EDITOR'S TABLE. 



269 



beino;' transformed by scientific metb- 

 od, and along with thought theology 

 must change in form on some such 

 lines as these." The following re- 

 marks on the subject of sin recall 

 very strongly the views of Mr. Her- 

 bert Spencer : " It seems plain that 

 if sin is a ti'ansgression and goodness 

 the fulfillment of the law of man's 

 higher nature, the consequences of 

 sin and of goodness are not arbitrary 

 nor external ; they are in ourselves. 

 They are the being what we have 

 become, the sinking to the lower or 

 the rising to the higher." 



It seems to us that in this ad- 

 dresseven in the few extracts we 

 have made there is much food for 

 reflection. We may each form our 

 own estimate of the success with 

 which the author has applied him- 

 self to the task of reconciling the 

 scientific philosophy of the age with 

 Christian doctrine ; but it seems 

 clear to us that the efi^ort to give at 

 once a rational basis and interpreta- 

 tion to the accepted teachings of re- 

 ligion and a religious character to 

 the principles of science is in every 

 way commendable. There is not 

 too much science in the world to- 

 day, nor is there too much religion ; 

 and it can neither do the religionist 

 any harm to know that the doc- 

 trines in which he places faith may 

 be regarded as part of the rational 

 interpretation of the universe, nor 

 the scientist to know that the intel- 

 lectual aspect of his theories is not 

 all that they have their moral and 

 spiritual implications to which he 

 would do well to take heed. The 

 final aim of all intellectual effort 

 should be the wise government of 

 human life; and science does not 

 properly fulfill its function, does not 

 do justice to its own mission in the 

 world, unless it endeavors to moral- 

 ize its message to mankind. There 

 has been too great a willingness, if 

 we may say so, on the part of scien- 



tific investigators to fling broadcast 

 crude theoretical conclusions, with- 

 out any care as to how they may be 

 cori'elated with the general body of 

 human beliefs and sentiments. Sci- 

 ence, under this treatment, loses 

 much of the charm with which it 

 ought to be invested, and arouses 

 a certain instinctive repugnance 

 against itself and its professors in 

 the popular mind. Hard-headed 

 and ambitious men, on the other 

 hand, see in it an excellent road to 

 money-making, and nothing more. 

 Properly presented to the world, it 

 might, as Wordsworth says of duty, 

 wear " the Godhead's most benignant 

 grace " ; and it is to the credit of the 

 theologians that many of them are 

 endeavoring so to present it. The 

 Archdeacon of Manchester is not far 

 wrong when he says that " the needs 

 of the human heart are much the 

 same as they were four thousand 

 years ago." A recent writer who, 

 though chiefly known as the author 

 of fantastic tales, is understood to be 

 a strong man of science in certain 

 lines Mr. H. G. Wells would car- 

 ry this statement much further back 

 than four thousand years.* At any 

 rate, there is such a thing as the hu- 

 man heart, and it wants a word now 

 and then. It may be impossible per- 

 haps for science, as science, to speak 

 the word ; but it should at least wel- 

 come every alliance which, while 

 leaving it due freedom of action, may 

 help to bring it a little nearer to the 

 instinctive needs and higher moral 

 sentiments and aspirations of hu- 

 manity. 



INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE. 



It was a, favorite dream of the 

 early political economists that the 

 expansion of international trade 

 would gradually unify the world, 



* See an article in the October Fortnightly 

 Review Evolution an Artificial Process. 



