Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1878-06-27

knowledge what We all know to be true, but we
do not bsieve; We do not even believe that we
| believe-tEc bishops themselves no more than
| the rest of US; no moro than the college OF
augurs in Cato 8 time believed in the sacred
chickens. An energetic people are lmpat!enlt
| OF nsinccrity, and tho convictions which We all
act upon have at last found voice precisely as
convictions of an analogous kind found VOICE
! in Lucretius. We have practically eliminated
Providence from the administration Of things.
The Lucretian philosophy has revived again,
reinforced by vast accumulation oi new knoWl'
edge, to tell Us, as Lucretius did, that the uni
verse can be accounted for without the hypr
thesis of Providence. The theory ct dr7"i'p'
ment, as it is called, does not deny the cxistcuco
of God any more than EpcureanlSm denied It,
1t denies only that the phenomena require tue
existence Of such being to acoonnt for tnem.
For time, even after the authority OF tra1lit0n
was shaken, science seemed to be on the Side Cl
rclipiop. The evidence OF design 10 nature "a+
urged, as it vas urged By tho Stolcs, 10 proc;
Of a dcaigoirg Mid. and as long as cach species
OF plant and auimaI was believed to DC di5tlnct
from every other each one OF them rfqu'rcd
4pecal art of creation to bring it into beng;
Both nositiona are nov abandoned By advanced
scientific thinkera.
Man's nature il tha aaIne as it always rs.
9ci:ncc haa much to teach u, but ltn message
il not tho Iast nor the hight. 1t VIC may
infer the lutnre from the past time Will
come when W. shall cease to be dazz!cd With
the thing which VIC cal progress, when IN
creaaing wealth" will ceaae to satisfy, nay,
may be fouod incapable OF being produced or pre-
served except when relegated to a:cohdafy
f,ace, when the illusions which have atrans'rd
religion shall be burned away and tho immortal
part Of it restored to its rightful si7crc'gn'y;--
A long, weary road may lie before Us. N't
easily will an in7ioiable atmosphere OF reVcr-
ence form again round spiritual faith 10 warn
off the insoeut intruder. Plety. reverence,
humble alteration of the great Maker OF tho
world, are in themselves 80 beautiful that re-
ligious faith might have remained forever Lc'
hind that enchanted shield, if imaginative de-
yotion could have kept within bounds Its Wild
demands upon the reason. Not till Catholics
had piled superstition on superstition, not Ill
Protestants had elaborated speculative the,
ology which conscience as well as lntclIect al
length flung from it as incredible, dld tue 80.
pcls which guarded the shrine fold their wings
and fly. The garden Of Eden is desecratec
now by tho trampieg OF controversy, ana o.
iDpenius reconciliations of religion and sclea'
no rivers of casuistic holy water can restore e
ruined loveliness Of tradiIionary faith. But Il
truth which is 10 religion Will assert H.
again as it asserted itself before. Soec''
without God in the heart OF 1t l5 not perm''te1
to exist; and when once moro spIrltuai cfcc"
has established itself which men can act on IN
their lives. and believe with their whole s)us,
it is to be- hoped that they will have grown
wiser BY experience, and will not again leave
tbe most precious of their possessions to be
ruined by the extravagances Of exaggerat'ng
credulity.