The knot of old fashioned politicians who call themselves Young England,
are enamoured of 'graceful superstition.' Alarmed at the march of
reason, and admirers of 'blind faith in mystery,' they sigh for a
renewal of those times when no one doubted the propriety of drowning
witches, or being touched for the king's evil. _Cui bono_ is the
question repeatedly put to the proselytising Atheist by this modern
antique class of persons, who cannot see the utility of destroying the
vital principle of all religions. But if that principle is false, no
sane man can doubt the expediency of proving it so. Falsehood may be
useful to individuals, but cannot tend to the moral and political
advancement of nations. Apologists of error find the presumed unfitness
of their fellow creatures to appreciate truth a sufficient reason for
not teaching it. To raise up the populace to their own intellectual
level they deem impracticable, and therefore speak down to their lowest
passions and prejudices: like Varro they contend there are some truths
the vulgar had better think falsehoods, and many falsehoods they had
better think truths.
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