LECTURE I. 



GENERAL RELATIONS OF SCIENCE AND AGNOSTIC 



SPECULATION. 



THE infidelity and the contempt for sa- 

 cred and spiritual things which pervade 

 SO much of our modern literature are largely 

 attributable to the prevalence of that form of 

 philosophy which may be designated as Agnos- 

 tic Evolution, and this in its turn is popularly 

 regarded as a result of the pursuit of physical 

 and natural science. The last conclusion is 

 obviously only in part, if at all, correct, since it 

 is well known that atheistic philosophical specu- 

 lations were pursued, quite as boldly and ably 

 as now, long before the rise of modem science. 

 Still, it must be admitted that scientific discov- 

 eries and principles have been largely employ- 

 ed in our tune to give form and consistency 

 to ideas otherwise very dim and shadowy, and 

 tlius to rehabilitate for our benefit the philo- 

 sophical dreams of antiquity in a more substan- 

 tial shape. In this respect the natural sciences 



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