The sun., 1894-03-11

1
value the notion that the waters let out By IN
Renaissance would come to rest amidst tn
blind alleys OF the new eccleslssticism. tn
bastard Gerard Gerardson. originally q boo
! student and monk. but subsequen tn
familiar Of bishops and princes. and conse
| auently ut home In all grades Of society. eoul
not fail to be aware Of the gravity Of the socis
situation. Of the dangers imminent from tn
profliCacy and Indifference OF the ruling class
no less than from the nnarchical tendencies
OF the people who led under their oppress
ors. Bad as the churchmen might be. tn,
statesmen were worse. and q person OF IA
more sanguins temperament than Erssmu
might have seen no hope for the future. excep
In gradually freeing the ubiquitous orgnniza
tion OF the Church from the corruptions which
| alone. as ho imagined. prevented II from belnI
as bene1cent as II was powerful The broad
tolerance Of the scholar and man OF the worlC
might we'll be rovolted by the rufflansm how
ever genial. OF one great light Of Protestant
ism. and the narrow fanaticlsm. however
learned and logical. OF others; and to eau
tious thinker. by whom the ethical ideal Of the
Christian gospel was sincerely priced. II MAJ
well have seemed a fair question whether II
was worth while to bring about a political and
social deluge. the end of which no mortal could
ioresee. for the purpose OF setting up Lutheran.
Zwingllan. and other Peterkins in the place oi
the actual claimant to the reverslon OF the
spiritual wealth OF the Gallean fisherman. In
fine. as some Of his contemporaries thought.
Erasmus was at heart neither Protestant nor
Roman. but an Inde Der dent Christian Z" and.
as the wiser OF his modern bographers have
discerned. he was the precursor. not Of six
teenth century reform. but Of eighteenth CEN
tury enlightenment" a sort OF broaa- hurch
Voltaire who held by HE Independent Christi
.sIt.r a. NI,-. Al IA l. l.
Nv.
As matter OF fact. tho stream OF the Renais-
sance which bore Erasmus along left Prot
estantism stranded amid the mud banks Of its
articles and creeds while Its truo course be.
came visible to all men two centuries later.
by this time those In whom the movement OF
the Renaissance was incarnate became aware
what spirit they were OF. and they attacked
supernaturalism In its Biblical stronghold. de-
Tended by Protestants and Romanists with
equal zeal In the eyes OF Voltaire Ultramon-
tanism. Jansenism. and Cslvinism were merely
three persons OF the one "Infame." which II
was the object OF his life to crush. II he hated
one more than another It was probably the
last. while D'Holbach ard the extreme left OF
the free. thinking host were disposed to show
no moro mercy to Deism and Pantheism. The
specific position and temper OF Prof.. Huxley
and his fellow agnostics are nowhere moro
clearly Indicated than In his remarks on the
skeptical insurrection OF the eighteenth CEN
tury. which. he says. made q terrific noise
and frightened not q few worthy people out Of
their wits; but cool judges might have FORE
seen at the outset that the efforts OF tho later
rebels were no more likely than those Of tho
earlier to furnish permanent resting places
for tho spirit OF scientific inquiry. However
- 49,
the common sense. the wit. the broad human
ity which abound in the writings OF the
best OF the free thinkers. there 10 rarely
much to be said for their work rs an ple
OF the adequate treatment OF o grave and DIM
cult investie <tion. do not think any Impair
tal Judge will assert that. from this point Of
view they are much better than their adver-
saries. 1t must be admitted that they share to
the full the fatal weakness OF a priori philoso-
phizing. no less than the moral frivolity COM
mon to their age while q singular want OF
appreciation OF history as the record OF tho
moral and social evolution OF the human race
permitted them to resort to preposterous the
orles Of i'm posture. In order to account for the
religious phenomena which are natural prod
ucts OF that evolution" The author goes on to
say that. for the most part. the Romanlst and
adversaries OF the eighteenth CEN
tury free thinkers met them with arguments
no better than their own. and with vtureration
so far inferior that It lacked the wit. 1t Is
frankly acknowledged. however. that one grea.
Christian Apologist Bishop Butler. fairly cap
tured the guns OF the efree-thinkinx array. and
turned thelr batterieJ upon themselves. Spec
llative infidelty'' OF the eighteenth century
ype was mortaIly wounded by the Analogy:
while the progress Of tho historical and psy-
biological sciences brought to light the I'm |
portant part played by the mythopDic faculty; |
md. By demonstrating the extreme readiness |
II men TO impose upon themselves rendered |
he calling in Of sacerdotal cooperation, in |
most cases. a superfuity.
".
We como now to Prof Huxleys exposition o:
he principle Of the scientific naturallsn the |
after half OF the nineteenth century. in which
he intellectual movement Of the Ron aissAnce
md eliminated This principle. which was
irst clearly formulated by Descartes. leads
Tot to the denial OF the existence OF any super
nature, but simply to the denial OF the va
idity OF the evidence adduced In favor OF
his or that extant form OF supernaturalIsm.
To the author. indeed. OF these essays. looking
It the matter from the most rigidly scientific
'olnt OF view. the assumption that amid the
D yriads OF worlds scattered through endless
tates. there can be no intelligence as much
greater than mans as his is greater than a
lack beetles; no being endowed with powers
Il Influencing tho course Of nstute as much
Ireator than his as his is greater than a
nails; seems not merely baseless but i'm
pertinent Without stepping beyond tho
nalogy OF that which Is known. 1t Is easy to
'eople the cosmos with entities In an ascending
Gale until We reach something practically
ndlstinguishabls from omnipotence. omni-
OmQiGgiAn0l.
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