New-York tribune., 1873-02-05
lApplause.l |
FROM pR. o. W. noLMns.


Boston. Jan %. 1879
Ny Dear Sir regret that IL is my power to be
present the dinner which given to distn-
gushed visitor. have had great pleasure in meeting
him and in listening 10 him, while he was with us in
Boston, and should be most happy could join in the
testimonial Of respect you propose TO offer him. We can
not ovcrestmate our debt to the who give their
lives the study Of Nature. They becoming
and more leaders this morning twilight OF
knowledge this period Of transition, when the eye is
getting the better Of the car OF the magma
tiOn trust the established order OF the universe
OF those OF the supernatural out Of which have
been forged tho chains Of thought and the weapons Of
tyranny The mists are thick enough round STILL but
begin, under their guidance 20 the paths before
and TO feel the firm ground on which we can place
feet That not castaways upon our hungry
planet but righu and royal heirs TO el its possbii
ties that are framed not TO crouch but 10 stand
not TO shrek TO the forces OF nature but TO command
them that the supreme OF order cannot be afraid
Of jealous lest we learn too much Of the outer
world which live OF the inner world which lives
in us; all this is beginning TO be felt as an
element Of the atmospheric intelligence OF our time.
We cannot live to-day the Oxydated beliefs OF the
past Faith is q bankrupt and her accounts under
strict examination to determine what assests remain TO
be distributed among the impoverished souls that are
her creditors Science is attacking all she lay hold
OF for the benefit Of common humanity and adding
10 it the newborn wealth she has created
What quarrel can we have with the men who are re-
storing the human mind to the place from which false
humility has long degraded 1t Strange that those
who find term too opproDrious to apply 10 them
selves and their sinful felOwcreatures should borrow
the athanasian vocabulary TO shryel up the innocent
hypothesis that may possibly be entitled TO quarter
his with the ancestral bearings of OF tho most
intelligent OF mammals! Strange that the hOmist who
thinks nothing OF calling worm. should abuse the
naturalist who suggests that the founder Of the human
family may perhaps have been an ascldlanl The sug
gesOn OF the predatory ordeal test Of supernatural
Interference with natural laws may have Jared upon
those feelings Of which are never To be treated
lightly. Yet we cannot but remember that this
ordeal appealed to by one Of the greatest Of the
Hebrew prophets and sanctioned by drect response
We have with us one Of those students of nature whom
the inqusitiOn would have delighted 20 burn, aud
the conclaves and councils would have goried
to ansthemaze These the oracles the prophets OF
to-day. They teaching not merely the order OF
the heavenly movements the constitution OF The solar
aud the stellar atmospheres the succession OF geological
changes tue strtihcation Of the successive layers Of
humanity, the transormatons OF matter the Proteus OF
Lord Bacon's essay, the vibrations of imponderable
media the metempsychOsis Of force but something
than any specialized knOwledge-to look for truth at
first hand and not to be afraid when found
IT, In place Of the record based upon that delusive
maxim, qtOd Semper. qtod ubiqte Quod db omnibus
which meant nothing but a tOeraDy constant and regu
lar maoy vote modern science appeals to the facts OF
nature capable VI direct universal aud perpetual verh
cation The opposition meets with only the friction
that accompanies all movements and the oblOquy t
counters Is only the squeak OF friction
We trust the apostles of the new movement To take
care OF themselves need that any belief
which is ft TO live will die. All opinions dsproved
by the Of to-day certainly yield 10 that subtle
process intersteal decay and renovation by which
the Intellectual life OF mankind born again from gem
GRAFTON 10 generation almost without knowing IT, But
we may be perfectly that there is not anything
that IL in heaven above, that is in the
earth beneath that the under the earth,
which can contradict the evidence that there Is
thing higher than the trmament, and more stable than
the SOLID continents, and deeper than the uns0unded
depths OF the ocean-the law above all laws, winch
shows our reason what ought 10 be, and commands
our will I'm the authoritative accents Of DUTY.
Thou lost preserve from wrong.
by Thee fresh and strong
| am dear Sir, yours very truly, o. W. HOLMES.
Prof. A III. Mayer.