The Bozeman weekly chronicle. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1883-1889, 1883-06-27
Fancied Symposium Between Dr..
Tyndal and q M0nOthelst.

oCSAICCly AOuAu q AiOAO OOnusAoA "AAsSA
than DR.. Tyndall. The subjects which
he handles in mastery manner, are
characterized throughout for their orig
inality of conception and splendor ofdic'
ton; but as a writer on Monotheism and
moral philosophy he is futile and very
incoherent. His moral equilibrium
seems to be displaced, hence he is in a
state of vacillation. Sometimes he speaks
of an unoriginated cause in such com.
mendable and magnanimous terms as
excites admiration of "a superlative type
while others he regardssuch doctrines as
mythical fables, and seems to discard the
imperial centre and living reality of the
universe who embodies in his nature all
excellence and possible existence.
Thus he says: Transferring thought
from our little sand-grain of an earth to
the immeasurable heavens, where count
less worlds, with their freights of life
probably revolve unseen, the very suns
which warm them being barely seen by
us across abysmal space, rejecting that
| beyond these sparks of solar fire suns
innumerable may lie, whose light can
never stir tho optic nerve, at all, and
bringing this conception face to face with
the idea that the builder and sustainer OF
it should contract himself into burning
bush, or behave in any other familiar
way ascribed to hint is easy to under
stand how astounding the incongmitv
must appear to men of science"
Monotheist: But who, 0, man OF
science! o collosal pyramid of strength;
ever imagined for moment that the
Great God, the unmoved mover of the
megacosm, whom the unlimited realms
of "abyssmal space" cannot contain, con-
densed or contracted himself into a
burning bush. Did not this conception
originate in thine own mind, o thou man
Of science? Is this the conception of
Monothelsts? o, no. Their idea of this
great cause is that while he manifested
his glory to Moses in the burning bush,
he was shining in myriads of worlds be-
sides. Think, o man of science, that be
scans the primeval wonders of all lif;',
the indivisible molecule and the grand
est star simultaneously-the immeasure-
able heights and depths of the starry blue
diffusing his unfading splendor every
where, and think that your idea of con.
traction was never born from the brains
of Monotheists, but only cropped out
from thine own Uranium. Look again, 0
man of science and see every drop OF
water replete with unutterable wonders,
and instict with life; look upon the
leaves of the trees, and witness with thy
microscopic powers the attenuated forms
of life, equisitely formed, skillfnlly ar
ranged and beautifully painted, and see
there the fostering hand of a universal
parent. See him in the shining sun, the
dropping rain, the tongueless silence OF
gravitation and the mysterious corpuscles
of magnetism yet these does not contain
him.
Tyndall: "Within the last twenty
years our ideas of vital processes have
undergone profound notifications, and
the interest and even disquietude which
the change has excited in some minds
are amply evidenced by the discussions
and protests which are now common re.
garding the phenomena of vitality. In
tracing out these phenomena through all
their notifications, the most advanced
philosophers Of the present day declare
they ultimately arrive single source OF
power, from which all vital energy is de-
rived"
Monotheist: Now, pray tell us, o man
of science, of this single source of power,
which advanced philosophers have
brought to light, relate the aboriginal
source from which all vitality emanates
be little more lucid and less ambiguous
Is it the God of the Monotheist. No. Is
it an active, personal, all pervading ubi.
quitous power? No.
Tyndall: 'IAe disquieting circum.
stance is, that this source is not the di.
rect fiat of a supernatural agent, but q
reservoir of what, if we do not accept the
creed of Zoroaster, must be regarded as
| inorganic force. In short, it is considered
as proved, that all the energy which VIC
derive from plants and animals is drawn
from the sum-"
Monotheist: Then organic life eman'
ates from inorganic force, but are there
not insuperable difficulties here? Is
there not bridgless chasm between the
organic and inorganic? This proloplas.
mic or mucilginous substance which is
the pri1neval parent of other organisms
could not emerge from the inorganic tc
the organic by the radiating influence Of
the sun. Does not life consist in mysterious
corpuscles and heterogeneous parts which
could not proceed from an homogeneous
substance? If the sun embodies in its
form all force and life by which genera
ton is secured; then does this not inter.
fere with the laws of procreation and re.
production which are the primal factors
in the peopling of our earth? The life
which moves the tendons, the arteries,
the muscular fibres and osseus syste,n
Must it not be an organic entity? Mus:
there not be a substantial contact in
order to put in operation the curious and
grandly constructed organism the outer
man, the visible counterparts of the in
visible and intangible? Ifthe automa'
tic and dynamic forces which sways the
mechanism of mind lnheres in the sun
Then are we not the offspring Of the sum
If so, then the glowing metaphor of Lore
Byron, inspecting the sun is the first and
last article in the creed of our most adj
vanced philosophers. But, 0 man O
science, is this new discovery? Cen
turies before supremal light flashed upor
the shepherd hills of Bethlehem, anf
the turrets, towers, spires and domes OF
oriental lands Especially at Jerusalem,
cleaned in the splendor of this sun
which is the object of thy alteration. Die
the Chaldean shepherds and the philoso
pliers Of Egypt sing of this material Goo
and devoutly worshipped him?