314 ESSAYS IN PHILOSOPHY 



the denial of freedom, or to maintain freedom a on- 

 trance and deny the omnipotence and omniscience 

 of God, or even the existence of God altogether. 

 The times are now, however, full of a consciousness 

 that a religious view of existence demands the justi- 

 fication of both principles, and their reconciliation. 



The problem is stated by your president, in your cur- 

 rent programme, in these words : Are the ideas of 

 Determinism and Freedom reconcilable, and do they 

 merge i^i identity and lead to the 07itcome assumed by 

 Dr. Gordon ? In this statement, there is a reference 

 to the belief quite surely implied in the tenth chap- 

 ter of Dr. Gordon's volume,^ that determinism and 

 freedom do merge in identity, or tend to do so, and 

 that this means the tendency of God's supremacy 

 and man's free action to blend at last in universal 

 salvation. 



To the questions so squarely and so candidly put, 

 I think it most becoming, as well as most natural, 

 to answer squarely and with equal openness. It 

 appears to me, then, that the two ideas are recon- 

 cilable, and that though they never themselves 

 merge in identity, nor even tend to do so, they 

 yet do lead, by their constant cooperation, to one 



1 G. A. Gordon : htimortaliiy and the New Theodicy. [The Inger- 

 soll Lecture at Harvard University for 1896.] Boston: Houghton, 

 Mifflin and Co., 1897. ^^^ book formed the basis of the year's studies 

 in the Theological Society. 



