; but I would only refrain from the reply because I should think
that he does not quite mean what he says. His real intention, I should
suppose, would be to say that every dogma includes some truth, or is
inseparably associated with true statements, and that I ought to be
careful not to destroy the wheat with the tares. The presumption
remains, at any rate, that a false doctrine is so far mischievous; and
its would-be protector is bound to show that it is impossible to assail
it without striking through its sides at something beyond. If Christ is
not God, the man who denies him to be God is certainly _prima facie_
right, though it may perhaps be possible to show that such a denial
cannot be made in practice without attacking a belief in morality. We
may, or it is possible to assert that we may, be under this miserable
necessity, that we cannot speak undiluted truth; truth and falsehood
are, it is perhaps maintainable, so intricately blended in the world
that discrimination is impossible. Still the man who argues thus is
bound to assign some grounds for his melancholy scepticism; and to show
further that the destruction of the figment is too dearly bought by the
assertion of the truth. Therefore, I might be content to say that, in
such cases, the innocence of the plain speaker ought to be assumed until
his guilt is demonstrated. If we had always waited to clear away shams
till we were certain that our action would produce absolutely unmixed
benefits, we should still be worshipping Mumbo-Jumbo.

But, whilst claiming the advantage of this presumption, I am ready to
meet the objector on his own ground, and to indicate, simply and
inefficiently enough, the general nature of the reasons which convince
me that the objection could not be sustained. To what degree, in fact,
are these sham beliefs, which undoubtedly prevail so widely, a real
comfort to any intelligent person? Many believers have described the
terrible agony with which they had at one period of their lives
listened to the first whisperings of scepticism. The horror with which
they speak of the gulf after managing to struggle back to the right side
is supposed to illustrate the cruelty of encouraging others to take the
plunge. That such sufferings are at times very real and very acute, is
undeniable; and yet I imagine that few who have undergone them would
willingly have missed the experience. I venture even to think that the
recollection is one of unmixed pain only