The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1871-06-09
FisRe'sLectpres.-

DGSUuu QuColVOu Va ~ 49,
occurrences of the day is the publication in
q daily New York newspaper Of Fiske's lee
lures. These lectures discuss the most re-
condite questions of modern science-the
first principles OF matter, OF motion and OF
force. They are delivered to the post
graduate class of Harvard University by Mr..
John Fiske, who is the ablest disciple in
America, if not in the world, OF the great
est living Engiishman, Herbert Spencer.
That q political paper should find it to its
interest to publish such lectures is indeed a
surprising phenomenon. 1t marks an epoch
in the history Of human advancement. More
surprising still is the fact that the press OF
this country, religious and secular, should
not have attacked these lectures with a
vehewence proportional to their ability.
Hske,r IKE his. master, has nascorceal-
.ments. BE does not ignore the Deity. as
! Comte does in the Positive Philosophy. he
says outright that "God, being infinite, can
s'not be personal. He does not believe in
the current theology, either in loie or in
part. BE regards the Mosaic account OF the
creation as an Aryan tradition. So, we may
add, does Agassiz, brothet teacher at Har-
ward. He ~-rpuiiases "Anthtopomerphisn"
in all OF its phases, and considers such belief
q reproach it. Though be
has at saIdso,s n staGeft i6fgfantsdfhathe
rejects the divinity Of Christ, and has no
faith whatever in the doctrine OF media
ton. From his standpoint the plan OF SAL
walton, as laid down by the theologians,
muss, seem absurd. he says, indeed, in
'one ofhis lectures, that The religious belief Of
the day no longer gives him, nor any of
those who think with him, the least concern.
IT, with Herbert Spencer, he does not coun-
sci active opposition to the current theology,
it ia for the sufficient reason, laid down by
Spencer himself, that the religion OF a par
%ticular age and people is the best possible
for that age and that people. However
nonsensical it may seem to be, there is yet a
grain of truth at the bottom, and its distthc-
ton may be safely left to time and the deVel-
opment of the human MUD under the stimu-
lus ot;VeriHed aud arranged kno#iedge-
that is, of science.
That grain OF truth is the unknowableness
OF cause.-the everlasting mystery of nou-
meua, as distinguished from phenomena.
What God is we know not, nor eaa We ever
know. The constitution OF matter and the
limits OF human intelligence alike forbid
such knowledge. Certainit is that He Is not
like man, in mind, much less in body. An
appalling, unfathomable and forever insolu-
BILE mystery surrounds the. Author OF all
Being. In this mystery religion and science
find their point of union this is the only. re-
Cancellation possible between these mighty
antagonists. So says Spencer. SO, we
| doubt not, Fiske will say when called upon
to answer for he is as bold as Spencer
himself.
Hence it is that we are surprised that the
press OF America should permit Fishes lee
lures to pass in silence. Grant that they are
but a repetition of the doctrines which Spen-
Ger has been teaching for more than twenty
~years-Social States was printed, if we mis-
take not, thirty years ago-and which he is
even now developing in the serial volumes
of his completed Philosophy Of Evolution. But
Fiske's lectures are much morethan arepeti-
ton. They discover ample erudition' drawn
from a variety Of sources, and a highly cred
table capacity for illustration and elucida-
ton, and ortentimes original, vigorous
thought. Indeed, in his course last year he
%couvicts both Huxby and Spencer of being
Positivists, despite their bitter and repeated
denials.
Ignoring Fiske will not do. His school
embraces the names most noted in science
Huxby, :.Tyndall, Darwin, Spencer, Lewes ;
the logician, Mills; the essayist, Froude, and
others. The labors Of such men, aimed
more or less at the faith Of Christendom,
should not pass unnoticed. Christianity,
doubtless, is awaiting in silence the full lie
velopment OF their latest and most formida-
BILE OF all the many attacks which she has
sustained and repulsed. But it is not a