of the Evolution FlillosopJiy. 17 



when tested by scientific methods, are found to Ite almost 

 always illusory and misleading. The perception of this 

 fact imposes upon us the sacred obligation to penetrate 

 beneath the surface — to discover the causes and the real 

 relations of plienomena, and to apply the knowledge thus 

 gained to the advancement and betterment of human life. 



No realm of thought is thus too sacred for the human 

 mind to penetrate. Into the nature, origin and historical 

 evolution of religion, into the character and history of 

 man's moral sense, into the realms of psychology and of 

 the physical sciences, the reason must search for material 

 wherewith to broaden and deejjen the life of man, and 

 enlarge the area of human happiness. Nor is man even 

 forbidden to enter into the lofty regions of speculative 

 thought : only he is bidden to remember that, in exercising 

 his reason upon ontological problems, he can do no more 

 than to create symbols and imaginative pictures of that 

 which is, from the nature of things, in its absolute essence 

 beyond our human ken. Something of gain in the way of 

 mental disci[)line there is, doubtless, in climbing occasion- 

 ally into the thin air of these iipper regions of speculative 

 research, if by breathing it we do not become intoxicated 

 with the conceit that we are thereby acquainting ourselves 

 with the actual verities of Absolute and Unconditioned 

 Being. Compared with the results of research into the 

 relations of phenomena, conducted according to the scien- 

 tific method, metaphysical speculation " has proved unpro- 

 ductive, unprogressive, and sterile of practical benefits to 

 man. There is no agreement as to results among specula- 

 tive thinkers. The schools of metaphysics are as numer- 

 ous as theological sects, and for a similar reason : there is 

 no criterion of truth which all agree to accept. 



It is evident that the content and metliods of religion as 

 reconstructed in accordance with the principles of science 

 and the philosophy of evolution, will differ essentially 

 from dhose which have governed and still largely goxcrn 

 thje work of the Christian church. Yet in so differing they 

 will, if we mistake not, come nearer to the essential 

 thought of the founder of Christianity. Instead of urg- 

 ing man to an egoistic strife after i)ersonal salvation, relig- 

 ion thus reconstructed will bid him so enlarge and culti- 

 vate his own nature that he can render the worthiest and 

 most profitable service to his fellow-men. Instead of basing 



