Modern Philosophy. 95 out of date as to call for only a brief, passing reference in a dis cussion purporting to deal with “the present situation in phi losophy.” He says: “I shall leave cynical materialism entirely out of our dis cussion as not calling for treatment before this present audi ence, and I shall ignore, old-fashioned dualistic theism for the same reason” (page 30). It is also important for our purpose to note the suddenness of the great change which has taken place at our universities, whereby Christian doctrine has been relegated to a position ©f obscurity so profound that it calls for no consideration in a discussion of this sort. The lecturer, after remarking that he had been told by Hindoos that “the great obstacle to the spread of Christianity in their country was the puerility of our dogma of creation,” added: “Assuredly, most members of this audi ence are ready to side with Hinduism in this matter.” And then he proceeded to say that “those of us who are sexa genarians” have witnessed such changes as “make the thought of a past generation seem as foreign to its successor as if it were the expression of a different race of men. The theo logical machinery that spoke so livingly to our ancestors, with its finite age of the world, its creation out of nothing, its juridical morality and eschatology, its treatment of God as an external contriver, an intelligent and moral governor, sounds as odd to most of us as i f it were some outlandish savage religion” (page 29). ITS SIGNIFICANCE. Let the reader not fail to grasp the significance of the state ment. For hundreds of years the instruction imparted to the youths of England and America has been grounded upon the Scriptures as the oracles of God; and, in fact, the work of teaching has been carried on mainly by ministers of the Word. The positions which England and America have gained- among the nations during those centuries is known to every one. God has greatly blessed them with national prosperity and world-
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