THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 59 



these national impulses should permeate and guide a community of 

 minds. They must also play their part in the wider field of human 

 progress. Here they must hold their own in the clash with other 

 systems, and happy is that nation which finds its own ruling senti- 

 ments harmonizing with the onward march of humanity. 



Having premised so much in regard to the nature of national 

 life, and the proper method to be pursued in its investigation, I trust 

 it will not be necessary to offer anything by way of excuse, for the 

 point of view from which we are to conduct our investigations this 

 evening. We have before us not only the most ancient, but in many 

 respects the most remarkable example of national life to be found in 

 the pages of human history. A nation compared with whose life the 

 life of surrounding nations has been as the generation of leaves. A 

 nation which three centuries before the great Athenian sages reasoned 

 on life and human destiny, and six centuries before the meek Gali- 

 lean teacher brought to mankind his message of love, was able to 

 produce a philosopher who, guided (shall I say ?) by the light of 

 reason alone, was able to give forth for the direction of his fellow 

 man, " Do not unto others what ye would not that they should do 

 unto you." 



Venerable in age, it also presents phenomena unheard of in the 

 history of western nations. Nor is its importance to be measured 

 solely by the interest of the past. Having striven for ages, shut up 

 in the isolation of its own being, to work out its individual mission, 

 it must now yield itself to the influence of a wider destiny. As to 

 the probable results of this movement it is our purpose briefly to 

 speculate this evening. 



It has already been laid down that national life study should 

 consist in a study of these subjective or spiritual impulses which find 

 expression in the nation's life and character. In the nation no less 

 than in the individual, mind is above matter. Here only can they 

 develop themselves with a reasonable freedom of movement ; from 

 this everything of a more material nature will be found to receive 

 its coloring. 



There are always three aspects under which the Philosophy or 

 spirit life of a nation may be viewed : Thought in its relationship 

 to the universal — Rehgion ; thought in its relationship to the indi- 

 vidual — Sociology or Ethics ; thought in its relationship to nature — 



