thankfulness, in the bosom of my seclusion, the dawn of that eternal day which "fools call death," says Petrarch:-- Quel che morir chiaman gli sciocchi. Guizot. Paris, _April_, 1868. {lxxxiii} Contents. Page Preface v I. -- Christianity and Liberty 1 II. -- Christianity and Morality 52 III. -- Christianity and Science 93 IV. -- Christian Ignorance 128 V. -- Christian Faith 153 VI. -- Christian Life 190 Appendix. -- Observations upon the Work called "Ecce Homo" 213 {lxxxiv} {1} Meditations On Christianity in its Relation To The Actual State Of Society And Opinion. First Meditation. Christianity And Liberty. The passionate longing both of men and of nations in these days for Liberty and Equality, is a fact not only evident but dominant in modern civilization. Sometimes this desire has for its object Liberty only, sometimes Equality only, sometimes both simultaneously. Sometimes the desire is at once intelligent and respectable, sometimes nothing more than a blind and ill-regulated impulse. {2} Sometimes the feeling displays itself in revolutions, in which it develops itself in all its intensity; sometimes it fades away, and subsides amidst the reactions which those very revolutions have, by their calamities and excesses, called forth. At one time men vaunt that the problem is solved, at another they are discouraged, and pronounce it to be insolvable. But whether they vaunt or are discouraged, the passionate desire continues to exist, and the problem ever reappears. Such a state of opinion may be applauded or may be deplored; it may have incense showered upon it or it may be visited with malediction; but to escape from it is an impossibility. It remains a trial which humanity is condemned to pass through; it furnishes it with a task which it is bound to perform.