56 INTRODUCTION. 



it may not be within the scope of this introduc- 

 tory volume to inquire ; it has done so much that 

 students of religion may almost be pardoned the over- 

 sight of the stupendous natural basis which made it 

 possible. But nothing is gained by protesting that 

 "this altruistic development, and the deepening and 

 softening of character which has accompanied it, are 

 the direct and peculiar product of the religious 

 system." For nothing can ever be gained by setting 

 one half of Nature against the other, or the rational 

 against the ultra- rational. To affirm that Altruism is 

 a peculiar product of religion is to excommunicate 

 Nature from the moral order, and religion from the 

 rational order. If science is to begin to recognize 

 religion, religion must at least end by recognizing 

 science. And so far from religion sacrificing vital 

 distinctions by allying itself with Nature, so far from 

 impoverishing its immortal quality by accepting some 

 contribution from the lower sphere, it thereby extends 

 itself over the whole rich field, and claims all matter, 

 life, mind, space, time for itself. The present danger 

 is not in applying Evolution as a method, but only in 

 not carrying it far enough. No man, no man of sci- 

 ence even, observing the simple facts, can ever rob 

 religion of its due. Religion has done more for the 

 development of Altruism in a few centuries than all 

 the millenniums of geological time. But we dare not 

 rob Nature of its due. We dare not say that Nature 

 played the prodigal for ages, and reformed at the 

 eleventh hour. If Nature is the Garment of God, it is 

 woven without seam throughout ; if a revelation of 

 God, it is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever; if 

 the expression of His Will, there is in it no variable- 



