He does not actually say that Ethical Truth is the only supersensible reality attainable by man; but he implies that it is so to himself, and he evidently believes it to be so for an increasing majority of mankind. That his Atheism is suspensive rather than dogmatic, is indubitable from many touching passages scattered throughout his writings; but the fact remains, that he deems this suspensive position capable of being incorporated as a permanent element in the philosophy of life, not only for himself, but for human creatures in general, --that he studiously cultivates neutrality to religion as a principle of action. Baffled by the difficulties which obstruct his intellectual comprehension of the universe, he has no spiritual apprehension of its fundamental realities sufficiently vivid to fall back upon; and although "in hours of meditation he confronts with awe the great Mystery," his "baffled speculation returns again to the Secular sphere,"† and he deems it possible and desirable to divide the secular from the spiritual with a sharpness that can entitle the former to support a whole philosophy of life. Now such a philosophy is quite conceivable on the supposition that the spiritual does not and cannot exist; and for thoroughly materialized Atheists such a philosophy is consistent and right. This is the ground taken by the reactionary "infidels." But Mr. Holyoake evidently means something *“I see the influence men can exert on society, and that life is a calculable process. But why is it so? There my curiosity is baffled, and my knowledge ends. In vain I look back, hoping to unravel that mysterious destiny with which we are all so darkly bound. That is the channel through which all my consciousness seems to pass out into a sea of wonder; and if ever the orient light of Deity breaks in on me, it will, I think, come in that direction. The presence of law in mind is to me the greatest fact in nature."- Trial of Theism, p. 69. "When pure Theists, as Mazzini and Professor Newman, explain their fine conception of God as the Deity of duty, or of moral aspiration, the imagination, borne on the golden wings of a reverence untinged by terror, soars into the radiant light of a possible God. But the Possible is not the Actual. Hope is not proof. . . . . "Had I been taught to conceive of Deity as either of the writers just named conceive of Him, I think it likely that I should never have ceased to hold Theism as true; and if it were not misleading to one's self to covet opinion, I could even wish to be able to share their convictions. But having once well parted from my early belief, I am free to inquire and resolute to know, and I seek for evidence which will not only satisfy my present judgment, but evidence with which I can defy the judgment of others. He who can supply me with this can command me."— Ibid., pp. 115, 113. † Ibid., p. 115. different from this: he means that a man may pass through life as satisfactorily as man can, without being thoroughly convinced of the truth of either Theism or Atheism; that the chief part of human life is independent of religion; that to the Secularist's aspirations "the idea of God is not essential, nor the denial of the idea necessary." "What help has the Theist which the Atheist has not also?" he asks, evidently unaware how the perception of religious reality modifies the whole of life, altering its proportions, and often even reversing its purposes. Take, for instance, the subject of death. How widely different are the feelings with which we must regard the vicissitudes and problems of life, on the supposition that our career is not ended by death, from those feelings which are forced upon us by the supposition that it is so terminated! This is a case in which the reality must lie either with the one alternative or the other: either we shall, or we shall not, survive our present existence; and except in those cases where excessive misery or mental torpor has produced a state of abnormal indifference to life altogether, a neutral feeling on the subject is scarcely possible. Our affections, hopes, pursuits -the whole conduct and tone of our lives- - must inevitably be influenced to an incalculable extent by the conclusion which we adopt. It is quite true that Duty is equally binding on us, whether our term of life be mortal or immortal. But the absence of a futurity must alter the line of our duty in an infinity of directions, and it is unavoidable that we act from one hypothesis or the other. Even suspensive Atheism, though not shutting out the chance of a futurity, is obliged to act on the other theory. Mr. Holyoake, though far more open to spiritual influences than his party generally, is obliged to base his world on the Secular alone. His superiority on these points is purely individual, and is constantly overborne in party and polemic life by the inevitable tendency of his principles. There is an instinctive feeling in men's minds that religion is either a great reality or a great mistake, but that it cannot be a matter of indifference. And this And this perception is beginning show itself in the Secularist party. They * Trial of Theism, p. 175. † Ibid., p. 121. are dividing more and more visibly into positive and negative sections, the one repudiating religion, the other reapproaching it, more or less distinctly. For human nature is so constituted that men cannot forever rest at the parting of the ways. Individuals there have always been, to whom a peculiar combination of temperament and culture renders a decision on the great problems of life less easy to the intellect, and perhaps less imperative to the character, than to the generality of mankind; but, whatever other services to human welfare such minds may render, they cannot aid in the development of those primary spiritual intuitions which have formed the deepest basis of human life in all ages. But Mr. Holyoake may plead that it is quite legitimate to prefer one of two influences without absolutely pronouncing against the other, if the one be certain and the other uncertain, - the one close at hand and the other afar off. And this is his view of the Secular as contrasted with the Spiritual.. He does not presume to say that God does not exist; but he holds that, whether God is or is not, the course of human affairs is left to humanity alone, that human effort is the only practical agency which it is of any use to invoke. Take the following passages, for instance, from "The Two Providences." * "It is said we are without God in the world; but remember, if it be so, that it is not our fault. We would rather that the old theories were true, and that light could be had in darkness, and help in the hour of danger. It better comports with human feebleness and harsh destiny that it should be so. But if the doctrine be not true, surely it is better that we know it. Could the doctrine of Divine aid be reduced to intelligible conditions, religion would be reinstated in its ancient influence. For a reasonable certainty and an unfailing trust, men would fulfil any conditions possible to humanity. Faith no longer supplies implicit confidence, and the practical tone of our day is impatient of that teaching which keeps the word of promise to the ear, and breaks it to the hope. "Could we keep before us the first sad view of life which breaks in upon the workingman, whether he be a white slave or a black one, we should be able to see self-trust from a more advantageous point. We should learn at once sternness and moderation. Do we not find our "Does the most absolute Atheism do more than declare the secret of Nature to be unrevealed?" - Trial of Theism, p. 143. VOL. LXVII. · - 5TH S. VOL. V. NO. III. 30 selves at once in an armed world where Might is God and Poverty is fettered? Every stick and stone, every blade of grass, every bird and flower, every penniless man, woman, and child, has an owner in this England of ours no less than in New Orleans. The bayonet or baton bristles round every altar, at the corner of every lane and every street. Effort, in its moral and energetic sense, is the only study worth a moment's attention by the workman or the slave. . . . .... "Now it is not needful to contend that prayer never had any effiсасу, -it may have been the source of material advantage once; but the question is, Will it bring material aid now? It is in vain that the miner descends into the earth with a prayer on his lips, unless he carries a Davy lamp in his hand. A ship-load of clergymen would be in danger of perishing, if you suffer the Amazon once to take fire. During the prevalence of a pestilence an hospital is of more value than a college of theologians. When the cholera visitation is near, the physician, and not the priest, is our best dependence, and those whom medical aid cannot save must inevitably die. Is it not, therefore, merciful to say that science is the Providence of life? . . . . Science represents the available source of help to man, ever augmenting in proportion to his perspicacity, study, courage, and industry. We do not confound science with nature. Nature is the storehouse of riches, but when its spontaneous treasures are exhausted, science enables us to renew them and to augment them. It is the well-devised method of using nature. It is in this sense that Science is the Providence of Man. It is not pretended that Science is a perfect dependence; on the contrary, it is admitted to be narrow, and but partially developed; but though it should be represented as a limited dependence, we must not overlook the fact that it is the only special dependence that man has; and however infantine now, it is an ever-growing power." But in what respect is it needful that the study of Nature, and the methodizing of its agencies for the material benefit of man, should be regarded as invalidating the existence of a Divine Purpose in Nature? Surely nothing can be more congruous with Theism than that Nature and Man should be found in harmony with each other. In exploring our relation to the home in which we are placed, and in utilizing every material within our reach, we are in no sense turning away from the Author and Animator of Nature, but rather acquainting ourselves with his infinite resources of power and Trial of Theism, Chap. XX. beauty. The real question between the Theist and the Atheist lies far deeper down; it is, whether we have any means of reaching the Power displayed in the Universe beyond that which we gain from the study of Nature, whether that power is a Conscious Soul, with which we can commune, and whence we can derive help and guidance when the visible world ceases to afford us aid, — whether, when "Nature" is dumb, He will speak, whether, when all "material advantage" shall have been reaped by material science, the affections and the conscience must yet be left entirely to themselves, possessing no power of contact with any Personal Reality beyond that of erring fellow-mortals. Yet, if such contact be possible, it must affect our moral life to an incalculable extent; and the moral life of those who do not cherish any relation to that Personal Reality must miss one of its most important elements. In contrast, therefore, to the Secularist theory, on the one hand, which holds that Ethics as a whole, both in theory and practice, is attainable without Religion,and to the Orthodox theory, on the other hand, which maintains that the unassisted human mind can neither know nor do anything in Morals without the conscious recognition of Religion, we hold that Conscience and Faith are, each of them, primary sentiments in man; that each may arise independently of the other, and may grow up separately, to a certain point of development, a point varying relatively to the temperament and culture of each individual, but that beyond that point each tends to call forth a need of the other, and deteriorates if that need be not supplied. He in whose glowing heart spiritual love precedes the strong sense of duty becomes a bigot or a dreamer, if his idea of God long fails to suggest a free and reasonable standard of conscience. And he who finds his purely human conscience really all-sufficient to his needs, can scarcely have much fulness of moral life requiring to be guided. And here it is to the point to remark, that the absence of any reliance on such higher Personality has a visibly cramping effect on the minds of Ethical Atheists. There are innumerable cases in life where human sympathy and reciprocation must fail; nay, where the very fact of virtue implies the renunciation of sympathy. In such cases it may |