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real nature becomes less as knowledge advances. Man, notwithstanding all 
scientific discovery and material progress, at least, as far as regards his 
relation to and knowledge of the Infinite, stands much as he did in the 
early days of intellectual evolution. Here, then, is the immeasurable 
difference between the view entertained by us and that held by those who 
accept or incline towards the fashionable philosophy of the period. We 
who believe in the irreconcilable differences between living and non-living 
have been led to conclude that a knowledge of the real nature of the change, 
as well as a knowledge of the power by which the change is wrought when- 
ever a lifeless atom becomes an integral part of living matter, is not to be 
obtained. On the other hand, the supporters of the new philosophy declare 
that all this and much more has been gained, and that much of what yet 
remains imperfectly understood will be brought to light by the advancing 
science of the future. We hold that such knowledge is not even conceivable 
in thought — not cognisable by the human intellect. They declare that the 
discovery of the nature of the vital change is nigh — nay, that in some 
respects it may be said that already it has been achieved. We do not admit 
that the road to such a goal has been found out or the method of proceeding 
which will be successful suggested. They assure the world that wonderful 
things, not to be seen by ordinary mortals, have been discerned by privi- 
leged spirits. We believe neither in the powers of discernment claimed, 
nor in the being privileged, nor in the spirits. The whole position assumed 
by those who attempt to explain vital actions by physics and chemistry is 
untenable, and the pretentious assumption of knowledge as to what is to 
be revealed by the science of the future degrading to the thought of our 
time. The non-living state of matter is separated from the living state by 
a chasm which is unfathomable and which has not been, and which never 
can be, bridged, even in thought. The attempts which have been made to 
persuade ignorant people to believe that this has been done, or that it is 
within the bounds of that which is possible, are unjustifiable and antago- 
nistic to the scientific method, and must certainly retard real progress. 
The advocates of Atheism, or of that very nebulous form of Theism which 
logically leads to it, and is, indeed, practically Atheism, have utterly misled 
themselves and others by assuming the truth of the conjecture that the non- 
living and living are one, that matter in the non-living state differs in degree 
only from matter in the living state. They affirm in the most positive and 
reckless manner that this conjecture is a fact. Unlearned, unscientific 
people, believing that men of scientific authority would not have spoken thus 
positively unless they had distinct and irrefragable proof of the statements 
they made, proceed straightway to modify all the views which they had 
been taught in their childhood, abandon as fiction what they believed to be 
truth, and accept as realities the extravagant and fanciful doctrines of that 
scientific imagination which change from year to year, and concerning which 
there is but one thing certain, — that they proceed from and will return to 
the nebulous state. People hungering for a reputation for comprehensive- 
ness, large-mindedness, and intellectualgrasp, abandon their belief in the unseen 
K 2 
