Conclusion i^jj 



scientist constructs its own world, in which certain values alone 

 are looked for — those of coherence and uniformity and com- 

 mensurability. It seems that at present observation gives only 

 approximate or average regularity. This may or may not be 

 philosophically important. But it is most important to realise 

 that physics and chemistry aim at only an abstract picture of the 

 world. All that falls under the heads of goodness and beauty is 

 omitted. And yet, if we are right, these are just as real as those 

 aspects of existence which can be weighed and counted. 



This theory of ultimate values is at the root of all that I have 

 to say about religion. It follows that I am opposed to what may 

 be called psychologism, the theory that we cannot get beyond the 

 study of mental states as such. 1 believe, on the contrary, that our 

 knowledge of the ultimate values, so far as it goes, brings us into 

 touch with the truth of things, with the mind and. will of the 

 Creator. I accept Plato's well-known canon that only the per- 

 fectly real can be perfectly known ; and perfect knowledge is no 

 mere intellectual process, but an enhancement of the whole person- 

 ality till it becomes capable of " knowing even as we are known." 

 The unity of knower and known, through the love which passes 

 knowledge (but which has not passed by knowledge), is the ideal 

 consummation of spiritual growth. 



In saying this, 1 have in part anticipated what I have to say 

 about the place of intellect, will, and feeling respectively in the life 

 of faith. But my criticism of what seem to me one-sided views 

 will be better understood if my general standpoint is known. 



There have been many who have found the source and the 

 essence of religion in pure feeling, which they have tried to isolate 

 from thought and will. It would be a mistake to place the mystics 

 in this class. Emotional theism is not the same as mysticism, which 

 is an intensely active inner life, usually involving a strenuous 

 exercise of the will, and often profound thought. The exaltation of 

 a religion of feeling was naturally popular among the romanticists, 

 among whom Schleiermacher was the most famous theologian. 

 He found the origin of faith in an undifferentiated feeling of the 

 Infinite and Eternal. Some, like Jacobi, have claimed that faith 

 is its own evidence ; that as we can say with Descartes, " Cogito, 

 ergo sum," so we can say, " I pray, therefore God is." This kind 

 of apologetics admits of no refutation and carries no conviction. 

 Immediate and infallible revelation of this kind is not given to man. 



