1884.] 
Hylo-Idealism ? 
391 
We are also told — “ If, then, in our definition of matter 
we substitute energy for extension, we shall no longer be 
able to distinguish between matter and spirit, and shall be 
forced to find in Hylo-Idealism the reconciliation of poetry, 
philosophy, and science.” Is this, then, the all which 
makes the sum of life, and for which thinking men should 
aspire ? Is there no room in this theory for duty, moral 
aptitudes, and religious sentiments ? “ No reasoning can be 
true which ends in an absurdity.” 
The great objeCt and end of life should be the fulfilment 
of duty, however multifarious may be its action ; in duty 
are all humanitarian sensibilities, all morals, and religion. 
“ The more thoroughly a man is impressed by the idea of 
duty, the more his whole being is saturated with the idea, 
the more goodness will show itself in all his, even sponta- 
neous, adtions, which will have additional merit from their 
very spontaneity.” It is the selfdom and self-interest com- 
bined ; the first teaches the satisfaction of the needs due to 
the self ; the latter that grand humanitarian principle which 
is the bond of all social accord, and sets forth the true rela- 
tions which each man has to his fellow, and ends in the 
revelation of the grander principle which at the same mo- 
ment knits man with man, and man in his strife for perfection 
with the supreme ordinating principle : then man is uplifted 
from the dominion of self, and in the concentration of his 
energies, to the contemplation of the origin of all things : 
this is Religion, — disclosing the link which binds the human 
in the divine, enlightening his search for purity and truth, 
wherein is alone to be found that bond link which makes the 
Universe akin, and the human and the divine an inseparable 
unity, harmonious, effective, real. 
Little does C. N. appear to know of the religious feelings 
of such men as Wesley, Wilberforce, and thousands of other 
eminent Christians, and we may be well content that he 
does not give a disquisition on Religion. He sets out by 
asking, What is Religion ? but most carefully eschews any 
relation of the realities and duties it enjoins on those who 
truthfully believe in the faiths they profess. He says, “Even 
by orthodox Christians the value of Religion is made to 
consist in its supposed ethical necessity rather than in any 
intrinsic and transcendental worth. It is justified as an in- 
dispensable means of human welfare, not glorified as the 
supreme end of human endeavour, with the implied inference 
that should it cease to be useful it will at the same time 
cease to be desirable.” In other words, mere Utilitarianism. 
The records of history convey a different decision. There 
