, 1873-06-22

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OF, mankind has been asking this question
All religions and all PHILOSOPHERS have thei
beginning and their ending in it. Go back nero
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VINO Ao11 Us no written language, nave lo11 III
| the evidences Of their worship and their com
munion with IN unseen Power, sido By sidt
with their stone-hatcheta, their mastodon soup
bones, and their flat skulls. Carlyle be1ches il
forth in Sdrtor Resartus:
Generation after generation takes itself ths For
o. Hoay ana iosth-lssun9 from clmmesan 9'gnt n
in each he e4pends: one grinding in The mill Of Inaus
ty ons. hunte1-ke climbing the giddy Alpine heights
Of s13f IN w.. vth Ss 1ea~ then M tha Heayen
sent y recalled; s earthly vestufo falls sway, and
even to sense becomes vanished shadow:
trstn ~ HeaTen,a a1t,Ilerv' doos this m7p.
terious MANKIND thunder and dame In
1,o,. d s1s I
breathing spirft-Bost. re emerge from tie Inale,
haste stormfuly serosa the asto1ished Earth, then
hi.SSs nna ~ ~ E5.h rnnrp ~ on1
that it IL through Mystery TO Mystery, from God to
God.
1he Tolums before Oh essays TO sns"er rn1a
noVer-endn8 question. II Tells us tnas We come
out OF the ea1th and that We go nowhere Ihe orsb
edltlon OF hTa5& und btQU (torca and MAtte1) Was
pubtahed at DArmstadt In the year 1900
4t has passed through Ten entlon8 II
home, and been translated INTO French'
Italian, and, finally, into English. It has been
kicked and cuf1ed In Germany to q notable e1-
tent, both By believers and unbehovezs In heTe-
lation and lte author has replied to his Assananto
IN the prefaces to the successive editions OIL MS
work. bo upon the whole, ne has acquired
sort OF reputation as the Boss 1nhdel OF the
world, and, as such, Was invited last winter 10
lecture to the German Materialists OF tho United
States for the round sum OF Sl0,oo0. Wesh
examine tho volume upon his o"n chosen
ground
Notwithstanding the seer-hke grasp displayed
In aone portions OF it, DR.. Buechner's book Is
fundamentally bad, even from Nationalist
point OF view, Tor it seeks to e1pel God from
the universe, and to dlsproVe future state OF
existence that ls, to prove negative In a 10
main wholly beyond the reach OF reason !! IN its
moral tendency 1t fully 1ustlhaa the oo)ec11on OF
soul nothing but this - Let us eat aud drink,
1or to-morrow "o dle' Inc author
attempts to answer this barbed criticism, but
fails misezably. There must surely be radical
defect IN any system OF teaching which leads us
no hig ghor than this and when it is confessedly
exercised upon subject matter beyond our
experience tho presumPtionB must al be against
It, And this, III br1ef, IL the way he essays to
prove Ills case.
There ls no matter without force-no 1orco
without matter. lie two co-e1lss universally.
Both matter aud force are mdestructlple.
be resolved into nothing. Therefore master
must have existed from all eternity, and must
exist to all eternity Tho notion eternal In cor
talnly ono which, WITH our limited 1aculsioa, 1s
difficult OF conception (slc). Nevertheless 1t ls
matter existed Is to suppose that power once e1-
1Bted IN etate OF Inertia, which Is lnconcelTa-
be- Matter is also Infinite IN space. II 1t "ero
otherwise tho Ia" OF graV'tat1on would cause
tho solar system and all the other systems
70 rush TO q common centre. Ihe laws OF matter
arc rnmutaole, unalteraoiei therefore, the e1-
lBtence OF any other governing power ID unneces-
sary and supernuons' Emplflcal philosophy,
wherever 1t may search Tor 1T, 1s nowhere able to
find g trace OF supernatural influence, either
III time or space. Geology teaches that many
hundred millions OF years must have
been required to bring the earth
from Its original ancandescent state to
[ts present haDltable condition. IL
there be an al powerful creator, why a1a ne
not immediately turn 1t out as nnasheo pro-
1uctf I'm o1aef 70 maze 1oonsh oo5s ask ques,
lons' pernhps.) re see tnat as 1ho oa9tn passed
'nroueh successive eeoioglcal spoons no" 1oe'u8
u 'ege1aole ano aninai LIS appea1eo II HI as-
'enolng e1oer' co1mlnat1ng IN man' 4nefo afe
.1ounos 'of pene'loe tnA6 ELI tnese 1o1mS %
ue' nc!oolng man. were eFo'eo
rom Tue ne1' preceolng 1o'ms' ano
mere Is no way OF proving 'na' man himself ls
he highest typo OF existence winch Nature Is
apab1e Of evolving" There are at least three
ifferent groups Of languages in the world, and
probably more, which could not have originated
rom the same stock. Therefore mankind could
'ot have sprung from single pair
80 much for the purely physical aspects OF
Force and Matter" We now come to the Lneta- |