THE RELATIONS BETWEEN SCIENCE AND REf.IGION, ETC, 28'^ 



I would like to thank the Dean of Canterbury also for the beauti- 

 ful excerpt from the conclusion of the Principia, May I add one 

 word more It has been on my mind much of late that the 

 controversy between Eeligion and Science — if we may use that 

 hackneyed and misleading phrase — is likely to wear a different aspect 

 in the near future from that which it presented fifty years ago. Then 

 it was blank materialism claiming to be scientific which opposed 

 itself to religion. Now if I foresee aright, we may have to face a 

 different foe, one more subtle and difficult to defeat. There is, I fear, 

 a tendency towards a modified Pantheism, and Pantheism is more 

 difficult to fight than ever Materialism was, because, at one time or 

 another, it uses many of the technicalities of Christianity, but in an 

 absolutely opposite sense. In theory it claims to recognize one God, 

 but, as the oldest school of Pantheist thought in existence, that 

 of India, does not fail to admit. Pantheism and Atheism are 

 indistinguishable, because the God of the Pantheist is not a God 

 possessing moral qualities. However much, therefore, the termin- 

 ology of Pantheism may resemble the terminology of Christianity, its 

 spirit and its essence are fundamentally opposed to it. 



The vote of thanks was heartily accorded. 



Dr. A. T. SCHOFIELD : One of the most valuable points in this 

 traly philosophic paper is the way in w^hich truth is condensed within 

 80 few pages. Dean Wace alludes to the discovery and properties of 

 ether, and quotes Professor Bonney's remark that "in the mind of 

 the modern physicist, the material universe and everything else in it, 

 not excepting our own bodies, can be traced back ultimately to ether 

 and electricity, or some other special form of strain, that is to ether 

 and an operation of energy." Professor Bonney adds : "This con- 

 clusion has more than realized the vision of the ancient seer, which 

 declares that at the beginning of the manifestations of creative power 

 ' the earth was without form and void, and the Spirit of God moved 

 upon the face of the waters.' " I venture to suggest, however, that 

 the ancient seer did not say that, but, on the contrary, he said that 

 at the beginning of the manifestation of creative power God created 

 heaven and earth, and he created nothing that was without form ; 

 Init that I leave. 



With regard to ether, I would suggest that it has hardly been 

 discovered, that its very existence is still disputed by scientists. It 



