388 
What is Religion ? 
I July, 
not follow that when it is perverted into a Theology^th t 
therefore its origin was impure. We are the “ 
with observations on Pantheism ; and what is Pantheism 
but the worship of the spirit which was supposed to under 
lie Nature ? It was not the worship of matter, or ™ an ’ or 
the self ' Thackeray says when we have wel studied the 
world “ how supremely great the meanest thing in this 
world is, and how infinitely mean the greatest , and. he s 
mistaken if there is not made “ a strange and propei J um „ 
of the sublime and the ridiculous, the lofty and the low, 
and in the end “ know not which is which. How forcibly 
this applies to the absurdities of this Hylo-Ideahsm theorem 
is illustrated in a note (p. 19), by. its wonderful logical dis- 
coverer, who centred all creation in his own finite self. He 
tells us, “ All this mysticism, this ascription to an objedtiv 
deity of our own subjective feelings, seems quite elucidated 
by the principles of Hylo-Idealism. Mind in Nature there 
is Y but it is our own mind, alike the concipient and piecipient 
of Nature.” Thus, to get rid of any reverential or moral 
attribute, we are to adopt a mysticism only woi se confounded, 
and are to end in not knowing which is which. 
Modern science, as any logical or sensible man would con 
strue it, is very far from teaching that “ man is the measure o 
all things.” It shows the insignificance of the human mind in 
comparison with the energies of Nature. Man discovers 
effects resulting from causes, and mechanically imitates 
Nature to produce results which may be beneficial, primal lly 
to the satisfaction of individual greed rather than, to the 
promotion of human happiness : to this latter result absuid 
philosophising and socialistic reasonings stand in the way oi 
its consummation. In vain we are to look for an amelioia- 
tion of our social status if “ man is the measure of all 
things ” or “ of the universe for man.’ The animal man is 
self and self only ; and well may the Hylo-Idealists deny 
the'purer and better aspirations of man. Self is greed, and 
we have its aspirations in every social position, a.nd unhap- 
nilv it grapples too successfully with the aspiration tor 
freedom from the animal nature of man to which Materialism 
would chain it. If soul, intelligence, consciousness, vital 
energy and sensation are the emanations of matter, man 
cannot rise higher than his origin, and, were it so, would lor 
ever remain but a conscious beast ; for what creature is so 
cruel as the animal man ? All which makes life really good, 
beautiful, and desirable, the humanitarian principle which 
alone can elevate man, is intellectual truth, eliciting 
moral realities ending in abstractions which practically 
