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things, not to bs seen by ordinary mortals, have been discerned by privi- 

 leged spirits. We believe neither in the powers of discernment claimed, 

 nor in the being privileged, nor in the spirits. The whole position assumed 

 by those who attempt to explain vital actions by physics and chemistry is 

 untenable, and the pretentious assumption of knowledge as to what is to 

 be revealed by the science of the future degrading to the thought of our 

 time. The non-living state of matter is separated from, the living state by 

 a chasm which is unfathomable and which has not been, and which never 

 can be, bridged, even in thought. The attempts which have been made to 

 persuade ignorant people to believe that this has been done, or that it is 

 within the bounds of that which is possible, are unjustifiable and antago- 

 nistic to the scientific method, and must certainly retard real progress! 



The advocates of Atheism, or of that very nebulous form of Theism which 

 logically leads to it, and is, indeed, practically Atheism, have utterly misled 

 themselves and others by assuming the truth of the conjecture that the non- 

 living and living are one, that matter in the non-living state differs in degree 

 only from matter in the living state. They affirm in the most positive and 

 reckless manner that this conjecture is a fact. Unlearned, unscientific 

 people, believing that men of scientific authority would not have spoken thus 

 positively unless they had distinct and irrefragable proof of the statements 

 they made, proceed straightway to modify all the views which they had 

 been taught in their childhood, abandon as fiction what they believed to be 

 truth, and accept as realities the extravagant and fanciful doctrines of that 

 scientific imagination which change from year to year, and concerning which 

 there is but one thing certain, that they proceed from and will return to 

 the nebulous state. People hungering for a reputation for comprehensive- 

 ness, large-niindedness, and intellectual grasp, abandon their belief in the unseen 

 without even being at the trouble of inquiring whether any evidence or argu- 

 ment can be adduced in favour of the new dicta. The sort of argument which 

 seems to convince people, of course longing to be convinced, is to be found in 

 assertions of the vaguest character about the nebulous originals of suns 

 and planets being connected by a chain of causation with the physical basis 

 of existing life and organisation. Can it be supposed that it is in any sense 

 a valid Excuse on the part of any thinking person to urge that the responsi- 

 bility rests with those who teach these doctrines 1 The desire for being 

 taught encourages the teachers, and if there was no longing for the doctrines 

 of a silly form of science the supply would soon cease. It is surely as much 

 the duty of intelligent persons to find out and expose erroneous teaching in 

 science as in other departments of human knowledge. If but a very little 

 trouble had been taken by some of those well qualified for the task, a good 

 deal of nonsense which has excited curiosity, pleased the fancy, and deceived 

 the intellect during the last twenty years, would have done no more 

 harm than contribute a little intellectual amusement and help to sharpen 

 the wits of the rising generation. Every person of intelligence ought to be 

 competent to estimate the importance and reliability of reasons given for chang- 

 ing or subverting his belief in the fundamental facts of his religion, and most 



