COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



a proceeding. First, such doctrines are too 

 subtle, too spiritual indeed, to be apprehended 

 otherwise than by a slow process of growth, in- 

 tellectual and moral. Accordingly, since men's 

 theologies are narrowly implicated with their 

 principles of action, the taking away of their 

 theology by any other process than that of 

 slowly supplanting it by a new system of con- 

 ceptions equally adapted to furnish general prin- 

 ciples of action, would be to leave men trivial 

 minded and irreligious, with no rational motive 

 but self-interest, no clearly conceived end save 

 the pleasure of the moment. The evolutionist, 

 therefore, believing that faith in some control- 

 ling ideal is essential to right living, and that 

 even an unscientific faith is infinitely better than 

 aimless scepticism, does not go about pointing 

 out to the orthodox the inconsistencies which 

 he discerns in their system of beliefs. And 

 while assured that the deanthropomorphizing 

 process will continue to go on as it has gone on 

 since the dawn of history, under the slow but 

 unceasing stimulus of scientific generalization, 

 he at the same time rejoices that a violent 

 destruction of anthropomorphic conceptions is 

 impossible. Refraining, therefore, from barren 

 theologic controversy, his aim is to carry scien- 

 tific methods and scientific interpretations into 

 all departments of inquiry, in accordance with 

 the profound aphorism of Dr. Newmaq : " False 

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