18 



or at all events a number of single premisses strung together so 

 as to give a great appearance of argument to those who know no 

 better, is amply sufficient to prove any conclusion. This im- 

 portant discovery I have illustrated over and over again. 



I believe that a Christian is the happiest of men, because he 

 evidently has a hope for another world in addition to the peaceful 

 happiness he enjoys here. 



1 believe that an Infidel or an Unbeliever is " of all men most 

 miserable ;" nevertheless I have done all I could to make others 

 as wretched as I am myself, and have given, and can give them 

 nothing in return but a dreary blank. If you ask me about the 

 future, there, I confess, I am in the dark ; all I can say is that 

 you and I will 1 " melt into the infinite azure of the past," (Tyudall) 

 (whatever that may mean). I repeat that I believe that 

 Christian Believers have a peace of mind which I have not 

 myself. They have " a good hope " for the future, which I must 

 admit I have not myself, " having no hope, and without GOD in 

 the world." I do my little best or worst, to shake their faith and 

 rob them of their peace of mind, but I have nothing better, 

 because I have nothing at all to give them, in the place of it. I 

 cannot offer them any happiness in this world or in any future 

 state, because I do not believe that there will be any future state, 

 so that if you ask me what is the cui bono of all I have written, 

 I cannot tell you. If you ask me what is the cut malo ! that is 

 quite another question, and much more easily answered. I offer 

 you no happiness here or hereafter, and all I can do is to rob 

 those of you who are fond and foolish enough to take up with 

 the idle conceits of my " vain philosophy," of their present hope, 

 and therewith of their expectation of future happiness, which but 

 for me they might have. 



I, (Huxley) believe that there is " a good deal to be said for the 

 hypothesis, that animals are mere machines, as much so as if they 

 were mills or steam engines, and that they have no feeling ; that 

 they do not hear, see, or smell, and that their M apparent states 

 of consciousness," as they seem to us, are only the result of a 

 " mechanical reflex process." ("SfamUMafa pmtcit" This is 

 Philosophy ! This is Science !). " It is true 1 Relieve that I a&i 



