For disbelieving anything there may be three good reasons. The first is that it is incredible; the second that it is not proved; and the third that it is inconsistent with beliefs conceived to be higher and more certain. On all three grounds I disbelieve the Roman claims, but I will deal with the last first, because, though less often dwelt upon, it is what is most decisive, and, what is more, it has a right to be. Nothing proves so much the reality of any faith as the making of contrary views incredible. There is a kind of facile catholicity of accepting all sorts of views, which is due merely to no one of them being sufficiently in the light to show that the others are in darkness. Moreover, by their positive direction our lives should be determined: and when we steadfastly pursue what we believe to be the higher road, the others simply reject themselves. In this way, I am not a Roman Catholic, primarily for the reason that all my conclusions regarding life and history are not only inconsistent with it, but seem to me higher as well as more certain.