If it dies out we treat it merely
as a curiosity, or an intellectual puzzle, like the dreams of Jacob
Boehme, or the atheistic ecclesiasticism of Comte. But, if it
afterwards shows symptoms of unexpected adaptation to the mental and
moral conditions of a newer world, and if, on account of this
adaptation, it gains a hold on men who are neither philosophers nor
metaphysicians, but only religious, it demands our consideration on far
other grounds than those of intellectual curiosity.
[Sidenote: Pantheistic Tendencies of Contemporary Thought]
Now it has only been during the second half of the last century that
Pantheism has been able to claim attention as a religion in such a sense
as this. As to the fact there can hardly be any dispute. For not only
has it become ever a more prominent motive in the music of the poets,
and not only are all rationalizations of Christianity more or less
transparent disguises of Pantheism, but I may safely appeal to those
ordinary members of intelligent society who are neither poets, nor
divines, nor philosophers, whether the freest and most confidential
interchange of religious thought does not continually verge on a faith
which merges everything in God.
[Sidenote: Caused by the Mutual Pressure of Science and Faith.]
[Sidenote: The Nebular Hypothesis taken alone Involves Absurdity.]
Nor are the reasons of this tendency far to seek.
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