All life is a poem of glory; Neither reason nor senses can grasp, Till we read every verse in the story, And the hand of the author we clasp. Then sing on sweet souls as of olden, With visions of soul-land that shine, Till the harp of the earthly is golden From the hand of the Author Divine. CHAPTER XI SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY SUSTAIN THE RELIGIOUS CONCEPT I contend that science, philosophy and electric evolution sustain the religious concept. The infinite and eternal power that animates the universe must be psychical in its nature, and any attempt to reduce it to mechanical force must end in absurdity. The only kind of monism which will stand the test of an ultimate analysis, says John Fiske is monotheism. The highest development of psychical life is the end for which the world exists. To the materialist the ultimate power is material power, and psychical life is nothing but fleeting colocations of natural elements in the shape of nervous systems. The psychical nature of God and the immortality of the soul harmonize infinitely better with cosmic philosophy. Prof. John Fiske says: "Evolution brings before us with vividness the conception of an ever-present God, not an absentee God who once manufactured a cosmic machine capable of running itself. It makes God our constant support and nature His revelation, and when all its religious implications are set forth it will be seen to be the most potent ally Christianity ever had in elevating mankind. The progress of evolution now is to bring out the higher spiritual attributes and to set the whole doctrine of evolution in harmony with religion. Then, the assumption that underlies all religion must be true--that what we see of the present life is not the whole thing; that there is a spiritual as well as a material side of life; in short, a life eternal. "In the whole history of evolution," he continues, "when we see an internal adjustment reach out towards something, it is in order to adapt itself to something that exists. And if the religious cravings of man constitute an exception they are the only exception in the whole process of evolution." This is an argument of stupendous and resistless weight. This puts evolution in harmony with religious thought, and the great religious drift of humanity in all ages, and removes the antagonism that used to appear to exist between religion and science.