The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-04-14

some as the key to revelation and the
which science had recourse in its efforts
to avoid collision with the cosmogony
supposed to have been dictated by the
Creator to the reputed author of the Pen
tateuch That the narrative Of Genesis
could hold it's ground so long against
science was due at once to its dignity
which earned for it the praise of LonSi
nus, and TO its approximation TO scientific
truth in describing the universe as the
work Of a single mind. These character
istics have even in the day Of geology ane
Darwin raised up for it such an apologisl
as Mr. Gladstone. whose defence, how
ever amounts to this. that the Creator
in giving an account Of his own work t.
Moses. came remarkably near the truth
The grand catastrophe however. was the
discovery of Darwin. This put an end 10
the belief that man was distinct Gre
alton. apart from all other animals. with
an immortal soul specially breathcd into
him bv the author of his being. II showed
that he bad been developed by natural
process out of lower forms of life. 1t
proved that instead of a fall Of man there
had been a gradual rise. thus cutting
away the ground of the Redemption and
the incarnation. the fundamental doc
trines of the orthodox creed. For the ny
Dothesis Of creation generally was subsu-
tuted that of evolution by some unknown
but natural force or principle. Not only
10 revealed but to natural religion heavy
blow was dealt by the disclosure Of wasted
aeans and abortive species which seem
to preclude the IDEA Of an intelligent and
ornnipotent designer. In Paley's watch
there is no waste or abortion, everything
is conducive to the manifest object Of the
machine The design also is evident,
whereas after the revelations OF Darwin,
il is far from being evident that the mech
anism of the universe is designed for the
good Of man.
The chief interpreters of science in its
bearing on religion were, in England. Tyn-
dan and Huxley. Tyndan always de-
clared himself a mateTialist, though no
one could less deserve the name if it i'm
piled anything like grossness or disregard
Of the higher sentiments. He startled the
world by his declaration that matter con-
tanned the potentiality of all life; an as
sertion which, though it has been found
difficult to prove experimentally, there
can be little difficulty in accepting, since
we see life in rudimentary forms and in
different stages of development. Huxley
welded a trenchant pen and was an I'M
compromising servant of truth. a bitter
controversy between him and Owen rose
out OF Owens tendency TO compromise.
He came at one time TO the extreme con-
clusion that man was an automatOn.
which would have settled all religious and
moral questions out of hand: but in this
he seemed afterward to feel that he had
gone too far. An automaton automa teal
y rejecting on its automatic character
is a being which seems to defy concep-
ton. The connection Of action with mo-
tive. of motive with character and cir
cumstance is what nobody doubts; but
the precise nature of the connection, as
it is not subject, like physical connec-
ton. to our inspection, defes scrutiny,
and our consciousness, which is our only
informant. tells US that our agency In
some qualified sense is free.
Materialists or physicists such as Tyn-
6aIl and Huxley or their cOunterparts on
the Continent would console US for the
loss Of religion by substituting the males
tv of law. But the idea OF law implies a
lawgiver or an intelligent and authorita-
tive imponent of some kind. There is no
majesty in a mere sequence. even the most
invariable and on the largest scale, the
existence Of which alone physical science
can prove.
The all-enbracing philosophy Of Mr..
Herbert Spencer excludes not only the
but Theism in its ordinary
form Yet Theism in a subtle form may
be thought to lurk in it. BY continually
seeking" he says, TO know and being
continually thrown back with a deepened
conviction Of the impossiblity OF know
ing We may keep alive the consciousness
that il is alike our highest wisdom and
our highest duty TO regard that through
which ali things exist as the Unknow-
able" In this and subsequent passages
he evidently looks upon the Unknowable
as an object of reverence, otherwise it
would hardly be our highest duty to re-
gard it as that through which ali things
exist, or to maintain any particular atti-
tude toward it. But Unknowableness in
itself excites no reverence; we dc not
1-enerate an insoluble problem or a fact
which is irrecoverably lost; and the same
may be said of anything material, even
though it be supposed infinite and eternal
Nothing ezcites our reverence. but a per
son. or at least a Moral Being. There
fingers in Mr.. Spencer's mind the belief
that the present limit Of our knowledge
is the veil Of the Deity.
Had the Darwinian discoveries been
known 10 Schopenhauer they would have
cOnspired with the earlier discoveries of
science and with his pitiless survey of the