Johnston in a collection of articles
entitled _A Generation of Religious Progress_, presumably intended to
portray our rationalistic progress, "so far, though they have sounded
the depths of the Universe, have found no God." He is speaking of
astronomical investigation, and he has just emphasized the reliability
of our five senses.

One wonders whether he is simply echoing the well-known phrase of
Laplace, or whether he seriously believes that the non-existence of God
is proved by the inability of the human eye to see Him! Nothing could be
more unscientific--one hates using that hackneyed expression, but there
is no other--than this confidence in the reliability of the senses. It
reminds one of the young man who said he could not believe in God
because he had not seen Him. He could only believe in things which he
could see. "Do you believe you have a brain?" some one asked. The young
man did. "And have you seen it?" was the next question.

I shall be told that though the young man could not--fortunately--see
his own brain, others might by opening his skull, and that no dissection
of brains or examination of stars has ever shown us God. This is exactly
the point where our easygoing rationalist misses the mark. Brains and
stars do show God to those who have developed the faculties wherewith
to perceive Him.

The senses are, after all, very fallible and very variable. A little
opium, a little alcohol, a blow on the head, or some great emotion will
modify their judgment to an incredible degree. Sir Harry Johnston may
not be very representative as an exponent of scientific conclusions
about the existence of God, but he is interesting and typical of much of
the rough-and-ready opposition to formulated religion. I quote the
upshot of his admiration for the feats of the human eye:

Religion, as the conception of a heavenly being, or heavenly
beings, hovering about the earth and concerning themselves
greatly with the affairs of man, has been abolished for all
thoughtful and educated people by the discoveries of science.
Perhaps, however, I should not say "abolished" as being too
final; I should prefer to say that such theories have been put
entirely in the background as unimportant Compared with the awful
problems which affect the welfare and progress of humanity on
this planet.

The honesty of the conviction is not marred by the fact that it is
entirely mistaken. "God is infinitely more