REV. MARTINEAU AND BELFAST ADDRESS 245 



*'an Eternal Mind" — even of a Beneficent Eternal Mind — ■ 

 render the world objectively a whit less mean and ugly 

 than it is? Not an iota. It is man's feelings, and not 

 external phenomena, that are influenced by the assump- 

 tion. It adds not a ray of light nor a strain of music to 

 the objective sum of things. It does not touch the phe- 

 nomena of physical nature — storm, flood, or fire — ncr di- 

 minish by a pang the bloody combats of the animal world. 

 But it does add the glow of religious emotion to the hu- 

 man soul, as represented by Mr. Martineau. Beyond this 

 I defy him to go; and yet he rashly — it might be said 

 petulantly — kicks away the only philosophic foundation on 

 which it is possible for him to build his religion. 



He twits incidentally the modern scientific interpreta- 

 tion of nature because of its want of cheerfulness. "Let 

 the new future," he says, "preach its own gospel, and de- 

 vise, if it can, the means of making the tidings glad.^^ 

 This is a common argument: "If you only knew the com- 

 fort of belief!" My reply is that I choose the nobler part 

 of Emerson, when, after various disenchantments, he ex- 

 claimed, "I covet truth r^ The gladness of true heroism 

 visits the heart of him who is really competent to say 

 this. Besides, "gladness" is an emotion, and Mr. Marti- 

 neau theoretically scorns the emotional. I am not, how- 

 ever, acquainted with a writer who draws more largely 

 upon this source, while mistaking it for something objec- 

 tive. "To reach the Cause," he says, "there is no need 

 to go into the past, as though, being missed here. He 

 could be found there. But when once He has been appre- 

 hended by the proper organs of divine apprehension, the 

 whole life of Humanity is recognized as the scene of His 

 agency. ' ' That Mr. Martineau should have lived so long, 



