If we state the positive system in terms of common life, its visionary character becomes evident 172
The examples which have suggested its possibility are quite misleading 173
The positive system is really far more based on superstition than any religion 175
Its appearance can only be accounted for by the characters and circumstances of its originators 175
And a consideration of these will help us more than anything to estimate it rightly 178
And will let us see that its only practical tendency is to deaden all our present interests, not to create any new ones 179
It is not contended that the prospect just described will, as a fact, ever be realised 183
But only that it will be realised _if_ certain other prospects are realised 185
Which prospects may or may not be visionary 186
But the progress towards which is already begun 187
And also the other results, that have been described already 187
Positive principles have already produced a moral deterioration, even in places where we should least imagine it 187
As we shall see if we pierce beneath the surface 189
In the curious condition of men who have lost faith, but have retained the love of virtue 189
The struggle was hard, when they had all the helps of religion 190
Conscience still survives, but it has lost its restraining power 191
Temptation almost inevitably dethrones it 192
And its full prestige can never be recovered 193
It can do nothing but deplore; it cannot remedy 194
In such cases the mind's decadence has begun; and its symptoms are 194
The class of men to whom this applies is increasing, and they are the true representatives of the work of positive thought 196
It is hard to realise this ominous fact 197
But by looking steadily and dispassionately at the characteristics of the present epoch we may learn to do so 198
We shall see that the opinions now forming will have a weight and power that no opinions ever had before 199
And their tendency, as yet latent, towards pessimism is therefore most momentous 200
If it is to be cured, it must be faced 200
It takes the form of a suppressed longing for the religious faith that is lost 200
And this longing is wide-spread, though only expressed indirectly 201
This dejection is in fact shared by the believers 203