RATIONALISM AND THE IDEA OF GOD 227 



itself on scientific method, while it must resign itself 

 to being unable to produce a complete, ready-made, 

 and immutable scheme, however beloved of the 

 multitude (and indeed so beloved because it satisfies 

 a lower and more primitive mode of thinking only), 

 on the other hand can be assured that its knowledge 

 and effectiveness will increase, and that contradic- 

 tions will resolve themselves, provided that free in- 

 quiry, free speech, and tolerance are allowed and 

 practised. Attempts to reconcile the old formula- 

 tion with the new facts and ideas, when not insincere, 

 are doomed to failure because the premisses of the 

 two systems are different. 



In conclusion, we may perhaps point out some of 

 the bearings of such a change. In the first place, the 

 change in our conception of God necessitates the 

 stressing of religious experience, as such, as against 

 belief in particular dogma, or in the efficacy of spe- 

 cial ritual. 



Secondly, it emphasizes the need for tolerance and 

 enlightenment. The scientific view asserts not that 

 its knowledge is absolute or complete, but that, al- 

 though relative and partial, it will indubitably con- 

 tinue to grow harmoniously along the general lines 

 already laid down. 



Another change wrought by the inclusion of all 

 phenomena under one head and the banishment of 

 the supernatural is the inestimable advantage that 

 we thereby find the possibility of constructing a sin- 

 gle general view of the universe for civilization. At 



