The Princeton Review JanuaryJune, 1884 Classic Reprint

Excerpt from The Princeton Review: January-June, 1884

Bible is a human book; Christ was a gentleman, related to the Buddha and Plato families; Joseph was an ill-used man; death, so far as we have any reason to believe, is annihilation of person al existence; life is - the predicament of the body previous to death; morality is the enlightened selfishness of the greatest number; civilization is the compromises men make with one another in order to get the most they can out Of the world wis dom is acknowledgment of these propositions; folly is to hanker after what may lie beyond the sphere of sense. The supporter Of these doctrines by no means permits himself to be regarded as a rampant and dogmatic atheist; he is simply the modest and humble doubter of what he cannot prove. He even recognizes the persistence of the religious instinct in man, and caters to it by a new religion suited to the times - the Religion of Human ity. Thus he is secure at all points: for if the religion of the Bible turn out to be true, his disappointment will be an agree able one; and if it turns out false, he will not be disappointed at all. He is an agnostic - a person bound to be complacent what ever happens. He may indulge a gentle regret, a musing sad ness, a smiling pensiveness; but he will never refuse a comfort able dinner, and always wear something soft next his skin, nor can he altogether avoid the consciousness of his intellectual superiority.

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