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mind was only a matter of inference.

Modern physiology has

changed all this by showing that matter is only a permanent condition of sensation. We have no knowledge of its existence at all as an entity, nor as a sensation, but only as a condition of the sensations of which we are conscious. In fact, the Idealism of Bishop Berkely has been revived, if not in form in substance, as the result of recent experiments in the physiology of sensation. D. Alembert distinctly doubted the possibility of knowing real objects. Lichtenberg, who in all his philosophizing never forgot that he was a physicist, declares it to be impossible to refute Idealism. When we believe we see things we see only ourselves. We can only know ourselves and the changes that take place in us. When anything acts upon us, the effect depends not only upon the acting objec, but also upon the subject acted on. We know our sensations, but we do not know there is anything answering to them external to ourselves by which they are produced in us.28 Let the materialist assume that there is in the body a physical mechanism which produces the conclusions of the understanding and the senses, then we stand face to face with the questions: What is the body? what is matter? what is the physical? And modern physiology, just as much as philosophy, must answer that they are all our ideas; necessary ideas, ideas resulting according to natural laws, but still never the things themselves.29 "This means, of course, that no materialism of any kind is any lenger maintainable. The struggle between mind and body is ended in favor of the former, and only thus is guaranteed the true unity of all existence."

It is thus seen that in the light of modern science a rational materialism is no longer possible. The question may be asked, Why have we so many materialists? It is the result of scientific specialism, narrow culture, and one sided development. The error in the reasoning of materialists is found in this.— they confound conditions with causes. This is both unscientific and unphilosophical. Conditions are only the circum

27 Lange's History of Materialism. Vol. iii., pp. 204, 205, 206.

28 Helmholtz's Popular Lectures, 1864 and 1871.

29 Lange's History of Materialism, vol. iii., p. 223.

stances under which causes operate, but are in no rational sense causes themselves. This error runs through the reason ing of all writers who advocate the doctrines of materialism. Another error common to this class of writers is to confound the method with the agent, and to assume when they have discovered the method in which a thing has been done that they have discovered the agent who did it. They also use the term law in the sense of cause, and agent, and are thus led into great logical confusion of thought. Matter conditions the manifestation of force, and materialists say it is the cause of force. Matter and force condition the manifestation of life, and materialists conclude they are the cause of life. A brain organism conditions the manifestations of mind in man and animals, and materialists infer it is the cause of mind. The body conditions the action and manifestations of the soul in our earthly state and under our material relations, and materialists hold that it is the cause of the soul. The environment conditions human progress, and the materialist assumes that it is the cause of all advancement and civilization among men.30 We can trace this logical defect in all their reasoning. It is the great error in the logic of materialism, and accounts for the strange and absurd conclusions that form so large a part of this system of philosophy.

I have thus shown that the doctrines of materialism are untrue, and have pointed out the defective logic by which these erroneous conclusions are reached. The doctrine of materialists, that nothing is true that cannot be tested by the senses, is the fruitful source of many of the errors of their system, and underlies much of the bad logic and confused thought to which we are treated by this class of thinkers. A moment's reflection will show its utter fallacy. There are very few things the truth of which can be tested by the senses. We do not know matter, mind, thought, force, or life by sensation. These are all beyond the reach of the senses. Our knowledge of their existence depends upon consciousness and inference.

80 History of Civilization. T. H. Buckle. Vol. i., p. 108. Spencer's Principles of Sociology.

Many truths are self-evident and are known by our intuitions.31 It is this class of truths that underlie all our scientific and practical knowledge.

The practical application of the dictum of materialism. would make all knowledge impossible, and end in the paraly sis of all thought. A principle of reasoning so revolutionary and destructive cannot be true. The attempted defence of materialism based upon the likeness of the brute to human intelligence will not stand the test of scientific investigation. The intelligence of the brute is instinctive, the intelligence of man is rational; the intelligence of the brute is stationary the intelligence of man is progressive; the intelligence of the brute is unconscious, the intelligence of man is conscious; the intellect or instinct of the brute acts under a law of ne cessity, the reason of man under the law of liberty.32 The difference between instinct and reason is so wide that we cannot infer that it is a difference in degree and not in nature, or in quantity and not in quality of intellect. The brute is not an undeveloped man. Nor is this difference between animals and men owing entirely to the fact that man has a larger and more complicated brain than the animal creation. The fact is, the horse, the elephant, and the whale have brains that in size, and the number and depth of their convolutions, are equal to the human brain.33 This shows that the difference between men and animals intellectually is not simply a question of anatomy. Nor is it a question of physiology alone. It belongs to the higher departinent of psychology. Men and animals are not identical in nature as materialists assume, and it is therefore not logical to infer that because brutes are mortal men must be. Thus the last stronghold of materialism is demolished, and man's spirituality and immortality are vindicated. Man is a spiritual child of the spiritual and divine Father, and is destined to an immortal life of holiness and happiness. Wm. Tucker, D. D.

81 Intuitions of the Mind. Rev. 82 Instinct in Animals and Men. 33 Relations of Mind and Brain.

Jas. McCosh, LL.D. Vol. i., pp. 23-25.
P. A. Chadbourne, LL.D. pp 142, 143, 145.
Henry Chalderwood, LL D.
pp. 141, 175, 181.

ARTICLE VII.

A Universal Religion.

CHRISTIANITY is peculiarly fitted to become the prevailing religion among mankind. It has within it elements which adapt themselves to all ages and conditions of human life. To the aged patriarch, bending beneath the heavy weight of years and infirmities; to the man in middle life, full of the energy and enterprise of the great busy world around him; to the youth, just emerging from the season of dependent childhood, and looking out eagerly into the unknown future just before him; to the little lisping child, just taking its first lessons in the great school of life, to all of these, in the variety of their conditions and needs, do the words and the spirit of Christ come with strength and meaning adapted to the necessities of each.

No other form of religion is so well calculated to become universal, as that which Jesus both taught and lived; because none other has been capable of adapting itself to the diversified wants of humanity. Other religions have been helpful only to certain races or classes of men. Beyond these, they have exercised little power. However well adapted they may have been to those special classes or conditions, outside of those they were useless. And even among their most ardent disciples, all those religions prove narrow and partial in their influence. There are only certain limited phases of human life upon which they can make any impression. They possess not the power to lift man into completeness; they do not have universal sway over the individual life, and in many respects fail at the exact points where weak human nature needs divine assistance.

The Christian religion, on the other hand, fits into every condition of earthly experience; is equally applicable to all races and nations of men. Unlike many other religions, it is not a cast-iron system, which can take in only such as have acquired a certain length or breadth, or who by their educa

tion and surroundings are adapted to its unyielding rules. Seeing men in their want, in their sinfulness, in their weakness, in their helpless and miserable conditions, it goes to them with the needed supply of strength and grace, which shall lift them out of their degradation, and bring them into their true and normal relations with the God who made them and with the world in which they live Christianity has something to say to each man, woman and child in the universe. It has remedies for all the diseases of the moral nature; has the healing balm for all the wounds of the heart; has the oil of consolation for the mourning, the staff of strength for the weak and doubting, the bread of life for those who are spiritually famishing, and the waters of everlasting life for those who thirst for the living God; and more than all, it furnishes the effective antidote for the terrible poison of sin. It touches and affects all this vast variety of human infirmities, because it was designed for man, adapted to his nature, fitted to his peculiar needs.

No religion but Christianity attempts to go down to human nature, in all its vileness and degradation, taking man just as he is, and then raising him to the highest possible condition that he is capable of reaching. No other religion takes man at his worst and brings him to his best. This adaptability of the words and spirit of Christ to all phases of human life, is one of the strong evidences of the divine origin of the Christian religion. To reveal and furnish such a truth and such a spirit as breathed through the lips and life of Jesus — a truth and spirit exactly fitted to the nature and needs of man, is exactly in accord with the divine procedure in other things, as we see them all about us. It is in precise harmony' with everything which God has done in supplying the physical needs of his children. Men are made with certain bodily wants. One of these is the necessity for food. His very existence depends (when in his normal relation to the laws of health) upon the nourishment which he daily receives into his physical system. The same being who created him with this need, has also placed within his reach that which will

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