,hermes' wand oppress'd ,clos'd one by one to everlasting rest2 ,thus1 at her felt approach and secret might1 ,art after art goes out1 and all is night4 ,see skulking truth to her old cavern fled1 ,mountains of casuistry heap'd o'er her head4 ,philosophy1 that lean'd on heaven before1 ,shrinks to her second cause1 and is no more4 ,physic of metaphysic begs defence1 ,and metaphysic calls for aid on sense6 ,see mystery to mathematics fly4 ,in vain3 they gaze1 turn giddy1 rave1 and die4 ,religion1 blushing1 veils her sacred fires2 ,and1 unawares1 morality expires4 ,nor public flame1 nor private1 dares to shine1 ,nor human spark is left1 nor glimpse divine4 ,lo6 thy dread empire1 ,chaos6 is restor'd1 ,light dies before thy uncreating word1 ,thy hand1 great ,anarch6 lets the curtain fall2 ,and universal darkness buries all4 ,dr4 ,johnson said that these verses were the noblest in ,english poetry4 ,could he have read them in our day1 and have realised with what a pitiful accuracy their prophecy might soon begin to fulfil itself1 he would probably have been too busy with dissatisfaction at the matter of it to have any time to spare for an artistic approbation of the manner4 ,,footnotes3 #bg ,mr4 ,frederic ,harrison4 #bh ,the case of ,j4,s4 ,mill may seem at first sight to be an exception to this4 ,but it is really not so4 ,though he was brought up without any religious teaching1 yet the severe and earnest influences of his childhood would have been impossible except in a religious country4 ,he was in fact brought up in an atmosphere 7if ,i may borrow with a slight change a phrase of ,professor ,huxley's7 of ,puritanism minus ,christianity4 ,it may be remembered farther that ,mill says of himself1 ',i am one of the very few examples of one who has not thrown off religious belief1 but never had it4' ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,,the ,,practical ,,prospect4 ,not from the stars do ,i my judgment pluck4444 ,nor can ,i fortune to brief minutes tell4 ,shakespeare1 ,sonnet ,,xiv4 ,the prospects ,i have been just describing as the goal of positive progress will seem1 no doubt1 to many to be quite impossible in its cheerlessness4 ,if the future glory of our race was a dream1 not worth dwelling on1 much more so1 they will say1 is such a future abasement of it as this4 ,they will say that optimism may at times have perhaps been over-sanguine1 but that this was simply the exuberance of health2 whereas pessimism is1 in its very nature1 the gloom and languor of a disease4 ,now with much of this view of the matter ,i entirely agree4 ,i admit that the prospect ,i have described may be an impossible one2 personally1 ,i believe it is so4 ,i admit also that pessimism is the consciousness of disease1 confessing itself4 ,but the significance of these admissions is the very opposite of what it is commonly supposed to be4 ,they do not make the pessimism ,i have been arguing one whit less worthy of attention2 on the contrary1 they make it more worthy4 ,this is the point on which ,i may most readily be misunderstood4 ,i will therefore try to make my meaning as clear as possible4 ,pessimism1 then1 represents1 to the popular mind1 a philosophy or view of life the very name of which is enough to condemn it4 ,the popular mind1 however1 overlooks one important point4 ,pessimism is a vague word4 ,it does not represent one philosophy1 but several2 and before we1 in any case1 reject its claims on our attention1 we should take care to see what its exact meaning is4 ,the views of life it includes may be classified in two ways4 ,in the first place1 they are either what we may call critical pessimisms or prospective pessimisms3 of which the thesis of the first is that human life is essentially evil2 and of the second1 that whatever human life may be now1 its tendency is to get worse instead of better4 ,the one is the denial of human happiness2 the other the denial of human hope4 ,but there is a second classification to make1 traversing this one1 and far more important4 ,pessimism may be either absolute or hypothetical4 ,the first of these maintains its theses as statements of actual facts2 the second1 which is1 of its nature1 prospective mainly1 only maintains them as statements of what will be facts1 in the event of certain possible though it may be remote contingencies4 ,now1 absolute pessimism1 whether it be critical or prospective1 can be nothing1 in the present state of the world1 but an exhibition of ill temper or folly4 ,it is hard to imagine a greater waste of ingenuity than the attempts that have been made sometimes to deduce from the nature of pain and pleasure1 that the balance in life must be always in favour of the former1 and that life itself is necessarily and universally an evil4 ,let the arguments be never so elaborate1 they are blown away like cobwebs by a breath of open-air experience4 ,equally useless are the attempts to predict the gloom of the future4 ,such predictions either mean nothing1 or else they are mere loose conjectures1 suggested by low spirits or disappointment4 ,they are of no philosophic or scientific value2 and though in some cases they may give literary expression to moods already existing1 they will never produce conviction in minds that would else be unconvinced4 ,the gift of prophecy as to general human history is not a gift that any philosophy can bestow4 ,it could only be acquired through a superhuman inspiration which is denied to man or through a superhuman sagacity which is never attained by him4 ,the hypothetical pessimism that is contained in my arguments is a very different thing from this1 and far humbler4 ,it makes no foolish attempts to say anything general about the present1 or anything absolute about the future4 ,as to the future1 it only takes the absolute things that have been said by others2 and not professing any certainty about their truth1 merely explains their meaning4 ,it deals with a certain change in human beliefs1 now confidently predicted2 but it does not say that this prediction will be fulfilled4 ,it says only that if it be1 a change1 not at present counted on1 will be effected in human life4 ,it says that human life will degenerate if the creed of positivism be ever generally accepted2 but it not only does not say that it ever will be accepted by everybody3 rather1 it emphatically points out that as yet it has been accepted fully by nobody4 ,the positive school say that their view of life is the only sound one4 ,they boast that it is founded on the rock of fact1 not on the sand-bank of sentiment2 that it is the final philosophy1 that will last as long as man lasts1 and that very soon it will have seen the extinction of all the others4 ,it is the positivists who are the prophets1 not ,i4 ,my aim has been not to confirm the prophecy1 but to explain its meaning2 and my arguments will be all the more opportune at the present moment1 the more reason we have to think the prophecy false4 ,it may be asked why1 if we think it false1 we should trouble our heads about it4 ,and the answer to this is to be found in the present age itself4 ,whatever may be the future fate of positive thought1 whatever confidence may be felt by any of us that it cannot in the long run gain a final hold upon the world1 its present power and the present results of it cannot be overlooked4 ,that degradation of life that ,i have been describing as the result of positivism--of what the age we live in calls the only rational view of things--may indeed never be completed2 but let us look carefully around us1 and we shall see that it is already begun4 ,the process1 it is true1 is at present not very apparent2 or if it is1 its nature is altogether mistaken4 ,this1 however1 only makes it more momentous2 and the great reason why it is desirable to deal so rudely with the optimist system of the positivists is that it lies like a misty veil over the real surface of facts1 and conceals the very change that it professes to make impossible4 ,it is a kind of moral chloroform1 which1 instead of curing an illness1 only makes us fatally unconscious of its most alarming symptoms4 ,but though an effort be thus required to realise our true condition1 it is an effort which1 before all things1 we ought to make2 and which1 if we try1 we can all make readily4 ,a little careful memory1 a little careful observation1 will open the eyes of most of us to the real truth of things2 it will reveal to us a spectacle that is indeed appalling1 and the more candidly we survey it1 the more shall we feel aghast at it4 ,to begin1 then1 let us once more consider two notorious facts3 first1 that over all the world at the present day a denial is spreading itself of all religions dogmas1 more complete than has ever before been known2 and1 secondly1 that in spite of this speculative denial1 and in the places where it has done its work most thoroughly1 a mass of moral earnestness seems to survive untouched4 ,i do not attempt to deny the fact2 ,i desire1 on the contrary1 to draw all attention to it4 ,but the condition in which it survives is commonly not in the least realised4 ,the class of men concerned with it are like soldiers who may be fighting more bravely perhaps than ever2 but who are fighting1 though none observe it1 with the death-wound under their uniforms4 ,of all the signs of the times1 these high-minded unbelievers are thought to be the most reassuring2 but really they are the very reverse of this4 ,the reason why their true condition has passed unnoticed is1 that it is a condition that is naturally silent1 and that has great difficulty in finding a mouthpiece4 ,the only two parties who have had any interest in commenting on it have been the very parties least able to understand1 and most certain to distort it4 ,they have been either the professed champions of theism1 or else the visionary optimists of positivism2 the former of whom have had no sympathy with positive principles1 and the latter no discernment of their results4 ,the class of men we are considering are equally at variance with both of these2 they agree with each in one respect1 and in another they agree with neither4 ,they agree with the one that religious belief is false2 they agree with the other that unbelief is miserable4 ,what wonder then that they should have kept their condition to themselves8 ,nearly all public dealing with it has been left to men who can praise the only doctrines that they can preach as true1 or who else can condemn as false the doctrines that they deplore as mischievous4 ,as for the others1 whose mental and moral convictions are at variance1 they have neither any heart to proclaim the one1 nor any intellectual standpoint from which to proclaim the other4 ,their only impulse is to struggle and to endure in silence4 ,let us1 however1 try to intrude upon their privacy1 even though it be rudely and painfully1 and see what their real state is2 for it is these men who are the true product of the present age1 its most special and distinguishing feature1 and the first-fruits of what we are told is to be the philosophy of the enlightened future4 ,to begin1 then1 let us remember what these men were when ,christians2 and we shall be better able to realise what they are now4 ,they were men who believed firmly in the supreme and solemn importance of life1 in the privilege that it was to live1 despite all temporal sorrow4 ,they had a rule of conduct which would guide them1 they believed1 to the true end of their being--to an existence satisfying and excellent beyond anything that imagination could suggest to them2 they had the dread of a corresponding ruin to fortify themselves in their struggle against the wrong2 and they had a ,god ever present1 to help and hear1 and take pity on them4 ,and yet even thus1 selfishness would beset the most unselfish1 and weariness the most determined4 ,how hard the battle was1 is known to all2 it has been the most prominent commonplace in human thought and language4 ,the constancy and the strength of temptation1 and the insidiousness of the arguments it was supported by1 has been proverbial4 ,to explain away the difference between good and evil1 to subtly steal its meaning out of long-suffering and self-denial1 and1 above all1 to argue that in sinning 'we shall not surely die1' a work which was supposed to belong especially to the devil1 has been supposed to have been accomplished by him with a success continually irresistible4 ,what1 then1 is likely to be the case now1 with men who are still beset with the same temptations1 when not only they have no hell to frighten1 no heaven to allure1 and no ,god to help them2 but when all the arguments that they once felt belonged to the father of lies1 are pressed on them from every side as the most solemn and universal truths8 ,thus far the result has been a singular one4 ,with an astonishing vigour the moral impetus still survives the cessation of the forces that originated and sustained it2 and in many cases there is no diminution of it traceable1 so far as action goes4 ,this1 however1 is only true1 for the most part1 of men advanced in years1 in whom habits of virtue have grown strong1 and whose age1 position1 and circumstances secure them from strong temptation4 ,to see the real work of positive thought we must go to younger men1 whose characters are less formed1 whose careers are still before them1 and on whom temptation of all kinds has stronger hold4 ,we shall find such men with the sense of virtue equally vivid in them1 and the desire to practise it probably far more passionate2 but the effect of positive thought on them we shall see to be very different4 ,now1 the positive school itself will say that such men have all they need4 ,they confessedly have conscience left to them--the supernatural moral judgment1 that is1 as applied to themselves--which has been analysed1 but not destroyed2 and the position of which1 we are told1 has been changed only by its being set on a foundation of fact1 instead of a foundation of superstition4 ,mill said that having learnt what the sunset clouds were made of1 he still found that he admired them as much as ever2 'therefore1' he said1 ',i saw at once that there was nothing to be feared from analysis4' ,and this is exactly what the positive school say of conscience4 ,a shallower falsehood1 however1 it is not easy to conceive4 ,it is true that conscience in one way may1 for a time at least1 survive any kind of analysis4 ,it may continue1 with undiminished distinctness1 its old approvals and menaces4 ,but that alone is nothing at all to the point4 ,conscience is of practical value1 not only because it says certain things1 but because it says them1 as we think1 with authority4 ,if its authority goes1 and its advice continues1 it may indeed molest1 but it will no longer direct us4 ,now1 though the voice of conscience may1 as the positive school say1 survive their analysis of it1 its authority will not4 ,that authority has always taken the form of a menace1 as well as of an approval2 and the menace at any rate1 upon all positive principles1 is nothing but big words that can break no bones4 ,as soon as we realise it to be but this1 its effect must cease instantly4 ,the power of conscience resides not in what we hear it to be1 but in what we believe it to be4 ,a housemaid may be deterred from going to meet her lover in the garden1 because a howling ghost is believed to haunt the laurels2 but she will go to him fast enough when she discovers that the sounds that alarmed her were not a soul in torture1 but the cat in love4 ,the case of conscience is exactly analogous to this4 ,and now let us turn again to the case in question4 ,men of such a character as ,i have been just describing may find conscience quite equal to giving a glow1 by its approval1 to their virtuous wishes2 but they will find it quite unequal to sustaining them against their vicious ones2 and the more vigorous the intellect of the man1 the more feeble will be the power of conscience4 ,when a man is very strongly tempted to do a thing which he believes to be wrong1 it is almost inevitable that he will test to the utmost the reasons of this belief2 or if he does not do this before he yields to the temptation1 yet if he does happen to yield to it1 he will certainly do so after4 ,thus1 unless we suppose human nature to be completely changed1 and all our powers of observation completely misleading1 the inward condition of the class in question is this4 ,however calm the outer surface of their lives may seem1 under the surface there is a continual discord2 and also1 though they alone may perceive it1 a continued decadence4 ,in various degrees they all yield to temptation2 all men in the vigour of their manhood do2 and conscience still fills them with its old monitions and reproaches4 ,but it cannot enforce obedience4 ,they feel it to be the truth1 but at the same time they know it to be a lie2 and though they long to be coerced by it1 they find it cannot coerce them4 ,reason1 which was once its minister1 is now the tribune of their passions1 and forbids them1 in times of passion1 to submit to it4 ,they are not suffered to forget that it is not what it says it is1 that ,it never came from on high1 ,and never rose from below3 and they cannot help chiding themselves with the irrepressible self-reproach1 ,am ,i to be overawed ,by what ,i cannot but know1 ,is a juggle born of the brain8 ,thus their conscience1 though not stifled1 is dethroned2 it is become a fugitive ,pretender2 and that part of them that would desire its restoration is set down as an intellectual malignant1 powerless indeed to restore its sovereign4 ,invalidasque tibi tendens1 heu non tua1 palmas4 ,conscience1 in short1 as soon as its power is needed1 is like their own selves dethroned within themselves1 wringing its hands over a rebellion it is powerless to suppress4 ,and then1 when the storm is over1 when the passions again subside1 and their lives once more return to their wonted channels1 it can only come back humbly and dejected1 and give them in a timid voice a faint1 dishonoured blessing4 ,such lives as these are all of them really in a state of moral consumption4 ,the disease in its earlier stage is a very subtle one2 and it may not be generally fatal for years1 or even for generations4 ,but it is a disease that can be transmitted from parent to child2 and its progress is none the less sure because it is slow2 nor is it less fatal and painful because it may often give a new beauty to the complexion4 ,on various constitutions it takes hold in various ways1 and its presence is first detected by the sufferer under various trials1 and betrayed to the observer by various symptoms4 ,what ,i have just been describing is the action that is at the root of it2 but with the individual it does not always take that form4 ,often indeed it does2 but oftener still perhaps it is discovered not in the helpless yet reluctant yielding to vice1 but in the sadness and the despondency with which virtue is practised--in the dull leaden hours of blank endurance or of difficult endeavour2 or in the little satisfaction that1 when the struggle has ceased1 the reward of struggle brings with it4 ,an earlier1 and perhaps more general symptom still1 is one that is not personal4 ,it consists not in the way in which men regard themselves1 but in the way in which they regard others4 ,in their own case1 their habitual desire of right1 and their habitual aversion to wrong1 may have been enough to keep them from any open breach with conscience1 or from putting it to an open shame4 ,but its precarious position is revealed to them when they turn to others4 ,sin from which they recoil themselves they see committed in the life around them1 and they find that it cannot excite the horror or disapproval1 which from its supposed nature it should4 ,they find themselves powerless to pass any general judgment1 or to extend the law they live by to any beyond themselves4 ,the whole prospect that environs them has become morally colourless2 and they discern in their attitude towards the world without1 what it must one day come to be towards the world within4 ,a state of mind like this is no dream4 ,it is a malady of the modern world--a malady of our own generation1 which can escape no eyes that will look for it4 ,it is betraying itself every moment around us1 in conversation1 in literature1 and in legislation4 ,such1 then1 is the condition of that large and increasing class on which modern thought is beginning to do its work4 ,its work must be looked for here1 and not in narrower quarters2 not amongst professors and lecturers1 but amongst the busy crowd about us2 not on the platforms of institutions1 or in the lay sermons of specialists1 but amongst politicians1 artists1 sportsmen1 men of business1 lovers--in 'the tides of life1 and in the storm of action'--amongst men who have their own way to force or choose in the world1 and their daily balance to strike between self-denial and pleasure--on whom the positive principles have been forced as true1 and who have no time or talent to do anything else but live by them4 ,it is amongst these that we must look to see what such principles really result in2 and of these we must choose not those who would welcome license1 but those who long passionately to live by law4 ,it is the condition of such men that ,i have been just describing4 ,its characteristics are vain self-reproach1 joyless commendation1 weary struggle1 listless success1 general indifference1 and the prospect that if matters are going thus badly with them1 they will go even worse with their children4 ,such a spectacle certainly is not one that has much promise for the optimist2 and the more we consider it1 the more sad and ominous will it appear to us4 ,indeed1 when the present age shall realise its own condition truly1 the dejection of which it is slowly growing conscious may perhaps give way to despair4 ,this condition1 however1 is so portentous that it is difficult to persuade ourselves that it is what it seems to be1 and that it is not a dream4 ,but the more steadily we look at it1 the more real will its appalling features appear to us4 ,we are literally in an age to which history can show no parallel1 and which is new to the experience of humanity2 and though the moral dejection we have been dwelling on may have had many seeming counterparts in other times1 this is1 as it were1 solid substance1 whereas they were only shadows4 ,i have pointed out already in my first chapter how unexampled is the state in which the world now finds itself2 but we will dwell once again upon its more general features4 ,within less than a century1 distance has been all but annihilated1 and the earth has practically1 and to the imagination1 been reduced to a fraction of its former size4 ,its possible resources have become mean and narrow1 set before us as matters of every-day statistics4 ,all the old haze of wonder is melting away from it2 and the old local enthusiasms1 which depended so largely on ignorance and isolation1 are melting likewise4 ,knowledge has accumulated in a way never before dreamed of4 ,the fountains of the past seem to have been broken up1 and to be pouring all their secrets into the consciousness of the present4 ,for the first time man's wide and varied history has become a coherent whole to him4 ,partly a cause and partly a result of this1 a new sense has sprung up in him--an intense self-consciousness as to his own position2 and his entire view of himself is undergoing a vague change3 whilst the positive basis on which knowledge has been placed1 has given it a constant and coercive force1 and has made the same change common to the whole civilised world4 ,thought and feeling amongst the western nations are conforming to a single pattern3 they are losing their old chivalrous character1 their possibilities of isolated conquest and intellectual adventure4 ,they are settling down into a uniform mass1 that moves or stagnates like a modern army1 and whose alternative lines of march have been mapped out beforehand4 ,such is the condition of the western world2 and the western world is beginning now1 at all points1 to bear upon the east4 ,thus opinions that the present age is forming for itself have a weight and a volume that opinions never before possessed4 ,they are the first beginnings1 not of natural1 or of social1 but of human opinion--an oecumenical self-consciousness on the part of man as to his own prospects and his own position4 ,the great question is1 what shape finally will this dawning self-consciousness take8 ,will it contain in it that negation of the supernatural which our positive assertions are at present supposed to necessitate8 ,if so1 then it is not possible to conceive that this last development of humanity1 this stupendous break from the past which is being accomplished by our understanding of it1 will not be the sort of break which takes place when a man awakes from a dream1 and finds all that he most prized vanished from him4 ,it is impossible to conceive that this awakening1 this discovery by man of himself1 will not be the beginning of his decadence2 that it will not be the discovery on his part that he is a lesser and a lower thing than he thought he was1 and that his condition will not sink till it tallies with his own opinion of it4 ,if this be really the case1 we shall not be able to dispose of pessimism by calling it a disease2 for the disease will be real and universal1 and pessimism will be nothing but the scientific description of it4 ,the pessimist is only silenced by being called diseased1 when it is meant that the disease imputed to him is either hypochondriacal or peculiar to himself4 ,but in the present case the disease is real1 deep-seated1 and extending steadily4 ,the only question for us is1 is it curable or incurable8 ,this the event alone can answer3 but as no future can be produced but through the agency of the present1 the event1 to a certain extent1 must be in our own hands4 ,for us1 at any rate1 the first thing to be done is to face boldly our own present condition1 and the causes that are producing it4 ,to become alive to our danger is the one way to escape from it4 ,but the danger is at present felt rather than known4 ,the class of men we are considering are conscious1 as ,mr4 ,matthew ,arnold says1 'of a void that mines the breast2' but each thinks that this is a fancy only1 and hardly dares communicate it to his fellows4 ,here and there1 however1 by accident1 it is already finding unintended expression2 and signs come to the surface of the vague distrust and misgiving that are working under it4 ,the form it takes amongst the general masses that are affected by it is1 as might be expected1 practical rather than analytical4 ,they are conscious of the loss that the loss of faith is to them2 and more or less coherently they long for its recovery4 ,outwardly1 indeed1 they may often sneer at it2 but outward signs in such matters are very deceiving4 ,much of the bitter and arrogant certitude to be found about us in the expression of unbelief1 is really like the bitterness of a woman against her lover1 which has not been the cause of her resolving to leave him1 but which has been caused by his having left her4 ,in estimating what is really the state of feeling about us1 we must not look only at the surface4 ,we must remember that deep feeling often expresses itself by contradicting itself2 also that it often exists where it is not expressed at all1 or where it betrays rather than expresses itself2 and1 further1 that during the hours of common intercourse1 it tends1 for the time being1 to disappear4 ,people cannot be always exclaiming in drawing-rooms that they have lost their ,lord2 and the fact may be temporarily forgotten because they have lost their portmanteau4 ,all serious reflections are like reflections in water--a pebble will disturb them1 and make a dull pond sparkle4 ,but the sparkle dies1 and the reflection comes again4 ,and there are many about us1 though they never confess their pain1 and perhaps themselves hardly like to acknowledge it1 whose hearts are aching for the religion that they can no longer believe in4 ,their lonely hours1 between the intervals of gaiety1 are passed with barren and sombre thoughts2 and a cry rises to their lips but never passes them4 ,amongst such a class it is somehow startling to find the most unlikely people at times placing themselves4 ,professor ,clifford1 for instance1 who of all our present positivists is most uproarious in his optimism1 has yet admitted that the religion he invites us to trample on is1 under certain forms1 an ennobling and sustaining thing2 and for such theism as that of ,charles ,kingsley's he has expressed his deepest reverence4 ,again1 there is ,professor ,huxley4 ,he denies with the most dogmatic and unbending severity any right to man to any supernatural faith2 and he 'will not for a moment admit' that our higher life will suffer in consequence4#bi ,and yet 'the lover of moral beauty1' he says wistfully1 'struggling through a world of sorrow and sin1 is surely as much the stronger for believing that sooner or later a vision of perfect peace and goodness will burst upon him1 as the toiler up a mountain for the belief that beyond crag and snow lie home and rest4' ,and he adds1 as we have seen already1 that could a faith like what he here indicates be placed upon a firm basis1 mankind would cling to it as 'tenaciously as ever a drowning sailor did to a hen-coop4' ,but all this wide-spread and increasing feeling is felt at present to be of no avail4 ,the wish to believe is there2 but the belief is as far off as ever4 ,there is a power in the air around us by which man's faith seems paralysed4 ,the intellect1 we were thinking but now1 had acquired a new vigour and a clearer vision2 but the result of this growth is1 with many1 to have made it an incubus1 and it lies upon all their deepest hopes and wishes ,like a weight ,heavy as frost1 and deep almost as life4 ,such is the condition of mind that is now spreading rapidly1 and which1 sooner or later1 we must look steadily in the face4 ,nor is it confined to those who are its direct victims4 ,those who still cling1 and cling firmly1 to belief are in an indirect way touched by it4 ,religion cannot fail to be changed by the neighbourhood of irreligion4 ,if it is persecuted1 it may burn up with greater fervour2 but if it is not persecuted1 it must in some measure be chilled4 ,believers and unbelievers1 separated as they are by their tenets1 are yet in these days mixed together in all the acts and relations of life4 ,they are united by habits1 by blood1 and by friendship1 and they are each obliged continually to ignore or excuse what they hold to be the errors of the other4 ,in a state of things like this1 it is plain that the conviction of believers can have neither the fierce intensity that belongs to a minority under persecution1 nor the placid confidence that belongs to an overwhelming majority4 ,they can neither hate the unbelievers1 for they daily live in amity with them1 nor despise altogether their judgment1 for the most eminent thinkers of the day belong to them4 ,by such conditions as these the strongest faith cannot fail to be affected4 ,as regards the individuals who retain it1 it may not lose its firmness1 but it must lose something of its fervour2 and as regards its own future hold upon the human race1 it is faith no longer1 but is anxious doubt1 or1 at best1 a desperate trust4 ,dr4 ,newman has pointed out how even the ,pope has recognised in the sedate and ominous rise of our modern earth-born positivism some phenomenon vaster and of a different nature from the outburst of a petulant heresy2 he seems to recognise it as a belligerent rather than a rebel4#cj ',one thing1' says ,dr4 ,newman1 'except by an almost miraculous interposition1 cannot be2 and that is a return to the universal religious sentiment1 the public opinion1 of the medival time4 ,the ,pope himself calls those centuries the ages of faith4 ,such endemic faith may certainly be decreed for some future time2 but as far as we have the means of judging at present1 centuries must run out first4'#ca ,in this last sentence is indicated the vast and universal question1 which the mind of humanity is gathering itself together to ask--will the faith that we are so fast losing ever again revive for us8 ,and my one aim in this book has been to demonstrate that the entire future tone of life1 and the entire course of future civilisation1 depends on the answer which this question receives4 ,there is1 however1 this further point to consider4 ,need the answer we are speaking of be definite and universal8 or can we look forward to its remaining undecided till the end of time8 ,now ,i have already tried to make it evident that for the individual1 at any rate1 it must by-and-by be definite one way or the other4 ,the thorough positive thinker will not be able to retain in supreme power principles which have no positive basis4 ,he cannot go on adoring a hunger which he knows can never be satisfied1 or cringing before fears which he knows will never be realised4 ,and even if this should for a time be possible1 his case will be worse1 not better4 ,conscience1 if it still remains with him1 will remain not as a living thing--a severe but kindly guide--but as the menacing ghost of the religion he has murdered1 and which comes to embitter degradation1 not to raise it4 ,the moral life1 it is true1 will still exist for him1 but it will probably1 in literal truth1 ,creep on a broken wing ,through cells of madness1 haunts of horror and fear4 ,but a state of things like this can hardly be looked forward to as conceivably of any long continuance4 ,religion would come back1 or conscience would go4 ,nor do ,i think that the future which ,dr4 ,newman seems to anticipate can be regarded as probable either4 ,he seems to anticipate a continuance side by side of faith and positivism1 each with their own adherents1 and fighting a ceaseless battle in which neither gains the victory4 ,i venture to submit that the new forms now at work in the world are not forms that will do their work by halves4 ,when once the age shall have mastered them1 they will be either one thing or the other--they will be either impotent or omnipotent4 ,their public exponents at present boast that they will be omnipotent2 and more and more the world about us is beginning to believe the boast4 ,but the world feels uneasily that the import of it will be very different from what we are assured it is4 ,one ,english writer1 indeed1 on the positive side1 has already seen clearly what the movement really means1 whose continuance and whose consummation he declares to us to be a necessity4 ',never1' he says1 'in the history of man has so terrific a calamity befallen the race as that which all who look may now behold1 advancing as a deluge1 black with destruction1 resistless in might1 uprooting our most cherished hopes1 engulfing our most precious creed1 and burying our highest life in mindless desolation4'#cb ,the question ,i shall now proceed to is the exact causes of this movement1 and the chances and the powers that the human race has of resisting it4 ,,footnotes3 #bi ',for my own part1 ,i do not for one moment admit that morality is not strong enough to hold its own4'--,prof4 ,huxley1 ,nineteenth ,century1 ,may1 #ahgg4 #cj ,these words may no doubt be easily pressed into a sense which ,catholics would repudiate4 ,but if not pressed unduly1 they represent what will1 ,i believe1 be admitted to be a fact4 #ca ,a letter to the ,duke of ,norfolk1 by ,j4,h4 ,newman1 ,d4,d41 p4 #ce4 ,pickering3 #ahge4 #cb ,a ,candid ,examination of ,theism4 ,by ,physicus4 ,trbner ,co43 #ahgh4 ,,chapter ,,ix4 ,,the ,,logic ,,of ,,scientific ,,negation4 ,i am ,sir ,oracle1 ,and when ,i ope my mouth let no dog bark4 ,before beginning to analyse the forces that are decomposing religious belief1 it will be well to remark briefly on the means by which these forces are applied to the world at large4 ,to a certain extent they are applied directly2 that is1 many of the facts that are now becoming obvious the common sense of all men assimilates spontaneously1 and derives1 unbidden1 its own doubts or denials from them4 ,but the chief power of positivism is derived otherwise4 ,it is derived not directly from the premisses that it puts before us1 but from the intellectual prestige of its exponents1 who1 to the destruction of private judgment1 are forcing on us their own personal conclusions from them4 ,this prestige1 indeed1 is by no means to be wondered at4 ,if men ever believed a teacher 'for his works' sake1' the positive school is associated with enough signs and wonders4 ,all those astonishing powers that man has acquired in this century are with much justice claimed by it as its works and gifts4 ,the whole sensuous surroundings of our lives are its subjects1 and are doing it daily homage2 and there is not a conquest over distance1 disease1 or darkness that does not seem to bear witness to its intellectual supremacy4 ,the opinion1 therefore1 that is now abroad in the world is that the positive school are the monopolists of unbiassed reason2 that reason1 therefore1 is altogether fatal to religion2 and that those who deny this1 only do so through ignorance or through wilful blindness4 ,as long as this opinion lasts1 the revival of faith is hopeless4 ,what we are now about to examine is1 how far this opinion is well founded4 ,the arguments which operate against religion with the leaders of modern thought1 and through their intellectual example on the world at large1 divide themselves into three classes1 and are derived from three distinct branches of thought and study4 ,they may be distinguished as physical1 moral1 and historical4 ,few of these arguments1 taken separately1 can be called altogether new4 ,their new power has been caused by the simultaneous filling up and completion of all of them2 by their transmutation from filmy visions into massive and vast realities2 from unauthorised misgivings into the most rigid and compelling of demonstrations3 and still more1 by the brilliant and sudden annihilation of the most obvious difficulties1 which till very lately had neutralised and held their power in check4 ,of these three sets of arguments1 the two first bear upon all religion1 whilst the third bears upon it only as embodied in some exclusive form4 ,thus the physicist argues1 for example1 that consciousness being a function of the brain1 unless the universe be a single brain itself1 there can be no conscious ,god4#cc ,the moral philosopher argues that sin and misery being so prevalent1 there can be no ,almighty and all-merciful ,god4 ,and the historian argues that all alleged revelations can be shown to have had analogous histories2 and that therefore1 even if ,god exists1 there is no one religion through which ,he has specially revealed ,himself4 ,these are rough specimens solubly1 so far as observation can carry us1 mind with matter4 ,the great gulf between the two has at last been spanned4 ,the bridge across it1 that was so long seen in dreams and despaired of1 has been thrown triumphantly--a solid compact fabric1 on which a hundred intellectual masons are still at work1 adding stone on ponderous stone to it4 ,science1 to put the matter in other words1 has accomplished these three things4 ,firstly1 to use the words of a well-known writer1 'it has established a functional relation to exist between every fact of thinking1 willing1 or feeling1 on the one side1 and some molecular change in the body on the other side4' ,secondly1 it has connected1 through countless elusive stages1 this organic human body with the universal lifeless matter4 ,and thirdly1 it claims to have placed the universal matter itself in a new position for us1 and to exhibit all forms of life as developed from it1 through its own spontaneous motion4 ,thus for the first time1 beyond the reach of question1 the entire sensible universe is brought within the scope of the physicist4 ,everything that is1 is matter moving4 ,life itself is nothing but motion of an infinitely complex kind4 ,it is matter in its finest ferment4 ,the first traceable beginnings of it are to be found in the phenomenon of crystallisation2 we have there1 we are told by the highest scientific authority1 'the first gropings of the so-called vital force2' and we learn from the same quarter1 that between these and the brain of ,christ there is a difference in degree only1 not in kind3 they are each of them 'an assemblage of molecules1 acting and re-acting according to law4' ',we believe1' says ,dr4 ,tyndall1 'that every thought and every feeling has its definite mechanical correlative--that it is accompanied by a certain breaking up and re-marshalling of the atoms of the brain4' ,and though he of course admits that to trace out the processes in detail is infinitely beyond our powers1 yet 'the quality of the problem and of our powers1' he says1 'are1 we believe1 so related1 that a mere expansion of the latter would enable them to cope with the former4' ,nowhere is there any break in ,nature2 and 'supposing1' in ,dr4 ,tyndall's words1 'a planet carved from the sun1 set spinning on an axis1 and sent revolving round the sun at a distance equal to that of our earth1' science points to the conclusion that as the mass cooled1 it would flower out in places into just such another race as ours--creatures of as large discourse1 and1 like ourselves1 looking before and after4 ,the result is obvious4 ,every existing thing that we can ever know1 or hope to know1 in the whole inward as well as in the whole outward world--everything from a star to a thought1 or from a flower to an affection1 is connected with certain material figures1 and with certain mechanical forces4 ,all have a certain bulk and a certain place in space1 and could conceivably be made the subjects of some physical experiment4 ,faith1 sanctity1 doubt1 sorrow1 and love1 could conceivably be all gauged and detected by some scientific instrument--by a camera or by a spectroscope2 and their conditions and their intensity be represented by some sort of diagram4 ,these marvellous achievements1 as ,i have said1 have been often before dreamed of4 ,now they are accomplished4 ,as applied to natural religion1 the effect of them is as follows4 ,firstly1 with regard to ,god1 they have taken away every external proof of ,his existence1 and1 still more1 every sign of ,his daily providence4 ,they destroy them completely at a sudden and single blow1 and send them falling about us like so many dead flies4 ,god1 as connected with the external world1 was conceived of in three ways--as a ,mover1 as a ,designer1 and as a ,superintendent4 ,in the first two capacities ,he was required by thought2 in the last1 ,he was supposed to be revealed by experience4 ,but now in none of these is ,he required or revealed longer4 ,so far as thought goes1 ,he has become a superfluity2 so far as experience goes1 ,he has become a fanciful suggestion4 ,secondly1 with regard to man1 the life and soul are presented to us1 not as an entity distinct from the body1 and therefore capable of surviving it1 but as a function of it1 or the sum of its functions1 which has demonstrably grown with its growth1 which is demonstrably dependent upon even its minutest changes1 and which1 for any sign or hint to the contrary1 will be dissolved with its dissolution4 ,a ,god1 therefore1 that is the master of matter1 and a human soul that is independent of it--any second world1 in fact1 of alien and trans-material forces1 is reduced1 on physical grounds1 to an utterly unsupported hypothesis4 ,were this all1 however1 it would logically have on religion no effect at all4 ,it would supply us with nothing but the barren verbal proposition that the immaterial was not material1 or that we could find no trace of it by merely studying matter4 ,its whole force rests on the following suppressed premiss1 that nothing exists but what the study of matter conceivably could reveal to us2 or that1 in other words1 the immaterial equals the nonexistent4 ,the case stands thus4 ,the forces of thought and spirit were supposed formerly to be quite distinct from matter1 and to be capable of acting without the least connection with it4 ,now1 it is shown that every smallest revelation of these to us1 is accomplished by some local atomic movement1 which1 on a scientific instrument fine enough1 would leave a distinct impression2 and thus it is argued that no force is revealed through matter that is not inseparable from the forms revealing it4 ,here we see the meaning of that great modern axiom1 that verification is the test of truth2 or that we can build on nothing as certain but what we can prove true4 ,the meaning of the word 'proof' by itself may perhaps be somewhat hazy2 but the meaning that positive science attaches to it is plain enough4 ,a fact is only proved when the evidence it rests upon leaves us no room for doubt--when it forces on every mind the same invincible conviction2 that is1 in other words1 when1 directly or indirectly1 its material equivalent can be impressed upon our bodily senses4 ,this is the fulcrum of the modern intellectual lever4 ,ask anyone oppressed and embittered by the want of religion the reason why he does not again embrace it1 and the answer will still be this--that there is no proof that it is true4 ,granting1 says ,professor ,huxley1 that a religious creed would be beneficial1 'my next step is to ask for a proof of its dogmas4' ,and with contemptuous passion another well-known writer1 ,mr4 ,leslie ,stephen1 has classified all beliefs1 according as we can prove or not prove them1 into realities and empty dreams4 ',the ignorant and childish1' he says1 'are hopelessly unable to draw the line between dreamland and reality2 but the imagery which takes its rise in the imagination as distinguished from the perceptions1 bears indelible traces of its origin in comparative unsubstantiality and vagueness of outline4' ,and 'now1' he exclaims1 turning to the generation around him1 'at last your creed is decaying4 ,people have discovered that you know nothing about it2 that heaven and hell belong to dreamland2 that the impertinent young curate who tells me that ,i shall be burnt everlastingly for not sharing his superstition1 is just as ignorant as ,i myself1 and that ,i know as much as my dog4'#cd ,such is that syllogism of the physical sciences which is now supposed to be so invincible against all religion1 and which has already gone so far towards destroying the world's faith in it4 ,now as to the minor premiss1 that there is no proof of religion1 we may concede1 at least provisionally1 that it is completely true4 ,what it is really important to examine is the major premiss1 that we can be certain of nothing that we cannot support by proof4 ,this it is plain does not stand on the same footing as the former1 for it is of its very nature not capable of being proved itself4 ,its foundation is something far less definable--the general character for wisdom of the leading thinkers who have adopted it1 and the general acceptance of its consequences by the common sense of mankind4 ,now if we examine its value by these tests1 the result will be somewhat startling4 ,we find that not only are mankind at large as yet but very partially aware of its consequences1 but that its true scope and meaning has not even dawned dimly on the leading thinkers themselves4 ,few spectacles1 indeed1 in the whole history of thought are more ludicrous than that of the modern positive school with their great doctrine of verification4 ,they apply it rigorously to one set of facts1 and then utterly fail to see that it is equally applicable to another4 ,they apply it to religion1 and declare that the dogmas of religion are dreams2 but when they pass from the dogmas of religion to those of morality1 they not only do not use their test1 but unconsciously they denounce it with the utmost vehemence4 ,thus ,mr4 ,leslie ,stephen1 in the very essay from which ,i have just now quoted1 not only has recourse1 for giving weight to his arguments1 to such ethical epithets as low1 lofty1 and even sacred1 but he puts forward as his own motive for speaking1 a belief which on his own showing is a dream4 ,that motive1 he says1 is devotion to truth for its own sake--the only principle that is really worthy of man4 ,his argument is simply this4 ,it is man's holiest and most important duty to discover the truth at all costs1 and the one test of truth is physical verification4 ,here he tells us we find the only high morality1 and the men who cling to religious dream-dogmas which they cannot physically verify1 can only answer their opponents1 says ,mr4 ,stephen1 'by a shriek or a sneer4' ',the sentiment1' he proceeds1 'which the dreamer most thoroughly hates and misunderstands1 is the love of truth for its own sake4 ,he cannot conceive why a man should attack a lie simply because it is a lie4' ,mr4 ,stephen is wrong4 ,that is exactly what the dreamer can do1 and no one else but he2 and ,mr4 ,stephen is himself a dreamer when he writes and feels like this4 ,why1 let me ask him1 should the truth be loved8 ,do the 'perceptions1' which are for him the only valid guides1 tell him so8 ,the perceptions tell him1 as he expressly says1 that the truths of nature1 so far as man is concerned with them1 are 'harsh' truths4 ,why should 'harsh' things be loveable8 ,or supposing ,mr4 ,stephen does love them1 why is that love 'lofty'8 and why should he so brusquely command all other men to share it8 ,low and lofty--what has ,mr4 ,stephen to do with words like these8 ,they are part of the language of dreamland1 not of real life4 ,mr4 ,stephen has no right to them4 ,if he has1 he must be able to draw a hard and fast line between them2 for if his conceptions of them be 'vague in outline' and 'unsubstantial1' they belong by his own express definition to the land of dreams4 ,but this is what ,mr4 ,stephen1 with the solemn imbecility of his school1 is quite incapable of seeing4 ,professor ,huxley is in exactly the same case4 ,he says1 as we have seen already1 that1 come what may of it1 our highest morality is to follow truth2 that the 'lowest depth of immorality' is to pretend to believe what we see no reason for believing2' and that our only proper reasons for belief are some physical1 some perceptible evidence4 ,and yet at the same time he says that to 'attempt to upset morality' by the help of the physical sciences is about as rational or as possible as to 'attempt to upset ,euclid by the help of the ,rig ,veda4' ,now on ,professor ,huxley's principles1 this last sentence1 though it sounds very weighty1 is1 if so ungracious a word may be allowed me1 nothing short of nonsense4 ,it would be the lowest depth of immorality1 he says1 to believe in ,god1 when we see that there is no physical evidence to justify the belief4 ,and physical science in this way he admits--he indeed proclaims--has upset religion4 ,how then has physical science in the same way failed to upset morality8 ,the foundation of morality1 he says1 is the belief that truth for its own sake is sacred4 ,but what proof can he discover of this sacredness8 ,does any positive method of experience or observation so much as tend to suggest it8 ,we have already seen that it does not4 ,what ,professor ,huxley's philosophy really proves to him is that it is true that nothing is sacred2 not that it is a sacred thing to discover the truth4 ,we saw all this already when we were examining his comparison of the perception of moral beauty to the perception of the heat of ginger4 ,it is the same thing with which we are again dealing now1 only we are approaching it from a slightly different point of view4 ,what we saw before1 was that without an assent to the religious dogmas1 the moral dogmas can have no logical meaning4 ,we have now seen that even were the two logically independent1 they yet belong both of them to the same order of things2 and that if our tests of truth prove the former to be illusions1 they will1 with precisely the same force1 prove the same thing of the latter4 ,but the most crucial test of all we have still to come to1 which will put this conclusion in a yet clearer and a more unmistakable light4 ,thus far what we have seen has amounted to only this--that if science can take from man his religious faith1 it leaves him a being without any moral guidance4 ,what we shall now see is that1 by the same arguments1 it will prove him to be not a moral being at all2 that it will prove not only that he has no rule by which to direct his will1 but also that he has no will to direct4 ,to understand this we must return to physical science1 and to the exact results that have been accomplished by it4 ,we have seen how completely1 from one point of view1 it has connected mind with matter1 and how triumphantly it is supposed to have unified the apparent dualism of things4 ,it has revealed the brain to us as matter in a combination of infinite complexity1 which it has reached at last through its own automatic workings2 and it has revealed consciousness to us as a function of this brain1 and as altogether inseparable from it4 ,but for this1 the old dualism now supposed to be obsolete would remain undisturbed4 ,indeed1 if this doctrine were denied1 such a dualism would be the only alternative4 ,for every thought1 then1 that we think1 and every feeling or desire that we feel1 there takes place in the brain some definite material movement1 on the force or figure of which the thoughts and feelings are dependent4 ,now if physical observations are to be the only things that guide us1 one important fact will become at once evident4 ,matter existed and fermented long before the evolution of mind2 mind is not an exhibition of new forces1 but the outcome of a special combination of old4 ,mental facts are therefore essentially dependent on molecular facts2 molecular facts are not dependent on mental4 ,they may seem to be so1 but this is only seeming4 ,they are as much the outcome of molecular groupings and movements as the figures in a kaleidoscope are of the groupings and movements of the colored bits of glass4 ,they are things entirely by the way2 and they can as little be considered links in any chain of causes as can the figure in a kaleidoscope be called the cause of the figure that succeeds it4 ,the conclusion1 however1 is so distasteful to most men1 that but few of them can be brought even to face it1 still less to accept it4 ,there is not a single physicist of eminence--none at least who has spoken publicly on the moral aspects of life--who has honestly and fairly considered it1 and said plainly whether he accepts it1 rejects it1 or is in doubt about it4 ,on the contrary1 instead of meeting this question1 they all do their best to avoid it1 and to hide it from themselves and others in a vague haze of mystery4 ,and there is a peculiarity in the nature of the subject that has made this task an easy one4 ,but the dust they have raised is not impenetrable1 and can1 with a little patience1 be laid altogether4 ,the phenomenon of consciousness is in one way unique4 ,it is the only phenomenon with which science comes in contact1 of which the scientific imagination cannot form a coherent picture4 ,it has a side1 it is true1 that we can picture well enough--'the thrilling of the nerves1' as ,dr4 ,tyndall says1 'the discharging of the muscles1 and all the subsequent changes of the organism4' ,but of how these changes come to have another side1 we can form no picture4 ,this1 it is perfectly true1 is a complete mystery4 ,and this mystery it is that our modern physicists seize on1 and try to hide and lose in the shadow of it a conclusion which they admit that1 in any other case1 a rigorous logic would force on them4 ,the following is a typical example of the way in which they do this4 ,it is taken from ,dr4 ,tyndall4 ',the mechanical philosopher1 as such1' he says1 'will never place a state of consciousness and a group of molecules in the position of mover and moved4 ,observation proves them to interact2 but in passing from one to the other1 we meet a blank which the logic of deduction is unable to fill4444 ,i lay bare unsparingly the initial difficulty of the materialist1 and tell him that the facts of observation which he considers so simple are almost as difficult to be seized as the idea of a soul4 ,i go further1 and say in effect3 ,if you abandon the interpretation of grosser minds1 who image the soul as a ,psyche which could be thrown out of the window--an entity which is usually occupied we know not how1 among the molecules of the brain1 but which on due occasion1 such as the intrusion of a bullet1 or the blow of a club1 can fly away into other regions of space--if abandoning this heathen notion you approach the subject in the only way in which approach is possible--if you consent to make your soul a poetic rendering of a phenomenon which--as ,i have taken more pains than anyone else to show you--refuses the ordinary yoke of physical laws1 then ,i1 for one1 would not object to this exercise of ideality4 ,i say it strongly1 but with good temper1 that the theologian who hacks and scourges me for putting the matter in this light is guilty of black ingratitude4' ,now if we examine this very typical passage1 we shall see that in it are confused two questions which1 as regards our own relation to them1 are on a totally different footing4 ,one of these questions cannot be answered at all4 ,the other can be answered in distinct and opposite ways4 ,about the one we must rest in wonder2 about the other we must make a choice4 ,and the feat which our modern physicists are trying to perform is to hide the importunate nature of the second in the dark folds of the first4 ,this first question is1 ,why should consciousness be connected with the brain at all8 ,the second question is1 ,what is it when connected8 ,is it simply the product of the brain's movement2 or is the brain's movement in any degree produced by it8 ,we only know it1 so to speak1 as the noise made by the working of the brain's machinery--as the crash1 the roar1 or the whisper of its restless colliding molecules4 ,is this machinery self-moving1 or is it1 at least1 modulated1 if not moved1 by some force other than itself8 ,the brain is the organ of consciousness1 just as the instrument called an organ is an organ of music2 and consciousness itself is as a tune emerging from the organ-pipes4 ,expressed in terms of this metaphor our two questions are as follows4 ,the first is1 ,why1 when the air goes through them1 are the organ-pipes resonant8 ,the second is1 ,what controls the mechanism by which the air is regulated--a musician1 or a revolving barrel8 ,now what our modern physicists fail to see is1 not only that these two questions are distinct in detail1 but that also they are distinct in kind2 that a want of power to answer them means1 in the two cases1 not a distinct thing only1 but also an opposite thing2 and that our confessed impotence to form any conjecture at all as to the first1 does not in the least exonerate us from choosing between conjectures as to the second4 ,as to the first question1 our discovery of the fact it is concerned with1 and our utter inability to account for this fact1 has really no bearing at all upon the great dilemma--the dilemma as to the unity or the dualism of existence1 and the independence or automatism of the life and will of man4 ,all that science tells us on this first head the whole world may agree with1 with the utmost readiness2 and if any theologian 'hacks and scourges' ,dr4 ,tyndall for his views thus far1 he must1 beyond all doubt1 be a very foolish theologian indeed4 ,the whole bearing of this matter modern science seems to confuse and magnify1 and it fancies itself assaulted by opponents who in reality have no existence4 ,let a man be never so theological1 and never so pledged to a faith in myths and mysteries1 he would not have the least interest in denying that the brain1 though we know not how1 is the only seat for us of thought and mind and spirit4 ,let him have never so firm a faith in life immortal1 yet this immortal has1 he knows1 put on mortality1 through an inexplicable contact with matter2 and his faith is not in the least shaken by learning that this point of contact is the brain4 ,he can admit with the utmost readiness that the brain is the only instrument through which supernatural life is made at the same time natural life4 ,he can admit that the moral state of a saint might be detected by some form of spectroscope4 ,at first sight1 doubtless1 this may appear somewhat startling2 but there is nothing really in it that is either strange or formidable4 ,dr4 ,tyndall says that the view indicated can1 'he thinks1' be maintained 'against all attack4' ,but why he should apprehend any attack at all1 and why he should only 'think' it would be unsuccessful1 it is somewhat hard to conceive4 ,to say that a spectroscope as applied to the brain might conceivably detect such a thing as sanctity1 is little more than to say that our eyes as applied to the face can actually detect such a thing as anger4 ,there is nothing in that doctrine to alarm the most mystical of believers4 ,in the completeness with which it is now brought before us it is doubtless new and wonderful1 and will doubtless tend presently to clarify human thought4 ,but no one need fear to accept it as a truth2 and probably before long we shall all accept it as a truism4 ,it is not denying the existence of a soul to say that it cannot move in matter without leaving some impress in matter1 any more than it is denying the existence of an organist to say that he cannot play to us without striking the notes of his organ4 ,dr4 ,tyndall then need hardly have used so much emphasis and iteration in affirming that 'every thought and feeling has its definite mechanical correlative1 that it is accompanied by a certain breaking-up and re-marshalling of the atoms of the brain4' ,and he is no more likely to be 'hacked and scourged' for doing so than he would be for affirming that every note we hear in a piece of music has its definite correlative in the mechanics of the organ1 and that it is accompanied by a depression and a rising again of some particular key4 ,in his views thus far the whole world may agree with him2 whilst when he adds so emphatically that in these views there is still involved a mystery1 we shall not so much say that the world agrees with him as that he1 like a good sensible man1 agrees with the world4 ,the passage from mind to matter is1 ,dr4 ,tyndall says1 unthinkable4 ,the common sense of mankind has always said the same4 ,we have here a something1 not which we are doubtful how to explain1 but which we cannot explain at all4 ,we have not to choose or halt between alternative conjectures1 for there are absolutely no conjectures to halt between4 ,we are now1 as to this point1 in the same state of mind in which we have always been1 only this state of mind has been revealed to us more clearly4 ,we are in theoretical ignorance1 but we are in no practical perplexity4 ,the perplexity comes in with the second question2 and it is here that the issue lies between the affirmation and the denial of a second and a supernatural order4 ,we will see1 first1 how this question is put and treated by ,dr4 ,tyndall1 and we will then see what his treatment comes to4 ,is it true1 he asks1 as many physicists hold it is1 'that the physical processes are complete in themselves1 and would go on just as they do if consciousness were not at all implicated1' as an engine might go on working though it made no noise1 or as a barrel-organ might go on playing even though there were no ear to listen to it8 ,or do 'states of consciousness enter as links into the chain of antecedence and sequence which gives rise to bodily actions8' ,such is the question in ,dr4 ,tyndall's own phrases2 and here1 in his own phrases also1 comes his answer4 ',i have no power1' he says1 'of imagining such states interposed between the molecules of the brain1 and influencing the transference of motion among the molecules4 ,the thing eludes all mental presentation4 ,but1' he adds1 'the production of consciousness by molecular motion is quite as unpresentable to the mental vision as the production of molecular motion by consciousness4 ,if ,i reject one result1 ,i reject both4 ,i1 however1 reject neither1 and thus stand in the presence of two ,incomprehensibles1 instead of one ,incomprehensible4' ,now what does all this mean8 ,there is one meaning of which the words are capable1 which would make them perfectly clear and coherent2 but that meaning1 as we shall see presently1 cannot possibly be ,dr4 ,tyndall's4 ,they would be perfectly clear and coherent if he meant this by them--that the brain was a natural instrument1 in the hands of a supernatural player2 but that why the instrument should be able to be played upon1 and how the player should be able to play upon it1 were both matters on which he could throw no light4 ,but elsewhere he has told us expressly that he does not mean this4 ,this he expressly says is 'the interpretation of grosser minds1' and science will not for a moment permit us to retain it4 ,the brain contains no 'entity usually occupied we know not how amongst its molecules1' but at the same time separable from them4 ,according to him1 this is a 'heathen' notion1 and1 until we abandon it1 'no approach1' he says1 'to the subject is possible4' ,what does he mean1 then1 when he tells us he rejects neither result2 when he tells us that he believes that molecular motion produces consciousness1 and also that consciousness in its turn produces molecular motion8--when he tells us distinctly of these two that 'observation proves them to interact'8 ,if such language as this means anything1 it must have reference to two distinct forces1 one material and the other immaterial4 ,indeed1 does he not himself say so8 ,does he not tell us that one of the beliefs he does not reject is the belief in 'states of consciousness interposed between the molecules of the brain1 and influencing the transference of motion among the molecules'8 ,it is perfectly clear1 then1 that these states are not molecules2 in other words1 they are not material4 ,but if not material1 what are they1 acting on matter1 and yet distinct from matter8 ,what can they belong to but that 'heathen' thing the soul--that 'entity which could be thrown out of the window1' and which1 as ,dr4 ,tyndall has said elsewhere1 science forbids us to believe in8 ,surely for an exact thinker this is thought in strange confusion4 ',matter1' he says1 ',i define as that mysterious something by which all this is accomplished2' and yet here we find him1 in the face of this1 invoking some second mystery as well4 ,and for what reason8 ,this is the strangest thing of all4 ,he believes in his second ,incomprehensible because he believes in his first ,incomprehensible4 ',if ,i reject one result1' he says1 ',i must reject both4 ,i1 however1 reject neither4' ,but why8 ,because one undoubted fact is a mystery1 is every mystery an undoubted fact8 ,such is ,dr4 ,tyndall's logic in this remarkable utterance3 and if this logic be valid1 we can at once prove to him the existence of a personal ,god1 and a variety of other 'heathen' doctrines also4 ,but1 applied in this way1 it is evident that the argument fails to move him2 for a belief in a personal ,god is one of the first things that his science rejects4 ,what shall we say of him1 then1 when he applies the argument in his own way8 ,we can say simply this--that his mind for the time being is in a state of such confusion1 that he is incapable really of clearly meaning anything4 ,what his position logically must be--what1 on other occasions1 he clearly avows it to be--is plain enough4 ,it is essentially that of a man confronted by one ,incomprehensible1 not confronted by two4 ,but1 looked at in certain ways1 or rather looked from in certain ways1 this position seems to stagger him4 ,the problem of existence reels and grows dim before him1 and he fancies that he detects the presence of two ,incomprehensibles1 when he has really1 in his state of mental insobriety1 only seen one ,incomprehensible double4 ,if this be not the case1 it must be one that1 intellectually1 is even weaker than this4 ,it must be that1 not of a man with a single coherent theory which his intellect in its less vigorous moments sometimes relaxes its hold upon1 but it must be that of a man with two hostile theories which he vainly imagines to be one1 and which he inculcates alternately1 each with an equal emphasis4 ,if this bewilderment were peculiar to ,dr4 ,tyndall1 ,i should have no motive or meaning in thus dwelling on it4 ,but it is no peculiarity of his4 ,it is characteristic of the whole school he belongs to2 it is inherent in our whole modern positivism--the whole of our exact and enlightened thought4 ,i merely choose ,dr4 ,tyndall as my example1 not because there is more confusion in his mind than there is in that of his fellow-physicists1 but because he is1 as it were1 the enfant terrible of his family1 who publicly lets out the secrets which the others are more careful to conceal4 ,but ,i have not done with this matter yet4 ,we are here dealing with the central problem of things1 and we must not leave it till we have made it as plain as possible4 ,i will therefore re-state it in terms of another metaphor4 ,let us compare the universal matter1 with its infinity of molecules1 to a number of balls on a billiard-table1 set in motion by the violent stroke of a cue4 ,the balls at once begin to strike each other and rebound from the cushions at all angles and in all directions1 and assume with regard to each other positions of every kind4 ,at last six of them collide or cannon in a particular corner of the table1 and thus group themselves so as to form a human brain2 and their various changes thereafter1 so long as the brain remains a brain1 represent the various changes attendant on a man's conscious life4 ,now in this life let us take some moral crisis4 ,let us suppose the low desire to cling to some pleasing or comforting superstition is contending with the heroic desire to face the naked truth at all costs4 ,the man in question is at first about to yield to the low desire4 ,for a time there is a painful struggle in him4 ,at last there is a sharp decisive pang2 the heroic desire is the conqueror1 the superstition is cast away1 and 'though truth slay me1' says the man1 'yet will ,i trust in it4' ,such is the aspect of the question when approached from one side4 ,but what is it when approached from the other8 ,the six billiard balls have simply changed their places4 ,when they corresponded to low desire1 they formed1 let us say1 an oval2 when they corresponded to the heroic desire1 they formed1 let us say1 a circle4 ,now what is the cause and what the conditions of this change8 ,clearly a certain impetus imparted to the balls1 and certain fixed laws under which that impetus operates4 ,the question is what laws and what impetus are these8 ,are they the same or not the same1 now the balls correspond to consciousness1 as they were before1 when the balls did not correspond to it8 ,one of two things must happen4 ,either the balls go on moving by exactly the same laws and forces they have always moved by1 and are in the grasp of the same invincible necessity1 or else there is some new and disturbing force in the midst of them1 with which we have to reckon4 ,but if consciousness is inseparable from matter1 this cannot be4 ,do the billiard-balls when so grouped as to represent consciousness generate some second motive power distinct from1 at variance with1 and often stronger than1 the original impetus8 ,clearly no scientific thinker can admit this4 ,to do so would be to undermine the entire fabric of science1 to contradict what is its first axiom and its last conclusion4 ,if then the motion of our six billiard balls has anything1 when it corresponds to consciousness1 distinct in kind from what it always had1 it can only derive this from one cause4 ,that cause is a second cue1 tampering with the balls and interfering with them1 or even more than this--a second hand taking them up and arranging them arbitrarily in certain figures4 ,science places the positive school on the horns of a dilemma4 ,the mind or spirit is either arranged entirely by the molecules it is connected with1 and these molecules move with the same automatic necessity that the earth moves with2 or else these molecules are1 partially at least1 arranged by the mind or spirit4 ,if we do not accept the former theory we must accept the latter3 there is no third course open to us4 ,if man is not an automaton1 his consciousness is no mere function of any physical organ4 ,it is an alien and disturbing element4 ,its impress on physical facts1 its disturbance of physical laws1 may be doubtless the only things through which we can perceive its existence2 but it is as distinct from the things by which we can alone at present perceive it1 as a hand unseen in the dark1 that should arrest or change the course of a phosphorescent billiard-ball4 ,once let us deny even in the most qualified way that the mind in the most absolute way is a material machine1 an automaton1 and in that denial we are affirming a second and immaterial universe1 independent of the material1 and obeying different laws4 ,but of this universe1 if it exists1 no natural proof can be given1 because ex hypothesi it lies quite beyond the region of nature4 ,one theory then of man's life is that it is a union of two orders of things2 another1 that it is single1 and belongs to only one4 ,and of these theories--opposite1 and mutually exclusive1 ,dr4 ,tyndall1 and modern positivism with him1 says ',i reject neither4'#ce ,now this statement of their position1 if taken as they state it1 is of course nonsense4 ,it is impossible to consider matter as 'that mysterious something by which all that is is accomplished2' and then to solve the one chief riddle of things by a second mysterious something that is not material4 ,nor can we 'reject1' as the positivists say they do1 an 'outside builder' of the world1 and then claim the assistance of an outside orderer of the brain4 ,the positivists would probably tell us that they do not do so1 or that they do not mean to do so4 ,and we may well believe them4 ,their fault is that they do not know what they mean4 ,i will try to show them4 ,first1 they mean something1 with which1 as ,i have said already1 we may all agree4 ,they mean that matter moving under certain laws 7which may possibly be part and parcel of its own essence7 combines after many changes into the human brain1 every motion of which has its definite connection with consciousness1 and its definite correspondence to some state of it4 ,and this fact is a mystery1 though it may be questioned if it be more mysterious why matter should think of itself1 than why it should move of itself4 ,at any rate1 thus far we are all agreed2 and whatever mystery we may be dealing with1 it is one that leaves us in ignorance but not in doubt4 ,the doubt comes in at the next step4 ,we have then not to wonder at one fact1 but1 the mystery being in either case the same1 to choose between two hypotheses4 ,the first is that there is in consciousness one order of forces only1 the second is that there are two4 ,and when the positive school say that they reject neither of these1 what they really mean to say is that as to the second they neither dare openly do one thing or the other--to deny it or accept it1 but that they remain like an awkward child when offered some more pudding1 blushing and looking down1 and utterly unable to say either yes or no4 ,now the question to ask the positive school is this4 ,why are they in this state of suspense8 ',there is an iron strength in the logic1' as ,dr4 ,tyndall himself says1 that rejects the second order altogether4 ,the hypothesis of its existence explains no fact of observation4 ,the scheme of nature1 if it cannot be wholly explained without it1 can1 at any rate1 be explained better without it than with it4 ,indeed from the standpoint of the thinker who holds that all that is is matter1 it seems a thing too superfluous1 too unmeaning1 to be even worth denial4 ,and yet the positive school announce solemnly that they will not deny it4 ,now why is this8 ,it is true that they cannot prove its non-existence2 but this is no reason for professing a solemn uncertainty as to its existence4 ,we cannot prove that each time a cab drives down ,regent ,street a stick of barley-sugar is not created in ,sirius4 ,but we do not proclaim1 to the world our eternal ignorance as to whether or no this is so4 ,why then should our positivists treat in this way the alleged immaterial part of consciousness8 ,why this emphatic protestation on their part that there may exist a something which1 as far as the needs of their science go1 is superfluous1 and as far as the logic of their science goes is impossible8 ,the answer is plain4 ,though their science does not need it1 the moral value of life does4 ,as to that value they have certain foregone conclusions1 which they cannot resolve to abandon1 but which their science can make no room for4 ,two alternatives are offered them--to admit that life has not the meaning they thought it had1 or that their system has not the completeness they thought it had2 and of these two alternatives they will accept neither4 ,they could tell us 'with an iron strength of logic' that all human sorrow was as involuntary and as unmeaning as sea-sickness2 that love and faith were but distillations of what exists diluted in mutton-chops and beer2 and that the voice of one crying in the wilderness was nothing but an automatic metamorphosis of the locusts and wild honey4 ,they could tell us 'with an iron strength of logic' that all the thoughts and moral struggles of humanity were but as the clanging whirr of a machine1 which if a little better adjusted might for the future go on spinning in silence4 ,but they see that the discovery on man's part that his life was nothing more than this would mean a complete change in its mechanism1 and that thenceforward its entire action would be different4 ,they therefore seek a refuge in saying it may be more than this4 ,but what do they mean by may be8 ,do they mean that in spite of all that science can teach them1 in spite of that uniformity absolute and omnipresent which alone it reveals to them1 which day by day it is forcing with more vividness on their imaginations1 and which seems to have no room for anything besides itself--do they mean that in spite of this there may still be a second something1 a power of a different order1 acting on man's brain and grappling with its automatic movements8 ,do they mean that that 'heathen' and 'gross' conception of an immaterial soul is probably after all the true one8 ,either they must mean this or else they must mean the exact opposite4 ,there is no third course open to them4#cf ,their opinion1 as soon as they form one1 must rest either on this extreme or that4 ,they will see1 as exact and scientific thinkers1 that if it be not practically certain that there is some supernatural entity in us1 it is practically certain that there is not one4 ,to say merely that it may exist is but to put an ounce in one scale whilst there is a ton in the other4 ,it is an admission that is utterly dead and meaningless4 ,they can only entertain the question of its existence because its existence is essential to man as a moral being4 ,the only reason that can tempt us to say it may be forces us in the same moment to say that it must be1 and that it is4 ,which answer eventually the positive school will choose1 and which answer men in general will accept1 ,i make as ,i have said before1 no attempt to answer4 ,my only purpose to show is1 that if man has any moral being at all1 he has it in virtue of his immaterial will--a force1 a something of which physical science can give no account whatever1 and which it has no shadow of authority either for affirming or for denying2 and further1 that if we are not prevented by it from affirming his immaterial will1 we are not prevented from affirming his immortality1 and the existence of ,god likewise4 ,and now ,i come to that third point which ,i said ,i should deal with here1 but which ,i have not yet touched upon4 ,every logical reasoner who admits the power of will must admit not only the possibility of miracles1 but also the actual fact of their daily and hourly occurrence4 ,every exertion of the human will is a miracle in the strictest sense of the word2 only it takes place privately1 within the closed walls of the brain4 ,the molecules of the brain are arranged and ordered by a supernatural agency4 ,their natural automatic movements are suspended1 or directed and interfered with4 ,it is true that in common usage the word miracle has a more restricted sense4 ,it is applied generally not to the action of man's will1 but of ,god's4 ,but the sense in both cases is essentially the same4 ,god's will is conceived of as disturbing the automatic movements of matter without the skull1 in just the same way as man's will is conceived of as disturbing those of the brain within it4 ,nor1 though the alleged manifestations of the former do more violence to the scientific imagination than do those of the latter1 are they in the eye of reason one whit more impossible4 ,the erection of a pyramid at the will of an ,egyptian king would as much disturb the course of nature as the removal of a mountain by the faith of a ,galilean fisherman2 whilst the flooding of the ,sahara at the will of a speculating company would interfere with the weather of ,europe far more than the most believing of men ever thought that any answer to prayer would4 ,it will thus be seen that morality and religion are1 so far as science goes1 on one and the same footing--of one and the same substance1 and that as assailed by science they either fall together or stand together4 ,it will be seen too that the power of science against them resides not in itself1 but in a certain intellectual fulcrum that we ourselves supply it with4 ,that its methods can discover no trace of either of them1 of itself proves nothing1 unless we first lay down as a dogma that its methods of discovery are the only methods4 ,if we are prepared to abide by this1 there is little more to be said4 ,the rest1 it is becoming daily plainer1 is a very simple process2 and what we have to urge against religion will thenceforth amount to this4 ,there is no supernatural1 because everything is natural2 there is no spirit1 because everything is matter2 or there is no air1 because everything is earth2 there is no fire1 because everything is water2 a rose has no smell because our eyes cannot detect any4 ,this1 in its simplest form1 is the so-called argument of modern materialism4 ,argument1 however1 it is quite plain it is not4 ,it is a mere dogmatic statement1 that can give no logical account of itself1 and must trust1 for its acceptance1 to the world's vague sense of its fitness4 ,the modern world1 it is true1 has mistaken it for an argument1 and has been cowed by it accordingly2 but the mistake is a simple one1 and can be readily accounted for4 ,the dogmatism of denial was formerly a sort of crude rebellion1 inconsistent with itself1 and vulnerable in a thousand places4 ,nature1 as then known1 was1 to all who could weigh the wonder of it1 a thing inexplicable without some supernatural agency4 ,indeed1 marks of such an agency seemed to meet men everywhere4 ,but now all this has changed4 ,step by step science has been unravelling the tangle1 and has loosened with its human fingers the knots that once seemed deo digni vindice4 ,it has enabled us to see in nature a complete machine1 needing no aid from without4 ,it has made a conception of things rational and coherent that was formerly absurd and arbitrary4 ,science has done all this2 but this is all that it has done4 ,the dogmatism of denial it has left as it found it1 an unverified and unverifiable assertion4 ,it has simply made this dogmatism consistent with itself4 ,but in doing this1 as men will soon come to see1 it has done a great deal more than its chief masters bargained for4 ,nature1 as explained by science1 is nothing more than a vast automaton2 and man with all his ways and works is simply a part of ,nature1 and can1 by no device of thought1 be detached from or set above it4 ,he is as absolutely automatic as a tree is1 or as a flower is2 and is an incapable as a tree or flower of any spiritual responsibility or significance4 ,here we see the real limits of science4 ,it will explain the facts of life to us1 it is true1 but it will not explain the value that hitherto we have attached to them4 ,is that solemn value a fact or fancy8 ,as far as proof and reason go1 we can answer either way4 ,we have two simple and opposite statements set against each other1 between which argument will give us no help in choosing1 and between which the only arbiter is a judgment formed upon utterly alien grounds4 ,as for proof1 the nature of the case does not admit of it4 ,the world of moral facts1 if it existed a thousand times1 could give no more proof of its existence than it does now4 ,if on other grounds we believe that it does exist1 then signs1 if not proofs of it1 at once surround us everywhere4 ,but let the belief in its reality fail us1 and instantly the whole cloud of witnesses vanishes4 ,for science to demand a proof that shall convince it on its own premisses is to demand an impossibility1 and to involve a contradiction in terms4 ,science is only possible on the assumption that nature is uniform4 ,morality is only possible on the assumption that this uniformity is interfered with by the will4 ,the world of morals is as distinct from the world of science as a wine is from the cup that holds it2 and to say that it does not exist because science can find no trace of it1 is to say that a bird has not flown over a desert because it has left no footprints in the sand4 ,and as with morals1 so it is with religion4 ,science will allow us to deny or to affirm both4 ,reason will not allow us to deny or affirm only one4 ,,footnotes3 #cc ,the argument has been used in this exact form by ,professor ,clifford4 #cd ,dreams and ,realities1 by ,leslie ,stephen4 #ce ,the feebleness and vacillation of ,dr4 ,tyndall's whole views of things1 as soon as they bear on matters that are of any universal moment1 is so typical of the entire positive thought of the day1 that ,i may with advantage give one or two further illustrations of it4 ,although in one place he proclaims loudly that the emergence of consciousness from matter must ever remain a mystery1 he yet shows indication of a hope that it may yet be solved4 ,he quotes with approval1 and with an implication that he himself leans to the view expressed in them1 the following words of ,ueberweg1 whom he calls 'one of the subtlest heads that ,germany has produced4' ',what happens in the brain1 says ,ueberweg1 'would in my opinion not be possible if the process which here appears in its greatest concentration1 did not obtain generally1 only in a vastly diminished degree4 ,take a pair of mice1 and a cask of flour4 ,by copious nourishment the animals increase and multiply1 and in the same proportion sensations and feelings augment4 ,the quantity of these preserved by the first pair is not simply diffused among their descendants1 for in that case the last would feel more fully than the first4 ,the sensations and the feelings must necessarily be referred back to the flour1 where they exist1 weak and pale1 it is true1 and not concentrated1 as in the brain4' ',we may not1' ,dr4 ,tyndall adds1 by way of a gloss to this1 'be able to taste or smell alcohol in a tub of fermented cherries1 but by distillation we obtain from them concentrated ,kirschwasser4 ,hence ,ueberweg's comparison of the brain to a still1 which concentrates the sensation and feeling pre-existing1 but diluted1 in the food4' ,let us now compare this with the following4 ',it is no explanation1' says ,dr4 ,tyndall1 'to say that objective and subjective are two sides of one and the same phenomenon4 ,why should phenomena have two sides8 ,there are plenty of molecular motions which do not exhibit this two-sidedness4 ,does water think or feel when it runs into frost-ferns upon a window pane8 ,if not1 why should the molecular motions of the brain be yoked to this mysterious companion consciousness8' ,here we have two views1 diametrically opposed to each other1 the one suggested with approval1 and the other implied as his own1 by the same writer1 and in the same short essay4 ,the first view is that consciousness is the general property of all matter1 just as motion is4 ,the second view is that consciousness is not the general property of matter1 but the inexplicable property of the brain only4 ,here again we have a similar inconsistency4 ,upon one page ,dr4 ,tyndall says that when we have 'exhausted physics1 and reached its very rim1 a mighty ,mystery stills looms beyond us4 ,we have made no step towards its solution4 ,and thus it will ever loom4' ,and on the opposite page he says thus3 ',if asked whether science has solved1 or is likely in our day to solve1 the problem of the universe1 ,i must shake my head in doubt4' ,further1 ,i will remind the reader of ,dr4 ,tyndall's arguments1 on one occasion1 against any outside builder or creator of the material universe4 ,he argued that such did not exist1 because his supposed action was not definitely presentable4 ',i should enquire after its shape1' he says3--',has it legs or arms8 ,if not1 ,i would wish it to be made clear to me how a thing without these appliances can act so perfectly the part of a builder8 ,he challenged the theist 7the theist addressed at the time was ,dr4 ,martineau7 to give him some account of his ,god's workings2 and ',when he does this1' said ,dr4 ,tyndall1 ',i shall demand of him an immediate exercise of the power of definite mental presentation4' ,if he fails here1 ,dr4 ,tyndall argues1 his case is at once disproved2 for nothing exists that is not thus presentable4 ,let us compare this with his dealing with the fact of consciousness4 ,consciousness1 he admits1 is not thus presentable2 and yet consciousness1 he admits1 exists4 ,instances might be multiplied of the same vacillation and confusion of thought--the same feminine inability to be constant to one train of reasoning4 ,but those just given suffice4 ,what weight can we attach to a man's philosophy1 who after telling us that consciousness may possibly be an inherent property of matter1 of which 'the receit of reason is a limbec only1' adds in the same breath almost1 that matter generally is certainly not conscious1 and that consciousness comes to the brain we know not whence nor wherefore8 ,what shall we say of a man who in one sentence tells us that it is impossible that science can ever solve the riddle of things1 and tells us in the next sentence that it is doubtful if this impossibility will be accomplished within the next fifty years8--who argues that ,god is a mystery1 and therefore ,god is a fiction2 who admits that consciousness is a fact1 and yet proclaims that it is a mystery2 and who says that the fact of matter producing consciousness being a mystery1 proves the mystery of consciousness acting on matter to be a fact8 #cf ,it is true that one of the favourite teachings of the positive school is1 that as to this question the proper attitude is that of ,agnosticism2 in other words1 that a state of perpetual suspense on this subject is the only rational one4 ,they are asked1 have we a soul1 a will1 and consequently any moral responsibility8 ,and the answer is that they must shake their heads in doubt4 ,it is true they tell us that it is but as men of science that they shake their heads4 ,but ,dr4 ,tyndall tells us what this admission means4 ',if the materialist is confounded1' he says1 'and science rendered dumb1 who else is prepared with an answer8 ,let us lower our heads and acknowledge our ignorance1 priest and philosopher--one and all4' ,in like manner1 referring to the feeling which others have supposed to be a sense of ,god's presence and majesty3 this1 for the 'man of science1' he says is the sense of a 'power which gives fulness and force1 to his existence1 but which he can neither analyse nor comprehend4' ,which means1 that because a physical specialist cannot analyse this sense1 it is therefore incapable of analysis4 ,a bishop might with equal propriety use just the same language about a glass of port wine1 and argue with1 equal cogency that it was a primary and simple element4 ,what is meant is1 that the facts of the materialist are the only facts we can be certain of2 and because these can give man no moral guidance1 that therefore man can have no moral guidance at all4 ,let us illustrate the case by some example that is mentally presentable4 ,some ruined girl1 we will say1 oppressed with a sense of degradation1 comes to ,dr4 ,tyndall and lays her case before him4 ',i have heard you are a very wise man1' she says to him1 'and that you have proved that the priest is all wrong1 who prepared me a year ago for my confirmation4 ,now tell me1 ,i beseech you tell me1 is mine really the desperate state ,i have been taught to think it is8 ,may my body be likened to the temple of the ,holy ,ghost defiled8 or do ,i owe it no more reverence than ,i owe the ,alhambra ,theatre8 ,am ,i guilty1 and must ,i seek repentance8 or am ,i not guilty1 and may ,i go on just as ,i please8' ',my dear girl1' ,dr4 ,tyndall replies to her1 ',i must shake my head in doubt4 ,come1 let its lower our heads1 and acknowledge our ignorance as to whether you are a wretched girl or no4 ,materialism is confounded1 and science rendered dumb by questions such as yours2 they can1 therefore1 never be answered1 and must always remain open4 ,i may add1 however1 that if you ask me personally whether ,i consider you to be degraded1 ,i lean to the affirmative4 ,but ,i can give you no reason in support of this judgment1 so you may attach to it what value you will4' ,such is the position of agnostics1 when brought face to face with the world4 ,they are undecided only about one question1 and this is the one question which cannot be left undecided4 ,men cannot remain agnostics as to belief that their actions must depend upon1 any more than a man who is compelled to go on walking can refrain from choosing one road or other when there are two open to him4 ,nor does it matter that our believing may in neither case amount to a complete certitude4 ,it is sufficient that the balance of probability be on one side or the other4 ,two ounces will out-weigh one ounce1 quite as surely as a ton will4 ,but what our philosophers profess to teach us 7in so far as they profess to be agnostics1 and disclaim being dogmatists7 is1 that there is no balance either way4 ,the message they shout to us is1 that they have no message at all2 and that because they are without one1 the whole world is in the same condition4 ,,chapter ,x4 ,,morality ,,and ,,natural ,,theism4 ,credo quia impossibile est4 ,if we look calmly at the possible future of human thought1 it will appear from what we have just seen1 that physical science of itself can do little to control or cramp it2 nor until man consents to resign his belief in virtue and his own dignity altogether1 will it be able to repress religious faith1 should other causes tend to produce a new outbreak of it4 ,but the chief difficulties in the matter are still in store for us4 ,let us see never so clearly that science1 if we are moral beings1 can do nothing to weaken our belief in ,god and immortality1 but still leaves us free1 if we will1 to believe in them1 it seems getting clearer and yet more clear that these beliefs are inconsistent with themselves1 and conflict with these very moral feelings1 of which they are invoked as an explanation4 ,here it is true that reason does confront us1 and what answer to make to it is a very serious question4 ,this applies even to natural religion in its haziest and most compliant form2 and as applied to any form of orthodoxy its force is doubled4 ,what we have seen thus far is1 that if there be a moral world at all1 our knowledge of nature contains nothing inconsistent with theism4 ,we have now to enquire how far theism is inconsistent with our conceptions of the moral world4 ,in treating these difficulties1 we will for the present consider them as applying only to religion in general1 not to any special form of it4 ,the position of orthodoxy we will reserve for a separate treatment4 ,for convenience' sake1 however1 ,i shall take as a symbol of all religion the vaguer and more general teachings of ,christianity2 but ,i shall be adducing them not as teachings revealed by heaven1 but simply as developed by the religious consciousness of men4 ,to begin then with the great primary difficulties3 these1 though they take various forms1 can all in the last resort be reduced to two--the existence of evil in the face of the power of ,god1 and the freedom of man's will in the face of the will of ,god4 ,and what ,i shall try to make plain with respect to these is this3 not that they are not difficulties--not that they are not insoluble difficulties2 but that they are not difficulties due to religion or theism1 nor by abandoning theism can we in any way escape from them4 ,they start into being not with the belief in ,god1 and a future of rewards and punishments1 but with the belief in the moral law and in virtue1 and they are common to all systems in which the worth of virtue is recognised4 ,the vulgar view of the matter cannot be better stated than in the following account given by ,j4,s4 ,mill of the anti-religious reasonings of his father4 ,he looked upon religion1 says his son1 'as the greatest enemy of morality2 first1 by setting up fictitious excellences--belief in creeds1 devotional feelings1 and ceremonies1 not connected with the good of humankind1 and causing them to be accepted as substitutes for genuine virtues2 but above all by radically vitiating the standard of morals1 making it consist in doing the will of a being1 on whom1 indeed1 it lavishes all the phrases of adulation1 but whom1 in sober truth1 it depicts as eminently hateful4 ,i have a hundred times heard him say that all ages and nations have represented their gods as wicked in a constantly increasing progression2 that mankind had gone on adding trait after trait1 till they reached the most perfect expression of wickedness which the human mind can devise1 and have called this ,god1 and prostrated themselves before it4 ,the ne plus ultra of wickedness he considered to be embodied in what is commonly presented to mankind as the creed of ,christianity4 ,think 7he used to say7 of a being who would make a hell--who would create the human race with the infallible foreknowledge1 and therefore with the intention1 that the great majority of them1 should be consigned to horrible and everlasting torment4' ,james ,mill1 adds his son1 knew quite well that ,christians were not1 in fact1 as demoralised by this monstrous creed as1 if they were logically consistent1 they ought to be4 ',the same slovenliness of thought 7he said7 and subjection of the reason to fears1 wishes1 and affections1 which enable them to accept a theory involving a contradiction in terms1 prevent them from perceiving the logical consequence of the theory4' ,now1 in spite of its coarse and exaggerated acrimony1 this passage doubtless expresses a great truth1 which presently ,i shall go on to consider4 ,but it contains also a very characteristic falsehood1 of which we must first divest it4 ,god is here represented as making a hell1 with the express intention of forcibly putting men into it1 and ,his main hatefulness consists in this capricious and wanton cruelty4 ,such a representation is1 however1 an essentially false one4 ,it is not only not true to the true ,christian teaching1 but it is absolutely opposed to it4 ,the ,god of ,christianity does not make hell2 still less does ,he deliberately put men into it4 ,it is made by men themselves2 the essence of its torment consists in the loss of ,god2 and those that lose ,him1 lose ,him by their own act1 from having deliberately made themselves incapable of loving ,him4 ,god never wills the death of the sinner4 ,it is to the sinner's own will that the sinner's death is due4 ,all this rhetoric1 therefore1 about ,god's malevolence and wickedness is entirely beside the point1 nor does it even touch the difficulty that1 in his heart1 ,james ,mill is aiming at4 ,his main difficulty is nothing more than this3 ,how can an infinite will that rules everywhere1 find room for a finite will not in harmony with itself8 ,whilst the only farther perplexity that the passage indicates1 is the existence of those evil conditions by which the finite will1 already so weak and wavering1 is yet farther hampered4 ,now these difficulties are doubtless quite as great as ,james ,mill thought they were2 but we must observe this1 that they are not of the same kind4 ,they are merely intellectual difficulties4 ,they are not moral difficulties at all4 ,mill truly says that they involve a contradiction in terms4 ,but why8 ,not1 as ,mill says1 because a wicked ,god is set up as the object of moral worship1 but because1 in spite of all the wickedness existing1 the ,author of all existences is affirmed not to be wicked4 ,nor1 again1 is ,mill right in saying that this contradiction is due to 'slovenliness of thought4' ,theology accepts it with its eyes wide open1 making no attempt to explain the inexplicable2 and the human will it treats in the same way4 ,it makes no offer to us to clear up everything1 or to enable thought to put a girdle round the universe4 ,on the contrary1 it proclaims with emphasis that its first axioms are unthinkable2 and its most renowned philosophic motto is1 ',i believe because it is impossible4' ,what shall it say1 then1 when assailed by the rational moralist8 ,it will not deny its own condition1 but it will show its opponent that his is really the same4 ,it will show him that1 let him give his morality what base he will1 he cannot conceive of things without the same contradiction in terms4 ,if good be a thing of any spiritual value--if it be1 in other words1 what every moral system supposes it to be--that good can co-exist with evil is just as unthinkable as that ,god can4 ,the value of moral good is supposed to lie in this--that by it we are put en rapport with something that is better than ourselves--some 'stream of tendency1' let us say1 'that makes for righteousness1' ,but if this stream of tendency be not a personal ,god1 what is it8 ,is it ,nature8 ,nature1 we have seen already1 is open to just the same objections that ,god is4 ,it is equally guilty of all the evil that is contained in it4 ,is it ,truth1 then--pure ,truth for its own sake8 ,again1 we have seen already that as little can it be that4 ,is it ,human ,nature as opposed to ,nature8--,man as distinct from1 and holier than1 any individual men8 ,of all the substitutes for ,god this at first sight seems the most promising1 or1 at any rate1 the most practical4 ,but1 apart from all the other objections to this1 which we have already been considering in such detail1 it will very soon be apparent that it involves the very same inconsistency1 the same contradiction in terms4 ,the fact of moral evil still confronts us1 and the humanity to which we lift our hearts up is still taxable with that4 ,but perhaps we separate the good in humanity from the evil1 and only worship the former as struggling to get free from the latter4 ,this1 however1 will be of little help to us4 ,if what we call humanity is nothing but the good part of it1 we can only vindicate its goodness at the expense of its strength4 ,evil is at least an equal match for it1 and in most of the battles hitherto it is evil that has been victorious4 ,but to conceive of good in this way is really to destroy our conception of it4 ,goodness is in itself an incomplete notion2 it is but one facet of a figure which1 approached from other sides1 appears to us as eternity1 as omnipresence1 and1 above all1 as supreme strength2 and to reduce goodness to nothing but the higher part of humanity--to make it a wavering fitful flame that continually sinks and flickers1 that at its best can but blaze for a while1 and at its brightest can throw no light beyond this paltry parish of a world--is to deprive it of its whole meaning and hold on us4 ,or again1 even were this not so1 and could we believe1 and be strengthened by believing1 that the good in humanity would one day gain the victory1 and that some higher future1 which even we might partake in by preparing1 was in store for the human race1 would our conception of the matter then be any more harmonious8 ,as we surveyed our race as a whole1 would its brighter future ever do away with its past8 ,would not the depth and the darkness of the shadow grow more portentous as the light grew brighter8 ,and would not man's history strike more clearly on us as the ghastly embodiment of a vast injustice8 ,but it may be said that the sorrows of the past will hereafter be dead and done with2 that evil will literally be as though it had never been4 ,well1 and so in a short time will the good likewise2 and if we are ever to think lightly of the world's sinful and sorrowful past1 we shall have to think equally lightly of its sinless and cheerful future4 ,let us pass now to the secondary points4 ,opponents of theism1 or of religion in general1 are perpetually attacking it for its theories of a future life4 ,its eternal rewards and punishments are to them permanent stumbling-blocks4 ,a future life of happiness they think an unmeaning promise2 and a future life of misery they think an unworthy and brutal threat4 ,and if reason and observation are to be our only guides1 we cannot say that they do not argue with justice4 ,if we believe in heaven1 we believe in something that the imagination fails to grasp4 ,if we believe in hell1 we believe in something that our moral sense revolts at3 for though hell may be nothing but the conscious loss of ,god1 and though those that lose ,him may have made their own hell for themselves1 still their loss1 if eternal1 will be an eternal flaw and disease in the sum of things--the eternal self-assertion against omnipotence of some depraved and alien power4 ,from these difficulties it is impossible to escape4 ,all we can do here1 as in the former case1 is to show that they are not peculiar to the special doctrines to which they are supposed generally to be due2 but that they are equally inseparable from any of the proposed substitutes4 ,we can only show that they are inevitable1 not that they are not insoluble4 ,if we condemn a belief in heaven because it is unthinkable1 we must for the same reason1 as we have seen already1 condemn a ,utopia on earth--the thing we are now told we should fix our hopes upon1 instead of it4 ,as to the second question--that of eternal punishment1 we may certainly here get rid of one difficulty by adopting the doctrine of a final restitution4 ,but1 though one difficulty will be thus got rid of1 another equally great will take its place4 ,our moral sense1 it is true1 will no more be shocked by the conception of an eternal discord in things1 but we shall be confronted by a fatalism that will allow to us no moral being at all4 ,if we shall all reach the same place in the end--if inevitably we shall all do so--it is quite plain that our freedom to choose in the matter is a freedom that is apparent only4 ,mr4 ,leslie ,stephen1 it seems1 sees this clearly enough4 ,once give morality its spiritual and supernatural meaning1 and there is1 he holds1 'some underlying logical necessity which binds a belief in hell indissolubly with the primary articles of the faith4' ,such a system of retribution1 he adds1 is 'created spontaneously' by the 'conscience4 ,heaven and hell are corollaries that rise and fall together4444 ,whatever the meaning of ,greek3 ainios1 the fearful emotion which is symbolised1 is eternal or independent of time1 by the same right as the ecstatic emotion4' ,he sees this clearly enough2 but the strange thing is that he does not see the converse4 ,he sees that the ,christian conception of morality necessitates the affirmation of hell4 ,he does not see that the denial of hell is the denial of ,christian morality1 and that in calling the former a dream1 as he does1 he does not call the latter a dream likewise4 ,we can close our eyes to none of these perplexities4 ,the only way to resist their power is not to ignore them1 but to realise to the full their magnitude1 and to see how1 if we let them take away from us anything1 they will in another moment take everything2 to see that we must either set our foot upon their necks1 or that they will set their feet on ours2 to see that we can look them down1 but that we can never look them through2 to see that we can make them impotent if we will1 but that if they are not impotent they will be omnipotent4 ,but the strongest example of this is yet to come3 and this is not any special belief either as to religion or morals1 but a belief underlying both of these1 and without which neither of them were possible4 ,it is a belief which from one point of view we have already touched upon--the belief in the freedom of the will4 ,but we have as yet only considered it in relation to physical science4 ,what we have now to do is to consider it in relation to itself4 ,what1 then1 let us ask1 is the nature of the belief8 ,to a certain extent the answer is very easy4 ,when we speak and think of free-will ordinarily1 we know quite well what we mean by it2 and we one and all of us mean exactly the same thing4 ,it is true that when professors speak upon this question1 they make countless efforts to distinguish between the meaning which they attach to the belief1 and the meaning which the world attaches to it4 ,and it is possible that in their studies or their lecture-rooms they may contrive for the time being to distort or to confuse for themselves the common view of the matter4 ,but let the professor once forget his theories1 and be forced to buffet against his life's importunate and stern realities3 let him quarrel with his housekeeper because she has mislaid his spectacles1 or his night-cap1 or1 preoccupied with her bible1 has not mixed his gruel properly2 and his conception of free-will will revert in an instant to the universal type1 and the good woman will discern only too plainly that her master's convictions as to it are precisely the same things as her own4 ,everywhere1 indeed1 in all the life that surrounds us--in the social and moral judgments on which the fabric of society has reared itself1 in the personal judgments on which so much depends in friendship and antipathies--everywhere1 in conduct1 in emotion1 in art1 in language1 and in law1 we see man's common belief in will written1 broad1 and plain1 and clear4 ,there is1 perhaps1 no belief to which1 for practical purposes1 he attaches so important and so plain a meaning4 ,such is free-will when looked at from a distance4 ,but let us look at it more closely1 and see what happens then4 ,the result is strange4 ,like a path seen at dusk across a moorland1 plain and visible from a distance1 but fading gradually from us the more near we draw to it1 so does the belief in free-will fade before the near inspection of reason4 ,it at first grows hazy2 at last it becomes indistinguishable4 ,at first we begin to be uncertain of what we mean by it2 at last we find ourselves certain that so far as we trust to reason1 we cannot possibly have any meaning at all4 ,examined in this way1 every act of our lives--all our choices and refusals1 seem nothing but the necessary outcome of things that have gone before4 ,it is true that between some actions the choice hangs at times so evenly1 that our will may seem the one thing that at last turns the balance4 ,but let us analyse the matter a little more carefully1 and we shall see that there are a thousand microscopic motives1 too small for us to be entirely conscious of1 which1 according to how they settle on us1 will really decide the question4 ,nor shall we see only that this is so4 ,let us go a little further1 and reason will tell us that it must be so4 ,were this not the case1 there would have been an escape left for us4 ,though admitting that what controlled our actions could be nothing but the strongest motive1 it might yet be contended that the will could intensify any motive it chose1 and that thus motives really were only tools in its hands4 ,but this does but postpone the difficulty1 not solve it4 ,what is this free-will when it comes to use its tools8 ,it is a something1 we shall find1 that our minds cannot give harbour to4 ,it is a thing contrary to every analogy of nature4 ,it is a thing which is forever causing1 but which is in itself uncaused4 ,to escape from this difficulty is altogether hopeless4 ,age after age has tried to do so1 but tried in vain4 ,there have been always metaphysical experts ready to engage to make free-will a something intellectually conceivable4 ,but they all either leave the question where they found it1 or else they only seem to explain it1 by denying covertly the fact that really wants explaining4 ,such is free-will when examined by the natural reason--a thing that melts away inevitably first to haze1 and then to utter nothingness4 ,and for a time we feel convinced that it really is nothing4 ,let us1 however1 again retire from it to the common distance1 and the phantom we thought exorcised is again back in an instant4 ,there is the sphinx once more1 distinct and clear as ever1 holding in its hand the scales of good and evil1 and demanding a curse or a blessing for every human action4 ,we are once more certain--more certain of this than anything--that we are1 as we always thought we were1 free agents1 free to choose1 and free to refuse2 and that in virtue of this freedom1 and in virtue of this alone1 we are responsible for what we do and are4 ,let us consider this point well4 ,let us consider first how free-will is a moral necessity2 next how it is an intellectual impossibility2 and lastly how1 though it be impossible1 we yet1 in defiance of intellect1 continue1 as moral beings1 to believe in it4 ,let us but once realise that we do this1 that all mankind universally do this and have done--and the difficulties offered us by theism will no longer stagger us4 ,we shall be prepared for them1 prepared not to drive them away1 but to endure their presence4 ,if in spite of my reason ,i can believe that my will is free1 in spite of my reason ,i can believe that ,god is good4 ,the latter belief is not nearly so hard as the former4 ,the greatest stumbling-block in the moral world lies in the threshold by which to enter it4 ,such then are the moral difficulties1 properly so called1 that beset theism2 but there are certain others of a vaguer nature1 that we must glance at likewise4 ,it is somewhat hard to know how to classify these2 but it will be correct enough to say that whereas those we have just dealt with appeal to the moral intellect1 the ones we are to deal with now appeal to the moral imagination4 ,the facts that these depend on1 and which are practically new discoveries for the modern world1 are the insignificance of the earth1 when compared with the universe1 of which it is visibly and demonstrably an integral but insignificant fragment2 the enormous period of his existence for which man has had no religious history1 and has been1 so far as we can tell1 not a religious being at all2 and the vast majority of the race that are still stagnant and semi-barbarous4 ,is it possible1 we ask1 that a ,god1 with so many stars to attend to1 should busy himself with this paltry earth1 and make it the scene of events more stupendous than the courses of countless systems8 ,is it possible that of the swarms1 vicious and aimless1 that breed upon it1 each individual--,bushman1 ,chinaman1 or ,negro--is a precious immortal being1 with a birthright in infinity and eternity8 ,the effect of these considerations is sometimes overwhelming4 ,astronomy oppresses us with the gulfs of space2 geology with the gulfs of time2 history and travel with a babel of vain existence4 ,and here as in the former case1 our perplexities cannot be explained away4 ,we can only meet them by seeing that if they have any power at all1 they are all-powerful1 and that they will not destroy religion only1 but the entire moral conception of man also4 ,religious belief1 and moral belief likewise1 involve both of them some vast mystery2 and reason can do nothing but focalise1 not solve it4 ,all1 then1 that ,i am trying to make evident is this--and this must be sufficient for us--not that theism1 with its attendant doctrines1 presents us with no difficulties1 necessitates no baffling contradictions in terms1 and confronts us with no terrible and piteous spectacles1 but that all this is not peculiar to theism4 ,it is not the price we pay for rising from morality to religion4 ,it is the price we pay for rising from the natural to the supernatural4 ,once double the sum of things by adding this second world to it1 and it swells to such a size that our reason can no longer encircle it4 ,we are torn this way and that by convictions1 each of which is equally necessary1 but each of which excludes the others4 ,when we try to grasp them all at once1 our mind is like a man tied to wild horses2 or like ,phaeton in the ,sun's chariot1 bewildered and powerless over the intractable and the terrible team4 ,we can only recover our strength by a full confession of our weakness4 ,we can only lay hold on the beliefs that we see to be needful1 by asking faith to join hands with reason4 ,if we refuse to do this1 there is but one alternative4 ,without faith we can perhaps explain things if we will2 but we must first make them not worth explaining4 ,we can only think them out entirely by regarding them as something not worth thinking out at all4 ,,chapter ,,xi4 ,,the ,,human ,,race ,,and ,,revelation4 ',the scandal of the pious ,christian1 and the fallacious triumph of the infidel1 should cease as soon as they recollect not only by whom1 but likewise to whom1 the ,divine ,revelation was given4'--,gibbon4#cg ,and now let us suppose ourselves convinced1 at least for the sake of argument1 that man will always believe in himself as a moral being1 and that he will1 under no compulsion1 let this belief go4 ,granting this1 from what we have just seen1 thus much will be plain to us1 that theism1 should it ever tend to reassert itself1 can have no check to fear at the hands of positive thought4 ,let us1 therefore1 suppose further1 that such a revival of faith is imminent1 and that the enlightened world1 with its eyes wide open1 is about to turn once again to religious desires and aims4 ,this brings us face to face with the second question1 that we have not as yet touched upon3 will the religion thus turned to be a natural religion only1 or is it possible that some exclusive dogmatism may be recognised as a supernatural re-statement of it8 ,before going further with this question it will be well to say a few words as to the exact position it occupies4 ,this1 with regard to the needs of man1 is somewhat different to the position of natural theism4 ,that a natural theism is essential to man's moral being is a proposition that can be more or less rigidly demonstrated2 but that a revelation is essential as a supplement to natural theism can be impressed upon us only in a much looser way4 ,indeed1 many men who believe most firmly that without religion human life will be dead1 rest their hopes for the future not on the revival and triumph of any one alleged revelation1 but on the gradual evanescence of the special claims of all4 ,nor can we find any sharp and defined line of argument to convince them that they are wrong4 ,the objections1 however1 to which this position is open are1 ,i think1 none the less cogent because they are somewhat general2 and to all practical men1 conversant with life and history1 it must be plain that the necessity of doing ,god's will being granted1 it is a most anxious and earnest question whether that will has not been in some special and articulate way revealed to us4 ,take the mass of religious humanity1 and giving it a natural creed1 it will be found that instinctively and inevitably it asks for more4 ,such a creed by itself has excited more longings than it has satisfied1 and raised more perplexities than it has set at rest4 ,it is true that it has supplied men with a sufficient analysis of the worth they attach to life1 and of the momentous issues attendant on the way in which they live it4 ,but when they come practically to choose their way1 they find that such religion is of little help to them4 ,it never puts out a hand to lift or lead them4 ,it is an alluring voice1 heard far off through a fog1 and calling to them1 ',follow me6' but it leaves them in the fog to pick their own way out towards it1 over rocks and streams and pitfalls1 which they can but half distinguish1 and amongst which they may be either killed or crippled1 and are almost certain to grow bewildered4 ,and even should there be a small minority1 who feel that this is not true of themselves1 they can hardly help feeling that it is true of the world in general4 ,a purely natural theism1 with no organs of human speech1 and with no machinery for making its spirit articulate1 never has ruled men1 and1 so far as we can see1 never possibly can rule them4 ,the choices which our life consists of are definite things4 ,the rule which is to guide our choices must be something definite also4 ,and here it is that natural theism fails4 ,it may supply us with the major premiss1 but it is vague and uncertain about the minor4 ,it can tell us with sufficient emphasis that all vice is to be avoided2 it is continually at a loss to tell us whether this thing or whether that thing is vicious4 ,indeed1 this practical insufficiency of natural theism is borne witness to by the very existence of all alleged revelations4 ,for1 if none of these be really the special word of ,god1 a belief in them is all the more a sign of a general need in man4 ,if none of them represent the actual attainment of help1 they all of them embody the passionate and persistent cry for it4 ,we shall understand this more clearly if we consider one of the first characteristics that a revelation necessarily claims1 and the results that are at this moment1 in a certain prominent case1 attending on a denial of it4 ,the characteristic ,i speak of is an absolute infallibility4 ,any supernatural religion that renounces its claim to this1 it is clear can profess to be a semi-revelation only4 ,it is a hybrid thing1 partly natural and partly supernatural1 and it thus practically has all the qualities of a religion that is wholly natural4 ,in so far as it professes to be revealed1 it of course professes to be infallible2 but if the revealed part be in the first place hard to distinguish1 and in the second place hard to understand--if it may mean many things1 and many of those things contradictory--it might just as well have been never made at all4 ,to make it in any sense an infallible revelation1 or in other words a revelation at all1 to us1 we need a power to interpret the testament that shall have equal authority with that testament itself4 ,simple as this truth seems1 mankind have been a long time in learning it4 ,indeed1 it is only in the present day that its practical meaning has come generally to be recognised4 ,but now at this moment upon all sides of us1 history is teaching it to us by an example1 so clearly that we can no longer mistake it4 ,that example is ,protestant ,christianity1 and the condition to which1 after three centuries1 it is now visibly bringing itself4 ,it is at last beginning to exhibit to us the true result of the denial of infallibility to a religion that professes to be supernatural4 ,we are at last beginning to see in it neither the purifier of a corrupted revelation1 nor the corrupter of a pure revelation1 but the practical denier of all revelation whatsoever4 ,it is fast evaporating into a mere natural theism1 and is thus showing us what1 as a governing power1 natural theism is4 ,let us look at ,england1 ,europe1 and ,america1 and consider the condition of the entire ,protestant world4 ,religion1 it is true1 we shall still find in it2 but it is religion from which not only the supernatural element is disappearing1 but in which the natural element is fast becoming nebulous4 ,it is indeed growing1 as ,mr4 ,leslie ,stephen says it is1 into a religion of dreams4 ,all its doctrines are growing vague as dreams1 and like dreams their outlines are for ever changing4 ,mr4 ,stephen has pitched on a very happy illustration of this4 ,a distinguished clergyman of the ,english ,church1 he reminds us1 has preached and published a set of sermons1#ch in which he denies emphatically any belief in eternal punishment1 although admitting at the same time that the opinion of the ,christian world is against him4 ,these sermons gave rise to a discussion in one of the leading monthly reviews1 to which ,protestant divines of all shades of opinion contributed their various arguments4 ',it is barely possible1' says ,mr4 ,stephen1 'with the best intentions1 to take such a discussion seriously4 ,boswell tells us how a lady interrogated ,dr4 ,johnson as to the nature of the spiritual body4 ,she seemed desirous1 he adds1 of knowing more2 but he left the subject in obscurity4 ,we smile at ,boswell's evident impression that ,johnson could1 if he had chosen1 have dispelled the darkness4 ,when we find a number of educated gentlemen seriously enquiring as to the conditions of existence in the next world1 we feel that they are sharing ,boswell's navet without his excuse4 ,what can any human being outside a pulpit say upon such a subject which does not amount to a confession of his own ignorance1 coupled1 it may be1 with more or less suggestion of shadowy hopes and fears8 ,have the secrets of the prison-house really been revealed to ,canon ,farrar or ,mr4 ,beresford ,hope8444 ,when men search into the unknowable1 they naturally arrive at very different results4' ,and ,mr4 ,stephen argues with perfect justice that if we are to judge ,christianity from such discussions as these1 its doctrines of a future life are all visibly receding into a vague 'dreamland2' and we shall be quite ready to admit1 as he says1 in words ,i have already quoted1 'that the impertinent young curate who tells him he will be burnt everlastingly for not sharing such superstitions1 is just as ignorant as ,mr4 ,stephen himself1 and that ,mr4 ,stephen knows as much as his dog4' ,the critic1 in the foregoing passages1 draws his conclusion from the condition of but one ,protestant doctrine4 ,but he might draw the same conclusion from all2 for the condition of all of them is the same4 ,the divinity of ,christ1 the nature of his atonement1 the constitution of the ,trinity1 the efficacy of the sacraments1 the inspiration of the ,bible--there is not one of these points on which the doctrines1 once so fiercely fought for1 are not now1 among the ,protestants1 getting as vague and varying1 as weak and as compliant to the caprice of each individual thinker1 as the doctrine of eternal punishment4 ,and ,mr4 ,stephen and his school exaggerate nothing in the way in which they represent the spectacle4 ,protestantism1 in fact1 is at last becoming explicitly what it always was implicitly1 not a supernatural religion which fulfils the natural1 but a natural religion which denies the supernatural4 ,and what1 as a natural religion1 is its working power in the world8 ,much of its earlier influence doubtless still survives2 but that is a survival only of what is passing1 and we must not judge it by that4 ,we must judge it by what it is growing into1 not by what it is growing out of4 ,and judged in this way1 its practical power--its moral1 its teaching1 its guiding power--is fast growing as weak and as uncertain as its theology4 ,as long as its traditional moral system is in accordance with what men1 on other grounds1 approve of1 it may serve to express the general tendency impressively1 and to invest it with the sanction of many reverend associations4 ,but let the general tendency once begin to conflict with it1 and its inherent weakness in an instant becomes apparent4 ,we may see this by considering the moral character of ,christ1 and the sort of weight that is claimed for ,his example4 ,this example1 so the ,christian world teaches1 is faultless and infallible2 and as long as we believe this1 the example has supreme authority4 ,but apply to this the true ,protestant method1 and the authority soon shows signs of wavering4 ,let us once deny that ,christ was more than a faultless man1 and we lose by that denial our authority for asserting that he was as much as a faultless man4 ,even should it so happen that we do approve entirely of his conduct1 it is we who are approving of him1 not he who is approving of us4 ,the old position is reversed3 we become the patrons of our most worthy ,judge eternal2 and the moral infallibility is transferred from him to ourselves4 ,in other words1 the practical ,protestant formula can be nothing more than this4 ,the ,protestant teacher says to us1 ',such a way of life is the best1 take my word for it3 and if you want an example1 go to that excellent ,son of ,david1 who1 take my word for it1 was the very best of men4' ,but even in this case the question arises1 how shall the ,protestants interpret the character that they praise8 ,and to this they can never give any satisfactory answer4 ,what really happens with them is inevitable and obvious4 ,the character is simply for them a symbol of what each happens to think most admirable2 and the identity in all cases of its historical details does not produce an identity as of a single portrait1 but an identity as of one frame applied to many4 ,mr4 ,matthew ,arnold1 for instance1 sees in ,jesus one sort of man1 ,father ,newman another1 ,charles ,kingsley another1 and ,m4 ,renan another2 and the ,imitatio ,christi1 as understood by these1 will be found in each case to mean a very different thing4 ,the difference between these men1 however1 will seem almost unanimity1 if we compare them with others who1 so far as logic and authority go1 have just as good a claim on our attention4 ,there is hardly any conceivable aberration of moral licence that has not1 in some quarter or other1 embodied itself into a rule of life1 and claimed to be the proper outcome of ,protestant ,christianity4 ,nor is this true only of the wilder and more eccentric sects4 ,it is true of graver and more weighty thinkers also2 so much so1 that a theological school in ,germany has maintained boldly 'that fornication is blameless1 and that it is not interdicted by the precepts of the ,gospel4'#ci ,the matter1 however1 does not end thus4 ,the men ,i have just mentioned agree1 all of them1 that ,christ's moral example was perfect2 and their only disagreement has been as to what that example was4 ,but the ,protestant logic will by no means leave us here4 ,that alleged perfection1 if we ourselves are to be the judges of it1 is sure1 by-and-by1 to exhibit to us traces of imperfection4 ,and this is exactly the thing that has already begun to happen4 ,a generation ago one of the highest-minded and most logical of our ,english ,protestants1 ,professor ,francis ,newman1 declared that in ,christ's character there were certain moral deficiencies2#dj and the last blow to the moral authority of ,protestantism was struck by one of its own household4 ,it is true that ,professor ,newman's censures were small and were not irreverent4 ,but if these could come from a man of his intense piety1 what will and what do come from other quarters may be readily conjectured4 ,indeed1 the fact is daily growing more and more evident1 that for the world that still calls itself ,protestant1 the autocracy of ,christ's moral example is gone2 and its nominal retention of power only makes its real loss of it the more visible4 ,it merely reflects and focalises the uncertainty that men are again feeling--the uncertainty and the sad bewilderment4 ,the words and the countenance1 once so sure and steadfast1 now change1 as we look at1 and listen to them1 into new accents and aspects2 and the more earnestly we gaze and listen1 the less can we distinguish clearly what we hear or see4 ',what shall we do to be saved8' men are again crying4 ,and the lips that were once oracular now merely seem to murmur back confusedly1 ',alas6 what shall you do8' ,such and so helpless1 even now1 is natural theism showing itself2 and in the dim and momentous changes that are coming over things1 in the vast flux of opinion that is preparing1 in the earthquake that is rocking the moral ground under us1 overturning and engulfing the former landmarks1 and re-opening the graves of the buried lusts of paganism1 it will show itself very soon more helpless still4 ,its feet are on the earth1 only4 ,the earth trembles1 and it trembles3 it is in the same case as we are4 ,it stretches in vain its imploring hands to heaven4 ,but the heaven takes no heed of it4 ,no divine hand reaches down to it to uphold and guide it4 ,this must be the feeling1 ,i believe1 of most honest and practical men1 with regard to natural religion1 and its necessary practical inefficiency4 ,nor will the want it necessarily leaves of a moral rule be the only consideration that will force this conviction on them4 ,the heart1 as the phrase goes1 will corroborate the evidence of the head4 ,it will be felt1 even more forcibly than it can be reasoned1 that if there be indeed a ,god who loves and cares for men1 he must surely1 or almost surely1 have spoken in some audible and certain way to them4 ,at any rate ,i shall not be without many who agree with me1 when ,i say that for the would-be religious world it is an anxious and earnest question whether any special and explicit revelation from ,god exist for us2 and this being the case1 it will be not lost time if we try to deal fairly and dispassionately with the question4 ,before going further1 however1 let us call to mind two things4 ,let us remember first1 that if we expect to find a revelation at all1 it is morally certain that it must be a revelation already in existence4 ,it is hardly possible1 if we consider that all the supernatural claims that have been made hitherto are false1 to expect that a new manifestation1 altogether different in kind1 is in store for the world in the future4 ,secondly1 our enquiries being thus confined to religions that are already in existence1 what we are practically concerned with is the truth of ,christianity only4 ,it is true that we have heard1 on all sides1 of the superiority of other religions to the ,christian4 ,but the men who hold such language1 though they may affect to think that such religions are superior in certain moral points1 yet never dream of claiming for them the miraculous and supernatural authority that they deny to ,christianity4 ,no man denies that ,christ was born of a virgin1 in order to make the same claim for ,buddha3 or denies the ,christian ,trinity in order to affirm the ,brahminic4 ,there is but one alleged revelation that1 as a revelation1 the progressive nations of the world are concerned with1 or whose supernatural claims are still worthy of being examined by us3 and that religion is the ,christian4 ,these claims1 it is true1 are being fast discredited2 but still1 as yet they have not been silenced wholly2 and what ,i propose to ask now is1 what chance is there of their power again reviving4 ,now considering the way in which ,i have just spoken of ,protestantism1 it may seem to many that ,i have dismissed this question already4 ,with the 'enlightened' ,english thinker such certainly will be the first impression4 ,but there is one point that such thinkers all forget3 ,protestant ,christianity is not the only form of it4 ,they have still the form to deal with which is the oldest1 the most legitimate1 and the most coherent--the ,church of ,rome4 ,they surely cannot forget the existence of this ,church or her magnitude4 ,to suppose this would be to attribute to them too insular1 or rather too provincial1 an ignorance4 ,the cause1 however1 certainly is ignorance1 and an ignorance which1 though less surprising1 is far deeper4 ,in this country the popular conception of ,rome has been so distorted by our familiarity with ,protestantism1 that the true conception of her is something quite strange to us4 ,our divines have exhibited her to us as though she were a lapsed ,protestant sect1 and they have attacked her for being false to doctrines that were never really hers4 ,they have failed to see that the first and essential difference which separates her from them lies1 primarily not in any special dogma1 but in the authority on which all her dogmas rest4 ,protestants1 basing their religion on the ,bible solely1 have conceived that ,catholics of course profess to do so likewise2 and have covered them with invective for being traitors to their supposed profession4 ,but the ,church's primary doctrine is her own perpetual infallibility4 ,she is inspired1 she declares1 by the same ,spirit that inspired the ,bible2 and her voice is1 equally with the ,bible1 the voice of ,god4 ,this theory1 however1 upon which really her whole fabric rests1 popular ,protestantism either ignores altogether1 or treats it as if it were a modern superstition1 which1 so far from being essential to the ,church's system1 is1 on the contrary1 inconsistent with it4 ,looked at in this way1 ,rome to the ,protestant's mind has seemed naturally to be a mass of superstitions and dishonesties2 and it is this view of her that1 strangely enough1 our modern advanced thinkers have accepted without question4 ,though they have trusted the ,protestants in nothing else1 they have trusted them here4 ,they have taken the ,protestants' word for it1 that ,protestantism is more reasonable than ,romanism2 and they think1 therefore1 that if they have destroyed the former1 fortiori have they destroyed the latter4#da ,no conception of the matter1 however1 could be more false than this4 ,to whatever criticism the ,catholic position may be open1 it is certainly not thus included in ,protestantism1 nor is it reached through it4 ,let us try and consider the matter a little more truly4 ,let us grant all that hostile criticism can say against ,protestantism as a supernatural religion3 in other words1 let us set it aside altogether4 ,let us suppose nothing1 to start with1 in the world but a natural moral sense1 and a simple natural theism2 and let us then see the relation of the ,church of ,rome to that4 ,approached in this way1 the religious world will appear to us as a body of natural theists1 all agreeing that they must do ,god's will1 but differing widely amongst themselves as to what ,his will and ,his nature are4 ,their moral and religious views will be equally vague and dreamlike--more dreamlike even than those of the ,protestant world at present4 ,their theories as to the future will be but 'shadowy hopes and fears4' ,their practice1 in the present1 will vary from asceticism to the widest license4 ,and yet1 in spite of all this confusion and difference1 there will be amongst them a vague tendency to unanimity4 ,each man will be dreaming his own spiritual dream1 and the dreams of all will be different4 ,all their dreams1 it will be plain1 cannot represent reality2 and yet the belief will be common to all that some common reality is represented by them4 ,men1 therefore1 will begin to compare their dreams together1 and try to draw out of them the common element1 so that the dream may come slowly to be the same for all2 that1 if it grows1 it may grow by some recognizable laws2 that it may1 in other words1 lose its character of a dream1 and assume that of a reality4 ,we suppose1 therefore1 that our natural theists form themselves into a kind of parliament1 in which they may compare1 adjust1 and give shape to the ideas that were before so wavering1 and which shall contain some machinery for formulating such agreements as may be come to4 ,the common religious sense of the world is thus organized1 and its conclusions registered4 ,we have no longer the wavering dreams of men2 we have instead of them the constant vision of man4 ,now in such a universal parliament we see what the ,church of ,rome essentially is1 viewed from her natural side4 ,she is ideally1 if not actually1 the parliament of the believing world4 ,her doctrines1 as she one by one unfolds them1 emerge upon us like petals from a half-closed bud4 ,they are not added arbitrarily from without2 they are developed from within4 ,they are the flowers contained from the first in the bud of our moral consciousness4 ,when she formulates in these days something that has not been formulated before1 she is no more enunciating a new truth than was ,newton when he enunciated the theory of gravitation4 ,whatever truths1 hitherto hidden1 she may in the course of time grow conscious of1 she holds that these were always implied in her teaching1 though before she did not know it2 just as gravitation was implied in many ascertained facts that men knew well enough long before they knew that it was implied in them4 ,thus far1 then1 the ,church of ,rome essentially is the spiritual sense of humanity1 speaking to men through its proper and only possible organ4 ,its intricate machinery1 such as its systems of representation1 its methods of voting1 the appointment of its speaker1 and the legal formalities required in the recording of its decrees1 are things accidental only2 or if they are necessary1 they are necessary only in a secondary way4 ,but the picture of the ,church thus far is only half drawn4 ,she is all this1 but she is something more than this4 ,she is not only the parliament of spiritual man1 but she is such a parliament guided by the ,spirit of ,god4 ,the work of that ,spirit may be secret1 and to the natural eyes untraceable1 as the work of the human will is in the human brain4 ,but none the less it is there4 ,totam infusa per artus ,mens agitat molem1 et magno se corpore miscet4 ,the analogy of the human brain is here of great help to us4 ,the human brain is an arrangement of material particles which can become connected with consciousness only in virtue of such a special arrangement4 ,the ,church is theoretically an arrangement of individuals which can become connected with the ,spirit of ,god only in virtue of an arrangement equally special4 ,if this be a true picture of the ,catholic ,church1 and the place which the only revelation we are concerned with ideally holds in the world1 there can be no priori difficulty in the passage from a natural religion to such a supernatural one4 ,the difficulties begin when we compare the ideal picture with the actual facts2 and it is true1 when we do this1 that they at once confront us with a strength that seems altogether disheartening4 ,these difficulties are of two distinct kinds2 some1 as in the case of natural theism1 are moral2 others are historical4 ,we will deal with the former first1 beginning with that which is at once the profoundest and the most obvious4 ,the ,church1 as has been said already1 is ideally the parliament of the whole believing world2 but we find1 as a matter of fact1 that she is the parliament of a small part only4 ,now what shall we say to this8 ,if ,god would have all men do ,his will1 why should ,he place the knowledge of it within reach of such a small minority of them8 ,and to this question we can give no answer4 ,it is a mystery1 and we must acknowledge frankly that it is one4 ,but there is this to say yet--that it is not a new mystery4 ,we already suppose ourselves to have accepted it in a simpler form3 in the form of the presence of evil1 and the partial prevalence of good4 ,by acknowledging the claim of the special revelation in question1 we are not adding to the complexity of that old world-problem4 ,i am aware1 however1 that many think just the reverse of this4 ,i will therefore dwell upon the subject for a few moments longer4 ,to many who can accept the difficulty of the partial presence of good1 the difficulty seems wantonly aggravated by the claims of a special revelation4 ,these claims seem to them to do two things4 ,in the first place1 they are thought to make the presence of good even more partial than it otherwise would be2 and secondly--which is a still greater stumbling-block--to oblige us to condemn as evil much that would else seem good of the purest kind4 ,there are many men1 as we must all know1 without the ,church1 who are doing their best to fight their way to ,god2 and orthodoxy is supposed to pass a cruel condemnation on these1 because they have not assented to some obscure theory1 their rejection or ignorance of which has plainly stained neither their lives nor hearts4 ,and of orthodoxy under certain forms this is no doubt true2 but it is not true of the orthodoxy of ,catholicism4 ,there is no point1 probably1 connected with this question1 about which the general world is so misinformed and ignorant1 as the sober but boundless charity of what it calls the anathematising ,church4 ,so little indeed is this charity understood generally1 that to assert it seems a startling paradox4 ,most paradoxes are doubtless in reality the lies they at first sight seem to be2 but not so this one4 ,it is the simple statement of a fact4 ,never was there a religious body1 except the ,roman1 that laid the intense stress she does on all her dogmatic teachings1 and had yet the justice that comes of sympathy for those that cannot receive them4 ,she condemns no goodness1 she condemns even no earnest worship1 though it be outside her pale4 ,on the contrary1 she declares explicitly that a knowledge of 'the one true ,god1 our ,creator and ,lord1' may be attained to by the 'natural light of human reason1' meaning by 'reason' faith unenlightened by revelation2 and she declares those to be anathema who deny this4 ,the holy and humble men of heart who do not know her1 or who in good faith reject her1 she commits with confidence to ,god's uncovenanted mercies2 and these she knows are infinite2 but1 except as revealed to her1 she can of necessity say nothing distinct about them4 ,it is admitted by the world at large1 that of her supposed bigotry she has no bitterer or more extreme exponents than the ,jesuits2 and this is what a ,jesuit theologian says upon this matter3 ',a heretic1 so long as he believes his sect to be more or equally deserving of belief1 has no obligation to believe the ,church 444 and when men who have been brought up in heresy1 are persuaded from boyhood that we impugn and attack the word of ,god1 that we are idolaters1 pestilent deceivers1 and are therefore to be shunned as pestilence1 they cannot1 while this persuasion lasts1 with a safe conscience hear us4'#db ,thus for those without her the ,church has one condemnation only4 ,her anathemas are on none but those who reject her with their eyes open1 by tampering with a conviction that she really is the truth4 ,these are condemned1 not for not seeing that the teacher is true1 but because having really seen this1 they continue to close their eyes to it4 ,they will not obey when they know they ought to obey4 ,and thus the moral offence of a ,catholic in denying some recondite doctrine1 does not lie merely1 and need not lie at all1 in the immediate bad effects that such a denial would necessitate2 but in the disobedience1 the self-will1 and the rebellion that must in such a case be both a cause and a result of it4 ,in the light of these considerations1 though the old perplexity of evil will still confront us1 it will be seen that the claims of ,catholic orthodoxy do nothing at all to add to it4 ,if orthodoxy1 however1 admit so much good without itself1 we may perhaps be inclined to ask what special good it claims within itself1 and what possible motives can exist for either understanding or teaching it4 ,but we might ask with exactly equal force1 what is the good of true physical science1 and why should we try to impress on the world its teachings8 ,such a question1 we can at once see1 is absurd4 ,because a large number of men know nothing of physical science1 and are apparently not the worse for their ignorance1 we do not for that reason think physical science worthless4 ,we believe1 on the whole1 that a knowledge of the laws of matter1 including those of our organisms and their environments1 will steadily tend to better our lives1 in so far as they are material4 ,it will tend1 for instance1 to a better preservation of our health4 ,but we do not for this reason deny that many individuals may preserve their health who are but very partially acquainted with the laws of it4 ,nor do we deny the value of a thorough study of astronomy and meteorology because a certain practical knowledge of the weather and of navigation may be attained without it4 ,on the contrary1 we hold that the fullest knowledge we can acquire on such matters it is our duty to acquire1 and not acquire only1 but as far as possible promulgate4 ,it is true that the mass of men may never master such knowledge thoroughly2 but what they do master of it we feel convinced should be the truth1 and even what they do not1 will1 we feel convinced1 be some indirect profit to them4 ,and the case of spiritual science is entirely analogous to the case of natural science4 ,a man to whom the truth is open is not excused from finding it because he knows it is not so open to all4 ,a heretic who denies the dogmas of the ,church has his counterpart in the quack who denies the verified conclusions of science4 ,the moral condemnation that is given to the one is illustrated by the intellectual condemnation that is given to the other4 ,if we will think this over carefully1 we shall get a clearer view of the moral value claimed for itself by orthodoxy4 ,some of its doctrines1 the great and picturable parts of them1 that appeal to all1 and that in some degree can be taken in by all1 it declares doubtless to be saving1 in their own nature4 ,but for the mass of men the case is quite different with the facts underlying these4 ,that we eat ,christ's body in the ,eucharist is a belief that1 in a practical way1 can be understood perfectly by anyone2 but the philosophy that is involved in this belief would be to most men the merest gibberish4 ,yet it is no more unimportant that those who do understand this philosophy1 should do so truly and transmit it faithfully1 than it is unimportant that a physician should understand the action of alcohol1 because anyone independent of such knowledge can tell that so many glasses of wine will have such and such an effect on him4 ,theology is to the spiritual body what anatomy and medicine are to the natural body4 ,the parts they each play in our lives are analogous1 and in their respective worlds their raison d'tre is the same4 ,what then can be shallower than the rhetoric of such thinkers as ,mr4 ,carlyle1 in which natural religion and orthodoxy are held up to us as contrasts and as opposites1 the former being praised as simple and going straight to the heart1 and the latter described and declaimed against as the very reverse of this8 ',on the one hand1' it is said1 'see the soul going straight to its ,god1 feeling ,his love1 and content that others should feel it4 ,on the other hand1 see this pure and free communion1 distracted and interrupted by a thousand tortuous reasonings as to the exact nature of it4 ,what can obscure intellectual propositions1' it is asked1 'have to do with a religion of the heart8 ,and do not they check the latter by being thus bound up with it8' ,but what really can be more misleading than this8 ,natural religion is doubtless simpler in one sense than revealed religion2 but it is only simple because it has no authoritative science of itself4 ,it is simple for the same reason that a boy's account of having given himself a headache is simpler than a physician's would be4 ,the boy says merely1 ',i ate ten tarts1 and drank three bottles of ginger-beer4' ,the physician1 were he to explain the catastrophe1 would describe a number of far more complex processes4 ,the boy's account would be of course the simplest1 and would certainly go more home to the general heart of boyhood2 but it would not for that reason be the correctest or the most important4 ,and just like this will be the case of the divine communion1 which the simple saint may feel1 and the subtle theologian analyse4 ,but it will be well to observe1 further1 that the simplicity of a religion can of itself be no test of the probable truth of it4 ,and in the case of natural religion1 what is called simplicity is in general nothing more than vagueness4 ,if simplicity used in this way be a term of praise1 we might praise a landscape as simple because it was half-drowned in mist4 ,as a matter of fact1 however1 the religion of the ,catholic ,church1 putting out of the question its theology1 is a thing far simpler than the outside world supposes2 nor is there a doctrine in it without a direct moral meaning for us1 and not tending to have a direct effect on the character4 ,but the outside world misjudges of all this for various reasons4 ,in the first place1 it can reach it as a rule through explanations only2 and the explanation or the account of anything is always far more intricate than the apprehension of the thing itself4 ,take1 for instance1 the practice of the invocation of saints4 ,this seems to many to complicate the whole relation of the soul to ,god1 to be introducing a number of new and unnecessary go-betweens1 and to make us1 as it were1 communicate with ,god through a dragoman4 ,but the case really is very different4 ,of course it may be contended that intercessory prayer1 or that prayer of any kind1 is an absurdity2 but for those who do not think this1 there can be nothing to object to in the invocation of saints4 ,it is admitted by such men that we are not wrong in asking the living to pray for us4 ,surely1 therefore1 it is not wrong to make a like request of the dead4 ,in the same way1 to those who believe in purgatory1 to pray for the dead is as natural and as rational as to pray for the living4 ,next1 as to this doctrine of purgatory itself--which has so long been a stumbling-block to the whole ,protestant world--time goes on1 and the view men take of it is changing4 ,it is becoming fast recognized on all sides that it is the only doctrine that can bring a belief in future rewards and punishments into anything like accordance with our notions of what is just or reasonable4 ,so far from its being a superfluous superstition1 it is seen to be just what is demanded at once by reason and morality2 and a belief in it to be not an intellectual assent only1 but a partial harmonising of the whole moral ideal4 ,and the whole ,catholic religion1 if we only distinguish and apprehend it rightly1 will present itself to us in the same light4 ,but there are other reasons besides those just described1 by which outsiders are hindered from arriving at such a right view of the matter4 ,not only does the intricacy of ,catholicism described1 blind them to the simplicity of ,catholicism experienced1 but they confuse with the points of faith1 not only the scientific accounts the theologians give of them1 but mere rules of discipline1 and pious opinions also4 ,it is supposed popularly1 for instance1 to be of ,catholic faith that celibacy is essential to the priesthood4 ,this as a fact1 however1 is no more a part of the ,catholic faith than the celibacy of a college fellow is a part of the ,thirty-nine ,articles1 or than the skill of an ,english naval officer depends on his not having his wife with him on shipboard4 ,nor again1 to take another popular instance1 is the headship of the ,catholic ,church connected essentially with ,rome1 any more than the ,english ,parliament is essentially connected with ,westminster4 ,the difficulty of distinguishing things that are of faith1 from mere pious opinions1 is a more subtle one4 ,from the confusion caused by it1 the ,church seems pledged to all sorts of grotesque stories of saints1 and accounts of the place and aspect of heaven1 of hell and purgatory1 and to be logically bound to stand and fall by these4 ,thus ,sir ,james ,stephen happened once in the course of his reading to light on an opinion of ,bellarmine's1 and certain arguments by which he supported it1 as to the place of purgatory4 ,it is quite true that to us ,bellarmine's opinion seems sufficiently ludicrous2 and ,sir ,james ,stephen argued that the ,roman ,church is ludicrous in just the same degree4 ,but if he had studied the matter a little deeper1 he would soon have dropped his argument4 ,he would have seen that he was attacking1 not the doctrine of the ,church1 but simply an opinion1 not indeed condemned by her1 but held avowedly without her sanction4 ,had he studied ,bellarmine to a little more purpose1 he would have seen that that writer expressly states it to be 'a question where purgatory is1 but that the ,church has defined nothing on this point4' ,he would also have learned from the same source that it is no article of ,catholic faith1 though it was of ,bellarmine's opinion1 that there is in purgatory any material fire2 and that1 'as to the intensity of the pains of purgatory1 though all admit that they are greater than anything that we suffer in this life1 still it is doubtful how this is to be explained and understood4' ,he would have learned too that1 according to ,bonaventura1 'the sufferings of purgatory are only severer than those of this life1 inasmuch as the greatest suffering in purgatory is more severe than the greatest suffering endured in this life2 though there may be a degree of punishment in purgatory less intense than what may sometimes be undergone in this world4' ,and finally he would have learned--what in this connection would have been well worth his attention--that the duration of pains in purgatory is according to ,bellarmine1 'so completely uncertain1 that it is rash to pretend to determine anything about it4' ,here is one instance1 that will be as good as many1 of the way in which the private opinions of individual ,catholics1 or the transitory opinions of particular epochs1 are taken for the unalterable teachings of the ,catholic ,church herself2 and it is no more logical to condemn the latter as false because the former are1 than it would be to say that all modern geography is false because geographers may still entertain false opinions about regions as to which they do not profess certainty4 ,medival doctors thought that purgatory might be the middle of the earth4 ,modern geographers have thought that there might be an open sea at the ,north ,pole4 ,but that wrong conjectures have been hazarded in both cases1 can prove in neither that there have been no true discoveries4 ,the ,church1 it is undeniable1 has for a long time lived and moved amongst countless false opinions2 and to the external eye they have naturally seemed a part of her4 ,but science moves on1 and it is shown that she can cast them off4 ,she has cast off some already2 soon doubtless she will cast off others2 not in any petulant anger1 but with a composed determined gentleness1 as some new light gravely dawns upon her4 ,granting all this1 however1 there remains a yet subtler characteristic of the ,church1 which goes to make her a rock of offence to many2 and that is1 the temper and the intellectual tone which she seems to develop in her members4 ,but here1 again1 we must call to our aid considerations similar to those we have just been dwelling on4 ,we must remember that the particular tone and temper that offends us is not necessarily ,catholicism4 ,the temper of the ,catholic world may change1 and1 as a matter of fact1 does change4 ,it is not the same1 indeed1 in any two countries1 or in any two eras4 ,and it may have a new and unsuspected future in store for it4 ,it may absorb ideas that we should consider broader1 bolder1 and more rational than any it seems to possess at present4 ,but if ever it does so1 the ,church1 in the opinion of ,catholics1 will not be growing false to herself2 she will only1 in due time1 be unfolding her own spirit more fully4 ,thus some people associate ,catholic conceptions of extreme sanctity with a neglect of personal cleanliness2 and imagine that a clean ,catholic can1 according to his own creed1 never come very near perfection4 ,but the ,church has never given this view her sanction2 she has never made it of faith that dirt is sacred2 she has added no ninth beatitude in favour of an unchanged shirt4 ,many of the greatest saints were doubtless dirty2 but they were dirty not because of the ,church they belonged to1 but because of the age they lived in4 ,such an expression of sanctity for themselves1 it is probable1 will be loathed by the saints of the future2 yet they may none the less reverence1 for all that1 the saints who so expressed it in the past4 ,this is but a single instance2 but it may serve as a type of the wide circle of changes that the ,church as a living organism1 still full of vigour and power of self-adaptation1 will be able to develop1 as the world develops round her1 and yet lose nothing of her supernatural sameness4 ,to sum up1 then2 if we would obtain a true view of the general character of ,catholicism1 we must begin by making a clean sweep of all the views that1 as outsiders1 we have been taught to entertain about her4 ,we must1 in the first place1 learn to conceive of her as a living1 spiritual body1 as infallible and as authoritative now as she ever was1 with her eyes undimmed and her strength not abated1 continuing to grow still as she has continued to grow hitherto3 and the growth of the new dogmas that she may from time to time enunciate1 we must learn to see are1 from her own stand-point1 signs of life and not signs of corruption4 ,and further1 when we come to look into her more closely1 we must separate carefully the diverse elements we find in her--her discipline1 her pious opinions1 her theology1 and her religion4 ,let honest enquirers do this to the best of their power1 and their views will undergo an unlooked-for change4 ,other difficulties of a more circumstantial kind1 it is true1 still remain for them2 and of these ,i shall speak presently4 ,but putting these for the moment aside1 and regarding the question under its widest aspects only--regarding it only in connection with the larger generalisations of science1 and the primary postulates of man's spiritual existence--the theist will find in ,catholicism no new difficulties4 ,he will find in it the logical development of our natural moral sense1 developed1 indeed1 and still developing1 under a special and supernatural care--but essentially the same thing2 with the same negations1 the same assertions1 the same positive truths1 and the same impenetrable mysteries2 and with nothing new added to them1 but help1 and certainty1 and guidance4 ,,footnotes3 #cg ,it is curious to reflect that what ,gibbon said as a sarcasm1 is really a serious and profound truth1 and leads to conclusions exactly opposite to those drawn from it in that witty and most fascinating chapter from which the above words are quoted4 #ch ,our ,eternal ,hope4 ,by ,canon ,farrar4 #ci ,see ,dllinger's ,continuation of ,hortig's ,church ,history1 quoted by ,mr4 ,j4,b4 ,robertson1 in his ,memoir of ,dr4 ,moehler4 #dj ,see ,phases of my ,faith1 by ,francis ,newman4 #da ,it is difficult on any other supposition to account for the marked fact that hardly any of our ,english rationalists have criticised ,christianity1 except as presented to them in a form essentially ,protestant2 and that a large proportion of their criticisms are solely applicable to this4 ,it is amusing1 too1 to observe how1 to men of often such really wide minds1 all theological authority is represented by the various social types of contemporary ,anglican or dissenting dignitaries4 ,men such as ,professors ,huxley and ,clifford1 ,mr4 ,leslie ,stephen1 and ,mr4 ,frederic ,harrison1 can find no representatives of dogmatism but in bishops1 deans1 curates1 ,presbyterian ministers--and1 above all1 curates4 ,the one mouthpiece of the ,ecclesia docens is for them the parish pulpit2 and the more ignorant be its occupant the more representative do they think his utterances4 ,whilst ,mr4 ,matthew ,arnold apparently thinks the whole cause of revealed religion stands and falls with the vagaries of the present ,bishop of ,gloucester4 #db ,busenbaum1 quoted by ,dr4 ,j4,h4 ,newman1 ,letter to the ,duke of ,norfolk1 p4 #fe4 ,,chapter ,,xii4 ,,universal ,,history ,,and ,,the ,,claims ,,of ,,the ,,christian ,,church4 ,oh the little more1 and how much it is1 ,and the little less1 and what worlds away6--,robert ,browning4 ,and now we come to the last objections left us1 of those which modern thought has arrayed against the ,christian ,revelation2 and these to many minds are the most conclusive and overwhelming of all--the objections raised against it by a critical study of history4 ,hitherto we have been considering the ,church only with reference to our general sense of the fitness and the rational probability of things4 ,we have now to consider her with reference to special facts4 ,her claims and her character1 as she exists at present1 may make perhaps appeal overpoweringly to us2 but she cannot be judged only by these4 ,for these are closely bound up with a long earthly history1 which the ,church herself has written in one way1 binding herself to stand or fall by the truth of it2 and this all the secular wisdom of the world seems to be re-writing in quite another4 ,this subject is so vast and intricate that even to approach the details of it would require volumes1 not a single chapter4 ,but room in a chapter may be found for one thing1 of prior importance to any mass of detail2 and that is a simple statement of the principles--unknown to1 or forgotten by external critics--by which all this mass of detail is to be interpreted4 ,let us remember first1 then1 to take a general view of the matter1 that history as cited in witness against the ,christian ,revelation1 divides itself into two main branches4 ,the one is a critical examination of ,christianity1 taken by itself--the authorship1 and the authenticity of its sacred books1 and the origin and growth of its doctrines4 ,the other is a critical examination of ,christianity as compared with other religions4 ,and the result of both these lines of study is1 to those brought up in the old faith1 to the last degree startling1 and in appearance at least altogether disastrous4 ,let us sum up briefly the general results of them2 and first of these the historical4 ,we shall begin naturally with the ,bible1 as giving us the earliest historical point at which ,christianity is assailable4 ,what then has modern criticism accomplished on the ,bible8 ,the ,biblical account of the creation it has shown to be1 in its literal sense1 an impossible fable4 ,to passages thought mystical and prophetic it has assigned the homeliest1 and often retrospective meanings4 ,everywhere at its touch what seemed supernatural has been humanized1 and the divinity that hedged the records has rapidly abandoned them4 ,and now looked at in the common daylight their whole aspect changes for us2 and stories that we once accepted with a solemn reverence seem childish1 ridiculous1 grotesque1 and not unfrequently barbarous4 ,or if we are hardly prepared to admit so much as this1 this much at least has been established firmly--that the ,bible1 if it does not give the lie itself to the astonishing claims that have been made for it1 contains nothing in itself1 at any rate1 that can of itself be sufficient to support them4 ,this applies to the ,new ,testament just as much as to the ,old2 and the consequences here are even more momentous4 ,weighed as mere human testimony1 the value of the ,gospels becomes doubtful or insignificant4 ,for the miracles of ,christ1 and for his superhuman nature1 they contain little evidence1 that even tends to be satisfactory2 and even his daily words and actions it seems probable may have been inaccurately reported1 in some cases perhaps invented1 and in others supplied by a deceiving memory4 ,when we pass from the ,gospels to the ,epistles1 a kindred sight presents itself4 ,we discern in them the writings of men not inspired from above2 but1 with many disagreements amongst themselves1 struggling upwards from below1 influenced by a variety of existing views1 and doubtful which of them to assimilate4 ,we discern in them1 as we do in other writers1 the products of their age and of their circumstances4 ,the materials out of which they formed their doctrines we can find in the lay world around them4 ,and as we follow the ,church's history farther1 and examine the appearance and the growth of her great subsequent dogmas1 we can trace all of them to a natural and a non-,christian origin4 ,we can see1 for instance1 how in part1 at least1 men conceived the idea of the ,trinity from the teachings of ,greek ,mysticism2 and how the theory of the ,atonement was shaped by the ideas of ,roman ,jurisprudence4 ,everywhere1 in fact1 in the holy building supposed to have come down from ,god1 we detect fragments of older structures1 confessedly of earthly workmanship4 ,but the matter does not end here4 ,historical science not only shows us ,christianity1 with its sacred history1 in this new light2 but it sets other religions by the side of it1 and shows us that their course through the world has been strangely similar4 ,they too have had their sacred books1 and their incarnate ,gods for prophets2 they have had their priesthoods1 their traditions1 and their growing bodies of doctrine3 there is nothing in ,christianity that cannot find its counterpart1 even to the most marked details1 in the life of its founder4 ,two centuries1 for instance1 before the birth of ,christ1 ,buddha is said to have been born without human father4 ,angels sang in heaven to announce his advent2 an aged hermit blessed him in his mother's arms2 a monarch was advised1 though he refused1 to destroy the child1 who1 it was predicted1 should be a universal ruler4 ,it is told how he was once lost1 and was found again in a temple2 and how his young wisdom astonished all the doctors4 ,a woman in a crowd was rebuked by him for exclaiming1 ',blessed is the womb that bare thee4' ,his prophetic career began when he was about thirty years old2 and one of the most solemn events of it is his temptation in solitude by the evil one4 ,everywhere1 indeed1 in other religions we are discovering things that we once thought peculiar to the ,christian4 ,and thus the fatal inference is being drawn on all sides1 that they have all sprung from a common and an earthly root1 and that one has no more certainty than another4 ,and thus another blow is dealt to a faith that was already weakened4 ,not only1 it is thought1 can ,christianity not prove itself in any supernatural sense to be sacred1 but other religions prove that even in a natural sense it is not singular4 ,it has not come down from heaven3 it is not exceptional even in its attempt to rise to it4 ,such are the broad conclusions which in these days seem to be forced upon us2 and which knowledge1 as it daily widens1 would seem to be daily strengthening4 ,but are these altogether so destructive as they seem8 ,let us enquire into this more closely4 ,if we do this1 it will be soon apparent that the so-called enlightened and critical modern judgment has been misled as to this point by an error ,i have already dwelt upon4 ,it has considered ,christianity solely as represented by ,protestantism2 or if it has glanced at ,rome at all1 it has ignorantly dismissed as weaknesses the doctrines which are the essence of her strength4 ,now1 as far as ,protestantism is concerned1 the modern critical judgment is undoubtedly in the right4 ,not only1 as ,i have pointed out already1 has experience proved the practical incoherency of its superstructure1 but criticism has washed away like sand every vestige of its supernatural foundation4 ,if ,christianity relies solely1 in proof of its revealed message to us1 on the external evidences as to its history and the source of its doctrines1 it can never again hope to convince men4 ,the supports of external evidence are quite inadequate to the weight that is put upon them4 ,they might possibly serve as props2 but they crush and crumble instantly1 when they are used as pillars4 ,and as pillars it is that ,protestantism is compelled to use them4 ,it will be quite sufficient1 here1 to confine our attention to the ,bible1 and the place which it occupies in the structure of the ,protestant fabric4 ',there--in that book1' says ,protestantism1 'is the ,word of ,god2 there is my unerring guide2 ,i listen to none but that4 ,all special ,churches have varied1 and have therefore erred2 but it is my first axiom that that book has never erred4 ,on that book1 and on that book only1 do ,i rest myself2 and out of its mouth shall you judge me4' ,and for a long time this language had much force in it2 for the ,protestant axiom was received by all parties4 ,it is true1 indeed1 as we have seen already1 that in the absence of an authoritative interpreter1 an ambiguous testament would itself have little authority4 ,but it took a long time for men to perceive this2 and all admitted meanwhile that the testament was there1 and it at any rate meant something4 ,but now all this is changed4 ,the great ,protestant axiom is received by the world no longer4 ,to many it seems not an axiom1 but an absurdity2 at best it appears but as a very doubtful fact3 and if external proof is to be the thing that guides us1 we shall need more proof to convince us that the ,bible is the ,word of ,god1 than that ,protestantism is the religion of the ,bible4 ,we need not pursue the enquiry further1 nor ask how ,protestantism will fare at the hands of ,comparative ,mythology4 ,the blow dealt by ,biblical criticism is to all appearances mortal1 and there is no need to look about for a second4 ,but let us turn to ,catholicism1 and we shall see that the whole case is different4 ,to its past history1 to external evidence1 and to the religions outside itself1 ,protestant ,christianity bears one relation1 and ,roman ,christianity quite another4 ,protestantism offers itself to the world as a strange servant might1 bringing with it a number of written testimonials4 ,it asks us to examine them1 and by them to judge of its merits4 ,it expressly begs us not to trust to its own word4 ',i cannot1' it says1 'rely upon my memory4 ,it has failed me often2 it may fail me again4 ,but look at these testimonials in my favour1 and judge me only by them4' ,and the world looks at them1 examines them carefully2 it at last sees that they look suspicious1 and that they may1 very possibly1 be forgeries4 ,it ask the ,protestant ,church to prove them genuine2 and the ,protestant ,church cannot4 ,but the ,catholic ,church comes to us in an exactly opposite way4 ,she too brings with her the very same testimonials2 but she knows the uncertainty that obscures all remote evidences1 and so at first she does not lay much stress upon them4 ,first she asks us to make some acquaintance with herself2 to look into her living eyes1 to hear the words of her mouth1 to watch her ways and works1 and to feel her inner spirit2 and then she says to us1 ',can you trust me8 ,if you can1 you must trust me all in all2 for the very first thing ,i declare to you is1 ,i have never lied4 ,can you trust me thus far8 ,then listen1 and ,i will tell you my history4 ,you have heard it told one way1 ,i know2 and that way often goes against me4 ,my career1 ,i admit it myself1 has many suspicious circumstances4 ,but none of them positively condemn me3 all are capable of a guiltless interpretation4 ,and when you know me1 as ,i am1 you will give me the benefit of every doubt4' ,it is thus that the ,catholic ,church presents the ,bible to us4 ',believe the ,bible1 for my sake1' she says1 'not me for the ,bible's4' ,and the book1 as thus offered us1 changes its whole character4 ,we have not the formal testimonials of a stranger2 we have instead the memoranda of a friend4 ,we have now that presumption in their favour that in the former case was wanting altogether2 and all that we ask of the records now is1 not that they contain any inherent evidence of their truth1 but that they contain no inherent evidence of their falsehood4 ,farther1 there is this point to remember4 ,catholic and ,protestant alike declare the ,bible to be inspired4 ,but the ,catholics can attach to inspiration a far wider1 and less assailable meaning3 for their ,church claims for herself a perpetual living power1 which can always concentrate the inspired element1 be it never so diffused2 whereas for the ,protestants1 unless that element be closely bound up with the letter1 it at once becomes intangible and eludes them altogether4 ,and thus1 whilst the latter have committed themselves to definite statements1 now proved untenable1 as to what inspiration is1 the ,catholic ,church1 strangely enough1 has never done anything of the kind4 ,she has declared nothing on the subject that is to be held of faith4 ,the whole question is still1 within limits1 an open one4 ,as the ,catholic ,church1 then1 stands at present1 it seems hard to say that1 were we for other reasons inclined to trust her1 she makes any claims1 on behalf of her sacred books1 which1 in the face of impartial history1 would prevent our doing so4 ,let us now go farther1 and consider those great ,christian doctrines which1 though it is claimed that they are all implied in the ,bible1 are confessedly not expressed in it1 and were confessedly not consciously assented to by the ,church1 till long after the ,christian ,canon was closed4 ,and here let us grant the modern critics their most hostile and extreme position4 ,let us grant that all the doctrines in question can be traced to external1 and often to non-,christian sources4 ,and what is the result on ,romanism8 ,does this logically go any way whatever towards discrediting its claims8 ,let us consider the matter fairly1 and we shall see that it has not even a tendency to do so4 ,here1 as in the case of the ,bible1 the ,church's doctrine of her infallibility meets all objections4 ,for the real question here is1 not in what storehouse of opinions the ,church found her doctrines1 but why she selected those she did1 and why she rejected and condemned the rest4 ,history and scientific criticism cannot answer this4 ,history can show us only who baked the separate bricks2 it cannot show us who made or designed the building4 ,no one believes that the devil made the plans of ,cologne ,cathedral2 but were we inclined to think he did1 the story would be disproved in no way by our discovering from what quarries every stone had been taken4 ,and the doctrines of the ,church are but as the stones in a building1 the letters of an alphabet1 or the words of a language4 ,many are offered and few chosen4 ,the supernatural action is to be detected in the choice4 ,the whole history of the ,church1 in fact1 as she herself tells it1 may be described as a history of supernatural selection4 ,it is quite possible that she may claim it to be more than that2 but could she vindicate for herself but this one faculty of an infallible choice1 she would vindicate to the full her claim to be under a superhuman guidance4 ,the ,church may be conceived of as a living organism1 for ever and on all sides putting forth feelers and tentacles1 that seize1 try1 and seem to dally with all kinds of nutriment4 ,a part of this she at length takes into herself4 ,a large part she at length puts down again4 ,much that is thus rejected she seems for a long time on the point of choosing4 ,but however slow may be the final decision in coming1 however reluctant or hesitating it may seem to be1 when it is once made1 it is claimed for it that it is infallible4 ,and this claim is one1 as we shall see when we understand its nature1 that no study of ecclesiastical history1 no study of comparative mythology can invalidate now1 or even promise to invalidate4 ,there is nothing rash in saying this4 ,the ,church knows the difficulties that her past records present to us1 especially that of the divine character of the ,bible4 ,but she knows too that this divinity is at present protected by its vagueness2 nor is she likely to expose it more openly to its enemies1 till some sure plan of defence has been devised for it4 ,rigid as were the opinions entertained as to ,biblical inspiration1 throughout the greater part of the ,church's history1 the ,church has never formally assumed them as articles of faith4 ,had she done so1 she might indeed have been convicted of error1 for many of these opinions can be shown to be at variance with fact4 ,but though she lived and breathed for so many centuries amongst them1 though for ages none of her members perhaps ever doubted their truth1 she has not laid them on succeeding ages3 she has left them opinions still4 ,a ,catholic might well adduce this as an instance1 not indeed of her supernatural selection1 but of its counterpart1 her supernatural rejection4 ,and now1 to turn from the past to the future1 her possible future conduct in this matter will give us a very vivid illustration of her whole past procedure4 ,it may be that before the ,church defines inspiration exactly 7if she ever does so71 she will wait till lay criticism has done all it can do4 ,she may then consider what views of the ,bible are historically tenable1 and what not2 and may faithfully shape her teaching by the learning of this world1 though it may have been gathered together for the express purpose of overthrowing her4 ,atheistic scholars may be quoted in her councils2 and supercilious and sceptical philologists1 could they live another hundred years1 might perhaps recognise their discoveries1 even their words and phrases1 embodied in an ecclesiastical definition4 ,to the outer world such a definition would seem to be a mere natural production4 ,but in the eyes of a ,catholic it would be as truly supernatural1 as truly the work of the ,holy ,spirit1 as if it had come down ready-made out of heaven1 with all the accompaniments of a rushing mighty wind1 and of visible tongues of flame4 ,sanguine critics might expose the inmost history of the council in which the definition was made2 they might show the whole conduct of it1 from one side1 to be but a meshwork of accident and of human motives2 and they would ask triumphantly for any traces of the action of the divine spirit4 ,but the ,church1 would be unabashed4 ,she would answer in the words of ,job1 ',behold ,i go forward1 but ,he is not there2 and backward1 but ,i cannot perceive ,him2 but ,he knoweth the way that ,i take2 when ,he hath tried me1 ,i shall come forth as gold4 ,behold my witness is in heaven1 and my champion is on high4' ,and thus the doctrine of the ,church's infallibility has a side that is just the opposite of that which is commonly thought to be its only one4 ,it is supposed to have simply gendered bondage2 not to have gendered liberty4 ,but as a matter of fact it has done both2 and if we view the matter fairly1 we shall see that it has done the latter at least as completely as the former4 ,the doctrine of infallibility is undoubtedly a rope that tethers those that hold it to certain real or supposed facts of the past2 but it is a rope that is capable of indefinite lengthening4 ,it is not a fetter only2 it is a support also2 and those who cling to it can venture fearlessly1 as explorers1 into currents of speculation that would sweep away altogether men who did but trust to their own powers of swimming4 ,nor does1 as is often supposed1 the centralizing of this infallibility in the person of one man present any difficulty from the ,catholic point of view4 ,it is said that the ,pope might any day make a dogma of any absurdities that might happen to occur to him2 and that the ,catholic would be bound to accept these1 however strongly his reason might repudiate them4 ,and it is quite true that the ,pope might do this any day1 in the sense that there is no external power to prevent him4 ,but he who has assented to the central doctrine of ,catholicism knows that he never will4 ,and it is precisely the obvious absence of any restraint from without that brings home to the ,catholic his faith in the guiding power from within4 ,such1 then1 and so compacted is the ,church of ,rome1 as a visible and earthly body1 with a past and future history4 ,and with so singular a firmness and flexibility is her frame knit together1 that none of her modern enemies can get any lasting hold on her1 or dismember her or dislocate her limbs on the racks of their criticism4 ,but granting all this1 what does this do for her8 ,does it do more than present her to us as the toughest and most fortunate religion1 out of many co-ordinate and competing ones8 ,does it tend in any way to set her on a different platform from the others8 ,and the answer to this is1 that1 so far as exact proof goes1 we have nothing to expect or deal with in the matter1 either one way or the other4 ,the evidences at our disposal will impart a general tendency to our opinions1 but no more than that4 ,the general tendency here1 however1 is the very reverse of what it is vulgarly supposed to be4 ,so far from the similarities to her in other religions telling against the special claims of the ,catholic ,church1 they must really1 with the candid theist1 tell very strongly in her favour4 ,for the theist1 all theisms have a profound element of truth in them2 and all alleged revelations will1 in his eyes1 be natural theisms1 struggling to embody themselves in some authorised and authoritative form4 ,the ,catholic ,church1 as we have seen1 is a human organism1 capable of receiving the ,divine ,spirit2 and this is what all other religious bodies1 in so far as they have claimed authority for their teaching1 have consciously or unconsciously attempted to be likewise2 only the ,catholic ,church represents success1 where the others represent failure3 and thus these1 from the ,catholic stand-point1 are abortive and incomplete ,catholicisms4 ,the ,bethesda of human faith is world-wide and as old as time2 only in one particular spot an angel has come down and troubled it2 and the waters have been circling there1 thenceforth1 in a healing vortex4 ,such is the sort of claim that the ,catholic ,church makes for herself2 and1 if this be so1 what she is1 does not belie what she claims to be4 ,indeed1 the more we compare her with the other religions1 her rivals1 the more1 even where she most resembles them1 shall we see in her a something that marks her off from them4 ,the others are like vague and vain attempts at a forgotten tune2 she is like the tune itself1 which is recognised the instant it is heard1 and which has been so near to us all the time1 though so immeasurably far away from us4 ,the ,catholic ,church is the only dogmatic religion that has seen what dogmatism really implies1 and what will1 in the long run1 be demanded of it1 and she contains in herself all appliances for meeting these demands4 ,she alone has seen that if there is to be an infallible voice in the world1 this voice must be a living one1 as capable of speaking now as it ever was in the past2 and that as the world's capacities for knowledge grow1 the teacher must be always able to unfold to it a fuller teaching4 ,the ,catholic ,church is the only historical religion that can conceivably thus adapt itself to the wants of the present day1 without virtually ceasing to be itself4 ,it is the only religion that can keep its identity without losing its life1 and keep its life without losing its identity2 that can enlarge its teachings without changing them2 that can be always the same1 and yet be always developing4 ,all this1 of course1 does not prove that ,catholicism is the truth2 but it will show the theist that1 for all that the modern world can tell him1 it may be4 ,and thus much at least will by-and-by come to be recognised generally4 ,opinion1 that has been clarified on so many subjects1 cannot remain forever turbid here4 ,a change must come1 and a change can only be for the better4 ,at present the so-called leaders of enlightened and liberal thought are in this matter1 so far as fairness and insight go1 on a level with the wives and mothers of our small provincial shopkeepers1 or the beadle or churchwarden of a country parish4 ,but prejudice1 even when so virulent and so dogged as this1 will lift and disappear some day like a ,london fog2 and then the lineaments of the question will confront us clearly--the question3 but who shall decide the answer8 ,what ,i have left to say bears solely upon this4 ,,chapter ,,xiii4 ,,belief ,,and ,,will4 ',abraham believed ,god1 and it was counted to him for righteousness4' ,arguments are like the seed1 or like the soul1 as ,paul conceived of it1 which he compared to seed4 ,they are not quickened unless they die4 ,as long as they remain for us in the form of arguments they do no work4 ,their work begins only1 after a time and in secret1 when they have sunk down into the memory1 and have been left to lie there2 when the hostility and distrust they were regarded with dies away2 when1 unperceived1 they melt into the mental system1 and1 becoming part of oneself1 effect a turning round of the soul4 ,this is true1 at least1 when the matters dealt with are such as have engaged us here4 ,it may be true1 too1 of those who discern and urge the arguments1 just as well as of those upon whom they urge them4 ,but the immediate barrenness of much patient and careful reasoning should not make us think that it is lost labour4 ,one way or other it will some day bear its fruit4 ,sometimes the intellect is the servant of the heart4 ,at other times the heart must follow slowly upon the heels of the intellect4 ,and such is the case now4 ,for centuries man's faith and all his loftier feelings had their way made plain before them4 ,the whole empire of human thought belonged to them4 ,but this old state of things endures no longer4 ,upon this ,empire1 as upon that of ,rome1 calamity has at last fallen4 ,a horde of intellectual barbarians has burst in upon it1 and has occupied by force the length and breadth of it4 ,the result has been astounding4 ,had the invaders been barbarians only1 they might have been repelled easily2 but they were barbarians armed with the most powerful weapons of civilisation4 ,they were a phenomenon new to history3 they showed us real knowledge in the hands of real ignorance2 and the work of the combination thus far has been ruin1 not reorganisation4 ,few great movements at the beginning have been conscious of their own true tendency2 but no great movement has mistaken it like modern ,positivism4 ,seeing just too well to have the true instinct of blindness1 and too ill to have the proper guidance from sight1 it has tightened its clutch upon the world of thought1 only to impart to it its own confusion4 ,what lies before men now is to reduce this confusion to order1 by a patient and calm employment of the intellect4 ,intellect itself will never re-kindle faith1 or restore any of those powers that are at present so failing and so feeble2 but it will work like a pioneer to prepare their way before them1 if they are ever revived otherwise1 encouraged in its labours1 perhaps not even by hope1 but at any rate by the hope of hope4 ,as a pioneer1 and not as a preacher1 ,i have tried to indicate the real position in which modern knowledge has placed us1 and the way in which it puts the problem of life before us4 ,i have tried to show that1 whatever ultimately its tendency may prove to be1 it cannot be the tendency that1 by the school that has given it to us1 it is supposed to have been2 and that it either does a great deal more than that school thinks it does1 or a great deal less4 ,history would teach us this1 even if nothing else did4 ,the school in question has proceeded from denial to denial1 thinking at each successive moment that it had reached its final halting-place1 and had struck at last on a solid and firm foundation4 ,first1 it denied the ,church to assert the ,bible2 then it denied the ,bible to assert ,god2 then it denied ,god to assert the moral dignity of man3 and there1 if it could remain1 it would4 ,but what it would do is of no avail4 ,it is not its own master2 it is compelled to move onwards2 and now1 under the force of its own relentless logic1 this last resting-place is beginning to fail also4 ,it professed to compensate for its denials of ,god's existence by a freer and more convincing re-assertion of man's dignity4 ,but the principles which obliged it to deny the first belief are found to be even more fatal to the substitute4 ',unless ,i have seen with my eyes ,i will not believe1' expresses a certain mental tendency that has always had existence4 ,but till ,science and its positive methods began to dawn on the world1 this tendency was vague and wavering4 ,positive ,science supplied it with solid nutriment4 ,its body grew denser2 its shape more and more definite2 and now the completed portent is spreading its denials through the whole universe4 ,so far as spirit goes and spiritual aspirations1 it has left existence empty1 swept and garnished4 ,if spirit is to enter in again and dwell there1 we must seek by other methods for it4 ,modern thought has not created a new doubt2 it has simply made perfect an old one2 and has advanced it from the distant regions of theory into the very middle of our hearts and lives4 ,it has made the question of belief or of unbelief the supreme practical question for us4 ,it has forced us to stake everything on the cast of a single die4 ,what are we8 ,have we been hitherto deceived in ourselves1 or have we not8 ,and is every hope that has hitherto nerved our lives1 melting at last away from us1 utterly and for ever8 ,or are we indeed what we have been taught to think we are8 ,have we indeed some aims that we may still call high and holy--still some aims that are more than transitory8 ,and have we still some right to that reverence that we have learnt to cherish for ourselves8 ,here lie the difficulties4 ,the battle is to be fought here--here at the very threshold--at the entrance to the spiritual world4 ,are we moral and spiritual beings1 or are we not8 ,that is the decisive question1 which we must say our ,yes or ,no to4 ,if1 with our eyes open1 and with all our hearts1 it be given us to say ,yes--to say ,yes without fear1 and firmly1 and in the face of everything--then there will be little more to fear4 ,we shall have fought the good fight1 we shall have kept the faith2 and whatever we lack more1 will without doubt be added to us4 ,from this belief in ourselves we shall pass to the belief in ,god1 as its only rational basis and its only emotional completion2 and1 perhaps1 from a belief in ,god1 to a recognition of ,his audible voice amongst us4 ,but at any rate1 whatever after-difficulties beset us1 they will not be new difficulties2 only those we had braved at first1 showing themselves more clearly4 ,but that first decision--how shall we make it8 ,who or what shall help us1 or give us counsel8 ,there is no evidence that can do so in the sensible world around us4 ,the universe1 as positive thought approaches it1 is blind and dumb about it4 ,science and history are sullen1 and blind1 and dumb4 ,they await upon our decision before they will utter a single word to us3 and that decision1 if we have a will at all1 it lies with our own will--with our will alone1 to make4 ,it may1 indeed1 be said that the will has to create itself by an initial exercise of itself1 in an assent to its own existence4 ,if it can do this1 one set of obstacles is surmounted2 but others yet confront us4 ,the world into which the moral will has borne itself--not a material world1 but a spiritual--a world which the will's existence alone makes possible1 this world is not silent1 like the other1 but it is torn and divided against itself1 and is resonant with unending contradictions4 ,its first aspect is that of a place of torture1 a hell of the intellect1 in which reason is to be racked for ever by a tribe of sphinx-like monsters1 themselves despairing4 ,good and evil inhabit there1 confronting each other1 for ever unreconciled3 there is omnipotent power baffled1 and omnipotent mercy unexercised4 ,is the will strong enough to hold on through this baffling and monstrous world1 and not to shrink back and bid the vision vanish8 ,can we still resolve to say1 ',i believe1 although it is impossible'8 ,is the will to assert our own moral nature--our own birthright in eternity1 strong enough to bear us on8 ,the trial is a hard one1 and whilst we doubt and hesitate under it the universal silence of the vast physical world itself disheartens us4 ,who are we1 in the midst of this unheeding universe1 that we can claim for ourselves so supreme a heritage2 that we can assert for ourselves other laws than those which seem to be all-pervading1 and that we can dream of breaking through them into a something else beyond8 ,and yet it may be that faith will succeed and conquer sight--that the preciousness of the treasure we cling to will nerve us with enough strength to retain it4 ,it may be that man1 having seen the way that1 unaided1 he is forced to go1 will change his attitude2 that1 finding only weakness in pride1 he will seek for strength in humility1 and will again learn to say1 ',i believe1 although ,i never can comprehend4' ,once let him say this1 his path will again grow clearer for him4 ,through confusion1 and doubt1 and darkness1 the brightness of ,god's countenance will again be visible2 and by-and-by again he may hear the ,word calling him4 ,from his first assent to his own moral nature he must rise to a theism1 and he may rise to the recognition of a ,church--to a visible embodiment of that moral nature of his1 as directed and joined to its one aim and end--to its delight1 and its desire1 and its completion4 ,then he will see all that is high and holy taking a distinct and helping form for him4 ,grace and mercy will come to him through set and certain channels4 ,his nature will be redeemed visibly from its weakness and from its littleness--redeemed1 not in dreams or in fancy1 but in fact4 ,god ,himself will be his brother and his father2 he will be near akin to the ,power that is always1 and is everywhere4 ,his love of virtue will be no longer a mere taste of his own3 it will be the discernment and taking to himself of the eternal strength and of the eternal treasure2 and1 whatever he most reveres in mother1 or wife1 or sister--this he will know is holy1 everywhere and for ever1 and is exalted high over all things in one of like nature with theirs1 the ,mother of grace1 the ,parent of sweet clemency1 who will protect him from the enemy1 and save him in the hour of death4 ,such is the conception of himself1 and of his place in existence1 that1 always implicit in man1 man has at last developed4 ,he has at last conceived his race--the faithful of it--as the bride of ,god4 ,is this majestic conception a true one1 or is it a dream only1 with no abiding substance8 ,is it merely a misty vision rising up like an exhalation from the earth1 or does a something more come down to it out of heaven1 and strike into it substance and reality8 ,this figure of human dreams has grown and grown in stature3 does anything divine descend to it1 and so much as touch its lips or its lifted hands8 ,if so1 it is but the work of a moment4 ,the contact is complete4 ,life1 and truth1 and force1 like an electric current1 pass into the whole frame4 ,it lives1 it moves1 it breathes3 it has a body and a being3 the divine and the eternal is indeed dwelling amongst us4 ,and thus1 though mature knowledge may seem1 as it still widens1 to deepen the night around us2 though the universe yawn wider on all sides of us1 in vaster depths1 in more unfathomable1 soulless gulfs2 though the roar of the loom of time grow more audible and more deafening in our ears--yet through the night and through the darkness the divine light of our lives will only burn the clearer3 and this speck of a world as it moves through the blank immensity will bear the light of all the worlds upon its bosom4 ,thinkers like ,mr4 ,leslie ,stephen say that such beliefs as these belong to dreamland2 and they are welcome if they please to keep their names4 ,their terminology at least has this merit1 that it recognises the dualism of the two orders of things it deals with4 ,let them keep their names if they will2 and in their language the case amounts to this--that it is only for the sake of the dreams that visit it that the world of reality has any certain value for us4 ,will not the dreams continue1 when the reality has passed away8 ,g4,p4 ,,putnam',s ,,sons have in preparation a series of volumes1 to be issued under the title of ,,current ,,discussion1 ,a ,,collection ,,from ,,the ,,chief ,,english ,,essays ,,on ,,questions ,,of ,,the ,,time4 ,the series will be edited by ,edward ,l4 ,burlingame1 and is designed to bring together1 for the convenience of readers and for a lasting place in the library1 those important and representative papers from recent ,english periodicals1 which may fairly be said to form the best history of the thought and investigation of the last few years4 ,it is characteristic of recent thought and science1 that a much larger proportion than ever before of their most important work has appeared in the form of contributions to reviews and magazines2 the thinkers of the day submitting their results at once to the great public1 which is easiest reached in this way1 and holding their discussions before a large audience1 rather than in the old form of monographs reaching the special student only4 ,as a consequence there are subjects of the deepest present and permanent interest1 almost all of whose literature exists only in the shape of detached papers1 individually so famous that their topics and opinions are in everybody's mouth--yet collectively only accessible1 for re-reading and comparison1 to those who have carefully preserved them1 or who are painstaking enough to study long files of periodicals4 ,in so collecting these separate papers as to give the reader a fair if not complete view of the discussions in which they form a part2 to make them convenient for reference in the future progress of those discussions2 and especially to enable them to be preserved as an important part of the history of modern thought1--it is believed that this series will do a service that will be widely appreciated4 ,such papers naturally include three classes3--those which by their originality have recently led discussion into altogether new channels2 those which have attracted deserved attention as powerful special pleas upon one side or the other in great current questions2 and finally1 purely critical and analytical dissertations4 ,the series will aim to include the best representatives of each of these classes of expression4 ,it is designed to arrange the essays included in the ,series under such general divisions as the following1 to each of which one or more volumes will be devoted3-- ,,international ,,politics1 ,,natural ,,science1 ,,recent ,,arch,,ological ,,discovery1 ,,questions ,,of ,,belief1 ,,economical ,,and ,,social ,,science1 ,,history ,,and ,,biography1 ,,literary ,,topics4 ,among the material selected for the first volume 7,international ,politics71 which will be issued immediately1 are the following papers3 ,archibald ,forbes's ,essay on ,the ,russians1 ,turks1 and ,bulgarians2 ,vsct4 ,stratford de ,redcliffe's ,turkey2 ,mr4 ,gladstone's ,montenegro2 ,professor ,goldwin ,smith's ,paper on ,the ,political ,destiny of ,canada1 and his ,essay called ,the ,slaveholder and the ,turk2 ,professor ,blackie's ,prussia in the ,nineteenth ,century2 ,edward ,dicey's ,future of ,egypt2 ,louis ,kossuth's ,what is in ,store for ,europe2 and ,professor ,freeman's ,relation of the ,english ,people to the ,war4 ,among the contents of the second volume 7,questions of ,belief71 are3 ,the two well-known ,modern ,symposia2 the ,discussion by ,professor ,huxley1 ,mr4 ,hutton1 ,sir ,j4,f4 ,stephen1 ,lord ,selborne1 ,james ,martineau1 ,frederic ,harrison1 the ,dean of ,st4 ,paul's1 the ,duke of ,argyll1 and others1 on ,the ,influence ,upon ,morality of a ,decline in a ,religious ,belief2 and the ,discussion by ,huxley1 ,hutton1 ,lord ,blatchford1 the ,hon4 ,roden ,noel1 ,lord ,selborne1 ,canon ,barry1 ,greg1 the ,rev4 ,baldwin ,brown1 ,frederic ,harrison1 and others1 on ,the ,soul and ,future ,life4 ,also1 ,professor ,calderwood's ,ethical ,aspects of the ,development ,theory2 ,mr4 ,g4,h4 ,lewes's ,paper on ,the ,course of ,modern ,thought2 ,thomas ,hughes on ,the ,condition and ,prospects ,of the ,church of ,england2 ,w4,h4 ,mallock's ,is ,life ,worth ,living8 ,frederic ,harrison's ,the ,soul and ,future ,life2 and the ,rev4 ,r4,f4 ,littledale's ,the ,pantheistic ,factor in ,christian ,thought4 ,the volumes will be printed in a handsome crown octavo form1 and will sell for about #a4ej each4 ,g4,p4 ,,putnam',s ,,sons1 #ahb ,fifth ,avenue1 ,new ,york4 ,,publications ,,of ,g4,p4 ,,putnam',s ,,sons4 ,a ,history of ,american ,literature4 ,by ,moses ,coit ,tyler1 ,professor of ,english ,literature in the ,university of ,michigan4 ,volumes ,i and ,,ii1 comprising the period1 #afjg-agfe4 ,large #hvo1 about #gjj pages1 handsomely bound in cloth1 extra1 gilt top1 #e4jj2 half calf1 extra1 #i #ej ,the ,history of ,american ,literature1 now offered to the public1 is the first attempt ever made to give a systematic and critical account of the literary development of the ,american people4 ,it is not a mere cyclopdia of literature1 or a series of detached biographical sketches accompanied by literary extracts3 but an analytic and sustained narrative of our literary history from the earliest ,english settlement in ,america down to the present time4 ,the work is the result of original and independent studies prosecuted by the author for the past ten years1 and gives an altogether new analysis of ,american literary forces and results during nearly three centuries4 ,the present two volumes--a complete work in themselves--cover the whole field of our history during the colonial time4 ,an important national work4--,new ,york ,tribune4 ,the literary event of the decade4--,hartford ,courant4 ,a book more interesting than half the new novels4--,the ,nation4 ,a work of great and permanent importance4--,new ,york ,evening ,post4 ,one of the most valuable publications of the century4--,boston ,post4 ,a book actually fascinating from beginning to end4--,prest4 ,j4,b4 ,angell4 ,as the work stands1 it may rightfully claim a place on the library table of every cultivated ,american4--,new ,york ,times4 ,no work of similar scope and magnitude and erudition exists1 or has been attempted in this country4--,new ,york ,evangelist4 ,a unique and valuable work4--,chicago ,tribune4 ,a work which will rank with those of ,sismondi1 ,ticknor1 and ,taine4--,new ,york ,evening ,express4 ,it is this philosophical character of the work which brings it not far distant from the works of ,taine1 of ,buckle1 and of ,lecky4--,buffalo ,express4 ,one can hardly speak too strongly in praise of these conscientious1 careful and successful volumes1 which deserve to be studied alike by scholars and patriots4--,rev4 ,henry ,martyn ,dexter1 ,d4,d4 ,but the plan of ,professor ,tyler's book is so vast and its execution so fearless1 that no reader can expect or wish to agree with all its personal judgments4 ,it is a book truly admirable1 both in design and in general execution2 the learning is great1 the treatment wise1 the style fresh and vigorous4 ,here and there occurs a phrase which a severer revision would perhaps exclude1 but all such criticisms are trivial in view of so signal a success4 ,like ,parkman1 ,professor ,tyler may almost be said to have created1 not merely his volumes1 but their theme4 ,like ,parkman1 at any rate1 he has taken a whole department of human history1 rescued it from oblivion1 and made it henceforward a matter of deep interest to every thinking mind4--,t4,w4 ,higginson1 in ,the ,nation4 ,the work betrays acute philosophical insight1 a rare power of historical research1 and a cultivated literary habit1 which was perhaps no less essential than the two former conditions1 to its successful accomplishment4 ,the style of the author is marked by vigor1 originality1 comprehensiveness1 and a curious instinct in the selection of words4 ,in this latter respect1 though not in the moulding of sentences1 the reader may perhaps be reminded of the choice and fragrant vocabulary of ,washington ,irving1 whose words alone often leave an exquisite odor like the perfume of sweet-briar and arbutus4--,george ,ripley1 in the ,tribune4 ,professor ,moses ,coit ,tyler's ',history of ,american ,literature1' of which the first two volumes have just been issued1 will take rank at once as a book of lasting value1 even though the author should advance no further than he has already done in the scheme of his work4 ,we are not unmindful of the eminent historians this country has produced1 when we express our opinion that his history is the best study of ,american historic material that has been written by an ,american4 ,there has been manifestly no limit to the enthusiasm1 conscientiousness and industry with which he has possessed himself of the entire body of the literature of which he treats1 and at the same time he has displayed the qualities of a true literary artist in giving form1 color and perspective to his work4--,daniel ,gray1 in the ,buffalo ,courier4 ,,van ,,laun4 ,the ,history of ,french ,literature4 ,by ,henri ,van ,laun1 ,translator of ,taine's ,history of ,english ,literature1 the ,works of ,molire1 etc4 ,vol ,i4 ,from its ,origin to the ,renaissance4 #hvo1 cloth extra #b #ej ,vol4 ,,ii4 ,from the ,renaissance to the ,close of the ,reign of ,louis ,,xiv4 #hvo1 cloth extra #b #ej ,vol4 ,,iii4 ,from the ,reign of ,louis ,,xiv4 to that of ,napoleon ,,iii4 #hvo1 cloth extra #b #ej ,the set1 three volumes1 in box1 half calf1 #ae4jj2 cloth extra1 #g #ej ,we have to deal with a people essentially spirited and intellectual1 whose spirit and intellect have been invariably the wonder and admiration1 if not the model and mold of contemporary thought1 and whose literary triumphs remain to this day among the most notable landmarks of modern literature4 99 99 99--,extract from ,author's ,preface4 ,mr4 ,van ,laun has not given us a mere critical study of the works he considers1 but has done his best to bring their authors1 their way of life1 and the ways of those around them1 before us in a living likeness4--,london ,daily ,news4 ,this history is extremely interesting in its exposition of the literary progress of the age1 in connection with the social and political influences which helped to mould the character and the destinies of the people4--,boston ,daily ,globe4 ,it is full of keenest interest for every person who knows or wishes to learn anything of ,french literature1 or of ,french literary history or biography4 ,scarcely any book of recent origin1 indeed1 is better fitted than this to win general favor with all classes of persons4--,n4,y4 ,evening-,post4 ,,thiers 7,louis ,adolphe7 ,life of4 ,by ,francois ,le ,goff1 ,docteur-s-lettres1 ,author of a ,history of the ,government of ,national ,defense in the ,provinces1 etc4 ,translated1 from the author's unpublished manuscript1 by ,theodore ,stanton1 ,a4,m4 ,octavo1 with ,portrait1 cloth extra4 7,in ,press47 ,this book is written especially for the ,american public by ,m4 ,francois ,le ,goff1 of ,paris1 a ,french publicist of the ,conservative-,republican school1 who knew ,thiers personally and who is thoroughly conversant with the history and politics of ,france4 ,besides the biographical narrative1 which is enlivened by many fresh anecdotes1 the writer attempts to present such a connected view of ,french political history for the last fifty years1 as will throw light upon the present crisis in ,france1 so incomprehensible to most ,americans4 ,the work will also be interesting as an able defense of the unity of ,thiers' political life1 a position rarely assumed by even the most ardent friends of the great statesman4 ,it is illustrated by a fac-simile of his handwriting and autograph1 a view of his home1 etc4 ,,brief ,,biographies4 ,first ,series4 ,contemporary ,statesmen of ,europe4 ,edited by ,thomas ,wentworth ,higginson4 ,they are handsomely printed in square #afmo1 and attractively bound in cloth extra4 ,price per vol4 #a #ej ,vol4 ,i4 ,english ,statesmen4 ,by ,t4,w4 ,higginson4 ,,ii4 ,english ,radical ,leaders4 ,by ,r4,j4 ,hinton4 ,,iii4 ,french ,leaders4 ,by ,edward ,king4 ,,iv4 ,german ,political ,leaders4 ,by ,herbert ,tuttle4 ,these volumes are planned to meet the desire which exists for accurate and graphic information in regard to the leaders of political action in other countries4 ,they will give portraitures of the men and analysis of their lives and work1 that will be vivid and picturesque1 as well as accurate and faithful1 and that will combine the authority of careful historic narration with the interest attaching to anecdote and personal delineation4 ,compact and readable 99 99 99 leaves little to be desired4--,n4,y4 ,nation4 ,transcriber's ,note3 ,page #bcb--;,changed spelling of conquerer to conqueror4