or humanity;
atheism is transformed into idolatry. Recollect the destinies of the
critical school and of the positive philosophy! Let us now examine, with
serious attention, that attempt to _eliminate_ God which is the
starting-point in this course along which the mind is hurried so
fatally.

God is not, I grant, an object of experience. I grant it at least in
this sense, that God is not an object of sensible experience. The
experience of God (if I may be allowed the expression), the feeling of
His action upon the soul, is not a phenomenon open to the observation of
all, and apart from determined spiritual conditions. In order to be
sensible of the action of God, we must draw near to Him. In order to
draw near to Him, we must, if not believe with firm faith in His
existence, at least not deny Him. The captives of Plato's cavern can
have no experience of light, so long as they heap their raillery on
those who speak to them of the sun. I grant again that God cannot
possibly be the object of a demonstration such as the science of
geometry requires; I grant it fully, I have already said so. Every man
who reasons, affirms God in one sense; and the foundation of all
reasoning cannot be the conclusion of a demonstration. God therefore, in
the view of science formed according to our ordinary methods, is, I
grant, an hypothesis. And here, Gentlemen, allow me a passing word of
explanation.

When I say that God is an hypothesis, I run the risk of exciting, in
many of you, feelings of astonishment not unmixed with pain. But I must
beg you to remember the nature of these lectures. We are here far from
the calm retirement of the sanctuary, and from such words of solemn
exhortation as flow from the lips of the religious teacher. I have
introduced you to the ardent conflicts of contemporary thought, and into
the midst of the clamors of the schools. The soul which is seeking to
hold communion with God, and so from their fountain-head to be filled
with strength and joy, has something better to do than to be listening
to such discourses as these. Solitude, prayer, a calm activity pursued
under the guidance of the conscience,--these are the best paths for such
a soul, and the discussions in which we are now engaged are not perhaps
altogether free from danger for one who has remained hitherto
undisturbed in the first simplicity of his faith. But we are not masters
of our own ways, and the circumstances of the present times impose upon
u