The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-09-06
nd on next Sabbath their own edince viii be re-
Prudentius Reviews TyndaIps MATERIAL.
istto Theories.

Prudentius Reviews TyndaIps Material-
istio Theories.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE HERALD
| Full as is the analysis given IN your issue of
August 81 Vi Professor Tyndall's address at Belfast
one should wait for accurate and authentic re.
port OF BEFORE undertaking serious criticism of
! the most important passages 1t would be curious
for instance TO note his synopsis OF the cosmogo-
mic theories OF ancient Greece, and compare them
statement by statement with what he considers
the "sc.entinc' theories Of our own times on the
same absorbing subject. We should thus be able
to take In at o glance In what respect Darwm's
theory OF the descent OF man" differs from that or
the much laughed at Grecian scientist who derived
man from nsh on the banks OF the Nile.
When an ofnciai report Of Professor Tyndall's
address reaches the writer he VIII discuss it with
all the seriousness and sincerity due to the best
interests Of truth. Meanwhile, there are some
general propositions Of Mr.. Tyndalls which claim
immediate attention.
He assumes that "the impregnable position OF
science" is such that "all religious theories,
schemes and systems which embrace notions OF
cosmogony or which otherwise reach into its
(sclence'sl domain must, in so lar they do this
submit to the control OF science and relinquish all
thought OF controlling it," &c. then, cosm ogony,
or the knowledge OF the origin OF man and the
world, is, according to the Professor. subject
|
belonging to science; SO much 80, indeed, that re-
lgion steps out OF her sphere, "reaches travels
into the kingdom OF her liege sovereign science,
when she undertakes TO teach or explain now the
world we see and touch, as well as how We our
selves, came ultimately into existence; to teach or
to explain to man where he came from and whittier
he IS going alter the present life Is not the province
Of religion.
Well, reader, you and have thought otherwise
for many long year, without auspecting that In
this we are at the opposite pole OF truth. But it
may be AZ well to take the difficulty by the horns
and explain at once what we conceive to be the
proper sphere OF science and what the province OF
revealed truth or OF reason enlightened by faith.
| Revealed religion, Mr. Tyndall's preten.
sions to the contrary Notwithstanding, does as
sumo as her proper, and exclusively proper,
! sphere, to account to man for his own origin and
that of the world by Affirming that GOO, the sole
necessary and seli-existent being, created them.
she THUS tells man his true origin. She tells him,
pliclty that alter this lie mans soul returns to
God, It's Creator, for Judgment, to receive Tor It's
ciety OF her Maker and TO be punished for ns evil
deeds by everlasting banishment from Him.
se ,s aee ma II her Sce fs prHpef ana
by which ne can merit eternal life, and what the
evil deeds which deserve the eternal DEATH Duty
from man u his Maker, and religion alone does
and can teach duty And, when amid the mid
night darkness and groupings OF the pagan phllos-
opny, revealed religion nrst gave these utterances
to the world she asked to be believed, not on her
mere animation, but on the authority Of the
worlds Maker, who had commissioned and sent
her to teach man these things And she proved
her authority and showed the seal OF the divine
commission which she bore by doing Gods own
handiwork, and performing what most participates
OF creative power-miracles.
Professor ryndall, were you at DEATHS door to-
morrow, with every known restorative OF science
exhausted and every door 10 nope closed IN your
case, you, too, would believe In the man WHO
mil tnRn II " a m IN n
the name Of God, your Maker, get up and livep'
know your answer You scott ut the very name
and notion OF miracle Thus your new science aims
at making faith impossible and rehg,on unworthy
of belief But during the last two thousand years
and more whole generations OF scoIers, OF sceptics
as eminent Tor genius and science as your honored
sell, have believed in miracles after laughing the
idea to scorn. They believed because they saw
them.
1t Is within the province Of science to ascertain
by sensible proofs that man is bind and was so
IRON infancy. He is so now as you ana look into
his ace and scan these poor s,gnsess orbs or look
into the empty sockets: but II in an hour that
same man, undeniably the same, return TO us with
sight In those orbs and perfect organs In these
SOCKETS, will you deny that here Is a manifestation
OF creative power-a miracle And when that
man with the rapture OF new HE and light on
every feature tells you and ne that one word the
/. pronounclng Of one dread name wrought In
simultaneously the change we see, shall not we
kneel down and adore that name
And, Professor, as 1t was In the power OF science
to attest that mans blindness, SO is it now to at
test his cure. The blindness ana the cure are
both facts cerriaed by the outward sense. 1t is
for the science which scots at miracles to put this
and that together, and to find me cause TO father
the sudden effect. Assuredly, no principle In the
scientific theories OF natural selection Will account
When therefore, religion undertook not to teach
"cosmOgonlc schemes, systems or theories" but
to teach man revealed truths, dogmatic facts, she
gave to the human race proof SUFFICIENT OF her d.
vine mission 70 teach. And, apparently. the
human race believed that she was so COM
lOnged to her alone 10 say to the race until the
end OF time that God is the sole Creator the sole
Judge and the sole rewarder Of mankind
We, as Christians, must be forgiven, then, for
perslsttng to assign to religion as ner exclusively
proper sphere and tue province In which she alone
is supreme, those truths which she teaches to all
CONCERNING our common origin, our duties here
Science NAV sit at religions leet and learn, and
then 20 forth with ner lamp replenished into the
Wide fields o. inyes.lgaaon; LIS With the ana Of
that science Will securely investigate and surely
find, without ever ceasnR to see the footprints OF
the one all-ordaining wisdom and pow IN every
star ana in every atom. she never win interfere
with true science, with right reason in her leglt:
OF revelation And If he will have the one su-
preme and the other subordinate to her he does
not thereby mean the degradation Or the ensave-
ment OF the inferior.
THIS great cutlery about the necessary and abso.
lutte antagonsm between science and religion Is
monstrous imposition on the common sense OF
mankind. 1t Is only requisite to point out the
sphere scope and office OF true science to enable
even the man OF ordinary education to perceive
what fallacy underhes all this defamation
science deals, and processes to deal, only with
Vic Wofiu vi sehsc ucI sCoPo 70 " PcueVa ave snc
nature ana composition OF material substances to
de tect by observation the laws which govern the
particles Of any one definite substance IN their
combination with each other, as we'll as those
which govern all bodies in their relations to the
great universe around them. The ofice OF natural
Or physical science, then, IS to observe phenom.
ena, TO CLASSIFY and arrange them 80 as to
arrive at what we improperly call general laws:
say Improperly, because the science OF observation
and experiment deals, in every direction with
facts. and her conclusions cannot go beyond the
limit of observations. Her laws are o summing
up-an induction from the phenomena noted and
the experiments made. But these are manifestly
included within o narrow sphere. The law, or in
ductiOn, II assumed to be general universal
violates the fundamental principles OF logic; the
conclusion would be infinitely wider than the
premises.
Here, precisely, is one Of the capital mistakes
which science, or, rather, such men as Tyndal
Darwin and spencer make In the name or science.
From very limited series OF observation, too
often from hasty survey OF Q lew acts phenOm-