POSITIVISM ON AN ISLAND. 



He therefore resolved that next day he would 

 preach them a lay-sermon. 



At the appointed time the passengers gathered 

 eagerly round him — all but Virginia, who retired 

 to her cabin when she saw that the preacher 

 wore no surplice ; as she thought it would be a 

 mortal sin to listen to a sermon without one. 



The professor began amid a profound silence. 

 He first proclaimed to his hearers the great pri- 

 mary axiom in which all modern thought roots 

 itself. He told them that there was but one or- 

 der of things, it was so much neater than two ; 

 and, if we would be certain of anything, we must 

 never doubt it. Thus, since countless things ex- 

 ist that the senses can take account of, it is evi- 

 dent that nothing exists that the senses cannot 

 take account of. The senses can take no account 

 of God ; therefore God does not exist. Men of 

 science can only see theology in a ridiculous light ; 

 therefore theology has no side that is not ridicu- 

 lous. He then told them a few of the new names 

 that enlightened thinkers had applied to the 

 Christian Deity; how Prof. Tyndall had called 

 him an " atom-manufacturer," and Prof. Huxley 

 a " pedantic drill-sergeant." The passengers at 

 once saw how demonstrably at variance with fact 

 was all religion, and they laughed with a sense 

 of humor that was quite new to them. The pro- 

 fessor's tones then became more solemn ; and, 

 having extinguished error, he proceeded to un- 

 veil the brilliant light of truth. He showed them 

 how, viewed by modern science, all existence is a 

 chain, with a gas at one end, and no one knows 

 what at the other ; and how Humanity is a link 

 somewhere ; but — holy and awful thought ! — we 

 can none of us tell where. " However," he pro- 

 ceeded, "of one thing we can be quite certain: 

 all that is, is matter ; the laws of matter are eter- 

 nal, and we cannot act or think without conform- 

 ing to them : and if," he said, " we would be 

 solemn, and high, and happy, and heroic, and 

 saintly, we have but to strive and struggle to do 

 what we cannot for an instant avoid doing. Yes," 

 he exclaimed, " as the sublime Tyndall tells us, 

 let us struggle to attain to a deeper knowledge 

 of matter, and a more faithful conformity to its 

 laws ! " 



The professor would have proceeded ; but the 

 weather had been rapidly growing rough, and he 

 here became violently sea-sick. 



" Let us," he exclaimed, hurriedly, " conform 

 to the laws of matter and go below." 



Nor was the advice premature. A storm 

 arose, exceptional in its suddenness and its fury. 

 It raged for two days without ceasing. The Aus- 



tralasian sprang a leak ; her steering-gear was 

 disabled, and it was feared she would go ashore 

 on an island that was seen dimly through the fog 

 to the leeward. The boats were got in readiness. 

 A quantity of provisions and of the passengers' 

 baggage was already stowed in the cutter ; when 

 the clouds parted, the sun came out again, and 

 the storm subsided almost as quickly as it arose. 



IV. 



No sooner were the ship's damages in a fair 

 way to be repaired, than the professor resumed 

 his sermon. He climbed into the cutter, which 

 was still full of the passengers' baggage, and sat 

 down on the largest of Virginia's boxes. This 

 so alarmed Virginia that she followed the pro- 

 fessor into the cutter, to keep an eye on her 

 property ; but she did not forget to stop her ears 

 with her fingers, that she might not be guilty of 

 listening to an unsurpliced minister. 



The professor took up the thread of his dis- 

 course just where he had broken it off. Every 

 circumstance favored him. The calm sea was 

 sparkling under the gentlest breeze ; all Nature 

 seemed suffused with gladness ; and at two miles' 

 distance was an enchanting island, green with 

 every kind of foliage, and glowing with the hues 

 of a thousand flowers. The professor, having re- 

 minded his hearers of what nonsense they now 

 thought all the Christian teachings, went on to 

 show them the blessed results of this. Since the 

 God that we once called all-holy is a fable, that 

 Humanity is all-holy must be a fact. Since we 

 shall never be sublime, and solemn, and unspeak- 

 ably happy hereafter, it is evident that we can be 

 sublime, and solemn, and unspeakably happy 

 here. " This," said the professor, " is the new 

 gospel. It is founded on exact thought. It is 

 the gospel of the kingdom of man ; and, had I 

 only here a microscope and a few chemicals, I 

 could demonstrate its eternal truth to you. There 

 is no heaven to seek for ; there is no hell to shun. 

 We have nothing to strive and live for except to 

 be unspeakably happy." 



This eloquence was received with enthusiasm. 

 The captain in particular, who had a wife in 

 every port he touched at, was overjoyed at hear- 

 ing that there was no hell ; and he sent for all 

 the crew, that they might learn the good news 

 likewise. But soon the general gladness was 

 marred by a sound of weeping. Three-fourths 

 of the passengers, having had time to reflect a 

 little, began exclaiming that as a matter of fact 

 they were really completely miserable, and that 

 for various reasons they could never be anything 



