INTRODUCTION 



ther wisdom nor understanding nor counsel 

 against the Eternal." 



41. In the "Century of Science" there are 

 several different personal confessions of Fiske's 

 experience, whereof the most extensive and im- 

 portant one, the speech at Mr. Clark^s dinner, 

 in 1895, ^^^ been already cited. The paper 

 numbered II., in that volume, on "The Doc- 

 trine of Evolution : its Scope and Purport," is 

 a further account of the conclusions to which 

 Fiske had been led. It is interesting that in 

 this address, delivered before the Brooklyn 

 Ethical Association, Fiske makes a very defi- 

 nite effort to show how much importance he still 

 attaches to the doctrine of Spencer in all its 

 great features, except, indeed, the negative ones, 

 while at the same time he distinctly says that : 

 " As regards the theological implications of th*e 

 doctrine of evolution, I have never undertaken 

 to speak for Mr. Spencer; on such transcenden- 

 tal subjects it is quite enough if one speaks for 

 one's self." For the rest, all the motives that 

 we have thus far followed are brought together 

 in this essay. There is the emphasis laid upon 

 a teleological interpretation. There is the in- 

 sistence upon the essential absurdity of mate- 

 rialism, and upon its strong opposition to the 

 true Spencerian theory. There is also a recapit- 

 ulation of the argument of the " Cosmic Phi- 

 cxxx 



