256 COSMIC PHILOSOPHY. [pt. i. 



in her arms." In similar wise the ardent disciple of Comte 

 — who, so far as my experience goes, is not unlikely to be 

 quite as narrow-minded as any theologian — is wont to claim 

 all contemporary scientific thinkers as the intellectual off- 

 spring of his master, until their openly expressed dissent 

 has reduced him to the alternative of stigmatizing them 

 as " metaphysical ; " very much as the Pope lays claim to 

 the possession of all duly baptized Christians, 1 save those 

 whom it has become necessary to excommunicate and give 

 over to the Devil. 



But aside from these circumstances, which partly explain 

 the popular tendency to classify all scientific thinkers as 

 Positivists, it is not to be denied that there are really 

 plausible reasons why the Positive Philosophy should 

 currently be regarded as representative of that whole genus 

 of contemporary thinking which repudiates the subjective 

 method, and, as Mr. Spencer says, " prefers proved facts to 

 superstitions." As I have already shown, it was Comte who 

 first inaugurated a scheme of philosophy explicitly based 

 upon the utter rejection of anthropomorphism and the adop- 

 tion of none but scientific doctrines and methods. I have 

 already pointed out how great are our obligations to him for 

 this important work, and I need not repeat the acknowledg- 

 ment. For this reason it is obvious that whenever the 

 theological thinker encounters a system which as far as 

 possible rejects anthropomorphic interpretations, and when- 

 ever the metaphysician encounters a system which denies 

 the validity of his subjective method, both the one and the 

 other will quite naturally regard this system as some phase 

 of Positivism. For the same reason, when we remember how 

 strong is the tendency to "read between the bines" of any 

 system of thought and thus to interpret it in accordance with 

 our pre-conceptions, we shall see how easy it is for those who 



1 See the amusing letter of Piua IX. to the Emperor of Germany, dated 

 August 7th, 1873. 



