Excerpt from Phases of Faith, or Passages From the History of My Creed Intellectually But the argument before the writer is something immensely greater than a personal one. So it happens that to vindicate himself is to establish a mighty truth - a truth which can in no other way so well enter the heart as when it comes embodied in an individual case. If he can Show that to have shrunk from his successive convictions would have been infidelity to God and Truth and Righteousness, but that he has been faithful 'f to the highest and most urgent duty, it will be made clear that Belief is one thing and Faith another; that to believe is intellectual - nay, possibly earthly, devilish; and that to set up any fixed creed as a test of spiritual character is a most unjust, oppressive, and mischievous superstition. The historical form has been deliberately selected as easier and more interesting to the reader but it must not be imagined that the author has given his mental history in general, much less an autobiography. The progress of his creed is his solo fsnbject, and other topics are introduced either to illustrate this or as digres ons suggested by it. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.