SCIENTIFIC USE OF TIIE IMAGINATION. 10 1 



referred to ; but they exalt one of them from its abasement, 

 and repeal the divorce hitherto existing between both. In 

 substance, if not in words, their position as regards the 

 relation of spirit and matter is : " What God hath joined 

 together let not man put asunder." And with regard to 

 the ages of forgetfulness which lie between the unconscious 

 life of the nebula and the conscious life of the earth, it is, 

 they would urge, but an extension of that forgetfulness 

 which preceded the birth of us all. 



I have thus led you to the outer rim of speculative 

 science, for beyond the nebulas scientific thought has never 

 ventured hitherto, and have tried to state that which I con- 

 sidered ought, in fairness, to be outspoken. I do not think 

 this Evolution hypothesis is to be flouted away contempt- 

 ously ; I do not think it is to be denounced as Avicked. It 

 is to be brought before the bar of disciplined reason, and 

 there justified or condemned. Let us hearken to those who 

 wisely support it, and to those who wisely oppose it ; and 

 let us tolerate those, and they are many, who foolishly try 

 to do either of these things. The only thing out of place 

 in the discussion is dogmatism on either side. Fear not 

 the Evolution hypothesis. Steady yourselves in its presence 

 upon that faith in the ultimate triumph of truth which was 

 expressed by old Gamaliel when he said : " If it be of God, 

 ye cannot overthrow it ; if it be of man, it will come to 

 naught." Under the fierce light of scientific inquiry, this 

 hypothesis is sure to be dissipated if it possess not a core 

 of truth. Trust me, its existence as a hypothesis in the 

 mind is quite compatible with the simultaneous existence 

 of all those virtues to which the term Christian has been 

 applied. It does not solve — it does not profess to solve — 

 the ultimate mystery of this universe. It leaves in fact 

 that mystery untouched. For granting the nebula and its 

 potential life, the question, whence came they ? would still 

 remain to baffle and bewilder us. At bottom, the hypothc- 



