SYNTHESIS OF THE NATURAL AND THE SUPERNATURAL 



using it for their own ends ; but, however, this may be, it 

 stands before the eyes of the world as the visible symbol of 

 a combined movement to bring peace on the earth. The 

 goal may yet be a long way off, but we must remember 

 that every great achievement is, at first, only an ideal or 

 prayer ; and this we may affirm, that the soul of the race 

 will cease to be true to itself when it ceases to cherish and 

 labor for the fulfilment of this ideal. The individual may, 

 and does fail, for a time at least, to follow his or her "gleam/* 

 but that the race should finally fail of its end is a pessimism 

 which cannot be entertained by one who believes that the 

 life of the world and man is a movement from intention to 

 fulfilment. And the facts of history are against such 

 pessimism, for the belief that all men " shall brothers be " 

 is the ideal hearth of humanity. Its glow is beginning to 

 be seen and to attract the scattered family, to light up 

 their faces, to warm their chilly hands, and to make them 

 feel that they are children of the one Father, and joint 

 heirs, with the Chief among the brethren, of the privileges 

 of the home. 



In view of these transcendent ideals and achievements 

 of man some principles come to light. To begin, it is 

 implied that man, while in the order of physical nature, 

 transcends, and uses it to realize his ideals. It appears 

 also, that his transcendence lifts him above the individuality 

 of things and of himself, so that while mankind is made up 

 of an innumerable number of individuals, manhood is one : 

 a unity realizing itself in difference. Further the unity of 

 the race is not a bond imposed, on an aggregate of 

 individuals, from without. It is, on the contrary, a 

 spiritual principle which belongs in common to every one 

 of the individuals. In one sense they are many, in another 

 they are one. Thus, man, being intrinsically a partaker of 

 transcendent or supernatural energy of spirit, achieves 

 supernatural ends, and cherishes supernatural ideals ; 

 therefore, it is natural for him to be the personal vehicle of 



