RETROGRESSIVE RELIGION. 459 



religion of the future ; then his conception of the religion of the fu- 

 ture is, in so far, baseless. 



And now I come to the chief purpose of this article — an examina- 

 tion of that alternative faith which Mr. Harrison has on sundry occa- 

 sions set forth with so much eloquence. As originally designed, the 

 essay, " Religion : a Retrospect and Prospect," was to include a sec- 

 tion in which, before considering what the future of religion was likely 

 to be, I proposed to consider what its future was not likely to be ; and 

 the topic to be dealt with in this section was the so-called Religion of 

 Humanity. After collecting materials and writing ten pages, I began 

 to perceive that, besides being not needful for my purpose, this section 

 would form too large an excrescence. A further feeling came into play. 

 Though I had for many years looked forward to the time when an 

 examination of the Positivist creed would fall within the lines of my 

 work, yet when I began to put on paper that which I had frequently 

 thought, it seemed to me that I was making an uncalled-for attack on 

 men whom I had every reason to admire for their high characters and 

 their unwearying efforts for human welfare. The result was that I 

 put aside what I had written, and gave up my long-cherished intention. 

 Now, however, that Mr. Harrison has thrown down the gauntlet, I 

 take it up, at once willingly and unwillingly — willingly in so far as 

 acceptance of the challenge is concerned, unwillingly because I feel 

 some reluctance in dealing hard blows at a personal friend. 



Surprise has been the feeling habitually produced in me on observ- 

 ing the incongruity between the astounding claims made by the pro- 

 pounder of this new creed, and the great intelligence of disciples 

 whose faith appears proof against the shock which these astounding 

 claims pi'oduce on ordinary minds. Those who, from a broad view of 

 human progress, have gained the general impression that " The indi- 

 vidual withers, and the world is more and more," must be disinclined 

 to believe that in the future any one individual will impose on the 

 world a government like that sought to be imposed by M. Comte ; who, 

 unable to influence any considerable number of men while he lived, 

 consoled himself with the thought of absolutely ruling all men after 

 his death. Met, as he complained, by " a conspiracy of silence," he 

 was nevertheless confident that, very shortly becoming converts, man- 

 kind at large would hereafter live and move and have their being 

 within his elaborated formulas. Papal assumption is modest compared 

 with the assumption of " the founder of the religion of Humanity." 

 A single pope may canonize a saint or two ; but M. Comte undertook 

 the canonization of all those men recorded in history whom he thought 

 specially worthy of worship. And such a canonization ! — days assigned 

 for the remembrance with honor of mythical personages like Hercules 

 and Orpheus, and writers such as Terence and Juvenal ; other days on 

 which honors, like in degree, are given to Kant and to Robertson, to 



