THE UNFATHOMED UNIVERSE 41 



for the enhancement of his life, and some way or means 

 tf uniting the worshipper with God or the gods 



:t is evident, then, that the religious language is not the 

 scientific language, and that it is impossible to intermingle 

 the two. The religious concepts are different and apparently 

 more metaphysical; their aim is interpretation rather than 

 description. In short, science and religion are incommen- 

 surables. 



But to call religion and science < incommensurables is 

 not to fall back on the old-fashioned impossible device of 

 having idea-tight compartments. J U8t as a novel scientific 

 generalisation is not incorporated in our scientific system 

 unless consistent with previously established conclusions or 

 unless the latter can be adjusted to meet the new idea har- 

 moniously, so at a greater height, where philosophical dis- 

 cipline is invaluable, a religious idea, such as that of a Divine 

 Creator, must be congruent with the rest of our world-picture 

 *, with the idea of evolution. It is the criterion of con' 

 tency that saves from superstition. 



Men are led to religion along many pathways-from the 

 perplexities of the moral life, from an appreciation of 

 he facts of history, and from the experience of reaching the 

 limits of practical endeavour, of emotional expression, and 

 : intellectual inquiry. When we think of the last-named 

 three pathways to religion, which many tread,-through 

 baulked struggle, over-strained emotion, and baffled search 

 after clear understanding,-we can see why the rapid devel- 

 opment of science should, for a time of transition at least 

 work against religion. For science gives Man from time to' 

 time a greatly increased mastery over Nature; science, with 

 * analytical triumphs, ever tends to diminish, in the shallow- 

 H the saving grace of wonder; and science is ever 



