48 EVOLUTION AND SOCIAL PROGRESS 



(i) The universe, or the cosmos, is eternal, infinite, and 

 illimitable. (2) Its substance, with its two attributes matter 

 and energy fills infinite space, and is in eternal motion. (3) 

 This motion runs on through infinite time as an unbroken 

 development, with a periodic change from life to death, from 

 evolution to devolution. 



These statements, as every reasonable man 

 must admit, can never possibly be proved. They 

 are bold assertions in defiance of reason. The 

 faith with which they were to be accepted dif- 

 fered essentially from the faith of the Christian 

 believer. This, as St. Thomas says, has a four- 

 fold relation to reason: (i) it presupposes the 

 operations of reason on the motives of credibil- 

 ity for which we believe; (2) it is rendered in- 

 trinsically credible by reason; (3) it is illustrated 

 by reason; (4) it is finally defended by reason 

 against the sophisms of false philosophy. 11 



On Haeckel's word, rationalists and Socialists 

 without number accepted the infinity of matter 

 and of ether, the extension of both through in- 

 finite space, and the no less absurd dogma that 

 made of them both living and eternal beings. 

 "Surely not science," as Wallace, the English Dar- 

 winian exponent, exclaimed in reference to these 

 Haeckelian dogmas, u but very poor philosophy!" 



Even Haeckel's scientific deceptions, to which 

 we have alluded, such as the plain fact that he 

 had used the same photographic plate for dif- 



""The Riddle of the Universe," p. 13. 

 * Summarized from the Month, Dec., 1917. 



