exclusive, but reconcilable.

And if, unsatisfied with them all, the human mind, with the yearning
of a pilgrim for his distant home, will still turn to the Mystery from
which it has emerged, seeking so to fashion it as to give unity to
thought and faith; so long as this is done, not only without
intolerance or bigotry of any kind, but with the enlightened
recognition that ultimate fixity of conception is here unattainable,
and that each succeeding age must be held free to fashion the mystery
in accordance with its own needs--then, casting aside all the
restrictions of Materialism, I would affirm this to be a field for the
noblest exercise of what, in contrast with the knowing faculties, may
be called the creative faculties of man. Here, however, I touch a
theme too great for me to handle, but which will assuredly be handled
by the loftiest minds, when you and I, like streaks of morning cloud,
shall have melted into the infinite azure of the past.

********************

X. APOLOGY FOR THE BELFAST ADDRESS.

1874.

THE world has been frequently informed of late that I have raised up
against myself a host of enemies; and considering, with few
exceptions, the deliverances of the Press, and more particularly of
the religious Press, I am forced to admit that the statement is only
too true. I derive some comfort, nevertheless, from the reflection of
Diogenes, transmitted to us by Plutarch, that 'he who would be saved
must have good friends or violent enemies; and that he is best off who
possesses both.' This 'best' condition, I have reason to believe, is
mine.

Reflecting on the fraction I have read of recent remonstrances,
appeals, menaces, and judgments--covering not only the world that now
is, but that which is to come--I have noticed with mournful interest
how trivially men seem to be influenced by what they call their
religion, and how potently by that 'nature' which it is the alleged
province of religion to eradicate or subdue. From fair and manly
argument, from the tenderest and holiest sympathy on the part of those
who desire my eternal good, I pass by many gradations, through
deliberate unfairness, to a spirit of bitterness, which desires with a
fervour inexpressible in words my eternal ill. Now, were religion the
potent factor, we might expect a homogeneous utterance from those
professing a common creed, while, if human nature be the really potent
factor, we may expect utterances as heterogeneo