The Portland daily press., 1883-05-19

A Critique Of Design-Argmuents: A His
torical Review and Free Examination of the
Methods of Reasoning in Natural Theology.
By l.. E Hicks, Professor OF Geology in
Denison University, Granville, Ohio. Chas,
Scribner's Sons, 1888. Large 12mo. PIP. AT.
So
The title-page gives correct summary Of
the contents Of an exceedingly interesting
volume. Beginning with Socrates, Cicero
and Galen. the author gives series of quo
tations, from writers of all ages and all coun.
tries, down to the present day; with fair
criticism of the logical strength Of each quo
tation. Nearly, or quite, forty authors are
or two Of their be writing;a larger space
being given to the examination of Darwin
ism and its bearing on the arguments Of
natural theology. Occasionally, but rarely,
Professor Hicks does injustice TO his author
by holdi ng him 10 bis words, rather than to
his evident intent, thus incliI ing us to cry:
.sHow absolute the knave isr' Occasional
Is, also, his style is sadly lacking in dignity;
it is Conversational and trivial cut this fault
arises out Of an excellence, that is, out of
himself perfectly understood by the average
reader, and to deal impartially with the au-
thors whom he reviews.
Professor Hicks confines himself almost
altogether to he two arguments drawn bv
natural theologiaus from a consideration OF
f1t<,r .sal. ID ak - IL.
these arguments have been seen and felt
from the beginning; but that the distinction
between them has not been, until lately.
sharply drawn, nor has their relative value
been properly estimated. One of these afeu-
ments is that from Eutaxy, that is, from the
orderly arrangement Of the Universe. This
Is the argument which, as drawn from ami
mails, is elaborated so fully by Agassiz in his
Essay on Classification. (which is not, how
ever, alluded to by Professor Hicks 1t NAV
be thus stated: Conformity to order twheth-
er rhythmical, numerical or geometrlca) 10
mark of mind; but the universe is every
where full Of three kinds Of order; therefore
it is the work Of mind. This, says Hicks, is
direct, simple proof Of the existence Of In
telligence ordering the world The other de-
sign-argument is from the adoption Of
means to end; Of organs to functions. That
the eye was made for seeing, is conclusion
to which men will be drawn, in spite Of Oar
winism aud natural selection. But Hicks
attempts to show that the use and force of
these, the more common ard popular argu-
ments Of natural theology, is to illustrate The
attributes rather than to prove tie existence
of God. In fact, His existence Is assumed
from the symmetry and regularity Of the or
gans; the wisdom and benificence are then
so powerful ly illustrated, from the adaptation
of the organ to its functions, that the popu-
lar mind is more impressed by this ilu.tr
ton. than by The real proof, which has be-
forehand convinced it Of His existence.
This distinction and criticism, Of the ar
gumenr from form and the argument from
use, is not original with Hicks: nor does he
claim 1t as uch but he has done an excel
lent service TO religious thought aud theo-
logical accuracy, by presenting it in so clear
aud pepu ar d manner. His selet ton Of the
finest passages from the older writers also
gives his voume a special charm and value.
OF course the reader will ~ derstand that
these two arguments from ea terDal nature
10 not exhaust the intellectual stores of nat
ural theology; The world Of mind, and the
world of meaning ito adopt Ayers distinc-
tion) also furnish irrefragable proofs of the
great truths.
Christian History in Three Great Periods.
Second Period: the Middle Age. BY Joseph
Henry Allen. Roberts Brothers, 1888 I'm
PIP. 3l6. $1.25.
Professor Allen was at one time pastor of
the Unitarian Church at Bangor: and has