REV. MARTINEAU AND BELFAST ADDRESS 248 



ence of illustration," and tlie heat, and haze, and haste, 

 generated by its reaction upon Mr. Martineau's own mind, 

 often produce vagueness where precision is the one thing 

 needful — poetic fervor where we require judicial calm; and 

 practical unfairness where the strictest justice ought to be, 

 and I willingly believe is meant to be, observed. 



In one of his nobler passages Mr. Martineau tells us 

 how the pupils of his college have been educated hitherto: 

 *'They have been trained under the assumptions (1) that 

 the Universe which includes us and folds us round is the 

 life- dwelling of an Eternal Mind; (2) that the world of our 

 abode is the scene of a moral government, incipient but 

 not complete; and (3) that the upper zones of human affec- 

 tion, above the clouds of self and passion, take us into the 

 sphere of a Divine Communion. Into this over- arching 

 scene it is that growing thought and enthusiasm have ex- 

 panded to catch their light and fire." 



Alpine summits seem to kindle above us as we read 

 these glowing words; we see their beauty and feel their 

 life. At the close of one of the essays here printed,* I 

 thus refer to the "Communion" which Mr. Martineau calls 

 *'Divine": '* 'Two things,' said Immanuel Kant, 'fill me 

 with awe — the starry heavens, and the sense of moral re- 

 sponsibility in man.' And in his hours of health and 

 strength and sanity, when the stroke of action has ceased, 

 and the pause of reflection has set in, the scientific in- 

 vestigator finds himself overshadowed by the same awe. 

 Breaking contact with the hampering details of earth, it 

 associates him with a Power which gives fulness and tone 

 to his existence, but which he can neither analyze nor 



* "Scientific Use of the Imagination.' 



