146 LAY SERMONS, ADDRESSES, AND REVIEWS. [vn. 



phenomena of spirit, in terms of matter : matter may 

 be regarded as a form of thought, thought may be re- 

 garded as a property of matter — each statement has a 

 certain relative truth. But with a view to the progress 

 of science, the materialistic terminology is in every way 

 to be preferred. For it connects thought with the other 

 phaenornena of the universe, and suggests inquiry into 

 the nature of those physical conditions, or concomitants 

 of thought, which are more or less accessible to us, and 

 a knowledge of which may, in future, help us to exercise 

 the same kind of control over the world of thought, as 

 we already possess in respect of the material world ; 

 whereas, the alternative, or spiritualistic, terminology is 

 utterly barren, and leads to nothing but obscurity and 

 confusion of ideas. 



Thus there can be little doubt, that the further science 

 advances, the more extensively and consistently will all 

 the phaenornena of nature be represented by materialistic 

 formulas and symbols. 



But the man of science, who, forgetting the limits oi 

 philosophical inquiry, slides from these formulae and 

 symbols into what is commonly understood by mate- 

 rialism, seems to me to place himself on a level with 

 the mathematician, who should mistake the x's and y\ 

 with which he works his problems, for real entities — anc 

 with this further disadvantage, as compared with th* 

 mathematician, that the blunders of the latter are of 

 no practical consequence, while the errors of systematic 

 materialism may paralyse the energies and destroy the 

 beauty of a life. 



