126 LAY SERMONS, ESSAYS, AND REVIEWS. [vii. 



of each and all of us is to try to make the little corner he can 

 influence somewhat less miserable and somewhat less ignorant 

 than it was before he entered it. To do this effectually it is 

 necessary to be fully possessed of only two beliefs : the first, that 

 the order of nature is ascertainable by our faculties to an extent 

 which is practically unlimited ; the second, that our volition 

 counts for something as a condition of the course of events. 



Each of these beliefs can be verified experimentally, as often 

 as we like to try. Each, therefore, stands upon the strongest 

 foundation upon which any belief can rest, and forms one of our 

 highest truths. If we find that the ascertainment of the order 

 of nature is facilitated by using one terminology, or one set of 

 symbols, rather than another, it is our clear duty to use the 

 former ; and no harm can accrue, so long as we bear in mind, 

 that we are dealing merely with terms and symbols. 



In itself it is of little moment whether we express the phaeno- 

 mena of matter in terms of spirit ; or the phenomena of spirit, 

 in terms of matter : matter may be regarded as a form of 

 thought, thought may be regarded 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 

 phenomena 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 mate 

 rial 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 ad 

 vances, the more extensively and consistently will all the 

 phsenomena of nature be represented by materialistic formula^ 

 and symbols. 



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

 phical inquiry, slides from these formulae and symbols into what 



