CONSCIQUS AND UNCONSCIOUS KNOWERS. 25 



as among the number of his beliefs is conclusive evi- 

 dence with those who have devoted attention to the 

 laws of thought, that his mind is not yet clear as to 

 whether or no there is any connection at all between 

 Christian doctrine and widely extended good prac- 

 tice. 1 



Again, it has been often and very truly said that it is 

 not the conscious and self-styled sceptic, as Shelley for 

 example, who is the true unbeliever. Such a man as 

 Shelley will, as indeed his life abundantly proves, have 

 more in common than not with the true unself-con- 

 scious believer. Gallio again, whose indifference to 

 religious animosities has won him the cheapest im- 

 mortality which, so far as I can remember, was ever 

 yet won, was probably, if the truth were known, a 

 person of the sincerest piety. It is the unconscious 

 unbeliever who is the true infidel, however greatly 

 he would be surprised to know the truth. Mr. Spur- 

 geon was reported as having recently asked the 

 Almighty to " change our rulers as soon as possible." 

 There lurks a more profound distrust of God's power 

 in these words than in almost any open denial of His 

 existence. 



So it rather shocks us to find Mr. Darwin writing 

 (" Plants and Animals under Domestication," vol. ii., 

 p. 275): "No doubt, in every case there must have 

 been some exciting cause." And again, six or seven 

 pages later : " No doubt, each slight variation must 

 have its efficient cause." The repetition within so 

 short a space of this expression of confidence in the 

 impossibility of causeless effects would suggest that 



1 See Appendix. 



