On the other hand, it is
equally true that he never plainly avowed his unbelief. The line he took
up was that Christianity, though not true in fact, had a right to be
regarded as the noblest aspiration after a theory of the Universe and of
human life ever formed: and that the Calvinistic version of Christianity
was on the whole the best it ever assumed; and the one which represented
the largest proportion of truth and the least amount of error. He also
thought that the truths which Calvinism tried to express, and succeeded
in expressing in an imperfect or partially mistaken manner, were the
ultimate governing principles of morals and politics, of whose systematic
neglect in this age nothing but evil could come.
"Unwilling to take up the position of a rebel or revolutionist by stating
his views plainly--indeed if he had done so sixty years ago he might have
starved--the only resource left to him was that of approaching all the
great subjects of life from the point of view of grim humour, irony, and
pathos. This was the real origin of his unique style; though no doubt its
special peculiarities were due to the wonderful power of his imagination,
and to some extent--to a less extent we think than has been usually
supposed--to his familiarity with German.
"What then was his creed? What were the doctrines which in his view
Calvinism shadowed forth and which were so infinitely true, so ennobling
to human life? First, he believed in God; secondly, he believed in an
absolute opposition between good and evil; thirdly, he believed that
all men do, in fact, take sides more or less decisively in this great
struggle, and ultimately turn out to be either good or bad; fourthly, he
believed that good is stronger than evil, and by infinitely slow degrees
gets the better of it, but that this process is so slow as to be
continually obscured and thrown back by evil influences of various
kinds--one of which he believed to be specially powerful in the present
day.
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