minded view. Every religion must have its mysteries, and tiiis problem is probably one of the mysteries of Positivism, for whose solution it is unbecoming to be impatient. Let us, however, go a little further into the particulars of the elements whereof humanity — the supreme being —7 is composed. Seven years must intervene after the death of each individual, — so the Posi- tivist catechism explains — before the last judgment of posterity decides wheth- er or no he is to be "incorporated in the Supreme Being " and honored with a commemorative bust. Only ivortJiy sped- mens of humanity are a part of this great being. It is called generally humanity, because the evil members do not count, because evil is absorbed in good. We are only to worship the good ; those who have exercised a beneficial influence on the race, and who enjoy (the catechism tells us) an immortality consisting in fame, and in the operation upon their suc- cessors of the energies they originally set in motion. Progress is the great end, and these men are deified as having contrib- uted towards it. The chief constituent elements of the supreme being who have lived in the past, the principal worthies of Humanity who have gone from among us, are commemorated by days set apart in their honor in the Positivist calendar. Mahomet, St. Bernard, Phidias, St. Thomas Aquinas, Hume, Galileo, New- ton ; here are names taken at random, but showing the wide embrace of Positiv- ism, and the heterogeneous character of the progress it commends. So then, hu- manity, or the great being, ff submitted to a process of disrobing parallel to that which reduces the unknowable, infinite, and eternal energy to certain unknown energies or energy to which it would be wise in our ignorance to assign no limits, becomes merely — those members of our race who did in the past or will in the future exercise an influence in favor of its progress. And religion consists in an acknowledgment of these beings, and "grateful reverence" for their good of- fices, in worship of them as constituting, in conjunction with the forces of nature, the "power which controls our life." I am quite sure that none of us have ever denied their existence ; and I think that most of us have a profound reverence for such men as Newton and Phidias as types of genius, and gratitude for their services. So then we have, it seems, been Positiv- ists without knowing it. But I am afraid this happy conclusion will not serve us very long. There will be men of a mat- ter-of-fact turn who will insist that all this explanation is much ado about nothing; that to roll together these worthy persons and call them humanity, and to call the worship of them, in their effect on us, religion, is not a process of religious teaching at all, but only a bad joke. They will insist that the name "religion" does not make the thinf^. Mr. Harrison, after unclothing the unknowable, proceeded to examine its essence, and to test its claim to the title "religion." We have, in our turn, done a good deal of undressing, and they will bid us now make sure whether we have reached anything which can make good its claim to the same title. We have to see how far the so-called religion of humanity will guide life, support in affliction, give hope in death. These are functions which Mr. Harrison expressly recognizes as belonging to all religion worthy of the name. It was by these tests that the unknowable was tried and condemned. Let us, then, see how in actual practice Positivism fulfils them. Let us suppose what Reid calls " a plain man " of average common sense, who, in a world where belief in God is overthrown, is anxious to take every advantage of the assistance Positivism can offer him. Prog- ress is the great end and aim, his cate- chism tells him, and all who contribute to this end are, as we have seen, incorpor- ated in the supreme being after death. The calendar contains five hundred and fifty-eight names of the typical heroes of the past who have achieved this distinc- tion, and in whose footsteps Positivism bids him tread. He reads Mr. Harrison's address of last New Year's Eve, and learns from it that the Positivist saints are in no way limited as to the line which their sanctity takes. " Let us put aside all kinds of limitations," he said; "let us honor the great and holy spirits of every religion worthy the name. Let us remem- ber the saints of poetry and the saints of art, science, politics, and Industry." " Let us turn to the great spirits whose images surround us in this hall — Moses, Homer, Archimedes, Newton, Caesar, St. Paul, Charlemagne, Dante, Shakespeare, Gut- tenberg, etc. ... A kindly word, a clear thought, or a brave result do not die with the body that was associated with it. . . . Shakespeare, Raphael, Dante, St. Paul, Homer, and Moses enable us to think, live, and enjoy better hour by hour." This is truly a vast and varied field for wor- ship. And as Mr. Harrison proceeded to explain that not only all these five hun-
