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 produce 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 



