ABSTRACT
The business of Science, including in that term, for present purposes, philosophy and the science of criticism, is with foundations; the business of Religion is with superstructure. There are parts of the structure of Religion which may with advantage be underpinned by physical science: the theory of Death and of continued personal existence is one of them; there are many others, and there will be more. An acceptance of miracle, in the crude sense of arbitrary intervention and special providence, has been forced upon those who feel strangled in the grip of inorganic and mechanical law, without being able to reconcile it with the idea of friendly guidance and intelligent control. Wherefore the denial of miracle has often led to a sort of practical atheism and to an assertion of the valuelessness of prayer. Theologians have been apt to be too easily satisfied with a pretended foundation that would not stand scientific scrutiny.
