823 
probability and without authority or proof. Here is credulity 
even in philosophical scepticism. Indeed, as an acute writer 
bas observed, “ for an absolute sceptic to argue at all is a 
piece of folly, only second to the folly of those who argue with 
him. If there is no credence to be given to the working of 
our intellectual power, the former, for consistency's sake, 
might spare himself the trouble of using them against the 
belief of his neighbours ; and the latter might, with equal 
propriety, avoid the useless task of arguing with one who 
professedly has no faith in argument. The sceptic, in fact, 
writes at once his own defence and his own reply." This 
Huet and Pascal saw, and had recourse to Religion to extricate 
them from the difficulties into which their philosophy led them. 
This other sceptics, less happy than they, saw also, and wan- 
dered in the clouds of mysticism, doubly and trebly credulous 
in their incredulity; Yan Helmont, and Poiret, and Sweden- 
borg, dreamed on, saying beautiful things sometimes in their 
sleep, but showing in the very beauty of these disjointed 
utterances how true it is that man must believe much, to dis- 
believe at all. 
But we are not concerned so much with the philosophical as 
with the religious sceptic. This Institute does not propose to 
combat the errors of those who distrust themselves, but with 
the far more dangerous errors of 'those who trust themselves 
and distrust their God. The religious sceptic, we argue, is more 
credulous than the believer. The admission of the existence 
of a Supreme Being at all involves, of necessity, the admission 
of His benevolence. At least it would be the height of 
credulity to hold that a Being superior to us in knowledge 
and wisdom, and, in some sense at least, the author of our 
being, should be absolutely without a will as regards His crea- 
tion, or entertain a feeling of malevolence. It was a refined 
credulity which said, “to make worlds is Jove's pastime," 
just as it was a gross credulity which invoked Mars as “ nimis 
longo satiate ludo," or in the wilder words of an older poet, 
the dramatist of superhuman existence, spoke of Zeus as 
neglecting poor miserable men, and rejoicing in the suffering 
of his own friend and councillor. If, then, the Deity is 
benevolent, it is antecedently probable that He would exercise 
some kind of supervision over His creatures, — preserving the 
life of the living, fostering the growth of the growing, guiding 
the intellect of the reasoning. In short, we may expect 
from Him a course of Nature and a course of Revelation : 
a course of Nature, for the orderly maintenance of that being 
of which He Himself is the Great First Cause ; a course of 
Revelation, to guide the rational creature to those higher 
