The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-04-11
SCIENTIFIC THEIsM.
BY REV. WILLIAM TUCKER, D. D.

BY REV. WILLIAM TUCKER, D. D.
Such is the title of book from the
pen of DR.. Francis E. Abbot, in which
we find much profound and original
thought By this title the author does
not mean the science of theism, but
theism in harmony with the doctrines
and teaching of modern science. The
design of his thesis is to show that
there is theistic conception of the
universe that does not conflict with
the scientific Interpretation of nature.
DR.. Abbot is an evolutionist in the
sense that evolution is method, and
not a cause. In other words it is
Gods method of creating the uni
verse or building the world. His
theory of nature is not mechanical,
but biological. God does not build
the universe as the carpenter builds
a house, but as life builds a plant.
l would ask just here, Which is the
highest form or type of being, mind
or life9 Which is the higher con-
ception of God, the biological or the
psychological The carpenter en-
bodies free rational mind. The plant
unconscious necessary life.
DIR. Abbot's theory of nature is or
ganic. The universe is an organism,
and God is its life. 1t was not made,
it grew. 1t is not creation, but an
evolution. God is in nature as its
cause, its life, and its law, but he is
not above it, or outside it.
He is not superior to it, was not be-
fore it, does not transcend it. Ac-
cording to this theory either Nature
is God, or Nature is the measure of
God, or Nature exhausts God. All
Gods operations are confined to nas
ture. He lives in and works through
nature. There is no revelation of
him outside of natural phenomena.
The supernatural is impossible, mir
acles are a misnomer, and the wit
nesses to them testify falsely.
There is no evading these conclu-
sions if DIR. Abbot's theory of the
universe is true. The life is a part Of
the organism, is identical with, and
inseparable from it. Take away the
life and what becomes of the organ
ism? Destroy the organism and
where is the life? Biological theism
makes God and Nature one, and is
really pantheism in another form.
In philosophy DR.. Abbot is a
Monist. He rejects as untrue and
unscientific the duality of nature.
All forms of being are at bottom one.
All properties and attributes are
grounded in one substance. The
finite and the infinite, matter and
spirit, God and his creation, cause
and effect, the subjective and object
i've are distinctions that have no real
existence in substantial being.
1t is true we find these distinctions
in all languages, in all literature, in
all thought. Different sciences are
builded on them and different phil
osophers recognize them, and differ
ent experiences result from them, but
all the same they have no real exist
ence in the nature of being. We
cannot think nationally, speak intelli-
gently, reason correctly, or act safely
without making them, but still they
are not true. Science demands the
unity and continuity of nature and
to attain that, these distinctions, while
necessary in practical life, must be
given up. The fact is, true science
makes no such demand. This is evi-
dent from the fact that these distinc-
tions are as common to scientific
thought, reasoning, language and
action as they are in any department
of practical life.
The theory of the unity of all forms
of being in one substance is not a de-
mand of inductive science, but a va