The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-01-26
JOHN FISKE.

It is to be hoped that the course of lee
lures given by Mr.. Fiske, Feb. 4. 8 and 9.
under the auspices Of the Plymouth Insti-
tute, of this city, will be to well-filled
houses. This is not that Plymouth Insti-
tute may flourish, or that Mr.. Fiske may
have the inspiration of a multitude for
which he probably does not need or care.
These are trifiing considerations. The es-
sential fact Is that in the work of Mr..
Fisks we have the most important con-
tributions yet made by America to histori-
cal and philosophical literature. We should
urge young people to go and see and hear
the writer whose books they must here
after read and study In their college work
or in independent culture. Mr.. Fiske has
popularized the study of American history
in this country and in Europe. His course
given In this city some ten or more years
ago, 1.-The Town Meeting" THE Federal
Union" and Manifest Destiny" was at
tended by large audiences when
delivered in London and awak-
ened such an interest in American his
tory that their author was invited to return
and treat of their philosophical aspects in
another course of three lectures Al the Roy
al Institution. These lectures have been re-
peated a score Of times in New England;
several times in Western cities, and curl
ously enough not further South than Indi-
annapolis and st. Louis. In them Mr.. Fiske
has emphasized the ideas that the govern
ment of the United States is not the re-
suit of special creation, but of evolution;
that the Town Meeting" of New England.
which regard as the origin and bufwark
of our national system, is linealiy descend
ed from the village assemblies of the early
Aryans; that in the deepest and widest
sense our American history does not begin
with the Declaration or with jamestown
and Plymouth Rock, but Is one "unbroken
chain from the days when stout Arminius
in the forests of northern Germany sue
cessfully defied the might of imperial
Rome that the chief aim of civilization,
viewed upon the political side, has been to
insure peaceful concerted action through
out the whole, without infringing upon the
local and individual freedom of the parts;
that the nations may become, while ''di-
verse like the billows one like the sea-"
and only thus can the world be said to
become truly Christian. The ideas of these
lectures, carried out in the Beginning OF
New England" the Critical Period OF
American History" 1.-THE American Revolu-
tion.'' and other historical works, have
been more than any other single source the
inspiration of club essayists the better
class Of political speakers, and of historical
writer's in the United States since their pub
LEGATION. No other American writer has
shown 80 keen a sense OF historical per-
spective and proportion, or taken go large
or philosophical a view of history, and all
this with literary simplicity equal to that
Of Mr.. Arnold, so perspicuous and trans
lucent as to give the old topics a new
meaning and added force.
Il never in my life" said the simple
minded Charles Darwin, who never spoke
word of falsity or fiattery, ''read so lucid
an expostor and thinker as you are" in a
letter to Fiske after reading the Outlines
of Cosmic Philosophy Based on the Doc
trines OF Evolution And this work was
completed when Mr.. Fiske was only in his
thirty-second year. He was born in 1872
Indeed. his precocity is extraordinary; in
his nineteenth year he wrote his essay on
Mr.. Buckles Fallacies," the most ambi-
tious book of its generation, and in his
criticism anticipated the judgment Of pos
terity.
But Mr.. Fiske's greatest work, in the es-
timation OF many, is in the belief of phil
osophy. His later works, THE Destiny of
H.,
sequel and continuation, 1.-The Ideal OF God
as Affected by Modern Knowledge" given
before the Concord School of Philosophy
in 1884 and 1885, deal with the question of
Immortality there under discussion, and all
the religious and theological notions this
idea involves. They nave become household
words with scores who accept the doctrines
81 evolution as consonaDt with the highest
teachings of Chris tianity. Mr.. Fiske re-
CARDS them as a new chapter OF the Cos
mic Philosophy OF ten years earlier, sum-
ming up and indicating conclusion almost
within reach not quite clearly seized long
lowering in the background of conscious
ness, but suddenly flashing upon me with
such vividness as TO seem like a revelation"
1t is the object OF The Destiny of Man TO
prove that there is a dramatic tendency in
the events OF the universe, and that this
purpose appears as the result of purely
scientific investigation, the author still hold
ing 10 his oft-stated belief that the ''theo-
logical method and the peculiar theistic
doctrines upon which this method is based
are worse than worthless a means of in
vestigation. and are even treacherous and
UPON them
The new chapter which the Destiny"
and the Idea comprise, show how the doc
trine Of evolution. by exhibiting the highest
spiritual human qualities as the goal tow
ards which Gods creative work has, from
the outset, been tending, replaces man in
even as in the days of Dante and Aquinas
exhibiting man as the terminal fact in that
stupendous process whereby things have
come to be what they are" In brief, Mr.
Ffske comes round by the evolutionary road
TO the old Dostulates: that the earth was
made for man as the place OF his trial and
development, and his chief end, expressed
In the catechism. is to glorify God and en-
Joy Hin forever These two little books
containing the germ of his teaching that the
world has moral basis and purpose, Mr.
Fiske hopes TO elaborate into a work on the
true nature of Christianity. and all of his
other works OF philosophy he regards asV
simply wayside studies preliminary TO the