Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-02-07
WITH A STING IN ITS TAIL.
What Bishop keane Says About Her
bert Spencer's Philosophy.

The public lecture at the Catholic university
Wednesday afternoon was the frat of course
BY the rector on the Synthetic philosophy. VI
Bishop Keaue began his discourse by referring
to Herbert Spencers work in the compilation
Of q synthetic philosophy as one of the most in.
tellectual undertakings of our day, and one
which, in itself, shows a superiority Of mental
ability akin to genius. For the author, there.
fore, and for his work itself, he said, il is nc
wonder that high regard is entertained. Mr..
Spencer prefsces his philosophy by a volume
which he calls his First Principles" Now, the
soundness of a philosophy depends upon it
first principles. II they be unsound the ma.
jestic proportions Of the superstructure will
only the more surely lead to disastrous ruin.
SO our special object will be the examination
OF these first principles. The frat five chap.
tiers OF this work treat Of the relation between
science and religion, q subject which, as Mr.
Spencer observes. concerns each and all of Us
more than any other matter whatever"
RELIGION AND SCIENCE.
The bishop proceeded to analyze, section BY
section, the chapter entitled Religion and
science" He cited with appreciation Spencer 3
remark that there il . soul Of goodness in
things evil and soul Of truth in things erron-
eous. But the more truth an erroneous theory
contains the more dangerous il becomes.
Henry Ward Beecher once truly said that 70
lie, IN order to be good lie, must be nearly
all truth: 1t must be like wasp with gem
ulne head, q genuine neck, genuine body,
and sting in the tail of it; and often the more
plausible theory 10 rendered by the amount
OF truth there Is in it the more dangerous be-
comes the sting in its TAIL"
Mr.. Spencer goes on to say that the likelihood
OF truth In an opinion is greater in proportion
as the opinion has been held long and widely.
and illustrates this by the popular beliefs con-
corning rulers and laws. His conclusion is that
under all the varying opinions Of the race upon
given subject there will always be Q SUBJ
stratum Of intelligent assumption Of self-evi-
dent validity. He then applies this to the
question OF religion and science.
The bishop commended in the highest degree
Spencer's remarks upon the mutual reverence
and kindness which should exist between the
two, but repudiated the charge that the
rational defenders Of religion feared in the
slightest degree to trust the certain conclusions
OF science He laid stress on Spencer's ad-
mission of the existence Of self-evident truths,
and called attention to the inconsistency Of his
subsequent intimation that there can be no
certainty in knowledge. All reasoning must
work back to self-evident principles. Il is the
principle Of self-evident validity that must do
away the sensationalism Of Condillac and Locke
and the phenomenalism Of posirivism.
THE DIGNITY OF REASON.
The speaker defended the dignity and indie
pendence Of reason, which he considered to be
attacked by Mr.. Spencer.
Reason" he said, lis the mistress and the
Judge OF all Intellectual work, which builds up
science and demonstrates the authority of re-
ligion. She sits ON her throne between the
two great regions Of human knowledge science
and faith, and in true sense judges them both.
''Shs demands of science to justify her cfassi-
fcations, verify her calculations aud explain
her deductions. She turns to faith and says:
You ask me to believer Show me your reasons.
will never believe unless you can give me
reasons for believing-unless you can show me
credentials which can stand the light of evil
dence. l tell You beforehand that will believe
nothing that will come in conflict with the
light OF evidence Without clear credentials
it would be wrong to believe; II would be
unreasonable. With clear credentials it would
be wrong not TO believe, for that would be
unreasonable. There is the throne of reason,
and we must from the very beginning Of our
search keep reason upon her throne"
During the remaining Wednesdays Of the
month Of February the next four chapters OF
the First Principles will be discussed, the SUBJ
ject for the 18th instant being ultimate
religious IDEAS
The seats in the front portion Of the lecture
hall are provided with writing table attach
ments for the use Of those who desire to take
notes.