National Republican., 1886-10-23
Religion and Poetry, Past, Present, and
Future.

Mr.. Goodwin Smith, in NdcmHldu's lidga.
zine, dcplores the decline of literary, poetic,
and dramatic art, and inq llres plaintlyely
If this falling of is merely temporary ac-
cident or is the world about to pass dehui-
lively from its aesthetic, poetic, and literary
youth to maturity Of science? "If so,
We are lucky, at all events, In having en-
loyed the last Of the youth" Mr.. Smith
should not trouble himself too much about
the matter. This world OF ours is very
young, and the most level-headed OF as
tronomers tell us that there is no proba-
bility Of its being broken up for at least
three million Of years to come. This period
will afford ample time for the human race
to make a stepping stone OF its dead self TO
higher things. Many of the influences which
were very much alive in the eighteenth CEN
tury are either dead ard buried or mori-
lund just now. Milton's poetry is as much
out of date as the plays Of Congreve and
Wycherly and the novels Of Aphra Behn,
though for a somewhat different reason.
The Puritanism of the seventeenth century
has vanished from the world, and the mighty
intellect that gave poetic utterance TO the
movement is relegated to the top shelves of
almost every "gentleman's library.n But
as there were great poets before Milton, so
there have been great poets since his time,
and the greatest Of all are yet to come, uu-
less some world.d destroying earthquake or
other catastrophe anticipates their advent.
Milton's theory OF the solar system was
wrong, and we have come to such pass OF
criticism in this transitional epoch that we
reject the religious poetry Of a man who
was not sound in astronomy. Science AMI
criticism are predominant TO day. We
may require whole century to separate
the ChaiT from the wheat OF ages passed
away. Bushels Of rubbish must be cleared
| of from the smaller measures that contain
| the "wisdOm Of our anCestors.n Herbert
! Spencer and his friends have boiled down
"The movable into few volumes, and
! posterity will have its hands full to
deal fairly with the product. Preceding
centuries have confined themselves prlnci-
pally to "The Unknowahle,n and for thou
sands Of years the best brains of the world
had been employed In ridiculous solutions
Of metaphysical problems, generally as
| llNh'hblN 10 NA"S HNC opSEulbllOl u hda-
sCndl about the number Of angels that
could dance upon the point of needle
as II angels could bG guilty Of round dane
ing anyhow. Science, truly, is in the as
cendant, and the world is taking stocln
Of its moral and intellectual as well as Of
its material resources,
But the world, although demanding facis
with the harshnoss and pertinacity OF a
Gradgrind, is not foolish enough to imag-
ine-at least the moderately sane portion
ofit-that the only facts are those which
are measurable by mathematical rules.
There is the fact OF virtue, but cakes ana
ale are not exhausted yet, There are all
the ologils and isUlS and government by
school board, hut the human heart is behind
them all aud greater than "the wisdom OF
the Wise" In this heart, while men and
womenloye and hate and hope and die,
there is place for religion, poetry, art,
and every expression of human emotion,
There are truths In the universe not dis.
cOveTable to us by the aid OF our senses
We cannot hear them with our
ears, we cannot see them with our eyes, we
cannot touch them with our hands, but