In a last word, I somewhat vaingloriously claim for authorship, as thus:-- _The Cathedral Mind._ "Temple of truths most eloquently spoken, Shrine of sweet thoughts veil'd round with words of power, The Author's Mind in all its hallowed riches Stands a Cathedral; full of precious things-- Tastefully built in harmonies unbroken, Cloister and aisle, dark crypt and aery tower; Long-treasured relics in the fretted niches And secret stores, and heaped-up offerings, Art's noblest wealth with Nature's fruit and flower.
Paintings and Sculpture, Summer's best, and Spring's, Its plenitude of pride and praise betoken; An ever-burning lamp shines in its soul; Deep music all around enchantment flings; And God's great Presence consecrates the whole!" Probabilities.
In this our day, Agnosticism, if not avowed Atheism, seems to be making great way, and destroying the happiness of thousands.

It may be a truth, though partly an unpleasant one, that "he has no faith who never had a doubt," even as "he has no hope who never had a fear." Well, in my short day and in my own small way I seem to have been through everything, and there was a time when I was much worried with uninvited difficulties and involuntary unbeliefs.

Such troublesome thoughts seemed to come to me without my wish or will,--and stayed too long with me for my peace: however, I searched them out and fought them down, and cleared my brain of such poisonous cobwebs by writing my "Probabilities, an Aid to Faith;" a small treatise on the antecedent likelihood of everything that has happened, which did me great good while composing it, and has (to my happy knowledge from many grateful letters) enlightened and comforted hundreds of unwilling misbelievers.

The book, after four editions, has now long been out of print; however, certainly I still wish it was in the hands of modern sceptics for their good.

The scheme of the treatise is briefly this: I begin by showing the antecedent probability of the being of a God, then of His attributes, and by inference from His probable benevolence, of His becoming a Creator: then that the created being inferior to His perfection might fall, in which event His benevolence would find a remedy.