EVOLUTION AND RELIGION 



phenomena of the universe, whether they be 

 what we call material or what we call spiritual 

 phenomena, are manifestations of this infinite 

 and eternal Power. Now, this assertion, which 

 Mr. Spencer has so elaborately set forth as a 

 scientific truth, nay, as the ultimate truth of 

 science, as the truth upon which the whole struc- 

 ture of human knowledge philosophically rests, 

 this assertion is identical with the assertion 

 of an eternal Power, not ourselves, that forms 

 the speculative basis of all religions. When 

 Carlyle speaks of the universe as in very truth 

 the star-domed city of God, and reminds us that 

 through every crystal and through every grass- 

 blade, but most through every living soul, the 

 glory of a present God still beams, he means 

 pretty much the same thing that Mr. Spencer 

 means, save that he speaks with the language 

 of poetry, with language coloured by emotion, 

 and not with the precise, formal, and colourless 

 language of science. By many critics who for- 

 get that names are but the counters rather than 

 the hard money of thought, objections have 

 been raised to the use of such a phrase as the 

 Unknowable whereby to describe the power 

 that is manifested in every event of the universe. 

 Yet, when the Hebrew prophet declared that 

 " by Him were laid the foundations of the deep," 

 but reminded us, " Who by searching can find 

 Him out?" he meant pretty much what Mr, 

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