7G 



THE REV. CANON E. MCOLURE, M.A., M.R.I.A., OX 



mechanical principles. Dealing with the difficulty of account- 

 ing for the motion of electrons within the atom, he says : " It 

 has recently been proposed to solve this difficulty by denying 

 that the principles of mechanics are true in their application to 

 systems of atomic dimensions. Such a solution may appear 

 heroic rather than practical to those who have not followed the 

 trend of modern physics ; those who have, know that it is 

 completely in accordance with the recent development of our 

 ideas. The new conceptions, which were first introduced by 

 Planck's theory of radiation, and have been applied with such 

 striking results to the theory of specific heat and elasticity, are 

 directly contradictory of those of the older mechanics." 



Again, " Bohr's theory not only rejects the principles of 

 mechanics, which the most conservative are beinsf driven to 

 abandon, but it indicates that fundamental propositions are to 

 take their place." 



Even the pervasive influence of gravitation has been 

 recently called in question. 



Professor Eddington {Stellar Movements and the Structure o) 

 the Universe, 1914) concludes, from a comparison of the proper 

 motion of the " fixed " stars with their spectra, that the average 

 velocity increases with the age of the star, and he throws out 

 the momentous conjecture that matter in its elementary stage 

 may not be subject to gravitation. 



It seems clear from this extract that mechanical principles, 

 applied to the constitution of the atom, are not in undisputed 

 control of the universe, and it is only prudent to wait for 

 further light before we adapt, as the Modernists are doing, our 

 theology to the demands of a mechanical system which may 

 have to give place to a wider generalization not conflicting with 

 the possibility of the miraculous in nature. 



Deprived, as the Modernists think they are. of any support 

 for the supernatural from the science which they wrongly 

 assume to be that of to-day, they take refuge in philosophy. 

 The scholastic philosophy is, to them, no longer in harmony 

 with modern thought. We need a new Aquinas, they think, 

 to give us a satisfactory presentation of the Christian religion 

 m a theological terminology of a truly philosophical character. 

 The Modernists found such a philosophy in that of Emmanuel 

 Kant and his followers. The distinction drawn by Kant 

 between " Nature in itself " — which he regarded as unknowable 

 — and the phenomena presented in consciousness, gave the 

 Modernist all that he wanted to build up a religion from 

 inward spiritual experience without reference to external 



