'Shadows and figments as they appear to us to be in themselves, these
attempts to provide a substitute for Religion are of the highest
importance, as showing that men of great powers of mind, who have
thoroughly broken loose not only from Christianity but from natural
Religion, and in some cases placed themselves in violent antagonism to
both, are still unable to divest themselves of the religious sentiment
or to appease its craving for satisfaction.
'That the leaders of the anti-theological movement at the present day
are immoral, nobody but the most besotted fanatic would insinuate: no
candid antagonist would deny that some of them are in every respect the
very best of men.... But what is to prevent the withdrawal of the
traditional sanction from producing its natural effect upon the
morality of the mass of mankind? ... Rate the practical effect of
religious beliefs as low and that of social influences as high as you
may, there can surely be no doubt that morality has received some
support from the authority of an inward monitor regarded as the voice
of God....
'The denial of the existence of God and of a future state, in a word,
is the dethronement of Conscience: and society will pass, to say the
least, through a dangerous interval, before social conscience can fill
the vacant throne.'--GOLDWIN SMITH, 'Proposed Substitutes for
Religion,' _Macmillan's Magazine_, vol. xxxvii.
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