APOLOGY FOR THE BELFAST ADDBESS. 219 



and raise itself to a loftier level. In man improvement 

 and amelioration depend largely upon the growth of 

 conscious knowledge, by which the errors of ignorance 

 are continually moulted, and truth is organised. It is 

 the advance of knowledge that has given a material- 

 istic colour to the philosophy of this age. Materi- 

 alism is therefore not a thing to be mourned over, 

 but to be honestly considered accepted if it be wholly 

 true, rejected if it be wholly false, wisely sifted and 

 turned to account if it embrace a mixture of truth 

 and error. Of late years the study of the nervous 

 system, and its relation to thought and feeling, have 

 profoundly occupied enquiring minds. It is our duty 

 not to shirk it ought rather to be our privilege to 

 accept the established results of such enquiries, for 

 here assuredly our ultimate weal depends upon our 

 loyalty to the truth. Instructed as to the control which 

 the nervous system exercises over man's moral and intel- 

 lectual nature, we shall be better prepared, not only to 

 mend their manifold defects, but also to strengthen and 

 purify both. Is mind degraded by this recognition of 

 its dependence ? Assuredly not. Matter, on the con- 

 trary, is raised to the level it ought to occupy, and 

 from which timid ignorance would remove it. 



But the light is dawning, and it will become stronger 

 as time goes on. Even the Brighton " Church Congress " 

 affords evidence of this. From the manifold confusions 

 of that assemblage my memory has rescued two items, 

 which it would fain preserve : the recognition of a relation 

 between Health and Religion, and the address of the 

 Rev. Harry Jones. Out of the conflict of vanities his 

 words emerge wholesome and strong, because undrugged 

 by dogma, coming directly from the warm brain of one 

 who knows what practical truth means, and who has 

 faith in its vitality and inherent power of propagation. 

 44 



