Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-09-19

II talls tenderly, yet-sadiy, on the heart
Washington Irving.
1t is the way with half the truth amidst
which we live, that il ouly haunis US and
makes dull pulsaions that are never born
into sound.-IGeorse Eliot.
The humble aud contented man pleases
himself inuocently and easily. while the
ambitious man attempts to please others
sinfully and diliicultiy.-[South.
Ifthere be any one principle more Widely
than another confessed by every utteYance.
or more sterniy than another IMPRINTED on
every atom OF the visible creation, that
principle is not liberty, but law Ruskin.
Immortality in Modern Thought.
1t will be admitted, we think, that the
tendency Of modern science is materials
tic. This is especially true of biology. In
fact, to many the doctrine of correlation of
vital with physical forces, and the doctrine
OF deriyative origin Of species, seem !ittlc
short of q demonstration of materialisn.
Thus materialism has become fashion of
thought but, like all fashions, ii has run
into excess, which must be followed by re-
action. We believe the reaction has al
ready commenced. Science secs now, more
clearly than ever before, its own limits. 1t
its impotence to bridge the
chasm between the physical and the psych-
lcal. We pass from physical to chemical,
and from chemical to vital, without break.
All is motion, and nothing more also. in
the region of the vital, we pass from sense
through nerve-thTill to brain
changes, and still we find only motions.
But when, just here there emerge consci-
BUSINESS, thought, viii, the relation of these
TO brajn-changes is just as unimaginable as
4 na s l.
lamp is rubbed.
1t IS impossible to emphasize this point
too strongly. Suppose u living brain be
exposed to an observer with infinitely per
feet senses. Such an observer would see.
could see, only molecular movements. But
the subject knows nothing of all this His
experiences are Of a totally different order.
viz, consciousness, thought etc Viewed
from the outside, there is nothing but mo-
lions; viewed from the inside, nothing but
thought, etc-irom the one side, only ma
terial phenomena from the other, only
psychical phenomena. May we not gener-
alize this fact? May VIC not extend it to
nature also? From the outside we find
nothing but motion. On the inside there
must be consciousness, thought, etc; in q
word, God. To bridge this chasni, whether
in nature or in the brain, Science is impo-
tent. As to what is on the other side of
material phenomena, she is dgnostic, but
cannot be materialistic.
Admitting, then, in man a world of phe-
nomena, which cannot be construed in
terms of motion, and which for convent
euce we group under the name of spirit
is thegroup permanent? Is the spirit inn
mortal? On this subject Science can say
absolutely nothing. The field is therefore
open for evidence from any quarter and OF
any degree Some of these evidences,
though not given by Science, are at least
suggested by liEes Of scientific thought. A
few of these we briefly mention.
l. We have said that consciousness and
thought lie behind material phenomena. in
nature and in the human brain. In the
one case We call it God, the divine Spirit
in the other, the spirit OF man. Now, does
not this identity, or similarity Of relation
to material phenomena, imply. or at least
suggest, similarity Of nature, and therefore
Immortality for the spirit Of man?
,, Individual human life passes through
its little cycle of changes, and quickly
closes in death. II this be all, then Jor the
iadiriduai when all is done, it is precisely
as if he had never been. Yes" answers
the ComiSt, for the individual bat not for
humanity. Every human life leaves a res
iduum which enters into the life and growth
Of humanity. 1t is 4 glorious and unset
fish religion thus to merge ones self into
the only true object OF worship-human-
ity.' But, alas the cycle of humanity
also closes: and for humanity too, when
all IS done, il will be precisely as If it had
never been. But the earlh-thc cosmos
-abides.' Yes, but only little longer.
Science declares that the cycle Of the cos
mos must also close, And then, when all
is done, after all this process of evolution
reaching upward to find its completion in
man, alter all the warnings, hopes strug-
giles and triumphs Of man, what is the out
come? Il is precisely as il the cosmos had
never been. Ii is all literally "a tale told
by an idiot, full Of sound and fury, signify
ing nothing" Not only heart, hut reason.
reyolts against such a final outcome. If
We believe tNat reason underiies the phe-
nomena OF the cosmos, we cannot accept
such result. We cannot believe that the
cosmos has no ineligible end. But what
ineligible end is there conceivable. unless
something is finally attained which is not
involved in a cycle, i. e., unless man is inn
mortal?
3. There are three primary divisions of
our psychical nature, viz, sense, intellect
and VIII. There are three corresponding
processes III making complete rational
philosophy, viz, u instreaming of i'm
the senses facts; (2) elaboration of these
into q consistent whole by the intellect
(knowedge); 60 outgoing of this knowl-
edge in activity tcOnducI). Now @ true
working theory of life must satisfy all
these. But scientific men are apt to think
that only o. and ~ are necessary; that
true facts elaborated into consistent theory
is ali we need care for. Theologians, on
the contrary, seem 10 think only % and
(j) necessary: they elaborate & theory of
life consistent with itself and apparently
satisfactory III It's application 10 conduct,
but arc less careful to test its harmony
with facts derived from the senses. But all
three are necessary. The first furnishes
material; the second constructs the build
ing; the third tests its suitabIeness for hui
man habitaion. All admit that successful
application to art Is the best test of true
theory. But conduct is the art correspond
ing to cur theory Of life, and therefore the
test Of It's Truth. Now, is not immortality as
an element d our theory OF Life in the
highest Cegree conducive IF right conduct?
IS i not i useful, yea q necessary, element
IL working hypothesis?
!. But 1t may be objected, animals, too,
have brains: III them, too, We find evil
dences Of something like Consciousness and
thought Are they, too, immortal? If so,
y 4itiN o44'sL4 NC otNk ~ : pass uDWl D1
sliding scale, without break, to the lowest
verge Of life. Shall we stop here? No:
for vital is transmutable into physical
force Thus al IS immortal, or none.
Thus hope of Immortality vanishes, as it
were. by evaporation.
This objection though serious, is. we
thins, not fatal. To make our view clear.
we use al ILLUSTRATION takea from biology.
May We not imagine that in animals spirit
IS IL embryo in the womb OF Nature, uncon-
scious Of self, aud Incapable Of Independent
life; and that IN man 10 came - birth-a
separate sprit-inGjviiual conscious Of
self, and capable Of independent life, on q
new and higher plane? According 10 this
view, geological time is the period Of cesta-
ton, evolution is the process o. develop
ment, and the appearance OF nun the act
OF birth.-lJoseph lie Conte, in Science Tor
August.
\ bright little girl, who lives in Hyde
Park, asked Tor 4 second saucer Office cream
the other evening. / don't think it 5 good
for You; ask your father, said her mother.
the girl went Into the library and put the
question Not much. said her father,
oaphatically. =" Papa says / can have
little she reported to her mother, with
truthful. and innocent eyes Chicago Tri-
bune.
HoRsFoRD' Acip PHOSPHATE in seasick-