Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-02-23
Evolutionary E,hic. and Christianity.

II the Pessimist afirms that the life of man
has IN 1t no happiness plainly he is wrong II
he afirms that, taken alone it has In il but a
tantaliztng taste OF happiness: that the higher
and more Intellectual 1t becomes the greater is
our sense Of imperfection;- that hitherto toll,
pain and misery have preponderated over
pleasure, his assertion can hardly be gainsayed
No view OF nature, In short. can reconcile power
with benefcenoe. or assure US that We are under
the dominion Of good. not under the dominion
of evil. III clue liz to be found. apparently II
must be in history; and on the hypothesis that
man is really the browning work, and that the
ruling power OF the universe is not mechanical
but moral. to which. as to any other hypothesis.
we are entitled il seems as likely that the clue
should be found In history as in the pigeon
house Great physicists neglect history; they
cali 1t gossip. and plume themselves. not with
out justice, on their superior ignorance of the
subject; it is. therefore. at all events. a field
which they have as yet lett UNEMPLOYED.
base nothing upon miracle CT uron super
natural evidence Of any Kind. 1t is my own
belief that the proof Of miriCle has failed. |
set aside all theological dogma respecting the
Trinity. the Incarnation. the scheme Of Redemp-
ton and the AtOnement. | coRine my view to
the lacts OF history. The historical Importance
OF the coming of Christ and of the founiat on of
Christianity has. Ii seems to me- been Gyerlaid
and obscured by the exclusive attention paid to
lore. Is conterhinous with Christendom. Out
side the pale of Christendom all s stationary:
there have been notable outbursts of material
wealth and spendor, transient flashes even Of
intellectual brilliaucy, as in the Caliphates and
the MOgul empire, though the light in these
cases was mainly borrowed: real and sustained
progress there has been none. Japan, TO what
ever she may be destined to come, has kindled
her new civilization with a coal taken from the
Christian hearth. Before Christendom there
was in the world generally nothing but mat erial
preparation carried on through series of en-
pires. each of which in turn yielded to the ma
terial law of decay The exceptions were
Judea, Greece and Rome. Jewish Progress
terminated in Christendcm, to which. when tie
iullness OF time was come. judaism delivered its
principle of lfe and having done SO Itself be-
came typically stationary. Christendom also
received and assimilated the parts of Greece and
home, In each of which progress, though
real and brilliant, SO far at least as intellect
ana politics were concerned was compara-
lively brief and carried in it from the first its own
moral death warrant. We are vaguely conscious
OF TINS tact, but we do not apprehend ii distinct
~ because We are accustomed to talk in general
terms OF the progress of mankind, forgetting
that the mass of mankind is not progressive,
but, on the contrary, clings to aud consecrates
the past, as In theory and sentiment did even
the Greek and the Roman What makes the
fact more notable is that Christ appeared not In
the line Of such material, intellectual or politi-
cal progress as there was but out of that line
In a province of the Roman Empire which was
materially poor, as the Gospel narrative shows
U.s. Intellectually backward. and as q Deepen
dency, devoid of political life.
Philosophers speak of four universal religions
Christianity Judaism. Mohammedism and
Buddhism. There is only one. No religion but
Christianity has attempted to preach its Gospel
to the world. -GOldcin Smith