214 



FACTS AND FANCIES 



own form of words. So true is this that no 

 writers are more anthropomorphic in their 

 * modes of speaking of nature than those who 

 most strongly denounce anthropomorphism. 

 Even the celebrated definition of life by Her- 

 bert Spencer cannot escape this tincture. 

 "Life," he says, "is the continuous adj^istment 

 of internal to external conditions." Now, the 

 essence of this definition lies in the word * ad- 

 justment." But to adjust is to arrange, adapt, 

 or fit — all purely human and intelligent actions. 

 Nothing, therefore, could be more anthropo- 

 morphic than such a statement. As theists we 

 need not complain of this, but surely as agnos- 

 tics V7e should decidedly object to it. 



The other word whose meaning it is neces- 

 sary to consider is "supernatural," which it 

 might be well, perhaps, to follow the example 

 of the New Testament in avoiding altogether 

 as a misleading term. If by supernatural we 

 mean something outside of and above nature 

 and natural law, there is really no such thing 

 in the universe. There may be that which is 

 " spiritual," as distinguished from that which is 

 natural in the material sense ; but the spiritual 

 has its own laws, which are not in conflict with 

 those of the natural. Even God cannot in this 



