86 PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



elements in space and the origin in time of the exist- 

 ences which are in and around us. The hopefulness 

 which characterised philosophy in Germany and science in 

 France in the beginning of the nineteenth century, and 

 which, so far as the latter is concerned, found an ex- 

 pression in the teaching of Comte, has not been realised in 

 the course of the last half of the century. A large por- 

 tion of the population of the most cultured nations, in 

 spite of educational efforts, still partakes to a very 

 small extent of the intellectual advancement which 

 philosophy and science afford to a select few, not to 

 mention the utter hopelessness in which large numbers 

 of the population, in the great centres of so - called 

 culture, have to pass their lives. Is it then to be 

 wondered at that a distrust, not to say contempt for 

 philosophical speculation, has taken hold of the public 

 mind ? and that the belief in pure science is not based, 

 as it used to be, on the love of truth, but that it has 

 increasingly what Bolingbroke used to call " a metallic 

 flavour " ? Nevertheless, as I stated above, the search 

 for the truly Real is not abandoned, but looks for the 

 effort of the practical worker. If the realisation of the 

 great ideals which Christianity has set before us, and 

 philosophy has endeavoured, perhaps not altogether suc- 

 cessfully, to support, is the sole and only object of all 

 practical Religion, then we may say with some confidence 

 that an increasing number of the thinkers of our age 

 expect the next step in the solution of the great prob- 

 lems of life to be taken by practical Eeligion. Assum- 

 ing they are not mistaken in this, as I firmly believe 

 they are not, the first signs that this advance has to 



