Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1877-12-04
TNBELIEF.
Its Magnanimity from a RatiOra lfst
Standpoint.
From The Lopdon S,lec.1for- Nor 3

IT..
has contributed to the Nineteenth CsRtarV on
The Soul and Future Life and i'm his reply
To the many criticisms whom those papers
drew down upon him. there is visible precisely
the same state of mind which is SO curiOusy
Illustrated in Harriet MaTtincau'> ''Autobi-
OgTaphy. the state uf mind. We mean, which
Miss CObbe, in her striking contribution 10 the
TfeOi0Gfcdt Rerjcc of this month. happily
terms one of magnanimouS atheism" Any
one who has seen Shrunken and withered
apple apparently revive under the exhausted
receiver Of the air-pump. may perhaps have
some notion, derived from thaf analogy. of the
reason of this swelling of the heart in a sort of
triumphant relief at the imaginary eyaneS-
cenCe of the religious influences under the
pressure of which il had lived. The apple
sWelIS out because the atmospheric pressure
on the outside l. removed. and the confined air
i'm il consequently expands till il seems as sound
and plump as II was while all its juices were
rich and fun. And So. we take IT. the elatiOa
of mind which Harriet Martineau 50 wildly
describes, the graduation wherewith she
looked up 10 the midnight stars. and thought
within herself that the creedS of her youth
were system of Illusions which she and Mr..
Atkinson had cOntTiyed to throw OFF. was due
To the cessation of the pressure of that sense
of constant obligation and claim under which
she had formerly been living. and its exchange
for the conviction that instead of trying to in
teTpret painfully the demands of another and
higher spirit upon her own, all she Had to
do was tO give free vent to her own aspirations
and follow the impulses of her own thought
When, wrote Miss Martineau, lin the even
inES of that spring, went out (aS L always do
when in healthy to meet the midnight on my
terrace. or in bad weather in the porch. and
saw and felt what l always do see and feel
there at that hour. what did it matter whether
people who were nothing to me had smiled or
frOwned when passed them in the village in
the morning? When l experienced the still
new joy of feeling myself to he a portion of the
universe, resting on the security of its ever
lasting laws. certain that its Cause was wholly
out of the sphere of human attributes. and
that the special destination of my race is in
nnhlpr HIGHEST
under q scheme of divine moral government
how could il matter To me that the adherentS
lowing the heathen as the heather followed
the blrbaric fetish) were iiercely clinging to
their Manhood, their scheme of salvation. their
reward and punishment. their essential pay
system, as ordered by their mythology?
To the emancipated. il is a small matter
that those who remain imprisoned are shocked
at the daring which goes forth into the sun
shine and under the stars 10 study and enjoy
without leave asked, or the fear of penalty"
How like the breath of relief with which Miss
Martineau observes that the diSpl6aSure or
pleasure Of her neighbors is nothing To
her, is that with which she remarks
that to go and meet the midnight
was delightful To her after SuppoSlng, as
She used To suppose, that at such times She
went To meet Il spirit who was conducting
divine moral government and had promised
Ia reward and punish men according to their
works. 1t is, as she expressly says, the feeling
that THE midnight she Went to meet though
was entirely ''Out of the sphere of human at
tributes entirely unrelated to the Manhood
OF Christian worship which filled her with this
sense of citation. In precisely the same tone.
Mr.. Frederic Harrison eXpOunds his religion
of humanity" and throws of all the belief of
the theologlans as constructed out Of "dithy
rambic hypothesis and evaSive trOpes." There
is i'll all the POSiiiviStS a note of ScOrnful tri-
umphAS they clear their souls of what they
call the supersttionS of ages. and eXhOrt us to
be content with wOrShiping the prOvi-
az hlAh hA .tn nc
individual men. and with anticipating the
''pOSthumouS activities which are to he the
somewhat worthless. but the only conceivable.
equivalents for immortal growth. In all the
solloquies and all the homilies to which the
PoSitiviStS give utterance, YOU can see the
same sense OF relief. in fact the air which Miss
nimity.-as if they were doing something
rather grand. and rising in their own eStima-
ton. as they east TO the winds the old faiths.
Yet Miss Martineau. as Miss Cohbe reminds
us, was almost diSmayed when She thought
of the pain which her new belief in per-
SOnal humiliation would carry to the
heart of some friends of hers who were
widows, and who lived in the hope, not
only of a future life in God. but of a
future reunion with the objects of their warm
est earthly love, and whom she feared it might
even deprive Of reason TO have this hope taken
away from them. Yet with all this dismay
she speaks of her new disbelief as potent
remedy for human ills whicls it would he sell
fish in her Ia keep to herself NV comradp
not see them suffering as we had suffered
without impartingt O them our consolation and
our joy: Having found, as my friend said,
spring in the desert, should We see the multi
tude wandering in deSolation and not show
them our TefreShment?i Whereupon Miss
CObbe remarks. Would it not have been a
more appropriate simile TO say. Having found
that the promised land was q mirage we has
tened back joyfully To bring the Interesting
tidings 10 our friends in the wilderness, some
of whom We expected would go mad when they
m IN. .s.la f...,.
their great respect for us. We knew they would
attach the utmost importance. By some
strange fortuity. however. they did not quite
believe our report, and went on their way as
before, under the pillar of clOud?''' Yet il is
evident that while, on the one hand. the Posi-
twists are conscious that they are trying to re-
foundry rests, they do really feel, on the other
hand, as If those who can share their point of
view were throwing of a weight of care, and
growing freer and nobler and more dignified
Miss Martineau's phrase, going Ito meet
the midnight were an infinitely freer
and less humiliating act of mind than
e gog TO %ben sh Gd aay
merely under the midnight than they could
under the eye Of Divine righteousness, and
they become higher beings in their own esti-
nation, Just as the apple blooms out again
under the exhausted receiver. Mr.. Harrison,
indeed, expressly finds fault with the Chris
tian order Of thought for thinking SO poorly of
HAL dS iie II. lie speaks Oh tne view OF their
own lives taken by men who hold that much
OF what they have done will result i'm post
humOus activities" Of very unsatisfactory
Kind. and a great proportion of their past in
posthumOus activities that are simply morally
indifferent. being neither bad nor good, as
mere pesslmists, and adds, PesSmiSm as to
the essential dignity Of man. and the steady
development of his race, is one Of the SureSt
marks of the elevating influence of this dream
Of celestial glory" In other words, to Mr.
Harrison, as certainly to Miss Martineau. ali
humiliation is pessimism-even though il
touches in no way the essential dignity of man,
but rather only the unsuccessful attempts of
the individual ego to reach that essential dig
nifty Of man. As the belief in God mOdfieS
the satisfaction with ourselves as we are
grows, and We begin to be quite sure that the
vast majority of all our 'pOsthumOus aclivi-
ties will 90 to increase the store of testimony
accommodating to all future ages of 1.-The essen
tial dignity Of man."
As certainly as the failure to recognize the
attraction of the sun led our fOrefathers into
all sorts Of eXaggeratiOnS of the stability of the
earth, the failure to recognize the di vine love
and righteousness will lead those who miss
them TO eXaggerate the worth and value of
human love and righteousness. 1t is the weight
OF our debt and obligations which makes us
see what poor creatures, except through the
divine help, we really are. Remove the sense
of these higher obligations, and we grow in
eyltaDy in estimation inc no,