The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1883-05-02

origin, only postponed it. Science has not
solved difficulties, only shifted the points Of
difficulty.
Much Of scientific discovery is only general
| ization Of difficulty, as when Newton made
gravity cover the phenomena Of the sky as
well as Of tic earth. We do not dissolve our
ignorance by designating the matters We are
| ignorant Of, by a Latinized nomenclature.
| Saying that the earth is sustained by gravity,
is good deal the same thing, only in a more
refined form, as what the ancients said when
they rested the earth on an elephant, and the
/ elephant on the back Of tortoise. | confess
that It is an improvement, only (and this is
the point we arc on it has not cleared up any
thing. So far as relates to explanation, and to
getting to the end Of the matter, il makes very
| little difference whether we spell our theory
Tortoise" or Attraction Of Gravitation."
It is much as Byron says in his 50 Manfred"
that
science is
| But an exchange Of isnorauce Tor thai
Which is another Kind Of ignorance"
We might express it by saying that we are be
| coming more and more learnedly ignorant
And my hearer, If il happens that your
mind rebels against faith as something that is
at variance with wholesome intellectual ac-
ton, and under the.ban Of all that is scientific,
and mentally discreet, wish you would, with
hat in mind, read largely Of our standard
works Of science, late or early. Take such
work, for example, as Darwin's "Orisin Of
| Species" To me one of the most impressive
| features Of the book is the ease and good
humor with which in it science and faith get
along together | do not mean his faith in
| G0d-perhaps he had uone-i mean his faith,
his constant walk by the assurance Of things
hoped Tor, by the conviction Of things unseen
That is faith, and Darwin had that in proper
tons that were simply colossal He had a
magnificent faith in his theory, the theory of
| Evolution. He could not prove the theory,
and be knew he couldn't, and what is more he
| continually confessed that he couldn't Over
and over again, with all the simplicity Of a
child, he admits that his convictions run away
| ahead of his proofs. And it is so in all of
| these hooks so Tar as | am familiar with them.
Their conclusions are a great deal larger than
their premises. That is not spoken in a criti-
cal spirit. | am not finding fault with the
| Evolution, nor with Mr. Darwin's book. am
| only saying that he was a man Of immense
| faith he could not have written as he did If
| he hadn't been; he reached results without
| stopping to he logical: that is faith. He had
faith, just the same kind Of faith that Isaiah
| had, only exercised toward his doctrine iu-
| stead OF exercised toward God. If be had
been as disposed to walk by the conviction Of
an invisible God as he was 10 walk by the
| conviction Of an undemUnstrated hypothesis,
| he might have turned ont as sublime prophet
| as Isaiah, or as superb an apostle as St. Paul
| have no controversy with evolution. Men
object 10 religion because it is such tax on
| faith and l only want you should look direct
y at the fact, that in the priests of science,
| faith, Just such faith as Peter and John had,
Is distinguishing ieature-in fact it is to
| faith as much as TO anything that their su-
premacy in the priesthood Of science is due
and if the faith of Darwin, Of Tyndal, of
| Hacclel, Of Herbert Spencer, had been as
sublimely exercised toward God as it was to-
ward the CUnjecturcs engendered in their own
| brains, there would have been power enough
in them to found in the middle Of the nine
| tecnth century second Church Of the Apos-
ties.
Besides this, you will. | think, be helped
to regard religious faith with more respect if
you will consider the mental calibre Of some
men who have been religious believers. do
not mean that this is a matter that can be
| settled by ballot. We are not going to vote
| God in or out by show Of hands Only If you
have 4 suspicion that faith is a euphemism
for intellectual debility, facts are at hand to
| controvert the suspicion. Daniel Webster
died at Marsh6eld, Oct p, 1852 had the
privilege awhile ago. OF seeing the original
paper on which. under date of the tenth of that
month, he penned a few lines Of confession
At the top Of the page are the words from
Mark, 80 Lord, believe help thou mine IN
| belief Underneath among other sentences,
is this: my heart has always assured ne,
and treasured me, that the Gospel Of Jesus
Christ must be a divine reality" In some
sentences Of Bismarcks occur these words
80 Tho firm stand flrnf for Tan, ! h,
taken against all possible absurditics Of the
court, | owe purely to my decided faith. i'll
were not Christian and a firm believer, you
would never have had such a chancellor Take
away from me my relation to God, and l am
the man TO pack up tomorrow and be off for
NarZIn This ancestral estatc). Gladstone,
whom we so easily think Of in connection with
Bismarck, has spoken with far more Of ten
derness and effect. In the department of
literature are to be cited the names Of Shakes
peare, Milton, Goethe. Jesus Christ was
more than man." said Napoleon. Prof Tyu-
dal in an address to English workingmcu, has
within little time net only explicitly denied
that he was an atheist, but went SO far as to
say that in view Of The daily wonders Of IA
turc, only a shallow man Chose are his
words can be satisfied to be an atheist" 1t
was one Of the last utterauces Of the late ply
perfect gift is from above, and cometh down
from the Father Of lights, with whom is no
variableness neither shadow or turning" In
opening his school al Penikese Island, Agassiz
gathered his pupils around him and said 1t
is becoming that we first Of all bow in the pre-
scnce Of the Infinite One, and thus recognize
HIS sovereignty, superlative wisdom and bene-
icence. Other names which belong in the
roll Of illustri0us scientists who were at the
same time religious believers, are such as
Calico, kepler, Bacon, Newton, Cuvier, Her
schel, Owen, Faraday. As / said, we are not
calling the ayes and noes on the question Of |
God and no God, only such list Of names il |
Illustrates that strong mental grasp and strong |
talth-grasp, can cOcxist easily and pleasantly |
that there is therefore no inherent autag0nism |
between the two, SO that if we have clean in
iellocts and are unbelicvers, it is something |
beside our keen intellects that causes US to he |
unbeiicvers, and the most practical and i'm |
pressive question VIC can ask ourselves, is
what that something is.
And now to this same hesitant class Of hear |
ers there is one other thing / want to say in |
behalf Of faith. Ii is not intellectual debility:
that we have seen. On the contrary land this |
is the point / want to make), on the contrary,
faith is the very herUism and enterprise Of in
tellect Faith IS not passivity, but faculty.
Faith is power, the material Of effect Faith
is kind Of winged intellect. The great work
men Of history have been men who believed
like giants Take the eleventh Of Hebrews,
that famous roll-call Of Gods men Of faith, and
the men that made events fOr two thousand
years are all in it-Noah, Abraham, Noses,
Gideon, David. And ever since then the men
that have helped the world forward and
wrought great effects in the world, have been
those who have lived by the power and ias-
einaiion ezerted upon them by the things out
side their horizon, by the power Of unseen
things flung up upon their sky in mirage.
Standing upon the shores Of Spain, Columbus
reasoned upon tie driftwood borne in on the
western tide, but there was a million times
more in his conclusions than there was in the
iriftwo0d. His winged thought had reached
he great West before the Santa Maria weighed
inchor in Palos FjIih discovered America
md made Columbus more royal than the
crowned heads Of Europe Faith is the hero :
SIN Of intellect. Nothing would ever have
zen done in the world if before the deed the
loeT had waited to calculate all the elements
n the case and compute all the contingencies.
Every great effect and grand discovery begins
S an inspired guess. The best things have
ot been reasoned out, but coniocturcd. As
ONE one has said, Newton's passage from d
llliEg apple 70 fallen moon was a leap Of
be Imagination Slch an Imagination as
hat d Columbus or Newton, is but another