no escape. But it is just through this conflict that its spiritual development is attained. Moral and spiritual perfection cannot come to us by nature, but only as the result of struggle and selfconquest."

The alliance of the will with either one of these forces may be the decisive factor in human destiny; but that is a different proposition from assigning to the will the absolute determination of belief.

NOTE THREE

MIND IN NATURE: EVOLUTION

"THE reason that lives in nature, speaks a language that the reason personalized in man can understand and translate. The mathematics which have controlled and guided the Builder of the heavens, are identical with the mathematics which the astronomer, in his study, deduces from the idea of space given in his own thought, and which he proves by the processes of his own reason. If he looks at the correspondence from the subjective or dialectical side, he may say with Plato, The creator in His act of creation has geometrized'; but if he regard it from its objective or observational side, he will say with Kepler, In reading the secrets of nature, I am thinking the thoughts of God after Him.' But whether he speaks with Plato or with Kepler, he means the same thing; there is such a correspondence between the mind and the universe, between the intelligible we think, and the intellect we think by, that their relation can only be explained by identity of source, i. e., by both being expressions of a single supreme intelligence." Fairbairn, Philosophy of the Christian Religion, P. 37.

It is common among writers who have adopted the theory of creation by the method of evolution, to disparage the argument of design in nature as illustrated by Paley in the opening of th evidences of Christianity, as anthropomorphic and degradi our conception of the creator of the universe, who is likene builder, after the manner of the carpenter or the watch Such criticism is as unfriendly to any intelligible theory of

tion as it is to Paley's argument. Such writers would take exceptions upon the same ground to Dr. Fairbairn's statement in the above passage, when he speaks of the builder of the universe using the same mathematics as employed by the astronomer in his calculations; or to Plato's words, "The creator, in his act of creation, has geometrized." The misunderstanding with such writers is due to confusion of thought, both as to the meaning of the argument from design and the meaning of evolution. They attack the argument upon the assumption that Paley and Christian philosophers contend for the identity, both as to methods of causation and the mode in which the work is done in man's works, and in God's works in nature. But it requires only a little reflection to see that this is an entirely different question from that which Paley and other writers in the same line are discussing. Is there evidence of design, of intelligent purpose and of adjustment to accomplish that purpose manifested in the works of nature, such as we are conscious of in our own minds? Do we recognize in nature the presence of mind in the adjustment of means to ends, just as clearly as we recognize the operations of our own intelligence as they appear in consciousness in designing and contriving to accomplish a certain purpose when we work upon the materials that nature has put in our hands for our use? This is the only question Paley is discussing. The mode in which God works in nature is a different question. That is as distinct from the mode and the means we are obliged to use to do our work, as God, with His infinite wisdom and power and resources, is above us.

The difference between our works, and God's works in nature, is the difference between a house and a plant. We collect the materials, and calculate dimensions, and form the plans and fit one part into another; then with labor and care and time we put the parts together. We work by labor, manipulation, mechanism. We work, so to speak, from the outside. God works from the inside. He is the Author of life, of the materials that feed life, of the forces that organize the materials into structures. His mind, His will is in them all, and over them all. There are no hands at work in nature. There is no such thing as visible construction in the world around us. All things grow from seed. The seed has in it the life, and the materials, and the forces, with the design planted in it. Each stage of its growth has in it the

promise, the power and the plan of the succeeding stage. God works by growth. If evolution means anything, it means growth; and growth has in it the evidence of the highest purpose, and of omnipotent mind. The principle of mind and of purpose in the works of God in nature is precisely the same as in the works of man. But the difference in the methods is measured by the difference in power and wisdom between the finite and the infinite. If we had the power to make life, that life would carry mind with it as one of its vital principles, and to that mind the forces of nature would yield obedience spontaneous and absolute.

NOTE FOUR

RELATIONS OF CHRISTIANITY TO THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD

THE sympathetic and systematic study of the religions of the world by Christian scholars, in the science of Comparative Religions, has refuted the view of natural religions as unmixed impostures created by credulity and superstition. The advance in thought has been a return to the revelation of the New Testament that these religions are expressions of the spiritual wants and aspirations of the religious instincts of the race.

"In even savage bosoms

There are longings, desires, strivings

For the good they comprehend not."

The result can only be hopeful and encouraging to the missionary activities of the Christian Church throughout the world.

Rev. Frederic W. Maurice, in his "Religions of the World," has in his reply to arguments against Christian missions, the most powerful thinking upon the subject in British religious literature.

Dr. G. Matheson, in "Messages of the Old Religions," has suggestions of value and many eloquent passages.

Professor Campbell's Religions in Greek Literature," and the Religious Spirit of Hellenism, is an elaborate and masterly work of great literary and scholarly ability.

Principal Caird, in his " Philosophy of Religion," has the fol

lowing noble passage at the close of the chapter on Philosophy and History. "Christianity neither borrows nor reproduces the imperfect notions of God, be they what they may-pantheistic, dualistic, anthropomorphic, monotheistic-in which the religious aspirations of the old world had embodied themselves. In the light of this idea we can perceive these imperfect notions yielding up whatever element of truth lay hid in them, whilst that which was arbitrary and false falls away and dies. If, for example, the old Pantheistic idea that the things that are seen are temporal, and that beneath all the passing shadows and semblances of things there is an enduring substance, a reality that is without variableness or shadow of turning; if this idea comes to light again in the Christian consciousness, yet the new Pantheism does not, like the old, suppress, but rather elicits and quickens the individuality, the freedom, the moral life of man. If it says, "The world passeth away and the lust thereof,” it says also "He that doeth the will of God abideth forever." If the antagonism between good and evil which gave Dualism its meaning and power, survives in the Christian view of the world, yet the new Dualism, unlike that of the old religion, is consistent with the belief, not only of the ultimate triumph, but in the sole and absolute reality of good. If it asserts that " Sin hath entered the world and death by sin," yet it declares that all things are of God," and that “all things work together for good to them that love Him," and that a time is coming when "God shall be all in all." If Christianity claims as its own that idea which anthropomorphic religion foreshadowedthat man is the image of God, and that he is capable of rising into the Divine fellowship and of being made "partaker of the Divine nature," yet in contrast with the old religions it raises the human without limiting or lowering the Divine, and sees in all earthly goodness a reflection of the nature of God without making the nature of God a reflection of the weaknesses and imperfections of man. Lastly, if Christianity contains, in common with Monotheistic religions, the idea of God elevated in His absolute being above the world, unaffected by its limits, incapable of being implicated in its imperfections, it yet enables us at the same time to think of God, not merely as an Omnipotent Power and Will above us, but as an Infinite Love within us. It sees in our purest thoughts and holiest actions God Himself, "working in us to will and to do of

"

His good pleasure." It tells us that "our bodies are the temples of His Holy Spirit," and it sets before us a human life as the fullest expression and revelation of the nature and the life of God. Thus whatever elements of truth, whatever broken and scattered rays of light the old religions contained, Christianity takes up into itself, explaining all, harmonizing all, by a Divine alchemy transmuting all, yet immeasurably transcending all gathering together in one all things in heaven and earth, in its revelation of One who is at one and the same time, Father, Son and Spirit, above all, through all and in all.

NOTE FIVE

PREVALENCE OF NESCIENCE PHILOSOPHY

MR. JOHN FISKE, in several of his essays published under the title "A Century of Science," and also in his "Excursions of an Evolutionist," alludes to the wide acceptance of the Spencerian philosophy by the people of America. Enthusiastic disciples of new theories in philosophy are liable to exaggerated impressions of the prevalence of their opinions among the people. It will be remembered that Mr. Spencer was entertained at a banquet in the city of New York on the eve of his return to England after his visit to America. The account states that there were a hundred gentlemen present including presidents of colleges, scientific men, authors, clergymen and journalists of note, and many distinguished politicians and lawyers. The sentiment, for the evening, greeting Mr. Spencer was as follows: "We recognize in your knowledge greater comprehensiveness than in that of any other living man, or than has been presented by any one in our generation."

The sweeping character of this expression of admiration and of enthusiastic confidence in the doctrines of Mr. Spencer's philosophy, is not entitled to the value put upon it by Mr. Spencer's disciples. Criticism of Religion and Philosophy is a slow process, which extends through generations; and sentiments expressed at social functions in honor of a distinguished foreigner by his kindhearted hosts, who knew much more of banquets than of philosophy, are without significance in relation to educated American