nd,
because it might be argued from what he says that moral lapses do not
very much matter, and that emotional experience is worth the price of
some animalism. Still more perniciously it might induce one to believe
that a man may have a deep sense of religion side by side with an
unbridled sensuality, and that one whose life is morally infamous may
yet be able to quicken the moral temperature of great nations.

Some of the critics of Rousseau speak as though a man whose moral code
was so loose, and whose practice was so libidinous, ought almost to
have held his tongue on matters of high moral import. But this is a
very false line of argument. A man may see a truth clearly, even if he
cannot practise it; and an affirmation of a passionate belief in virtue
is emphasised and accentuated when it comes from the lips of one who
might be tempted rather to excuse his faults by preaching the
irresistible character of evil.

To any one who reads wisely, and not in a censorious and Pharisaical
spirit, this sordid record, which is yet interspersed with things so
fragrant and beautiful, may have a sobering and uplifting effect. One
sees a man hampered by ill-health, by a temperament childishly greedy
of momentary pleasure, by irritability, suspicion, vanity and
luxuriousness, again and again expressing a deep belief in unselfish
emotion, a passionate desire to help struggling humanity onward, a
child-like confidence in the goodness and tenderness of the Father of
all. Disgust and admiration struggle strangely together. One cannot
sympathise and yet one dare not condemn. One feels a horrible suspicion
that there are dark and slimy corners, vile secrets, ugly memories, in
the minds of hundreds of seemingly respectable people; the book brings
one face to face with the mystery of evil; and yet through the gloom
there steals a silvery radiance, a far-off hope, an infinite compassion
for all weakness and imperfection. One can hardly love Rousseau, though
one does not wonder that there were many found to do so; and instead of
judging him, one cries out with horror at the slime of the pit where he
lay bound.

April 14, 1889.

A delusion of which we must beware is the delusion that we can have a
precise and accurate knowledge of spiritual things. This is a delusion
into which the exponents of settled religions are apt to fall. The
Roman Catholic, with his belief in the infallible Church, as the
interpreter of God's spirit, which is