And when Mr. Congreve speaks of my having an advantage over him in my introduction of “Christianity” into the phrase that “M.  Comte’s philosophy, in practice, might be described as Catholicism minus Christianity;” intending thereby to suggest that I have, by so doing, desired to profit by an appeal to the odium theologicum,—­he lays himself open to a very unpleasant retort.

What if I were to suggest that Mr. Congreve had not read Comte’s works; and that the phrase “the context shows that the view of the writer ranges—­however superficially—­over the whole works.  This is obvious from the mention of Catholicism,” demonstrates that Mr. Congreve has no acquaintance with the “Philosophie Positive”?  I think the suggestion would be very unjust and unmannerly, and I shall not make it.  But the fact remains, that this little epigram of mine, which has so greatly provoked Mr. Congreve, is neither more nor less than a condensed paraphrase of the following passage, which is to be found at page 344 of the fifth volume of the “Philosophie Positive:"[14]—­

“La seule solution possible de ce grand probleme historique, qui n’a jamais pu etre philosophiquement pose jusqu’ici, consiste a concevoir, en sens radicalement inverse des notions habituelles, que ce qui devait necessairement perir ainsi, dans le catholicisme, c’etait la doctrine, et non l’organisation, qui n’a ete passagerement ruinee que par suite de son inevitable adherence elementaire a la philosophie theologique, destinee a succomber graduellement sous l’irresistible emancipation de la raison humaine; tandis qu’une telle constitution, convenablement reconstruite sur des bases intellectuelles a la fois plus etendues et plus stables, devra finalement presider a l’indispensable reorganisation spirituelle des societes modernes, sauf les differences essentielles spontanement correspondantes a l’extreme diversite des doctrines fondamentales; a moins de supposer, ce qui serait certainement contradictoire a l’ensemble des lois de notre nature, que les immenses efforts de tant de grands hommes, secondes par la perseverante sollicitude des nations civilisees, dans la fondation seculaire de ce chef-d’oeuvre politique de la sagesse humaine, doivent etre enfin irrevocablement perdus pour l’elite de l’humanite sauf les resultats, capitaux mais provisoires, qui s’y rapportaient immediatement.  Cette explication generale, deja evidemment motivee par la suite des considerations propres a ce chapitre, sera de plus en plus confirmee par tout le reste de notre operation historique, dont elle constituera spontanement la principale conclusion politique."

Nothing can be clearer.  Comte’s ideal, as stated by himself, is Catholic organization without Catholic doctrine, or, in other words, Catholicism minus Christianity.  Surely it is utterly unjustifiable to ascribe to me base motives for stating a man’s doctrines, as nearly as may be, in his own words!