VIII. Embarrassing position of conclusions at tbis point. 
The need of a Supreme Governing Power if there be finite Responsible 
agency. 
The only alternative, a denial of facts. 
The Individual responsible agent has a sense of a Higher Rule. 
Pantheism does not satisfy this. 
The Character of the Supreme Governor must be known. 
47 - 51 ). 
I. 
1. "VTTE are said to be in tlie midst of a great revolution of 
▼ ▼ opinion. Old thoughts and traditions as to religion, 
philosophy, and social economy are submitted to new examina- 
tions. Watchwords which once rallied men to in- 
herited creeds and systems have lost their power. 
Prejudices, which (with the many) act as the practical sub- 
stitutes for wisdom and virtue, are widely disturbed. The 
general standard of intelligence and education still is low, and 
the “ fearful and unbelieving ” are alarmed. But the alarm is 
useless ; for facts must be met. The transition from the state 
of prejudice to that of principle is always trying, whether for 
the individual or the community ; but it cannot be ultimately 
avoided, nor in our case even postponed. The challenge to 
free thought is so broadly scattered that it will certainly be 
accepted by multitudes who, qualified or not, will influence 
the future of Christendom. The guardians of the ethics and 
philosophy hitherto deemed sacred, if they have confidence in 
them as true, must show it now. 
2. That mixed practical philosophy which meets us, in 
various forms on every hand, may in England be 
PMosophy? 11 * described as an irregular compound of fact, ex- 
perience, and influence; and it is becoming fami- 
liarly known, even here, as “ Positivism.” M. Comte and 
his followers regard Positivism as a discovery, but as far as 
the obvious principle is concerned, such a pretence is without 
foundation ; because facts must always have been the basis of 
science. Aristotle was as truly an inductive philosopher as 
Bacon, and Bacon as much as Comte. The eliciting of 
principles and ascertainment of laws may be subsequent to 
induction, but cannot alter the subject-matter. If any of 
us complain of the Positivism of the present hour, it is not for 
its appeal to facts; it is because of its not examining the 
whole field. 
