57 
believed to be one of tbe worthiest triumphs ever achieved 
by the unaided intellect of man. It is never easy to estimate 
justly any contemporary Work — we stand too near to it to see 
its true proportions, — but it seems to not a few that Mr. Spencer 
may fairly claim a place in the front rank of the intellect of 
the world. His greatness in this respect must in justice be 
conceded, and it must also be allowed that he displays high 
moral refinement. Yet, notwithstanding this, his system, 
considered as a system, can only be characterised as the entire 
negation of every moral element. There are no terms in his 
philosophy into which the idea of morality can be translated. 
That philosophy and the moral idea are mutually exclusive, 
like two circles which have no part of their area in common. 
He explains everything in the universe, including all the works 
of man^s intellect, and all the emotions and aspirations of 
man^s spiritual nature, simply in terms of Force, and he deli- 
berately and resolutely excludes the idea that along the lines 
of that Force a spiritual element runs. He shows simply the 
working of Law, and he labours to create the impression that 
Law and Force exhaust all the elements of the problem. Now, 
we may allow that wherever God works. He works according 
to law, — a Law He has imposed, — and wherever He works. 
Force will be manifested. It may be, therefore, that much 
of Mr. SpenceFs Philosophy is nothing but the presenta- 
tion of two aspects of the true conception of the universe ; and 
if we add the third and spiritual aspect, making Law and Force 
only the roads which intelligent spirit and moral energy make 
use of, it may be we thus arrive at a more complete and full- 
orbed conception of God’s working in our world. But until 
this third aspect be added, Mr. Spencer’s philosophy means 
nothing less than the complete and thorough-going destruc- 
tion of every element out of which the distinctive conception 
of a Personal God or a personal self can be framed ; morality, 
conscience, faith, prayer, are shown by it to be mere delusions, 
so far at least as their relations to God are concerned; and 
the whole system is a vast spiritual desert, where not a 
breath from heaven can blow. Undiluted by the spiritual, 
its atmosphere is deadly in the extreme. Hundreds, perhaps 
thousands, have lost all faith in God, and been rendered deso- 
late for life, since they became acquainted with its tenets. 
With an intellectual elevation like a range of Alpine moun- 
tains, it fascinates the unwary, who are, in too many instances, 
only led to the regions where all thoughts of God die out, 
and there remain only negation and despair. 
In seeking to examine this philosophy it will be understood 
that no easy task is before us. Its combination of intellectual 
