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on this opinion, and not to have an exoteric doctrine’ for the 
vulgar, and an esoteric one for themselves. But it is with the 
latter that I am now dealing. A sound philosophy requires, 
that the too frequent example of the ancient philosopher, who 
acted the part of the high priest of the god whose moral cha- 
racter he despised, and whose existence he disbelieved, should 
be utterly repudiated. What can be more degrading than the 
spectacle of an atheist Csesar, dressed in the pontifical robes, 
uttering solemn vows to Jupiter in the Capitol ? Persons 
capable of acting such a part must have a supreme contempt 
for the vulgar herd of humanity; and are at one in principle 
with the priests whose conduct they denounce. It is satis- 
factory to be informed that in the opinion of Mr. J. S. Mill, 
his father’s prudential principle of not avowing his opinions to 
the world “was attended with some moral disadvantages.” 
The italics are ours ; in place of “ some ” we would read 
“ great.” 
4. Before entering on the consideration of some of the prin- 
ciples of pantheistic and atheistic philosophy, to which I propose 
drawing attention in the present paper, it will be necessary 
to state what Atheism, as held by men of culture, really means. 
The son's account of the character of his father's atheism will 
clearly define its nature. “ Finding,” says Mr. J. S. Mill, “no 
halting-place in Theism, he yielded to the conviction, that con- 
cerning the origin of things nothing whatever can be known. 
This is the only correct statement of his opinion, for dogmatic 
Atheism he looked on as absurd, as most of those whom the 
world have considered atheists have always done.” Atheism, 
therefore, as a philosophic theory, does not consist in the denial 
of the being of a God, but in the affirmation that there is no 
evidence that there is one. The moral value of the distinction 
between these two positions is nil, but the. intellectual one is 
great, for it frees him who entertains it from the necessity of 
proving a negative. 
5. The following is worthy of quotation, as an illustration of 
the nature of the elder Mill's atheistic reasonings. “ He 
impressed upon me from the first that the manner in which the 
world came into existence was a subject about which nothing 
was known; that the question, f Who made me?' cannot be 
answered, because we have no experience or authentic informa- 
tion from which to answer it ; and that the answer only throws 
the difficulty a step further back, since the question imme- 
diately presents itself, f Who made God? ' ” It is almost incre- 
dible that such reasoning could have commended itself as valid 
to a man of the mental acuteness of the elder Mill ; and it is 
