complain of my not having done my utmost in this case to define as
sharply as possible the character and the limits of this margin.

'§ 7. And now, in conclusion, I feel it is desirable to state that any
antecedent bias with regard to Theism which I individually possess is
unquestionably on the side of traditional beliefs. It is therefore with
the utmost sorrow that I find myself compelled to accept the conclusions
here worked out; and nothing would have induced me to publish them, save
the strength of my conviction that it is the duty of every member of
society to give his fellows the benefit of his labours for whatever they
may be worth. Just as I am confident that truth must in the end be the
most profitable for the race, so I am persuaded that every individual
endeavour to attain it, provided only that such endeavour is unbiassed
and sincere, ought without hesitation to be made the common property of
all men, no matter in what direction the results of its promulgation may
appear to tend. And so far as the ruination of individual happiness is
concerned, no one can have a more lively perception than myself of the
possibly disastrous tendency of my work. So far as I am individually
concerned, the result of this analysis has been to show that, whether I
regard the problem of Theism on the lower plane of strictly relative
probability, or on the higher plane of purely formal considerations, it
equally becomes my obvious duty to stifle all belief of the kind which I
conceive to be the noblest, and to discipline my intellect with regard
to this matter into an attitude of the purest scepticism. And forasmuch
as I am far from being able to agree with those who affirm that the
twilight doctrine of the "new faith" is a desirable substitute for the
waning splendour of "the old," I am not ashamed to confess that with
this virtual negation of God the universe to me has lost its soul of
loveliness; and although from henceforth the precept to "work while it
is day" will doubtless but gain an intensified force from the terribly