PREFACE. XI 



three are but the essential and complementary aspects 

 of Eeligion in its genuine, practical, concrete signifi- 

 cance. 



To decry science is to commit oneself to the per- 

 petuation of superstition. To decry religion is to 

 threaten the existence of the ultimate motive leading 

 to any and every effort in the field of science. Equally 

 true is it, whether in the realm of science or in the 

 realm of religion, that nothing can survive save that 

 which is adapted to its environment. And in the out- 

 come the one. real environment of human thought, as of 

 human faith, is the abiding Truth of the World. 



While, then, it may be true that "man is what he 

 eats (Mann ist was er isst,") it is equally true that 

 man is what he thinks and what he does in pursuance 

 of his thinking. So that " man's place in Nature" is 

 essentially his relation as a thinking (and therefore 

 indestructible) agent to -the ultimate Reason, which con- 

 stitutes all that is of the reality we call "Nature." 



Such are the convictions at which I have myself 

 arrived. Whether the following discussion will justify 

 these convictions to the reader must, of course, be deter- 

 mined by the reader himself. 



I have only to add that for the carefully prepared 

 index accompanying this volume, I am indebted to the 

 kindness of my young friend, Mr. Charles L. Deyo. 



ST. Louis, March, 1890. 



