is
not perfect. The respect which we owe to the Being of beings forbids us
to believe in Him; to affirm His existence would be to do outrage to His
perfection. The author of this theory renders a worship to that ideal
which does not exist, and towards which he affirms nevertheless that the
world is gravitating by the law of progress. This worship is of too
abstract a nature to secure many adherents; it can only become popular
by taking another shape, and it does so in this way: We conceive of that
perfection which in itself does not exist; it exists therefore in our
thought. Since the world, by the law of progress, is tending towards
perfection, the world has for its end and law a thought of the human
mind. The human mind therefore is the summit of the universe, and it is
it that we must adore. We are here out of the region of pure
abstraction, and arrive at the doctrines of the Positivist school.

The Positive philosophy, so called because it wishes to have done with
chimeras, was founded in France, a few years ago, by Auguste Comte. M.
Littre is at present one of its principal representatives. This writer,
says M. Sainte-Beuve, is one of those who are endeavoring "to set
humanity free from illusions, from vague disputes, from vain solutions,
from deceitful idols and powers."[45] Let us say the same thing in
simpler terms: M. Littre professes the doctrines of a school which
ignores the Creator in nature, and Providence in history. To ascertain
phenomena, and acquaint ourselves with the law which governs them, such,
say the positivists, is the limit of all our knowledge. As for the
origin of things and their destination, that is an affair of individual
fancy. "Each one may be allowed to represent such matters to himself as
he likes; there is nothing to hinder the man who finds a pleasure in
doing so from dreaming upon that past and that future."[46]

"In spite of some appearances to the contrary," says M. Littre, "the
positive philosophy does not accept atheism."[47] Why? Because atheism
pretends to give an explanation of the universe, and that after a
fashion is still theology. Minds "veritably emancipated" profess to know
nothing whatever on questions which go beyond actual experience. They do
not deny God, they eliminate Him from the thoughts. The attempt is a
bold one, but it fails; men do not succeed in emancipating themselves
from the laws of reason. The very writer whom I have just quoted is
himself a proof of