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to be sceptical about there being any real meaning
or law in things. This scepticism is strongest in the most
masculine thinkers. I applaud scepticism with
all my heart, provided it have four qualities,
first that it be sincere and real doubt, second that it be aggressive,
third that it push inquiry, and provided fourth, that it stand ready
to acknowledge what it now doubts, as soon as
the doubted element comes clearly to light. To
be angry with sceptics, who, whether they are aware
of it or not, are the best friends of spiritual truth, is a
manifest sign that the angry person is himself
infected with scepticism,— not, however, of the
innocent and wholesome kind, that pushes tries to bring
truth to light, but of the mendacious, clandestine,
disguised, and conservative variety that is afraid of truth, although truth merely means the
way to attain one's purposes. If the sceptics think that any account can