It is necessary, as Buckle observes, [376] that men should learn to doubt, before they begin to tolerate; and that they should recognise the fallibility of their own opinions, before they respect the opinions of their opponents. We may never entirely agree on questions that are for the present at least shrouded in mystery; but, though the old adage, "Quot homines, tot sententiæ," may remain true for all time, wide differences of opinion will disappear, and with them the odium theologicum. There can only be intolerance where belief is dogmatic, and that the religion of the future will never be. The uncertainty, the reasons why others may not be able to accept this or that philosophic speculation, will be recognised. If any discoveries await us, we are sure, at all events, that they will not confirm a dogma that would consign the greater portion of the human race to unspeakable and eternal torment; they will not confirm Christ's description of the Last Judgment, when the Son of Man is to say: "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his angels." It is the fashion nowadays for Latitudinarians to explain away everything that appears too incongruous or vindictive, and the word "everlasting" is said to be a mistranslation; but the meaning of one at least of the sayings attributed to Jesus is only too clear: "Many are called, but few are chosen" (Matt. xxii. 14.) What, then, is to become of the many? If we are to believe the "Word of God," their awful fate, temporary or otherwise, is certain--"Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire" (Rev. xx. 15); or again, "And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth" (Matt. xiii. 42). It is cruel doctrines of this kind that have arrested the growth of love and pity, and Rationalism is therefore the sworn enemy of such doctrines, as well as of the religious intolerance which springs from them.