54 A Century of Science 



principle of life is not psychical, and therefore can- 

 not be called in any sense " a personal God." In 

 an ultimate analysis, I suspect Professor Haeckel's 

 ubiquitous monistic principle would turn out to be 

 neither more nor less than Dr. Biichner's mechan- 

 ical force (Kraft). On the other hand, I have 

 sought to show in my little book " The Idea of 

 God" that the Infinite and Eternal Power that 

 animates the universe must be psychical in its na- 

 ture, that any attempt to reduce it to mechanical 

 force must end in absurdity, and that the only 

 kind of monism which will stand the test of 

 an ultimate analysis is monotheism. While in 

 the chapter on Anthropomorphic Theism, in my 

 " Cosmic Philosophy," I have taken great pains to 

 point out the difficulties in which (as finite think- 

 ers) we are involved when we try to conceive the 

 Infinite and Eternal Power as psychical in his na- 

 ture, I have in the chapter on Matter and Spirit, 

 in that same book, taken equal pains to show that 

 we are logically compelled thus to conceive Him. 



One's attitude toward such problems is likely to 

 be determined by one's fundamental conception of 

 psychical life. To a materialist the ultimate power 

 is mechanical force, and psychical life is nothing 

 but the temporary and local result of fleeting col- 

 locations of material elements in the shape of ner- 



