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does exist, I have deemed it possible that I might, in an humble way, render 

 a service to some of those who may have been tempted to favour this form 

 of disbelief, by endeavouring in some measure to refute it. Some of the 

 remarks that have been made would have been relevant to my paper if the 

 speakers had pointed out in what respect they considered me to have failed 

 in my refutation. As to the Origin of Evil I have expressed myself with 

 the greatest care, recalling the old line that "fools rush in, where angels fear to 

 tread," and have confined myself, in a great measure, to bringing forward the 

 opinions of others, my own views being conveyed in these two or three very 

 guarded sentences : — " At the present day, whether rightly or wrongly, we 

 are more disposed to put aside such questions as insoluble. We think we 

 have not sufficient data to form premises for such conclusions. If such 

 inquiries do not transcend our finite capacities, they are, at any rate, beyond 

 the sphere of human experience, human duty, and human responsibility." 

 All the rest is quoted. I have adopted this course from excess of caution, 

 because I did not consider that the scope of the paper required me to give 

 any views of my own upon the point. The paper, as I have stated, is 

 intended to refute a system of philosophy called " Pessimism," now prevalent 

 in Germany. Von Hartmann, one of its greatest champions, is stiU alive, 

 and has many disciples there ; and, as his doctrines are discussed in the 

 Fortnightly and Contemporary Reviews, as well as in other magazines 

 published in England, and as books have also been written upon the subject 

 in this country, representing Pessimism from a very favourable point of view , 

 I thought it possible that some, whose faith may have been staggered by 

 reading these things, might be helped by this paper, and I have been anxious 

 to know if I have failed to meet the positions taken up by the Pessimist 

 School. I am much obliged to Mr. Griffith and our Chairman for their 

 remarks. I think that few are aware of the wide extent to which Pessimist 

 views have spread, or, at any rate, of the toleration that has been accorded 

 to the extremely rash statements the Pessimists have made. Von Hartmann's 

 theory I have stated with a good deal of softening down from the original, 

 because, not to put the matter too finely, the system he expounds is, really, 

 a system of blasphemy. (Hear.) 

 The meeting was then adjourned. 



