146 SCIENCE AND THE HUMAN MIND 



the most perfect creation possible, being the handiwork 

 of an all-wise Maker, so that nothing can be found 

 in the world in which some maximal or minimal 

 property is not displayed. 



It is true that in some of the greatest minds this 

 confused thought is not found. Newton had a deep 

 religious sense, and, indeed, wrote on theology. But his 

 scientific work is quite free from theological arguments. 

 Nevertheless, with less clear-sighted intellects, the 

 theological prepossession gave an inward obstacle 

 to scientific progress long after the danger of external 

 persecution had passed away. 



But a new tendency is seen in Locke and his followers. 

 Aquinas built up a joint structure of knowledge, 

 starting from the side of patristic theology. Locke, 

 with characteristic British practical sense, and a wide 

 experience of life and thought acquired at a critical 

 period of history, essayed to found a rational Christi- 

 anity on the sure ground of experience. Both at- 

 tempted a synthesis. But while Aquinas' scheme 

 had the rigidity and absoluteness of its chief con- 

 stituent, Locke's contained the possibility of continual 

 adaptation to the varying needs of intellectual 

 development. 



In the second half of the eighteenth century, the 

 change of outlook became much more general. The 

 ablest men in all branches of life became for the most 

 part sceptical in matters of religion. Voltaire's 

 attacks on the clergy and their teaching were but the 

 most witty example of a wide-spread tendency of 

 thought. Locke and the English Deists had their 

 Continental counterparts, who undermined orthodoxy, 

 just as the success of the Whig Monarchy in England 



