MODERN SCIENCE AND PANTHEISM 57 



science ? Can there be antagonism between the 

 truth and the real interests of man ? — is not truth 

 our highest interest ? Or, is truth of mere fact per- 

 chance not our highest interest ? — is there perhaps 

 such a thing as gradation in truths, and an inward 

 truth that must be supreme for us, but which yet 

 may be antagonised by the truths of Nature ? And 

 if our nature looks both to truths of fact and to 

 truths of worth, is there some ghastly gulf in our be- 

 ing? — are we the victims of a tragic chasm between 

 two indestructible wants of ours ? Or if again not 

 so, if deeper knowledge harmonises these wants, what 

 is this rational path to our peace ? 



Your present question can hardly have for most 

 minds the interest which so directly belongs to the 

 question of Immortality, discussed by you last year; 

 at least, not on its surface. Yet a study of it in 

 the detail of the subsidiary questions just stated will 

 not only secure the clearness needed for an intelli- 

 gent answer, but will bring to view how really deep 

 its interest is. It will show this to be no less pro- 

 found, while far more inclusive, than that of your 

 earlier problem. For this reason, I venture to 

 offer you the reflexions that have passed in my 

 mind in the endeavour to clear up these more 

 detailed questions. These defining questions I 

 will ask you to consider with me in their proper 

 succession. 



