The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1878-04-26
SCIENCE AND THEOLOGY.

ALYzED BY JAMES ANTHONY FRoUDE.
The International Reriew OF which have the ad-
sheets for this month, contains notable article
tho subject OF 'science and Theology. Ancient aud
Modern," by James Anthony Frouds, the historian.
He gives the IDEA ic beginning that each generation
believes in itsof Tor importance. "If says he, 1--WE
add to personal experience the accounts which
hear from our fathers of the state oil lhngs which
they remember their own childhood tho Individual
reco,lections OF each OF extend buck nearly
century; and every century brings with It alterations
OF action and sentiment, which depressing ex-
hilaratng according TO the constitution of minds,
but always a scale 10 force upon a sense Of
the instability OF all opinions and institutions and Of
complicated influences which control the fortunes
OF our The English of Shakespeare or swift
were essentially dinerent from the English Of to-
day The accidents OF lie alter rapidly"
Speaking Of the time At the close OF the war with
Franco, Froude says
s'Coonies had few, and those valued by us but
rs markets tor our uncertain commerce. ships
crawled to and fro across the Atlantic, spending SIX
weeks upon the voyage. As many months were con-
sumed on a voyage 70 India or China. The landed
aristocracy ruled in ST. Stephens and usc and won't
the length and breadth Of the island Stage coaches
rolled secphy along the unmacadamxed high roads.
The impatient traveller who afraid OF fatigue
might reach Edinburgh from London in two days ana
nights inc maRnate VINO preferred MS own carriage
and his own horses fortnight on tho way.
Each neighborhood supplied It's own necessities
It's amusemen,s. The weaver mado cloth at
his solitary for the tailor to clothes
tho adjoining village Tho old vile In the cottage
spun her own yarn, ana knitted her and her
husbands aud children's stockings. The gen.
try confined their visits within circle OF
ten miles. Their daughters depended for their
larger acquaintance on the balls aud In the
country town. Schools tnero none, except Tor
the weil-to-do. The village boys and girls learned
their catochism at the parish church, and bound
apprentices for the rest OF their education All the
country over, from the expense and difficulty OF
movement. each family rooted TO its own soil.
and the summer mgratons OF the squires and
confined, ike that oil The Vicar OF Wakefield TO
change from the blue room to the brown. t
"Under these conditions We who are now turned
middle age began our existence; hopes modest,
our ambition limited to one other or the three
black graces our horizon bounded at f0rthest, by tho
limits Of our own island, and our knowledge Of the
rest OF the globe extending but to upon maps.
huge portions OF which remained blank, or to books
OF travels which accurately distinguished
from voyages OF GuilIvor or Robinson Crusoe or
Sindbad tho Sailor. NNna Nn1lHffN
sour spiritual state Was the counterpart Of
tcral state We learned what fathers had learned
geometry, Greek and Roman history. and, IN some
favored INSTANCES little English history conceived
IRON IN insular point Of view Modern languages We
despissd and OF modern European literature wo knew
nothing Physical science was regarded rather an
am ussmcnt OF diiettantesm than occupation for
serious men. or astronomy taught the general
results We know, in Words that the earth round;
that It travelled round the sun one OF its planess
and that tho solar system was, perhaps but ono OF
infinite number OF such systems. But the knowledge
had not penetrated beyond our memories. For prac-
tca purposes still believed that earth was
the most important part OF tho universe, and tho
central object for which all else had been made.
Electricity was toy, geology paradoxical novelty.
Critical history had not commenced It's massacre or
illusions. schoolboys were taught TO believe In tho
Seven Kings Rome. BRUSH antiquarisns could In
sis, mooesty that Brute of Troy not be ablo.
Chemists stlll talked of the elements Tho KEEN
piercing process by which Evolutionary teachings on
all subjects have since been brought TO the bar 10
answer for themselves was stiIl unneard of any
single department OF human study. m
"A condition SO STATIONARY, SO controlled outwardy
and inwardy by habit, corresponded TO the stable
character OF tho English nation. Below the ard
life and the intellectual cultivation lay foundation OF
mora nty based upon authority"
speaking Of this condition, Mr. Froude In his clear,
electric style. remarks that children must be taught
that certain conduct Il CURED OF tn that there
IL a rule OF DUTY TO which thoy must conform
Hereupon M. Frouds gives a boy hood instance OF
the effect OF general and accepted belief upon the
actions OF mon and he shows that, Industrious ami
dusty historian that he Is he Is not without at least
the dramatic appreciation OF warm sentiment He
says
family In the corner OF the parish supposed to
Gu certain eccentric opinions on these sabccts. They
harmless and respectable but they did not 90 to
church, and naturally were called atheists. We
looked ut thom with vague terror III NO passed
a. la, Inc ola mother died. Tho nnspsna ASKED nm,
the body might bs buried without beng taken into
the church. |, would, believe have been Illegal At
any rate the request was refused, and rccoIlect,
when the matter talked over, hearing II said that
people who did not believe In aod believed often 10
the devil, aud That inside tho church the devil had
special power To take hold OF an atheist. some months
AFTER one summer evening, saw the husband steal
ing down to cnurchyard 10 vlsiL MS wo's grave
HIS look was gentle, sad abstracted full Of human
sorrow and human scnsIbty. | rccoect "A sense of
startled pity Tor the poor old man, mixed with doubts
whether u was not implous 10 entertain such feei-
Ing"
But Mr. Froudo In his exquisite English nnds that
an end has come 10 tho Old style Of Affairs. he 10
speaking OF a time when II We may interpolatc an
incident. Thomas Jefferson thought that vegetable
called tomatoes Which ne had found IN France might
The Odd conditions Of ideas arc gone, says Mr..
Froude. aud wo fancy that the same will BIO said Of
.'rbeoog,ans no longer speak with authority They
oontcut to suggest and to deprecao hasty contra
dctlon Those VINO doubted before how openly deny.
Those who believed on trust have passed into uncer-
tainty Those who uphold orthodoxy cannot agree
on what ground TO defend It. Throughout Europe,
throughout the world the gravcs SUBJECTS freely
discussed and opposite sides may be taken without
blame from society. Doctrines on.o fixed q rock
nuid as water. Truth 10 what men trow.
Things what men think. For three centuries all
Protestant communities assumed as nrst principle
the infaliibility Of the Bible. They regarded tho
writers the various books AS the automatic lnstru
mcnts OF the Holy SPIRIT. and pious and simple people
hold IN enire consistency that II the Bible was rule
OF faith where zach persoB, learned or unlcarncd,
could mud the truth, the transIations must be In
spirod Also These positions were safe 80 long, and
long only, as u was held TO 90 sinful to challense
them. II the original language OF the Bible was
nirsculousiy comm unicated there natural pre-
sumption that would DO mraculoasly preserved. IL
had not been miraculousIy preserved aud the inter-
OF doubt extended backward the inspiration.
"rhe origin o the different books was inquired
into, with their authorship and antiquity. Al each
stop the uncertainty became deeper Tho gospel his
tory itsclf found to be laby rnth Of kites
The divine sanction Tor accuracy and Authenticity
once obscured, The popular sense winch had cleared
the modern word OF superstition and had driven tho
supernatural out OF secular history began ask
what ground tho Bible miracles be believed II
miracles were TO DO reJectsd. Geology forced