cams_benton_b028_f015_001_020

20 [centered]

materialistic theory; and the philo-
-sophic theory is a dilution of the
Spiritual or theistic conception.

The theory of eternal matter as
the one source of all the phenomena of
the universe is one at which the av-
-erage mind revolts as unworthy; is
one which is altogether too unintelligent
and too mechanical; is one which strikes
most thinkers as insufficient, unless a new
definition be given of matter; and is
one which is open to the fatal objec-
-tion of an infinite series, which is
absurd. There is a modification of
this theory which endows matter
with a measured intelligence, and skill, & plan,
and which results in one style of
Pantheism, known as Materialis-