The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1868-04-18
NO. is.
Another RELIGION.
THE APPEARANCE or A CONTEST IN NEW
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trines to il
apostle in frocS -
calmly reading an > sii&Til
music stand is not . fezsarif5
an absurd or ludicrous obJ3y yths age
But an apostle, of whatever appearance
and style, ought even in the nineteenth
century, to present such earnest con
victioDs as would be a satisfying substi-
tute for the popular religious creeds.
Comte was mathematician of rare
ability and patience. a successful student
+ Of the logic of induction, and an acute
critic and reasoner upon the philosophy
Of history. In each of these three de-
. EaRts Of thought he -pade valuable
n roe valuable: q our : n I'd.
5tfy But in no respect are his
claims to a position among the foremost
| thinkers of his generation promoted by
the wild dreams of his period of mental
decay about faith and worship.
The process by which those who. like
Mr.. Edgar, accept every thing Comte
wrote or fancied, as whole preach
their doctrines, is to present clearly and
forcibly these of his speculations which
have real value, and then demand the
acceptance or rejection of the whole
body Of his views together The fact is
that there is no such logical unity In his
system as compels this course 1t is
even possible to accept the entire +" Posi-
tive Philosophy, and yet, without in
consistency, to despise the " Positive
Religion" as worse than worthless.
Comte rejects utterly every conception
Of first cause, and every personal OBJ
jeet Of worship. The substitute for
Deity in his system claims to be nothing
more than figment of the Imagination.
1t is the conception which the educated
mind forms of humanity as a whole No
man speaks with more whitening scorn
than Comte of the degradation of that
idolatry which worships idols made by
hand But in his system, the manufae-
ture of the idol is simply transferred
from hand to mind. The god is still ad
mittedly the creature Of the worshipper.
Who viii fud in it 4 remedy for the
Besides the system is self-destructive.
This conception of humanity, whatever
it was in the mind of the philosopher
himself, is necessarily, so far as it finds /
any real place in the lives of his follow
c IS, metaphysical notion But by the 4
famous historical law Of the three states, /
which our apostle makes the very fouu- +
dation upon human progress, every great /
mental conception passes through three (
forms, the theological or fictitious form (
the metaphysical or abstract form, and /
the positive or scientific form Now III
the notion Of a God Is to pass from the
form of a lersopal l'se.-~. -
1.---a--.-, s.ssye, s1seea pII ysfcaI
form of Comte's ideal Of aggregate hu-
mauity, must not every positivist look
upon the latter as a mere transition stage
to its final form? And what can the
final form be, but the ultimate fact or
law, the single proposition, to which, as
Comte himself teaches, all phenomena
are to be considered as finally reducible,
and under which it must be the perpetual
though forever unsatisfed, effort Of
science to bring them.
In the audiences Of yesterday il was
evident that the curious for new things
over the disciples seeking
truth and that, even among the few
who hope TO learn, the critical or de-
structiye dispositions generally prevailed.
The teachings of Comte and his apostles
will avail TO unsettle the conf flence of
hundreds in traditional beliefs and iusti-
tutions, where their teachers find one
who would join them in fashion
ing anew, after their notions, the social
and religious world. How can it be
when extensive knowledge
aud much logical force are brought to at
tack every thing men have held dear, and
when nothing is offered them as asubsti-
tute but religion withoRtu6sWystery, a
without Goeka5 Sszskl lfEAPf
morals and culture = - = = ~ 4 y
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