CHAPTER III - THE ACTUAL WORLD, AND THE VIEW WHICH IT GIVES OF ITS GOVERNOR

Summary

SECT. I.—PARTICULAR REVIEW OF THE FIVE PHENOMENA BEFORE SPECIFIED.

The phenomena which we have been considering are not small and insignificant, nor are they single and isolated; they are large in themselves, and spread over the wide surface of the world and the world's history. They are not mere points on which a perverted ingenuity may construct an inverted pyramid, but a wide base on which reason may rear the largest superstructure.

They are phenomena on which the thinking portion of mankind have been prone to meditate in all ages and countries, and as they do so, have often become bewildered, and have lost themselves in ever thickening mazes. How melancholy the feeling of the elder Pliny!—” A being full of contradictions, man is the most wretched of creatures, since the other creatures have no wants transcending the bounds of their nature. Man is full of desires and wants that reach to infinity, and can never be satisfied. His nature is a lie, uniting the greatest poverty with the greatest pride. Among these so great evils, the best thing God has bestowed on man is the power to take his own life.” Sceptics have seen, as they could not but see, these darker features of our world, and have made their own use of them.