Page:Logic Taught by Love.djvu/9

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Dedication

To a Jewish Reformer

Dear Sir,
When Naaman the Syrian returned to his own people, after his memorable visit to the Land of your forefathers, he felt that Truth would seem to him, in later years, less like an impossible dream if he might make his offerings to the Eternal on an altar constructed of that sacred earth over which had trodden the feet of the Reformers of Israël. The Prophet, true to his function as a messenger from the All-Father, respected an instinct which of course he, personally, could not understand. May I ask you to tolerate a statement which certainly you will not understand? You have been to more than one writer on mathematical Logic the witness that fervent devotion needs no superstition about persons or observances, but may be kindled by reverence for the Creator Who works by laws of orderly causation. This faith of Science, we are often told, is necessarily loveless and cold; there can be no fervour, it is said, without superstition or illusion. But where your influence reaches, all cherished illusions loosen their hold on the emotions; for their beauty fades in the glow of your impassioned love of Truth.