340 THE RIDDLE OF THE UNIVERSE. 



If we adopt this view, we can find a means of recon- 

 ciling the two great and apparently quite distinct 

 branches in the idea I put forward in " Monism, as a 

 connecting-link between religion and science " in 

 1892. In the preface to this Confession of Faith of a 

 Man of Science I expressed myself in the following 

 words with regard to its double object: " In the first 

 place, I must give expression to the rational system 

 which is logically forced upon us by the recent progress 

 of science ; it dwells in the intimate thoughts of 

 nearly every impartial and thoughtful scientist, though 

 few have the courage or the disposition to avow it. 

 In the second place, I would make of it a connecting- 

 link between religion and science, and thus do away 

 with the antithesis which has been needlessly main- 

 tained between these two branches of the highest 

 activity of the human mind. The ethical craving of 

 our emotion is satisfied by monism no less than the 

 logical demand for causality on the part of reason." 



The remarkable interest which the discourse 

 enkindled is a proof that in this monistic profession 

 of faith I expressed the feeling not only of many 

 scientists, but of a large number of cultured men and 

 women of very different circles. Not only was I 

 rewarded by hundreds of sympathetic letters, but by 

 a wide circulation of the printed address, of which six 

 editions were required within six months. I had the 

 more reason to be content with this unexpected 

 success, as this " confession of faith " was originally 

 merely an occasional speech which I delivered unpre- 

 pared on October 9th, 1892, at Altenburg, during the 

 jubilee of the Scientific Society of East Germany. 

 Naturally there was the usual demonstration on the 

 other side ; I was fiercely attacked, not only by the 



