290 Sects and Science. [July, 



thoroughly that you were absolutely right. Even then you 

 become a division of society, and this division, begun in Gower 

 Street formally, has spread over the land, so that we have 

 the sect of physical science containing many men to whom 

 the spiritual in religion has positively no meaning at all — 

 being the fantastic creation of the brain. We do not 

 say that all this is owing to Gower Street. It took a shape 

 there, and did good. Now it is not here that we intend to 

 give our opinion on the subject; we number both classes 

 among our intimate friends, and we have our opinions ; but 

 at present we say that the movement was sectarian. 

 Sadducees always have been reckoned as belonging to a 

 religious sect, although denying that which to many men 

 is the foundation of a religion. In other words, the study of 

 merely physical science produces a class of men that 

 influence the religious belief of a country and divide it. 



Are we to decide which sect we shall belong to, and 

 whether Oxford and Cambridge or the London University 

 are to rule over the country? This would, in our 

 opinion, be a backward step whichever we chose. Science 

 is growing so rapidly that we cannot tell the limits to its 

 power ; we must give it free scope, we must allow its 

 reasonings to have their full weight, and we must learn to 

 give matter its full importance in our reasoning, seeing the 

 great position it holds in creation. 



It is our belief that these great representatives of human 

 thought and progress, the universities, are essential to us in 

 some form or other ; it is difficult to tell what is the best 

 form, but we may fairly decide which of the two classes of 

 institutions is the widest or broadest. If we look at Oxford 

 and Cambridge, or the universities in Scotland and Dublin, 

 we find that, although beginning with teachings relating to 

 the spiritual nature of man, they gradually have included 

 more and more the physical. 



The newer university, that of London, excludes the 

 former. The other universities seem desirous to increase 

 their professors in every direction ; that of London excludes 

 at least one direction. We therefore simply conclude that 

 the older universities have a greater breadth ; or look over 

 more of the field traversed by man, and do not exclude 

 either class of knowledge. They have certainly their 

 opinions on one branch, but their studies comprehend both. 



Be not surprised, therefore, if we look at the London 

 University as sectarian in its views, and as fostering a 

 sectarian knowledge. It must, in a sense, stand somewhat 

 in the same position as the Methodist College or the 



