ask : " Is it only this ? Is there not behind this material substance, a higher than molecular power in the thoughts which are immor- talized in the poetry of a Milton or a Shakespeare, the art crea- tions of a Michael Angelo or a Titian, the harmonies of a Mozart or a Beethoven ? Is there really no immortal portion separable from this brain-tissue, though yet mysteriously united to it ? In a word, does this curiously fashioned body inclose a soul, God-given, and to God returning ? Here science veils her face, and bows in reverence before the Almighty. We have passed the boundaries by which physicd science is inclosed. No crucible, no subtle mag- netic needle can answer now our questions. No word but His who formed us can break the awful silence. In the presence of such a revelation science is dumb, and faith comes in joyfully to accept that higher truth which can never be the object of physical demon- stration." 1
It thus appears, after all, that there is in man a soul ; that the soul is not the body, nor a function of it ; that it is the subject and agent of our thoughts, feelings, and volitions. But this is pre- cisely the thing which the lecture is devoted to disproving. Thus Professor Barker's science gives up the ghost at the feet of his re- ligion. It quenches its torch in the fountain of an order of truths higher than those which admit of " physical demonstration." The TrpwTuv )//€w8os of the whole theory is, that nothing is true which can- not be physically demonstrated ; that is, which cannot be felt, weighed, or otherwise measured.
Wallace, the Naturalist. A still more striking illustration of the insufficiency of material- istic pi'inciples is furnished by the distinguished naturalist, Alfred Russel "Wallace, above quoted. After devoting his whole book to the defence of the doctrine of natural selection, which refers the ori- gin of all species and genera of plants and animals to the blind ope- ration of physical forces, he comes to the conclusion that there are no such forces ; that all is " Mind." Matter has no existence. Mat- ter is force, and force is mind ; so that " the whole universe is not merely dependent on, but actually is the will of higher intelli- gences, or one Supreme Intelligence." ^ He holds that instead of admitting the existence of an unknown something called matter, and that mind is " another thing, either a product of this matter and its supposed inherent forces, or distinct from, and co-existent
1 Barker's Lecture, pp. 26, 27.
2 Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection, p. 368.
298 PART I. — THEOLOGY. [Ch. HI. — Anti-Theism.
with it ; " .... it is a " far simpler and more consistent belief, that matter, as an entity distinct from force, does not exist ; and that force is a product of Mind. Philosophy," he adds, " had long demonstrated our incapacity to prove the existence of matter, as usually conceived, while it admitted the demonstration to each of us of our own self-conscious, ideal existence. Science has now worked its way up to the same result, and this agreement between them should give us some confidence in their combined teaching." ^ Thus, by one step, the gulf between Materialism and idealistic pan- theism is passed. This, at least, is a concession t\tkt physical forces cannot account for the phenomena of life and mind ; and that is conceding that Materialism as a theory is false.
The great mistake of Materialists is that they begin at the wrong end. They begin with blind, lifeless matter ; and endeavor to de- duce from, it and its molecular changes, all the infinite marvels of organization, life, and intelligence which the universe exhibits. This is an attempt to make everything out of nothing. The human mind, in its normal state, always begins with God ; who, as the Bible teaches us, is an Infinite Spirit, and therefore self-conscious, intelligent, and voluntary ; the creator of all things ; of matter with its properties, and of finite minds with their power? ; and who con- trols all things by his ever present wisdom and might ; so that all the intelligence indicated in unintelligent forces is only one form of the infinite intelligence of God. This is the solution of the problem of the universe given in the Scriptures ; a solution which satisfies our whole nature, rational, moral, and religious.
All works on Psychology, and on the history of Philosophy, con- tain discussions on the principles of Materialism. Chapter iv. of Dr. Buchanan's able work, " Faith in God and Modern Atheism Compared," is devoted to the history and examination of that theory. See also chapter ii. of the Introduction to Professor Por- ter's elaborate work, " The Human Intellect." Professor Porter gives, on page 40, a copious account of the literature of the sub- ject. In Herzog's "Real-Encyklopadie," article Materialismus, an account is given of the principal recent German works against the modern form of the doctrine.
Among the most important works on this subject, besides the writings of Comte and his English disciples, J. Stuart Mill, and H. G. Lewes, are Herbert Spencer's " First Principles of a New Sys- tem of Philosophy," and his " Biology " in two volumes ; Mauds- ley's " Physiology and Pathology of Mind ; " Laycock (Professor
1 Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection, p. 369.