EXCURSIONS OF AN EVOLUTIONIST 



cannot, and so discuss it we will. Such, I pre- 

 sume, will be the course which philosophy will 

 take where religious questions are concerned. 



And now we are brought to the other part 

 of my question. Will the time ever come again 

 when men will be absorbed in questions of a 

 transcendental or ontological character, as Aqui- 

 nas and other great mediaeval thinkers were ab- 

 sorbed ? It seems to me quite possible that the 

 interest in such matters may again become as 

 intense, though not so exclusive, as it was in the 

 Middle Ages. But if it be asked whether there 

 can ever again be a theological renaissance of 

 such a character that men shall agree to surren- 

 der their right of private judgment on purely 

 religious questions, and accept the teachings of 

 any church, the reply must be that any renais- 

 sance of this sort is utterly impossible. The 

 further question, whether unity of belief can ever 

 be secured in any other way, is to be met by the 

 assertion that unity of belief is no longer either 

 possible or desirable. Such a statement as this 

 is very startling, and more or less puzzling, to 

 many people, as I have often had occasion to 

 observe ; and when the truth of it has come 

 to be generally and thoroughly realized, it will 

 probably be the greatest step in religious pro- 

 gress that has ever been accomplished. Once, 

 we know, unity of belief was held to be of such 

 supreme importance that the faintest whisper 

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