4 METAPHYSICS 



whether in the moral or intellectual world, and whether 

 engaged in the conflict against error, the circumscrip- 

 tion and removal of ignorance, or the obliteration of all 

 influences which in any way militate against human 

 advancement. If, therefore, religionists and scientists 

 but recognise the fact which they sometimes unhappily 

 overlook or conceal from themselves, that they are 

 brothers in quest of different routes by which they may 

 reach the same goal, and that they have duties which 

 they each owe to the other and to common humanity, 

 an impetus will be given to the general advancement of 

 civilisation which cannot fail to be abundantly evident 

 throughout the length and the breadth of the habitable 

 world. 



Truth will then have a chance of being recognised and 

 appreciated, whether it be " revealed " or " discovered," 

 in its full beauty, proportions, and stability, when dis- 

 entangled from the encrustations of ancient fable and 

 obscuring device, and reclaimed from crass ignorance, 

 placed on a pedestal universally visible and uplifted, and 

 approachable by all, however feebly inspired, who would 

 enter its great temple. 



Truth pillowed on miracle, overlain by an effortless 

 faith, and asphyxiated by an overgrowth of sometimes 

 parasitic influences, must at last yield to inertia and in- 

 anition, but truth standing firm on the rock of criticism 



' O 



and thrice repeated enquiry, animated by the free air and 

 life-giving breezes of a militant faith, will advance and 

 " cover the whole earth " as " the sea covers the channels 

 of the deep." 



Revelation and science will, thus united, give life and 

 encouragement to each other, and help on the advent 

 or arrival of that period, in the far-off future of the 

 race, when the " millennium " and " perfected evolution " 

 shall be one accomplished fact. 



