Vlll NOTICE OF HERBERT SPENCER S 



— a soul of truth, which remains when their conflicting doctrinea 

 and discordant peculiarities are mutually cancelled. In the lower 

 and grosser forms of religion this truth is but dimly discerned, 

 but becomes ever clearer the more highly the religion is devel- 

 oped, surviving every change, and remaining untouched by the 

 severest criticism. 



3Ir. Spencer then proceeds to demonstrate that all science 

 tends to precisely the same great conclusion; — in all directions 

 investigation leads to insoluble mystery. Alike in the external and 

 the internal worlds, the man of science sees himself in the midst 

 of perpetual changes of which he can discover neither the begin- 

 ning nor the end. If he looks inward, he perceives that both 

 ends of the thread of consciousness are beyond his grasp. If he 

 resolve the appearances, projDerties, and movements of surround- 

 ing things into manifestations of Force in Space and Time, he still 

 finds that Force, Space, and Time pass all understanding. Thus 

 do all lines of argument converge to the same conclusion. 

 Whether we scrutinize internal consciousness or external phenom- 

 ena, or trace to their root the faiths of mankind, we reach that 

 common ground where all antagonisms disapi^ear — that highest 

 and most abstract of all truths, which is . affirmed with equal 

 certainty by both religion and science, and in which may be 

 found their full and final reconciliation. 



It is perhaps hardly just to Mr. Spencer to state his position 

 upon this grave subject without giving also the accompanying 

 reasoning ; but so compressed and symmetrical is his argument 

 that it cannot be put into narrower compass without mutilation. 

 To those interested in the advance of thought in this direction, 

 Me may say that the discussion will be found imsurpassed in 

 nobleness of aim, eloquence of statement, philosophic breadth, 

 and depth and power of reasoning. 



This portion of the work embraces five chapters, as follows 

 L Religion and Science ; 11. Ultimate Religious Ideas ; UL 



