2/0 FROM COMTE TO BENJAMIN KIDD PART iv 



bling them or, more frequently, debasing them ; they 

 lived before us, and they will long outlive our very 

 memory. We are the fleeting shadows; they are 

 the substances. Words are like homing pigeons ; 

 they will carry our messages, if we manage them 

 wisely ; but with an instinct surer than our choice 

 with an instinct not to be overborne by our caprice 

 they will go there, to that one point where each is 

 at rest. If we take up the great task of the imper- 

 sonal reason of mankind, it is in vain that we express 

 our determination to keep clear of the transcendental 

 or of the logos ! It is in us and we are in it ; in it, 

 or in Him, we live and move and have our being, un- 

 less Mr. Balf our carries us off in his alluring company 

 upon one of his favourite excursions to " a standpoint 

 outside of reason." Inmates of a madhouse are as 

 nearly as possible emancipated from the logos ; to all 

 others the logos is " closer than breathing." 



Mr. Kidd's doctrine of religion is largely deter- 

 mined by his doctrine of reason. Reason, though 

 useful (like fire) as a servant, is, like fire, a thing an- 

 archical and destructive. Religion, the source of 

 order, is, by the very nature of the case, extra- 

 rational. Religion makes it man's interest or man's 

 impulse to do things which are not personally for 

 his profit, and which reason therefore discourages. 



At first blush, one is tempted to connect Mr. Kidd's 

 doctrine of religion with the familiar doctrine of 

 future rewards and punishments. These are repre- 

 sented as supernatural motives for doing good. They 

 are not, however, extra-rational ; they make it worth 

 one's while to be moral. Righteousness is strictly 



