COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



suffering. He who cherishes the belief in the 

 conscious supervision of a personal Deity is held 

 to possess the surest of safeguards against scep- 

 ticism and despair. 



A hypothesis which holds out such brilliant 

 hopes may well be retained in our Cosmic Phi- 

 losophy, if it can be shown to be in harmony 

 with the demonstrated scientific truths upon 

 which that philosophy rests. But if this cannot 

 be done, then the hypothesis must be discarded, 

 even though it should carry with it all our hopes 

 and wishes in indiscriminate ruin. It has been 

 well said that " we must follow Truth, though 

 she lead us to Hades." The noble quest in 

 which Science engages is the quest, not of faith 

 or of consolation, but of truth ; and, with the 

 scientific philosopher, loyalty to truth is the 

 first principle of religion. The disagreeableness 

 of a well-supported conclusion furnishes no sort 

 of justification for not accepting it, save to those 

 minds which are irreligious as well as unscien- 

 tific. He who is loyal to Truth will never har- 

 bour the misgiving that her paths may lead to 

 Hades : he will fearlessly follow the guidance 

 of Science, never doubting that consolation must 

 come of knowing the truth. In the present case 

 we shall find reason to conclude that the hypo- 

 thesis of a quasi-human God is likely to aggra- 

 vate rather than to relieve the mental distress of 

 scepticism. 



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