STXAUSS 1 CONFESSION. 363 



Strauss, however, has frankly accepted the only conclu- 

 sion which, in his opinion, is admissible : viz. the facts as 

 stated being taken to be literally true that every honest 

 and upright person must acknowledge that he is no longer 

 a Christian. Strauss, indeed, appears to have satisfied him- 

 self that no one who has a clear cosmical conception in 

 harmony with the scientific facts of our time can, if he be 

 honest and upright, believe in a personal God, and must 

 confess that he is not a Christian. But, alas ! what is a 

 cosmical conception, and how are we to prove that the 

 cosmical conception we have formed is clear, and sound, 

 and true ? The conception formed by Strauss may certainly 

 be shown to be erroneous in some particulars, and as far as 

 I am able to judge, he has proved himself to be a most 

 unreliable guide as regards facts, and the interpretation of 

 facts, of living beings ; for he has accepted, without even 

 the slightest examination, statements which he ought care- 

 fully to have examined and analysed, and which at any rate 

 he might have submitted to others who were acquainted 

 with the details before he gave his full approval, sanction, 

 and support, and acted as if he were able to prove that he 

 had got hold of real, infallible, unchangeable truth. 



There are not a few persons possessing honesty and 

 intelligence, as well as knowledge, who have for years past 

 looked on in amazement, as assertions of the most reckless 

 sort have followed one another out of the mouth of scientific 

 authority, to be instantly seized upon and received by 

 people remarkable only for extraordinary credulity as 

 regards scientific assertion. For years past have popular 

 speakers and writers succeeded in convincing not only the 

 public, but some highly intelligent and trained minds, that 



