238 



EDWARD P. FROST, ON THE 



Milton brought up to the present standard of thought and 

 feeling. 



8. The idea of humanity is capable of enormous expansion, 

 and is generally elastic, but it cannot occupy more than an 

 infinitesimally small fraction of the space suggested by 

 astronomical dimensions. 



Professor Seeley wrote {Nat. Bel., p. 20), " The scientific man 

 strains his mind actually to realise God's infinity. As far as 

 the fixed stars he traces Him, 'distance inexpressible by 

 numbers that have name.' Meanwhile to the theologian, infinity 

 and eternity are very much of empty words when applied to 

 the object of his worship." 



Similar language might be used with respect to the laws of 

 continuity and uniformity maintained from eternity to eternity, 

 which science has revealed, compared with the theologian's 

 notion of Divine foresight and " eternal purpose." 



9. In the latter case,many see contradiction and incompatibility. 

 I venture to suggest that a basis for the reconciliation between 

 the scientific and the theological positions exists, and is to be 

 found ; though it is not so obvious as in the former case. Perhaps 

 it will eventually be admitted by all competent thinkers, that in 

 spite of superficial differences, perhaps due altogether, or in 

 part to the object under consideration being regarded from 

 different points of view, the theological method of explanation 

 conveys the same essential elements of truth as the scientific, 

 and that too in terms better adapted to the comprehension of 

 the unscientific inquirer. But I do not wish, or dare to maintain, 

 that what I may term the mental by-products of physiological 

 progress are all mischievous or dangerous, or that they are 

 confined to persons of only moderate culture and intelligence, 



10. The advance of physical science, in all directions, may 

 justly claim credit for the victory of common-sense over " the 

 Absolute " and " the Unknowable." Those Minervas, born in 

 full panoply of polysyllables from the metaphysician's brain 

 without even giving him a headache, are virtually dead or 

 moribund. The Author of the Universe contemplated by 

 science is no abstraction, but is a concrete entity whose 

 attributes are transcendental. 



11. The steady growth of a tolerant spirit, and of large-minded- 

 ness, among theologians, must be, partly at least, deferable to 

 the widening of the mental horizon effected by the excursions 

 of science into the infinitely large and the infinitely small, and 

 also to the direct influence of scientific doctrine on Biblical 

 interpretations. The acceptance of some of the great general- 



