EXCURSIONS OF AN EVOLUTIONIST 



And thus we arrive at last at the true lesson of 

 Protestantism, which is simply this : that reli- 

 gious belief is something which in no way con- 

 cerns society, but which concerns only the indi- 

 vidual. In all other relations the individual is 

 more or less responsible to society ; but, as for 

 his religious belief and his religious life, these are 

 matters which lie solely between himself and his 

 God. On such subjects no man may rightfully 

 chide his neighbour, or call him foolish ; for, in 

 presence of the transcendent Reality, the fool- 

 ishness of one man differs not much from the 

 wisdom of another. When this lesson shall have 

 been duly comprehended and taken to heart, I 

 make no doubt that religious speculation will 

 continue to go on : but such words as " infidel- 

 ity " and " heresy," the present currency of which 

 serves only to show how the remnants of prim- 

 itive barbaric thought still cling to us and ham- 

 per our progress such words will have become 

 obsolete, and perhaps unintelligible, save to the 

 philosophic student of history. In discussion 

 conducted in such a mood, there will, no doubt, 

 be a great lack of finality. But the craving for 

 finality is itself, in various degrees, an instinct 

 of the uneducated man, of the child, of the sav- 

 age, and perhaps of the brute. To feel that the 

 last word has been said on any subject is not 

 a desideratum with the true philosopher, who 

 knows full well that the truth he announces to- 

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