NOTES FOR A WORK ON A CANDID EXAMINATION OF RELIGION.

BY METAPHYSICUS.

Proposed Mottoes.

’I quite admit the difficulty of believing that in every man there is an eye of the soul which, when by other pursuits lost and dimmed, is by this purified and re-illumined; and is more precious far than ten thousand bodily eyes, for by this alone is truth seen.  Now there are two classes of persons, one class who will agree with you and will take your words as a revelation; another class who have no understanding of them and to whom they will naturally be as idle tales.

’And you had better decide at once with which of the two you are arguing; or, perhaps, you will say with neither, and that your chief aim in carrying on the argument is your own improvement; at the same time not grudging to either any benefit which they may derive.’—­PLATO.

’If we would reprove with success, and show another his mistake, we must see from what side he views the matter, for on that side it is generally true:  and, admitting this truth, show him the side on which it is false.’—­PASCAL.

Sec. 1.  INTRODUCTORY.

Many years ago I published in Messrs. Truebner’s ‘Philosophical Series,’ a short treatise entitled A Candid Examination of Theism by ‘Physicus.’  Although the book made some stir at the time, and has since exhibited a vitality never anticipated by its author, the secret of its authorship has been well preserved[34].  This secret it is my intention, if possible, still to preserve; but as it is desirable (on several accounts which will become apparent in the following pages) to avow identity of authorship, the present essay appears under the same pseudonym[35] as its predecessor.  The reason why the first essay appeared anonymously is truthfully stated in the preface thereof, viz. in order that the reasoning should be judged on its own merits, without the bias which is apt to arise on the part of a reader from a knowledge of the authority—­or absence of authority—­on the part of a writer.  This reason, in my opinion, still holds good as regards A Candid Examination of Theism, and applies in equal measure to the present sequel in A Candid Examination of Religion.

It will be shown that in many respects the negative conclusions reached in the former essay have been greatly modified by the results of maturer thought as now presented in the second.  Therefore it seems desirable to state at the outset that, as far as I am capable of judging, the modifications in question have not been due in any measure to influence from without.  They appear to have been due exclusively to the results of my own further thought, as briefly set out in the following pages, with no indebtedness to private friends and but little to published utterances in the form of books, &c.  Nevertheless, no very