38 



MY LIFE 



[Chap. 



would be pleased to send him the books if he would like to 

 have them, and in that case would be glad if he would give 

 his opinion of the work. His reply, dated November 23, 

 1 89 1, is a characteristic example of his style, and as it is 

 also the last letter of his I possess, I here reproduce it. 



" Hodeshea, Eastbourne. 



"My dear Wallace, 



" The instinct of self-preservation leads me, as a 

 rule, to decline to read and still more to give an opinion 

 about books that are sent to me. But, then, they do not 

 usually come with such a recommendation as yours, and if 

 your friend Mr. Bell is kind enough to send me a copy of 

 his book, I will not only read it, but pay him the highest 

 compliment in my power, by doing my best to pick holes in 

 it ! I ' can't say no fairer.' 



their existence to the Infinite Eternal Being — God, who 'created' all things." 

 Then follows the striking passage which he reprints as the "Argument" of the 

 second work, " Why does Man Exist ? " 



"Argument. 



" Supposing these answers to be accepted, other questions suggest themselves. 

 We want to know why man exists. We want to know why God * created ' him. 

 Did God desire that man should be good ? Is there any reason why he should 

 be good ? If there be, then why does evil exist ? And there arises also the 

 further question, that, supposing there be a good reason why man should be good, 

 is goodness possible to him ? If his character be made for him, not by him, how 

 can he be good if his character, which he did not make himself, be not good ? 

 Does his existence terminate at death ? Does he come into the world only for 

 the sake of what he therein does — suffers — enjoys ? or is his existence continued 

 after death ? Is that existence, if it be continued after death, to be desired or to 

 be dreaded ? Is the having been born a misfortune or a blessing ? What is the 

 character of God? Is He a Being to be feared — to be hated — or to be loved? 

 What are man's relations to his fellow-man ? What are man's relations to God — 

 that awful Being whose power over us seems to be absolute ? And that last, most 

 terrible of questions, Is man's existence owing to God's malevolence — to His 

 indifference — or to His love ? " 



Here are surely subjects enough for a volume of 420 pages, and Mr. Bell 

 discusses them all thoroughly and honestly, with wonderful knowledge and 

 sagacity, with sound logic, and in clear, forcible, and often brilliant language. 

 And he arrives at a grand— a magnificent conclusion — a conclusion that comes as 



near to a satisfactory solution of these seemingly insoluble problems as with our 



limited faculties we can attain to. 



