THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 373 



true that " nature is the expression of a definite order with which 

 nothing interferes." 



At any rate the great scientific movement of the last 130 years 

 has been attended with a great development of atheism and scepti- 

 cism and of materialist philosophies. That scepticism, which it is 

 necessary for the succesful student of science to exercise with regard 

 to every supposed discovery, until it is proved beyond a peradventure, 

 has been carried by many into the religious and philosophical spheres 

 in such a way as to lead to these results. The most popular philoso- 

 phy of the present age on this side of the Atlantic is that of Herbert 

 Spencer. It owes its origin to the speculations of Charles Darwin, 

 and is simply an application of his theory of natural selection to 

 every department of human inquiry. If not in strictness to be 

 called a materialist system, it is so near to being one as to produce 

 all the hardening and narrowing effects of materialism on nearly all 

 those who adopt it. 



In so far as the study of physical science assisted in establishing 

 the principle and furthering the practice of the right of private 

 judgment it served the cause not only of religious, but likewise of 

 political freedom. In so far, too, as it substituted for the old idea 

 -of a god capriciously ruling the universe, like an oriental sultan, 

 that of a deity guiding it according to fixed laws, it contributed to 

 the setting up of a good model for earthly governments. Perhaps it 

 would be in accordance with fact to go further in the same direction 

 and say that in so far as the advances of physical science have tended 

 to develope the pantheistic idea that God is not a separate entity, but a 

 force pervading the universe, conscious in many living creatures, 

 unconscious elsewhere, it has set before the world a model for demo- 

 cratic government, seeing that in that form the sovereign power is 

 recognized as really diffused through every part of the state. These 

 analogies may seem fanciful, but those who know how the political 

 and religious ideals of a nation react upon each other will not hastily 

 conclude that there is nothing in them. 



It will be interesting to note here that the pantheistic view of the 

 universe referred to just now has permeated the writings of some 

 modern republican poets. Shelley, who began with atheism, ended 

 with views which were pantheistic in character, and it is worthy of 

 notice that he was distinguished among the English poets of his age 

 for the interest he took in physical science. One of his contempo- 



