RELIGION AND SCIENCE. 23 



needful complement to that held by the other; so must it 

 be on a grander scale with Religion and Science. Here too 

 we must look for a conception which combines the conclu- 

 sions of both; and here too w T e may expect important re- 

 sults from their combination. To understand how Science 

 and Religion express opposite sides of the same fact — the 

 one its near or visible side, and the other its remote or invisi- 

 ble side — this it is which we must attempt; and to achieve 

 this must profoundly modify our general Theory of Things. 

 Already in the foregoing pages the method of seeking 

 such a reconciliation has been vaguely foreshadowed. Be- 

 fore proceeding further, however, it will be well to treat the 

 question of method more definitely. To find that truth in 

 which Religion and Science coalesce, we must know in what 

 direction to look for it, and what kind of truth it is likely 

 to be. 



§ 7. We have found a priori reason for believing that in 

 all religions, even the rudest, there lies hidden a funda- 

 mental verity. We have inferred that this fundamental 

 verity is that element common to all religions, which re- 

 mains after their discordant peculiarities have been mu- 

 tually cancelled. And we have further inferred that this 

 element is almost certain to be more abstract than any cur- 

 rent religious doctrine. Now it is manifest that only in 

 some highly abstract proposition, can Religion and Science 

 find a common ground. Neither such dogmas as those of 

 the trinitarian and unitarian, nor any such idea as that of 

 propitiation, common though it may be to all religions, can 

 serve as the desired basis of agreement; for Science cannot 

 recognize beliefs like these: they lie beyond its sphere. 

 Hence we see not only that, judging by analogy, the essen- 

 tial truth contained in Religion is that most abstract element 

 pervading all its forms ; but also that this most abstract ele- 

 ment is the only one in which Religion is likely to agree 

 with Science. 



