VII 



AGNOSTICISM 257 



when he has moved on a step, foolishly confers 

 post-mortem deification on his victims. He ex- 

 actly repeats the process with all who want to 

 move a step yet farther. And the best men of 

 the best epochs are simply those who make the 

 fewest blunders and commit the fewest sins. 



That one should rejoice in the good man, 

 forgive the bad man, and pity and help all men to 

 the best of one's ability, is surely indisputable. It 

 is the glory of Judaism and of Christianity to have 

 proclaimed this truth, through all their aberra- 

 tions. But the worship of a God who needs 

 forgiveness and help, and deserves pity every 

 hour of his existence, is no better than that of 

 any other voluntarily selected fetish. The 

 Emperor Julian's project was hopeful in com- 

 parison with the prospects of the Comtist 

 Anthropolatry. 



When the historian of religion in the twentieth 

 century is writing about the nineteenth, I foresee 

 he will say something of this kind : 



The most curious and instructive events in the 

 religious history of the preceding century are the 

 rise and progress of two new sects called Mormons 

 and Positivists. To the student who has carefully 

 considered these remarkable phenomena nothing 

 in the records of religious self-delusion can appear 

 improbable. 



The Mormons arose in the midst of the great 



