New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1850-12-13


;,r 5.I,elopu,eit, xc regard the phlioso5hlc
mt of the century as the common W. ~
inrr NJ modern thought alike reieFaoie 70 'H' go
causes and affirming the same PrihciPes. - ~ =
10 reaction of the mind OF bufope - 'l-i9t t't
vsLo9ovinp falseh0od, which, besnulp9 VIII
.ba dc1:a1 Of reason save as faculty. lndslnS
5;,, r. se0sr - of conscience save Is law
falf1a2.e reached its hight IN the sceptlcism oil
pnmo the sensualism OF Helyetlus the athe-
isr, al ? D HolbaCh which saw IN nan Only
moro ingenious animal, in nature machine, II
,;,tDe Lost ia God notion, aud in religion sa-
nerstitious chimera- One central principle, the
Affirmation OF modern science, was the inter over.
throw OF snch error the Creatlgn, II the phrase Oh
Cudworth. of new intellectual system OF the
universe The fonta truth, whence 10" all the
currents Of present thought and aspiration. IS tAe
existence OF faculty in man whereby ne rises
above the phenomena OF sense and the forms OF
the mere understanding 70 the knowledge OF uni
versal and necessary laws. IN st!Icter speeeh,
indeed i is not as a new discovery that we can
call this distinctive principle OF the modern
mind for in all truth as well OF science as oil re-
lieion there is a Catholic unity, transmiGratlon
from BODY to BODY of the same continuous lite,
which knits together the lofty aims OF earlier,
with the results of later wisdom. the presence
in man Of this power above sense, this light by
/ which we see light, has been tue keystone OF 2
profound philosophy from the first; it vas this
thar insrired the soul of Plato with visions OF the
a,
in her Piotinus and Proclus a setting glory a MD
I the coming shadows of scepticismi this winch
has been alike recognized IN every nobier era OF
Christian thought Our age has its boast in nav
ing developed it in more thorough method-
And while we may not speak OF modern phl-
losopby rs one system, yet amid the dlssonance
OF its forms and results trace this unity IN the
common idea whence they spring, and the COM
mon direction which it gives them. kmPlrclsn
still sneers at metaphysical truth as mystic folly
bold theories OF materialism and selfish morality
are sometimes asserted. but, in the main, the
tide of scientific thought runs alongs one broad
majestic channel That spiritual principle lies at
the basis OF psychology, whose aim IS to untold
the law of pure reason, of q conscience pointing
toward moral right. OF Will acting III. its inner
ent power beyond the sphere OF cause ami effect
1t is the soul Of natural science, since 1t resolves
/ the phenomena Of material universe into dyna.
mic forces and sees God in all things. It plants
ethics on the sure rock OF an eternal and immuta
| bic morality And last and highest Ia the DOMAIN
of science it exalts TO the living idea OF God
in his relation to the soul and there lays the splr
! itual groundwork OF a supernatural revelation
But it is not only the neutrality-suspicious.. But
it is not only the root OF pure science IL view
! vet wider and TO most of greater interest, we
| trace it's influence on modern thought Released
| from the letters Of material age, the mind
of men sprang forth in the energy OF uew
| creation, and the era OF q lofty philosophy was
the era Ol the hODitst dctI'4ty III SfetJ Spi4U .
1t is a time of manifold phenomena, when more
than in any other the veXed problems OF letters
criticism, art are pushed TO their last anal ysis
! Butin all these movements, one lea.are meets Us
as Characteristic All embody IDEAS unknown and
unbelieyed in the past century Of the spiritual IA
49,, n tbesa b-h bsrn,7rss is .5Qnd in the reign
la. rbiioso,bx- i = ~. ega If vision OF asolra-
/ - .f.s- +l--t+ e--4 g Haz-1-y vet unfllf..ed.
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-. g ---.,--<~, So ,rs f7-i.s.-,lyr.ss It's
= -. :, 80 -, - <-,f,fs.,,;yf;y s. of
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- - :,..r- -,G1s ,ay5s war.l, :xzti w1.sre
So +. III, .s.,.- x LII y 5.e1l5 1. N3ca=Gf5
- r. : rf,i ~; -.,,r>s. >; -. cla!.,
: 49,, -l--,s ! So >>,,,7r ~ 1,s1 i.2glilla
-, -. 49,. ~ s]-,-,..,s Il I,4s 81 78t!lrs
-. ~. - .a. = .,,,,1, Y,-,e;;, d, mn
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,-gs--;-- sf,s-,sr,,ss- = ,.a-- ~ - -.,.-s1-
;sr,,f >-5r,> -s,,.r...s, 4 - s,.'. s., s.-
hsrss,f sxtarDol t,-,,S l,,,s.~g, IT, ,,,t 49,
fer ilssl al humanity arc I'M, ,,|,n,sn.S ,fnDdern
literature iunstiopiu,, lis ouiyerng
emotion orcutfnrcd intbe iyric lis comolrx social
oims appcor in the drama and romance. There
nav be- those who will wonder that snch nhcno,n.
ona arc referred to pbilosophjc influence. but il
is because they understand by philosophy only a
dry, metaphysical system instead of deep, per
vading impulse of the common intellect An age
! like that Of Hume and the English dcists could no
more have born q Wordsworth, than that OF Lu-
clan Sophocles, 1t IS the same likeness in all.
We behold 1t IN the literature OF Germany, ea 1t
came world OF beauty bursting to HE out OF the
marble GOODNESS OF the past instinct with the ideal
spirit from the seyerest treatise OF Kant to the
Goethe and the ballads OF Uhiand in the poetry
aud prose OF France since De Stacli and again IN
England, the reproduction of Saxon henrU aud
speech after the long famine commonly. called the
Augustan era, yet bearing in every line the i'm
press OF this century IN her Colerldge, Sterling,
Tennyson and that noblest OF her modern bards,
who after life itself in Millions words " a poem,