228 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



translation has carried into the New Testament teaching. We 

 have, as a consequence, the popular idea, that the first step in a 

 religious life is self-inflicted punishment for past sin; an idea 

 which gave rise in the middle ages to the elaborate system of vol- 

 untary penances, fasting, flagellations, etc., and, more spiritually 

 interpreted, to the still common idea that no man can "begin a 

 Christian life without first undergoing what is called a " con- 

 viction of sin" — that is, a sense of shame and sorrow more or less 

 poignant because of sin. This misconception — for I am sure that 

 it is a misconception — leads modern revivalists to endeavor, by 

 various rhetorical and dramatic devices, to create such a feel- 

 ing of sorrow ; and would-be converts to endeavor, co-operating 

 with them, to beget in themselves such an experience. And con- 

 version is thought to be, or at least to be attested by, a sudden 

 emotional change from such an experience of regret and remorse 

 to one of peace and joy. This endeavor is scarcely more consist- 

 ent with the true teaching of the New Testament than the grosser 

 and more material endeavor to inflict self -punishment for sin by 

 penance. The flagellation of the soul is not more scriptural than 

 the flagellation of the body. What the Bible calls on men to do 

 is not to repent — that is, to punish themselves — but to " change 

 their minds," that is, to change their aims and purposes and hab- 

 its of thought and inward life. We have no English equivalent, 

 so far as I know, for the Greek words meta-noeo and meta-noia; 

 the phrase " change of mind " expresses an idea quite too super- 

 ficial. A change of the whole attitude of the soul toward life is 

 indicated. This may, and I think does, involve looking beyond 

 the sphere of sense ; it involves a perception of something that is 

 beyond knowledge ; but this is rather psychologically involved in 

 the mental condition than etymologically involved in the Greek 

 word meta-noeo. 



II. In respect to the psychological question, it is hardly neces- 

 sary for me to do more than say that I am in entire agreement 

 with you, and with what seems to me to be clearly involved if 

 not explicitly stated in what you have quoted from Herbert Spen- 

 cer. Scientific knowledge — truth that is scientifically demonstra- 

 ble — is derived by logical processes from observed phenomena. 

 This scientific process makes it reasonable to believe as a proba- 

 ble hypothesis that there is a psychic life which the decay of the 

 physical organization does not destroy ; but what is the nature of 

 that life, and whether it preserves its individuality, or is absorbed 

 into the general psychic force of the universe to reappear in new 

 forms, are questions on which the scientific process throws little 

 or no light. So the scientific process makes it as absolutely cer- 

 tain as anything can be that " we are ever in the presence of an 

 Infinite and Eternal Energy from which all things proceed." But 



