But let the belief in its reality fail us, and instantly the whole cloud of witnesses vanishes.

For science to demand a proof that shall convince it on its own premisses is to demand an impossibility, and to involve a contradiction in terms.
Science is only possible on the assumption that nature is uniform.
Morality is only possible on the assumption that this uniformity is interfered with by the will.

The world of morals is as distinct from the world of science as a wine is from the cup that holds it; and to say that it does not exist because science can find no trace of it, is to say that a bird has not flown over a desert because it has left no footprints in the sand.

And as with morals, so it is with religion.
Science will allow us to deny or to affirm both.

Reason will not allow us to deny or affirm only one.
FOOTNOTES: [33] The argument has been used in this exact form by Professor Clifford.
[34] _Dreams and Realities_, by Leslie Stephen.
[35] The feebleness and vacillation of Dr.Tyndall's whole views of things, as soon as they bear on matters that are of any universal moment, is so typical of the entire positive thought of the day, that I may with advantage give one or two further illustrations of it.