A Candid Examination of Theism

A Candid Examination of Theism is by George John Romanes. The preface says the following essay was written several years ago, and that the writer had hitherto refrained from publishing it, lest, after having done so, the writer should find that more mature thought had modified the conclusions which the essay sets forth. The contents list names, among others, supplementary essays called On the Speculative Standing of Materialism and On the Final Mystery of Things.

A chapter headed Examination of Illogical Arguments in Favour of Theism says that few subjects have occupied so much attention among speculative thinkers as that which relates to the being of God. The writer says of John Stuart Mill's posthumous essay on Theism that the writer should rather be inclined to regard that essay as a criticism on illogical arguments than as a careful or matured attempt to formulate the strictly rational status of the question in all its bearings.