1 10 7 https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/18d8907527513b4e0df180748759a0ae.pdf?Expires=1784764800&Signature=I7Xui4UQwpEBfGe0EjkX1YgPyshs1zQDneF4Y4xipcmVW3a1Ll%7EwQlJ6b8WptTClZZZzna0iu2rSuEPye1y-m6ZYEJLQ8LQxJ35rrdSg9Fh3WHnONVgGaXMCYVyVTV1RW%7Emp6UdmcVqd9wSmFwaiwy9U8Bd4HShctwChD9ouVFVKi3cSf8620v1v-ruOyds68pBeIx3zzKDOnXhX4z%7EsmSRrsqJhriIqRZiAcr-hwH3H%7EZs5jnOf6tYD5U2f-JeDCyuVu60rNg64Z1ZYaiKVQhTRmYzyMLFooSdpG68w1nu%7EPNJwr0J5no8yf97l0aeI5IqMEtwtgb9ZtxuC1bNYiw__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 1da793db360f21266610ca84c23182d0 PDF Text Text NATURE AND THE SUPERNATURAL ; OR, BELIEF AND KNOWLEDGE. —BY— CHARLES WATTS Editor of “ Secular Thought.” Author of ■“ Teachings of Secularism Compared with Orthodox Christianity, ” Evolution and Special Creation,” “ Secularism: Constructive and De­ structive,” “ Glory of Unbelief,” “ Saints and Sinners : Which ?” “ Bible Morality,” ^Christianity: Its Origin, Nature amd Influence,’ “ Agnosticism and Christian Theism: Which is the More Reasonable ? ” “ Reply to Father Lambert," ‘ ‘ The Superstition of the Christian Sunday: A Plea for Liberty and Justice,' “ The Horrors of the French Revolution,” Ac., Ac. CONTENTS: 1. What do we Know of Nature ? 2. The Grandeur and Potency of Nature. 3. The Supernatural. 4. What is the Supernatural ? 5. Belief and Knowledge. 6. Religion: Natural and Supernatural. TORONTO : " SECULAR THOUGHT ” OFFICE, 31 Adelaide St. East. PRICE - 10 CENTS. ��Vju J T •1- NATURE AND THE SUPERNATURAL; OR, BELIEF AND KNOWLEDGE. What do we know of Nature 1—What is nature ? Of course most persons know what is meant by nature, in part at all events; and the only difference in opinion or definition that can arise will be as to its totality. There are a thou­ sand facts lying all around us, and a thousand phenomena of which we are every day eye-witnesses, that all will agree to call nature. The question, however, does not concern these, but others, real or imaginary, which differ somewhat from them, arid which are supposed, therefore, to be incapable of being classed under the same head. Those who desire to obtain a clear and accurate idea of nature cannot do better than read carefully Mr. John Stuart Mill’s excellent essay on the subject, published after his death. He gives two definitions, or rather two senses, in which we use the word in ordinary, every-day language. The first is that in which we mean the totality of all. existence, and the other that in which we use the term as contra­ distinguished from art—nature improved by man. But it must be borne in mind that this is still nature. Nature improved by man is only one part of nature modified by another ; for man isas much a portion of nature as the earth on which he treads, or the stars which glow in the midnight sky over his head. Nature,, therefore, as we understand it, and as Mill defines it in his first sense, is everything that exists, or that can possibly come into existence in the hereafter—that is, all the possibilities of exis­ tence, whether past, present or future. If it is asked on what ground we include in this definition that which to-day does not •11 ■f .1’ •■I- �4 NATURE AND THE SUPERNATURAL: 'exist, but may come into existence hereafter, we reply : Because that which will be must be, potentially at least, even now. No new entity can come into being; all that can occur is the ■commencement of some new form of existence, which has ever Bad a being potentially anyhow. No new force can appear, some new form of force may. But, then, that, when it comes, will be as much a part of nature as the rest—is indeed even now a part of nature, since it is latent somewhere in the universe. Nature, in a word, is everything, besides which, to us, there is and can be nothing. We speak of human nature as though it were in some sort of ;sense superior to nature in general, which in fact it is. One part ■of nature may be higher than another according to human con­ ception, for all nature is not the same in every particular. We have inorganic nature, that is nature in which only certain forms of force are seen in operation ; then we have vegetable, animal, and the last, the highest of all, human nature, in which forces are displayed not seen in any other part of nature. All •these phenomena, however, are natural. The profound thought •of Plato, Aristotle and Bacon, or the mighty flights of genius manifested in the productions of Homer, Horace, Virgil, Dante, Milton or Shakespeare, are as natural as the growth of a plant, the rolling of a stone, the descent of the dew, or the evolution of a world. The question is frequently asked, What do we know of nature ? Cur reply is that all we do know is of nature. The attempt, therefore, that is often made to prove man ignorant of nature is really an endeavour to prove him ignorant of everything, inas­ much, as there is nothing else of which he can possibly have any knowledge. That our knowledge of nature is at present small we do not deny, but it is large compared with what it was, and ano doubt it will be larger still in the future if we only devote proper time to the manifold lessons which she is always pre­ senting to earnest students. Instead of boasting of our super­ abundance of knowledge, we rather lament our ignorance, but it k is of that which can be known, not of that which is to us un­ �OR, BELIEF AND KNOWLEDGE. 5 knowable, and about which it is useless to enquire and idle to speculate. With us the natural is the field of the knowable and in this field we are content to work. So far as we have gone we are certain of the road that we are travelling, we walk on solid ground, and we have no fear for the future. We may err in our interpretations of some of the facts of the universe, but. we feel assured from past experience that further investigation® will rectify such errors, and even while they remain they are slight and trivial and such as are common to fallible man. If we leave this road of Nature it can but be to wander in quag­ mires, surrounded by dense fogs, with no light to guide us except a will-o’ the-wisp. Dr. .McCosh has said, ‘In this world there is a set of object® and agencies which constitute a system or cosmos, which may have relations to regions beyond [beyond what?] but is all thewhile a self-contained sphere with a space around it............ This system we call nature.” But this very system constitutes all we know, not possessing faculties that can take us any further. Such a system being nature, the laws in operation in it are natural laws, and the forces by which everything is brought t$ pass are natural forces. Our knowledge is bounded by these, f and from them receives its limitation. To talk, therefore,regarding that which lies beyond—if even it were possible to conceive of a beyond—must be mere speculation, nothing more. It is sometimes objected against the position here affirmed, that upon the principle that nature is everything and that, whatever is done must be accomplished by natural powers and forces, no law of nature can be broken,for that would imply that nature can act against herself. Now the error of this objection is in supposing that because the totality of all things is nature therefore there can be no conflict in the various parts. Nature as a whole cannot of course be altered, but one portion may and does come into conflict with another. A man may use his physical powers, which are of course natural, to do that which produces injury on his bodily organisation, which is also quite natural, and we say he has broken a law of nature. We do mot,. �6 NATURE AND THE SUPERNATURAL: however, mean that he has done anything which nature did not give him the power to do, but that he has used his power to a disadvantage to himself, and it may be to others. The expression, therefore, is relative not absolute. It is further objected that as there are certain ac(s which we are in the habit of speaking of as being unnatural, how can any­ thing be unnatural if nature includes everything ? For instance, we say of a man who treats those of his own kith and kin cruelly, that he acts unnaturally, and we designate certain crimes as unnatural offences. But we do not mean by such phraseology that these acts are super natural but infra natural, that is, they are not higher, but lower than nature. Further, a moment’s reflection will show that by the use of these terms we do not intend to convey the idea, that anything has been done outside of nature as a whole, for the very powers employed are natural and the acts are no less so. What is meant is that a person who so acts has pursued a course of conduct which is not in harmony with our exalted conception of the sphere in nature to which he Belongs. Measured by ordinary standards one part of nature is higher than another. Man’s sphere is the highest of all that we are acquainted with, he has intellect in a far superior degree than any other animal, and he has evolved a moral law by which he is supposed to regulate his conduct. Now, if instead of conforming to the laws of his own being he descends to a lower platform and acts in a way that is utterly out of harmony with his exalted functions, we say that he is unnatu­ ral, meaning thereby that he is descending to a lower sphere in nature than that which we have a right to expect him to occupy. The act that we call unnatural in him would probably be natu­ ral enough in a lower animal, and therefore cannot, be outside nature, but is only out of accord with the requirements of that part of nature in which he plays his part. There is evidently a legitimate function for every passion and desire of which man finds himself possessed, and the proper use of these, according to the purpose of nature, we call naturalwhile to divert them from their proper object or end we say is unnatural. A man �OR, BELIEF AND KNOWLEDGE. 7 has an appetite for food which is natural, but he can starve him­ self to death, which, in a sense, is natural too, and yet in another sense we should say it was unnatural, because it was a violation of an instinct common to us all. Suppose a starving man to be destitute of food, and his own child, who has plenty, refuses that aid to his parent that would save life, we should regard such a son as an unnatural monster, not meaning thereby that he had done anything that nature did not furnish the means of doing, but that he had not acted according to. the higher laws of his nature which appertain to all beings moving in his sphere. All, therefore, that can be done, said, or thought, is and must be natural in the widest sense of that term. Man’s beginnings were in nature; his every act is natural, his thoughts are natu­ ral, and in the end the great universe will fold him in her em­ brace, close his eyes in death, and furnish in her own bosom his last and final resting-place. Beyond her he cannot go. She was his cradle, and will be his grave; while between the two she furnishes the stage on which he plays his every part. And more, she has made him, the actor, to play the part. Nature is one and indivisible. She had no beginning, and can have no end. She is the All-in-all. Combined in her are the One and the Many which so perplexed the philosophers of ancient times. The Grandeur and Potency of Nature.—The grandeur of Nature must be obvious to all who reflect on its many beauties. The massive rocks, the golden sunset, the glowing stars, the rolling waves, the rippling brook, the grassy mead, the trees with their luxuriant foliage, and the flowers of every variety of hue, which have entranced and charmed man­ kind during all ages, are but the grand treasures and sights of Nature. The poet who has revelled in these natural gems, painting them in words which have stirred the emotions to their lowest and made the objects themselves stand out in clear out­ line conspicuous to the reader, fascinating and enrapturing his mental vision, is the poet of Nature, who finds in the external universe food for his highest powers. Where is there a topic �8 NATURE AND THE SUPERNATURAL: more grand and ennobling ? Even that higher development of the poetic genius, which deals, as Shakespeare did, with the thoughts, feelings and passions of men, does but depict another phase of Nature, profounder and more sublime, but Nature still Milton, too, who was the poet of the supernatural so called, has but transferred the passions and impulses of men into another sphere, imaginary, it is true, but copied from the world of fact. For Imagination herself cannot escape beyond the bounds of the natural. It is said that the poet “ gives to airy nothings a local habitation and a name but his airy nothings are simply copies of real things, and the location he assigns to them is always a natural one. Shakespeare’s supernatural characters are but men —men, it may be, with some more exalted powers and some higher attributes than men possess in the world of fact ; but they are no less men for that, and the exaltation of their powers is always in the direction of Nature. The philosopher whose profound thought shall live while humanity remains on the earth, making him who gave birth to such lofty ideas what is called immortal, never goes beyond Nature in his deepest penetration into the secret springs of the universe and of man. Nature extends beyond all we can conceive of. Her glory is the glory of the great Whole, her power the potency of the Infinite. The highest attributes which we can imagine are hers, for from her we borrowed our ideas of what she is, or what her possibili­ ties are. Our thoughts are in Nature and of Nature. Our ideas are pictures of her revelations to the mind of man, our sublimest conceptions are but reproductions in mental visions of her doings before our eyes. She is the great mother of us all; on her breast we repose during life, and in her arms we are enfolded in death. Now, what is our chief business in relation to the universe of things ? It is to learn all we can in regard to the great laws and • mighty forces operating around us and in us There must ever remain a field for the exercise of our faculties in such inquiries, for Nature is unlimited in her resources, as she is in her potency and extent. �OR, BELIEF AND KNOWLEDGE. 9 “ No man, however keen his eye, Can into Nature’s deepest secrets pry.” So said an old poet, and no doubt he was right. Nature’s deepest secrets defy all investigation, for they extend to the depths and heights of the Infinite. But that does not alter the fact that our sole business here is to learn all we can. Nature’s secrets are not always easily obtained. They are not to be had for the mere asking, as Christian mercies are said to come. Energetic research alone can draw them from her bosom—research often accompanied with toil, pain and sorrow. The scientific discoveries of this age show what can be done in the way of obtaining knowledge of the powers and forces of the universe. Those who will cast their thoughts back to the commencement of the present century, and then reflect what has been accomplished since that time, cannot help being startled at the contrast between things as they then were and as they now exist. It is not necessary to enter into detail here regarding the tremendous onward movement that discovery and investigation have made within that period. In these days of cheap popular literature almost every person is acquainted with the facts. The wonder to us is, how our fathers progressed at all in the absence of discoveries which we deem essential to every-day life. Rail­ ways, gas, the telegraph, the telephone, photography, and many other such advantages, have all come into use during the present century. Had any man a hundred years ago predicted the state of things existing to-day, he would have been considered a fit subject for a lunatic asylum. Had such results been imagined they would have been deemed supernatural. Nature has thus far disclosed the great events which for ages had lain hidden in her arcana. This she has done in obedience to patient and per­ sistent investigation on the part of a noble and hard-working band of men—the devotees of science. The discoveries already made are an indication of what is yet to come. From what has been we may judge of what may be. Earnest men are still pursuing their patient investigations into Nature. They study her laws, they question her phenomena, �10 NATURE AND THE SUPERNATURAL: they interrogate her doings, and they never go unrewarded for their toil and their pains. Almost every day something new is brought to view which shall tend to lighten the load of human woe and sorrow, and bring about harmony among mankind. The laws of Nature are our guide in life, and the grandeur of ' Nature is our inspiration. The forces of the universe we know only in their manifestations; but that is sufficient—more we need not. It was a wise saying of the great German philoso­ pher, Goethe : “ Man is not born to solve the problems of exist­ ence ; but he must nevertheless attempt it in order that he may know how to keep within the bounds of the knowable.” We should aim, therefore, to be consistent students of Nature in all her marvellous manifestations. We are, as Bacon says, ministers and interpreters of Nature: farther than that we have no desire to go. In trees and stars and suns and flowers, in the solid earth and the expansive sea, in the growing plants and moving ani­ mals, and, above all, in the great mind of man, we find our sole delight, our simple care, and the basis of all our hopes for the world and all it contains. The Supernatural.—There has been a large number of books written on this subject, some of them by men of eminence in their respective departments of thought; and yet the matter is still left in a state of obscurity. It has, of course, been dealt with from very different standpoints, and therefore exceedingly conflicting arguments have been brought to bear upon it. Two able American writers, Dr. Bushnell and Dr. McCosh, have dismussed it with considerable learning and some thought, in books which are widely read and often appealed to both in the pulpit and through the press ; but one has always to put down these volumes with a great degree of dissatisfaction, since nothing like clear definition is to be found in their pages. In England the subject has been made the theme of several large works, of hun­ dreds of magazine articles, and of thousands of pulpit discourses : and by this time, therefore, some clear idea ought to be obtained as to the differentiation between these two spheres, if there are �OR, relief and knowledge. 11 two ; but the whele subject is still enveloped in the densest dark­ ness. There must be some cause for this, and the cause, probably, is not far to seek. The natural we know : but the supernatural, what is that ? Of course, as its name implies, it is something higher than nature—something above nature. But, if there is a sphere higher than nature, and yet often breaking through nature, nature itself must be limited by something, and the question that at once arises is, By what is such limitation fixed, and what is the boundary line which marks it off and separates it from the supernatural ? And this is just what no two writers seem to be agreed upon. But’, further, supposing such a line to be discovered and to be well known, so that no difficulty could arise in pointing it out, a still more difficult problem presents itself for solution— namely, how man, who is a part of nature, and able only to come into contact with nature, can push his knowledge into that other sphere Which, being non-natural, cannot be at all accessible to a natural being ? If the supernatural region be synonymous with the unknowable, it clearly cannot concern us, simply because we have no faculties with which to cognise it, and no powers capable of penetrating into its profound depths. In this case, as far as we are concerned, there is practically no supernatural, for none can operate on that sphere in which man lives and moves and displays his varied and in some respects very marvellous powers. Professor Huxley thinks that every new discovery in science pushes the supernatural further away from us by enlarging the boundary of human knowledge of nature. According to many writers, the spiritual is the supernatural, because it is not under the control of natural law. But why ? If man be partly a spiritual being, why should not natural law extend into the sphere of his spiritual nature ? Indeed, an able writer on the Christian side, whose work has been enthusiasti­ cally received by all religious denominations—Professor Drum­ mond—has maintained this position, the very title of his book stating the whole case : “ Natural Law in the Spiritual World.” The great German philosopher, Kant, calls nature the realm of sensible phenomena, conditioned by space, and speaks of an­ �12 NATURE AND THE SUPERNATURAL 1 other sphere as a world above space, depleted of sense, and free from natural law, and therefore supersensible and super­ natural. But this is to make the supernatural spaceless and timeless—in fact, a mere negation of everything, and therefore nothing. Now, the only light in which we can look at this sub­ ject, with a view to obtain anything like clear and correct views, is that of modern science. By her the boundary of our know­ ledge has been greatly enlarged, and through her discoveries we have been enabled to obtain more sound information regarding the laws of the universe than it was possible for our fathers, with the limited means at their disposal, to possess. Looking at the universe by which we are surrounded, and of which we ourselves form a part, we see law in operation everywhere, and this law we call natural law. If there be a sphere where the supernatural plays a part and exercises any control, it must clearly be in some remote region, of which we have, and can have, no positive knowledge; and the forces in operation must be other than those with which we are conversant upon this earth. Science cannot recognise the supernatural, because she has no instruments which she can bring to bear upon, and no means at her disposal for, its investigation She leaves to the theologian all useless speculations regarding such a region, contenting herself with reminding him that he is, in all such discussions, travelling outside the domain of facts into a province which should be left to poets and dreamers, and which belongs solely to the imagination. All law is and must be natu­ ral law, from a scientific standpoint, because we can have access to nature, and to nature only. It is impossible to get beyond her domain, even in imagination. The supernatural, if it exists, mnst reveal itself through nature, for in no other way can it reach us so as to produce any impres­ sion upon the human mind. But, if it come through nature, then how can it be distinguished from the phenomena of nature ? It will be quite impossible to differentiate between them. We are quite precluded from saying, Nature could not do this, and is unable to do that. No man can fix a limit to the possibilities of �OR, BELIEF AND KNOWLEDGE. 13 power in nature. She has already done a thousand things which our forefathers would have declared impossible, and she will doubtless in the future, under further discoveries and advances in science, do much more which will look impossible to us. What­ ever, therefore, comes through nature must be natural, for the very reason that it comes to us in that way. And the business of science is to interpret it in the light of natural law. Even if she should prove herself incompetent to the task, it would only show that some phenomena had been witnessed which had for a time baffled explanations, not that anything supernatural had occurred. And the business of science would be to at once di­ rect itself to the new class of facts, with a view to finding the key with which to open the lock and disclose the secret of the power by which they were produced. What is the Supernatural ?—According to Dr. Bushnell, “That is supernatural, whatever it be, that is not in the chain of natural cause and effect, or which acts on the chain of cause and effect in nature without the chain.” But, it may fairly be asked, is there any such cause, and if so, where ? Is not every link in the chain that we see or can conceive of natural ? Moreover, were there any other link or chain, how could we recognise it or distinguish it from na­ ture ? True, Dr. Bushnell attempts to explain his meaning, and in so doing he practically gets rid of the supernatural altogether. He says: “ If the processes, combinations, and results of our system of nature are interrupted or varied by the action of God, or angels, or men, so as to bring to pass that which would not come to pass by its own internal action under the mere law of cause and effect, such variations are in like manner supernatu­ ral ” Now this reasoning is based upon the supposition that things are brought about by some power higher than the ordinary law of cause and effect. If this be meant to'be taken absolutely, then we most emphatically deny it. But if, as it would seem, Dr. Bushnell simply means cause and effect in external nature apart from intelligent beings, that is to take far too limited a view of �14 NATURE and the supernatural; the law. For man himself is as much a creature of law as a tree or a star, and all he does is accomplished by, not outside the law of cause and effect. But were it otherwise, as this writer appears to suppose, then man’s actions are all supernatural,which is virtually giving up the supernatural altogether, in the sense in which it is usually understood. Definitions of the superna­ tural are given by the Duke of Argyle and Dr. McCosh that do not differ greatly from that offered by Dr. Bushnell. Dr. McCosh speaks of even miracles as not being against nature in any other sense than that in which one natural agent may be used against another, as water may be employed to counteract fire, which is, in fact, to bring the supernatural into nature, and to obliterate all distinction between them. It is said that there are exceptional cases in which the super­ natural has broken through the natural, and thus become objects of sense in the same way as the rising and setting of the sun, the ebb and flow of the tides, or any other natural phenomena, and that these must be judged of by the ordinary laws of evi­ dence. The reply to this, however, is that the alleged superna­ tural, if it shows itself in its manifestations to man, must either come through nature or in some other way. But there is no other way known to us, for man cannot get on the outside of nature even in thought. The most extravagant flights of ima­ gination that we find, either in poetry or in the products of reli­ gious ecstacy, are always shapen in natural moulds, either as a whole or, what is more general, in their parts. No image formed in the human mind can possibly be other than natural, if not in its entirety, at least in the component parts of which it is made up. We can conceive of a centaur, though no such thing ever existed, or of a mermaid, though no person has ever seen one, these being creatures purely of the imagination. They are compound things, each part of which has been seen a hundred times, and are formed by blending a portion of one animal with a part of another, thus making an image which on the whole is unnatural, but the parts of which are taken from nature. Men speak of angels, but either they have no idea at all in their minds �OR, BELIEF AND KNOWLEDGE. 15 as to what they are speaking of, and merely use a meaningless word, or else they think of a human being with the addition of wings or some other abnormal appendage. It is a noteworthy fact that those much-talked-of angelic appearances recorded in the Bible are really descriptions of men. Its God is pictured in a human form, and the Holy Ghost assumes the shape of a dove. Christianity itself is represented as being a supernatural revela­ tion, yet every one of its doctrines came through a natural me­ dium. The writers who penned the various books of the Bible were men, and we have but their bare assertions that what they taught had any other than a natural origin. Even if their honesty be proved unimpeachable, there still arises the question as to whether they might not have been deceived. At all events, theie is no manifestation of the supernatural, all the revelations coming through nature. And in that very transmission they must have become so much blended with the purely natural that it would be impossible to distinguish the one from the other. All this shows that we have no faculties by which the supposed supernatural can be as much as imagined in our minds. The moment that we fancy we think of it, we borrow our ideas from Nature, so that even in imagination we cannot and do not tran­ scend her boundaries. The fact is, man cannot travel beyond the natural, he having no experience of anything outside or apart from its domain. To assert that the so-called supernatural is the cause of the natural is to allege that which is the very reverse of what we know to be fact. If we trace what is termed the supernatural to its origin, we shall find it end in nature. This may appear paradoxical, but it is nevertheless true. Mr. Moncure D. Conway very aptly says in his “ Lessons for the Day : ” “ Supernature is a disjointed dream of nature as seen by science. It is the morning vision of Art; the artist realises that more ideal world with which nature is in labour. Know­ ledge, Art, Poetry, enter the ideal kingdom by the door; Super­ stition tries to scramble over the walls, and gets maimed in the attempt. The supernaturalist believes that one day an iron axe swam on the river Jordan : but at the command of knowledge millions of tons of iron are swimming to-day on many waters. �16 NATURE AND THE SUPERNATURAL ; He says certain jars of water flushed to wine; but by culture the rains of heaven falling on a thousand hills are turned to wine. We want no supernature. That is mere calumny on na­ ture, and caricature of the best in it. What we need is har­ mony with nature,—harmony with its laws that we may have health: sympathy with its beauty that we may be pure; obedi­ ence to its conditions, that we may command its forces and in­ spire them with human purpose. In nature is the constancy which is our dependence and our development; in it the poten­ tiality Reason, which is our only source of Wisdom; in it the Love which attends the loving from the cradle to the grave. Ignorance can see it only as chaos in one age, accursed in another ; superstition can find but terror in its laws, and hope only in their fancied overthrow by arbitrary thaumaturgy of omnipotence; but wherever the mind of man flowers, nature flowers in re­ sponse, filling every sense with beauty, giving mind and heart their deeper satisfaction, steadily incarnating every pure ideal.” “It is often said that mankind are fond of the marvellous; but it is equally true that all men reverence the laws of nature. Man’s faith in nature has always accompanied his faith in super­ nature. They even whom nature daily slays still trust in her. Their supernaturalism is never anti-natural. Miracles may have been invented which outrage nature; but they have not taken high place in human credence. I believe it would be found, on investigation, that in all the miracles which have been accepted as evidences of religion, certainly all that have been cherished by any race, there is a mixture of the natural and supernatural. Elijah restores the child to life by stretching his body upon it: room was thereby left to the popular imagination to conceive of some natural force generated by such contact. When Christ cures a man’s blind eyes, or Vespasian heals a wounded arm, both were said to have done it by means of spittle; so leave was given the mind to imagine some unexplained medicinal vir­ tue in that application. The means used are sometimes absurdly inadequate ; effects the most astounding are attributed to a tone of voice, a form of words, a touch. But these were believed to be part r aluigl foicu.” �OR, BELIEF AND KNOWLEDGE. IT Belief and Knowledge.—There is a marked distinction to be observed between belief and knowledge. We may, and do, have faith in that of which we have no real or actual knowledge, for we are compelled to exercise such faith in everyday life upon nu­ merous topics. The point to be remembered is that, if we are judi­ cial or rational, we shall be careful that our belief is not opposed to knowledge. We may, and do, believe in countries which we have never seen ; in the existence of persons with whom we have never come into contact, and of countless things of which we have had no actual experience ; but if we are wise we shall always be on our guard against taking for granted that which is highly improb­ able, to say nothing of the impossible. If a man asserted that one thing was in two places at the same time, we should not stop to ask for the evidence that he had to produce, because no amount of evidence could serve to substantiate as a truth that which we knew by the very nature of things to be impossible. Testimony is highly valuable of course, but there are many subjects which no amount of evidence could prove, simply because the matter is of such a nature as not to admit of proof. Suppose, for instance, someone had said that he had visited a country where two and two made five, we should at once draw the inference that either the man stated what was not true, or else that he attached a different meaning to the words employed than that which we are in the habit of giving to them. A man tells us that he#ias seen a miracle, and that, therefore, he knows from experience that the Supernatural does exist, and he brings a dozen persons to verify his statement. What are we to do in such a case ? A moment’s reflection may show that the testimony is unimpeach­ able, while the conclusion is perfectly erroneous. The event which he describes may have happened, but how is it to be proved to be a miracle ? The forces in operation in its produc­ tion may be to him unknown, he may never have seen them in operation before, indeed they may be new to all mankind, but still his evidence could simply vouch for the fact; and the cause must be a matter for enquiry. The thing no doubt happened in nature, for no experience can extend beyond that, and the �18 NATURE AND THE SUPERNATURAL; ■assertion that the forces producing it were supernatural is a gratuitous one, and not only not supported by the laws of evid­ ence, but utterly opposed to everything that we know Belief should have a rational basis or it is wild and chimerical. Faith is good in its place, but it must always be confined within the sphere of knowledge, A man can have faith in that which he never saw and perhaps never will see : to this we do not object, but the thing in which he has faith must be a possible one or his faith is misplaced, and he himself deluded. Now, faith in the ■Supernatural is an unreasoning faith, pre-supposing a know edge which we do not and cannot possess, since a knowledge of that which lies beyond nature is an impossibility. The sphere of faith is legitimate enough, but it is not a sphere distinct from that of knowledge, but one which arises out of it and should never go beyond it. We know certain things and believe others, but the latter are always more or less connected with the former, Faith in the order of nature is reasonable, because it is based on experience ; faith in the supernatural is absurd because it is opposed to all possible knowledge, not only to the knowledge that we have, but to all that it is in any way possible for us to have. Of course there is a region in which speculation may be toler­ ated, but it must be tolerated as speculation, nothing more. The misfortune is that those, as a rule, who indulge in speculation make their theories do duty as facts. They not only invest their ideas with the importance of legitimate deductions from facts, but give to them the value of the facts themselves. It is against this that we protest. When men talk about matters of which no one can know anything, they may be harmless enough as dreamers, but when they endeavour to bend men of reason and thought to their way of thinking, resorting sometimes even to persecution to promulgate their idle whims, then they are dan­ gerous and can no longer be regarded with impunity. Society has to suffer for their errors; and it is the duty of every mem­ ber of that society to lift up his or her voice against either their wilful perversion of truth, or their innocent misapprehension of �OR, BELIEF AND KNOWLEDGE. 19 facts. Such, as a rule, are the orthodox believers in the super­ natural, and the popular advocates of speculative views on religion. We may ask, and it is a very legitimate question, What effect has it had on the world to substitute reckless belief for know­ ledge and to indulge in idle speculation regarding the Super­ natural ? To say the least of it, men’s minds have thereby been diverted from the real business of life, their attention has been taken from the things we know, and the study of which would prove serviceable to us, to occupy their mental powers upon matters of which no knowledge is to be attained. To say such a course is a waste of time would be to treat the matter far too lightly. It is much more than that. It has led to incorrect thinking, to loose reasoning, to the drawing of false conclusions, and to the substitution of imagination for reality. Further, the fostering of groundless and fanatical theological beliefs has not only caused almost endless persecutions, but it has proved a pro­ lific cause of insanity. In the Philadelphia Times and Register of Sept. 14 of last year (1889), Dr. Joseph Jones, Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Tulane University, wrote thus:—“ The contemplation of certain hypotheses and dogmas, held and vehemently urged from the pulpit, by some religious sects, have, without doubt, produced great excitement and alarm in the minds of persons of excitable and unstable nervous organisation. The burning eloquence and moral pictures of the religious enthu­ siast and fanatic, and the horrible revelations of the melancholy and sinister imagination of Dante, have converted the souls of the unwary and timid into the abodes of terror and alarm. Certain dogmas, often represented and illustrated by this fiery language, and by the subtle power of the painter’s brush, as the fires and tortures of a burning hell, a veritable lake of fire, where fiery billows eternally wrap the bodies and souls of the damned, and whose shores forever resound with the piercing, truly hope­ less shrieks of those inhabitants of this earth who have failed to unter heaven on account of the commission of personal sins ; a veritable living devil, ever on the alert to seduce and damn the �20 NATURE AND THE SUPERNATURAL ; souls of men, women, and children, and drag the unwary down to everlasting confusion and suffering in the bottomless pit—the unpardonable sin—have for centuries terrified the weak and timid devotees of certain phases of religious belief into hopeless insanity. The violent exercises of certain religious sects, during the performance of so-called religious exercises, such as shouting, hopping, jumping, dancing, demoniacal ‘ holy ’ laughing, often induce epileptic seizures, and inaugurate such conjestion and exhaustion of the nervous structures as induce religious melan­ choly and end in hopeless insanity. The hallucinations which, in the experience of the Professor, exercise the greatest influence on the victims of insanity are: 1. The firm belief by the victim that he is the slave and the abject subject of the devil. To all remonstrances the victim replies that he must obey his master, the devil. I have observed and treated cases where the victim of religious melancholy and hallucination has for days and weeks refused all food because his master the devil commanded him not to eat. In some cases, every agent and every effort to induce the patient to take food have failed, and death has re­ sulted from starvation. 2. The commission of the unpardonable sin. 3. The eternal damnation of the human soul: lost, lost, lost for ever.” The lesson from experience is that theological beliefs, when sincerely and fanatically entertained, are manifested more or less in conduct. It is, therefore, our uuty to inculcate more reliance upon practical knowledge and less dependence upon fanciful beliefs. It is well known that “ knowledge is power,” to whose magic influence the world is indebted for its progress, enabling as it does those who possess and utilise it to fight the more ear­ nestly, and with a better prospect of winning, the great battle of life. Religion: Natural and Supernatural.—Natural religion is ■ based on love, while so-called Supernatural religion is based on fear. Many persons object to the use of the term religion, and no doubt the objection would be a good one if that word retained its old orthodox associations. There is, however, a �OR, BELIEF AND KNOWLEDGE. 21 rapidly-growing tendency to employ the word in its etymologi­ cal and ethical meaning rather than in its alleged super­ natural sense. Accepting religion as ethical unity, established to promote the welfare of mankind on earth, its proper’ basis is enlightened benevolence. This great human instinct is not dependent upon any form of supernaturalism for its manifesta­ tion ; its activity is evoked by a desire to alleviate the sufferings of the afflicted, and to enhance the happiness of the unfortunate. The hope of securing a fair opportunity for the exercise of this true benevolence prompts the lover of nature to aim at correct­ ing every cherished error by the substitution of a true know­ ledge of the natural for the old doubtful speculations as to the Supernatural. “ The error,” remarks a popular writer, " of the supernatural religions is apparent, inasmuch as they possess only artificial life, and, deprived of this, they soon succumb and perish. Their buttresses and supports have been the despotism of princes and the fraud and chicanery of priests. The savage Gauls, when they entered the Senate, were awe-struck at the majesty which stood upon the brows of the venerable Senators One of the barbarians, however, ventured quietly to stroke the beard of one of the Fathers of his country. The aged representa­ tive of Old Rome for an instant forgot his dignity, and he pushed the intruder violently from him. The spell was broken, and the swords of the savages drank the life-blood of the Con­ script Fathers. So has it been with many of the religions, So long as men were awe-stricken at their mysteries, so long were they the victims of priestcraft. When, however, men dared to examine for themselves, when they laid their hands on the veil it was rent from top to bottom, and the inner chamber, the sanctum sanctorum, was found to contain little else than a mere anthropomorphic image.” History plainly teaches that, when Supernatural religion has been aught more than than a system of mere belief and pro­ fession, it has conduced to wrong action. The records of man­ kind furnish ample proof of this. Whether it be Pagans with their deities, Jews with their Jehovah, or Christians with their Trinity, all such theologisms have brought forth cruelty, oppres- �22 NATURE AND THE SUPERNATURAL : sion and intolerance. Truth, virtue, and love are the three ele­ ments which should go towards the foundation of Natural religion. They formed a humanitarian religion in the case of Buddhism ; they form the basis of the great religious humani­ tarianism of Auguste Comte; they, with the great science of man’s true education and enlightened benevolence, as promul­ gated by that great philanthropist, Robert Owen, formed what probably will be ultimately accepted as a practical religion of daily life. The love insisted upon by Natural religion is, more­ over, active love. It does not reach to the clouds, or attempt to penetrate behind the veil of Nature into the region of the un­ known and unknowable, but it aims only at instructing and inspiring human nature, so that there may be perfect harmony between that and external nature, and absolute peace, concord, and kindliness between man and man. It is not anti-Christian, in so far as the Christian believer remains true to the lessons of love, of mercy, of justice, and of well-doing. The Supernaturalist talks of Jesus as though he had more than human .love for man, and a superhuman desire to effect his welfare. The Naturalist, instead of this, maintains that the \ same high and lofty feeling of philanthropy, of brotherly love, beats in every human bosom, and needs only wise and patient cultivation to bring forth golden fruit. Natural religion declares that there can be no grander impulse, no loftier, more animating incentive, than an honest, steadfast desire to benefit the whole human race. This is also the principle of Secularism—that of active, practical love; of affection manifesting itself in benevo­ lence, and earnest, kind efforts for the welfare of man, woman and child. Among the first indications we find in human history of the supernatural feeling is fttichism—the worshipping of trees, recks, animals, etc. If, however, fetichism were only such as is here described, it would be Naturalism, not Supernaturalism, inasmuch as a tree, a stone, an an.mal, a fish, or a bird, is each a something pertaining to Nature. Such worship, however, was given, primarily, not to the tree, etc., but to an imaginary some­ thing supposed to be latent or hidden in the perceptible object �OR, BELIEF AND KNOWLEDGE. 23 adored. In this manner there gradually grew up among primaeval men the notion of a non-natural—that is, a Super­ natural—world, a world of spirits, of beings which lay, as it were, at the back of all phenomena. Religion, to be acceptable to the intellects of the present age„ must be recognised in its truest sense—as a binding system between man and man—as being based on Nature, from whose* prolific source the highest thoughts, the purest conceptions, and the loftiest inspiration are derived. Tell us not that the Natural is impotent to kindle within us the warmest rapture of enthusi­ asm. Contemplate, for instance, the setting of the sun, and may we not exclaim : “ How glorious, how radiant with magnificence, yon setting sun, pouring its floods of golden light o’er half the world ! The solid earth’s proud mountain tops are crowned ! the lowly vales, with cities, hamlets, lonely cots, rejoice in chastened splendour. The ocean’s mighty mass is turned to liquid fire; above, the sky is bathed in brightness, and the clouds are melting into molten gold. Who has not hailed the vision and confessed its glory until the burning of these sunset fires has kindled flames of rapture within them ? ” Oh! man, why dost thou wander seeking peace from some far-off and unknown God. refusing Nature’s loving sympathy ? Oh 1 listen, whoe’er thou art, to her voice, and hearken to her language, ’tis fraught with holiest wisdom from the fount of truth ; listen to the soft whispers from the vernal breeze, to the gushing of the fountain, to the wind’s low sighing or the ocean’s melody, and thou wilt know in thy mind’s depths a sweet, a holy, deep communing far other than thou yet hast known, with man or other Gods. Wouldst thou worship, turn thee oft at morn, at noon, at stilly eve—at the sunset hour, to the spacious temple of the universe, and in thy melting sadness or thy loving gladness revel in the nature within thee and without. Art thou stricken, and in thy bitterness art weeping ? All nature will look on thee lovingly, and a smile shall chase away thy spirit’s gloom, and thou shalt feel a sympathy that shall soothingly stay the tide of thy agony. Art thou glad ? Thy spirits buoyant, thou shalt feel a thrilling rapture blending with thy spirits’ �24 NATURE AND THE SUPERNATURAL. gladness, and from the hidden depths of Nature thou shalt hear a sound of harmony exquisitely beautiful, attuned to thine own melody. Knowest thou not, oh man, that Nature seeks to win thy affections by her charms, that she may feed thee with beauty and with knowledge from the unfathomable stores of the Infinite, that thou mayest read in thine own self the symbols of her won­ drous mysteries ? As thou gazest on the mystery of the dread and trackless depths of boundless space, thronged with its myriad hosts of living wandering fires, oh ! readest thou not the symbol—the boundless intellect of man—wherein thou art linked in fellowship with the Infinite? As thou gazest on the earth.'encircling ocean as its bounding waves joyously ride foaming and Hashing -with the rising breeze, or as thou gazest ’neath the deep blue wave, where finny life, in playful mood, is sporting over wealth untold of dazzling pearls, gems and gold, the spoils of ages and the wrecks of thousand years, oh ! readest thou not the symbol within thee again—the all-embracing bond of human brotherhood, the high transcendent worth of pure affection, the pricelessness of love ? As thou gazest on the vast concave—the sky of richest azure, shading sweetly down to softest sapphire—dost thou not/ee[ that there is purity ? And as the sapphire sky is o’erspread with gold, and floods of sunset glory shed their living lustre o’er earth and ocean, e’en where mortal tread hath marked no pathway, but where life, loveliness and intelligence rejoice, oh ! hast thou not felt in that vesper hour the pensive calm thrill through all thy pulses, and thy spirit fill with a chastened holy stillness ? Then, as a strength is given thee from the Mighty Infinite, reciprocating in thy deep emotion, thou hast offered to Nature as a grateful offering, the incense of thy spirit on the altar of thy heart. In such a moment would not thy inmost nature all revolt against the doctrine of our “ inborn sin ” that all within thee is depraved ? All nature pleads the sacredness of human nature, and all together cry, “ Holy, holy, holy is the tabernacle •of a man.” � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Pamphlet Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Nature and the supernatural or, Belief and Knowledge Description An account of the resource Place of publication: Toronto Collation: 24 p. ; 22 cm. Notes: Date of publication from KVK. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Charles Watts Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource [1880?-1900?] Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Secular Thought Office Subject The topic of the resource Superstition Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Nature and the supernatural or, Belief and Knowledge), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span> Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RA1097 RA1849 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Nature Supernatural https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/fa36d22482e8ee9ca1d0853fe33d43b0.pdf?Expires=1784764800&Signature=VXJEQMbbU%7EDgYfuIP65a%7E7DhbVHPiL0FlIMXrmDCYa-WyogIjXHmpdwdTO2kcol4tRHnDlzRIKE14sSNruKk5aQjC7Ej1qqgEIRdocFS2BKBAsLWlXAkPc1MpiLiP7mN82nfmWIjF2rA%7EXei3E%7E2qbUXODjQrYE-d3X595f%7EINpG1%7EJNW8%7EHzwTPMW348KLhqU1FWRQUFSDDnJSB-4okaK7izHxE7kW6zSVI3AqXwYpXW3V3gATRfxeJuUYiNAlEoeKzCl6hvPltzmWocgh-y2wj%7E1iK31iSCHwn961dJ7v4bGp2S7EqUQShUGdu9DauwgVX3e99qpfMsBDRaXVOiw__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 1be6058d53bcb3f36804aee00cbbc12c PDF Text Text 1874.] Mysticism. 5 MYSTICISM. Herbert Spencer has affirmed that the one essential princi­ ple of religion is’ the sense of mystery. We have about us the visible world of things. Each of these things stands in definite relations with the things about it. These' relations we can under­ stand ; or at leaskwe' can put them into formulas which seem clear to the understanding. But we feel that behind these visible things and these finite relations there is a something which we can­ not see, which we cannot put into formulas, and which, thus, we cannot even pretend to understand. This unknowable something is a power present in all things, manifesting itself in all things, the life of all things; but though it is always manifesting itself, it can never make itself known ; though so near us, it can never be grasped. It remains ever the infinite, the unknown. The consciousness of the reality of this unknowable power is, ac­ cording to Spencer, the element peculiar to all religions, the only element that may properly be called religious. The definition of religion, as given by Herbert Spencer, tells only half the story. There is another element which is essential to religion and which is common to all religions. There is light in religion as well as darkness. If God dwells in the darkness He dwells also in the light, and the darkness and the light are alike filled with His presence. I refer, however, at this time to the po­ sition of Herbert Spencer, not to criticize it, not to attempt to supply its deficiency, but to recognize its real though partial truth. The sense of mystery is not the only element of religion, but it is an essential element of it; an element too much lost sight of in these days of brilliant, though largely superficial thought. The religious world owes a debt of gratitude to Herbert Spencre for bringing back to its consciousness so forcibly the great fact of this essential principle of mystery. We are apt to forget that much as we need to know, just so much do we need to feel the presence of the unknowable. We are apt to look upon the moun­ tain of truth only as a ledge to be quarried. We are so busied • with our machinery of one sort and another for drilling and blow­ �6 Mysticism. [Mar. ing, for raising and shaping and carrying, so pleased with the smoothly hammered blocks which attest onr labor and our skill, that we forget to look up at the sublime vastness of the mountain,,' at its precipitous sides, at the clouds which veil forever its snowy and inaccessible summit. And yet the mountain in its wholeness may be more helpful to us than in its fragments. All the archi­ tecture in which these fragments may be embodied are puny in comparison with it. All the physical luxury to which they may minister is as nothing compared with the vigor which the sense of its sublimity may bring to the spirit. So, also, our square-hewn truths, however fair, however wonderful, are as nothing to the infinitude of truth. The spirit of man needs to feel its strength. It is well that among the finite things about it, it should feel strong, proud and defiant; that it should come to the world as a conqueror to his realm; but it is well also that it should feel the presence of a mightier than it. There are minds to which the sense even of the sublimities of earth would be a salvation. No­ where does the spirit show its greatness more than in the sense of awe, in the presence of the infinitudes of life and thought, and no­ where does it gain greater strength than in such contemplation. Religion has at all times, and among all nations, recognized this element of the unknowable. “ They best know Thee who confess that they do not know Thee,” cried the Hindoo; “ Canst thou know the Almighty to perfection ? ” exclaimed the Hebrew. And thus, wherever there has been a religion worthy of the name, there has been this solemn gladness, this bowed exaltation, this mighty helplessness, this blending of the deepest and loftiest of man’s nature, which comes from the sense of knowing that which passes knowledge. While religion has thus openly and triumphantly recognized the element of mystery as essential to its existence, it has, I believe, covertly, recognized the same thing in its ceremonies and creedp. I cannot understand how else many of these extravagant and sometimes even absurd forms and formulas should have taken such a hold upon the hearts of men. Take, for instance, some of the peculiarities of the Roman Catholic service. It seems sometimes ab­ surd to see an ignorant worshipper taking part in a service con­ ducted in a language which he cannot understand. A poor Irish �1874.] Mysticism. 7 girl, for instance, worships through the Latin tongue. At least, how­ ever, she feels herself in the presence of a mystery behind which is the Divine ; and if we take even the loftiest terms that we use in our English prayers, with realistic literalness, if we regard them as simply and wholly true, perhaps our worship maybe more imperfect than hers. A divinity that could be wrapt in any terms however fair and sweet would be a living divinity no longer. So also the dimness of the Mediaeval church, its wondrouW music with its heights of joy and abysmal depths of ’sorrow, its architecture with its soaring arches and its gloomy cryp|L-all combined force home this sense of mystery upon th^soul.’ Tlje creeds of the Mediaeval church bringing together opposites in the. same breath, setting at defiance the most fundamentaOaWs, of thought and reason, at least brought men into the presen’bfeiS^he unknown, and were doubtless helpful in this respect. I have spoken thus of the Mediaeval church, but all religons have had their mysteries. The mysteries of the Greek must have brought a healthful spirit of awe and reverence into the midst of much that was superficial add frivolous in the Greek culture. It would be interesting to consider the nature and the limit of this element of mystery that underlies all religion, to examine the forms under which, it confronts us, and the light that^omes to us through and around them. It would be interesting to consider the mystery that waits upon the finite soul, by reason of its very finite­ ness, when it strives to comprehend the infinite ; or to examine that mystery which meets us under every form of thought when we strive to reconcile the freedom of man with inevitable and invariable law, or with the all-embracing provident of G-od ; or it would be inter­ esting to drop our plummets farther than sight could reach, down into the dark depths of the mystery of suffering and sin. My object in this essay is, however, to consider one form of this mystery which underlies all others, and which, so far as the solutions is possible, gives the only hint towards the solution of any of them. I mean that form of mystery which is involved in what is called mys­ ticism. The word mysticism is often used in a very vague manner. At first it is probable that it had no very definite signification, except as it referred to whatever was connected with mystery in general, �8 Mysticism. [Mar. or with the so-called mysteries of religion in particular. But as the nature of this mystery and of these mysteries became more apparent, as the vital element of all began to manifest itself more distinctly from amid the hulls that enveloped it, the words mystic and mysticism assumed a very definite meaning ; and this meaning, in spite of much vague and careless use, still belongs to them. The word mysticism, whenever properly used, refers to the fact that all lives, however distinct they may appear, however varied may be their conditions and their ends, are at heart one; that they are the manifestations of a common element; that they all open into this common element and thus into one another. Merely philosophical mysticism calls this common element by one name or another ac­ cording to the nature of the system. Religious mysticism finds this common element in the life of Grod. Mysticism then is the recognition of the universal element in all individual forms; re­ ligious mysticism finds everywhere the presence and power of the divine life. Mysticism is so foreign to much of our modern habit of thinking ; it is so foreign to our habits of life ; it is so foreign to that hard individualism which both our thinking and our living tend to nour­ ish, that it may not be easy for all to enter into the spirit of it, or even to comprehend its meaning. Moreover the word has been as­ sociated with so much that is extravagant and absurd that it has somewhat fallen into disrepute. Those, most often, have been known as mystics in whom mysticism has run riot. But in spite of modern atomism and individualism, in spite of former extrava­ gance and fanaticism, mysticism expresses the profoundest fact of our being. All the greatest thinkers and seers of the world have been more or less imbued with it. Modern creed makers and creed holders may disown it; but the religious founders, those on whose mighty foundations the creed makers rear their shapeless and un­ substantial fabrics, wrought from the intuition and the inspiration of the mystical view of life. However distinct our little individual lives may seem, these mighty thinkers and seers have perceived that they had a common root and a common substance. Within and beneath all existences there is the being from which all spring and in which they all qxist. We ask the leaf, Are you complete in yourself? and the leaf �1874.] Mysticism. 9. answers, No, my life is in the branches. We ask the branch, and the branch answers, No, my life is in the trunk. We ask the trunk, and it answers, No, my life is in the root. We ask the root, and it answers, No, my life is in the trunk and the branches and the leaves; keep the branches stripped of leaves and I shall die. So is it with the great tree of being. Nothing is completely and merely individual. All are expressions, higher and lower, of a common life. Illustrations of this fact may $e found in the comparatively superficial relations of life in th®e realms which seem intermediate between the body and the mind. The relations of which I here speak are those which connect one life with another. They show a relation which is deeper than any that the senses can account for, and thus manifest .a direct communication between one life and another. We see this in the great pulses of feeling which thrill through communities and assemblies. On a large scale we see it in the frenzy of a nation, a state of things which has found its most striking exemplification in the history of Fran®; on a smaller scale we see it in the enthusiasm or excitement of any crowd. There are occasions in which the calmest and most balanced mind is drawn into the common whirl and wmult of feeling, not form anything that has been said or done, but because the depths of the spirit are stirred by the mighty movements in the life about it. Such a common movement may be found, for instance, in the en­ thusiasm of the camp-meeting, which becomes filled with a com­ mon terror or a common fervor; and in the rout of some great army when a strange and inexeplicable panic spreads from heart to heart. Such mighty stirrings of the common life suggest to us the movements of the s,ea. The fury of the waves is felt in every cove and inlet, however sheltered, that has a communication open with the ocean. When a great tidal wave sweeps over the sea the whole line of coast feels its power, and all the rivers that pour into it heave and swell,with its influx. So do lives thrill and stir with the convulsions of the common life about them. We find examples of this direct relation between life and life in individuals as well as in masses. There are spiritual harmonies and discords from which result much of the happiness or unhappi­ ness of life. �10 Mysticism. Mar.] There are individuals who possess what is called magnetism. They attract or move or govern, we can hardly tell why. We can see that this is not mere association with the past history of such persons, that the effect does not arise merely because it is expected to arise, by the fact that animals are frequently affected in a similar way. They become submissive to one whose nature possesses this element; they wait upon his movements, they seem to live for him. We see further illustrations of this inner relation between life and life in the communication that seems sometimes to flow from one life to another, in the case of friends closely bound together. Especially does this occur in the case of the death of one. Cases of this kind are so common that the German language has set apart a word to stand for this sort of communication. Sometimes the living friend appears to see the form of the one who has just died, sometimes the effect is less striking though not less real. This sort of connection between one life and another reaches its climax in what is known as animal magnetism. In this the inde­ pendent will and consciousness of the one is entirely given up. The whole nature is taken possession of by another. The will, the thought, the emotions and the sensations of the one depend upon the will of the other. In the same category stand the phenomena of spiritualism. Whatever view we may take of the reality of the claims to spiritual manifestations, this at least would appear to be true, that the life pf the medium is invaded by some external personality, whether this external personality be that of an embodied or disembodied spirit. One of the strangest, we might even say the most inexplicable' exhibitions of this hidden interlacing of life with its surroundings, is found in that foreshadowing which is sometimes felt of the future. This yields itself to our comprehension far less than the other phenomena to which I have referred, because it appears to regard the future as already existing, at least as fixed. Perhaps we may find an example of this in the history of our martyred president, Abraham Lincoln. In Lamon’s Life of Lincoln, a book which with all its faults is one of almost unparalleled interest, show­ ing as it does, in all its details, the growth of one of the noblest, purest, and strongest natures of which we have record, out of circumstances which would seem to render such �1874.] Mysticism. 11 a development impossible, — in this marvellous story of a true life, we are told that for years Lincoln was haunted by an impression that he was set apart for the execution of some great work, and that he should fall in the accomplishment of it. This impression cast a shadow over his life which he could not shake off. Of course this impression may have been the result of his ambition united with his temperament. But when we consider on the one side the morbid and somewhat abnormal elements of his nature, and, on the other, the exceptional work to which he was summoned and the no less exceptional end which was to befall it, it does not seem strange that this nature should have felt some foregleams of the glory and some fdreshadowings of the gloom. When I think of this strong and patients, this tender and heroic soul, pressing on its serene course, unsoiled by pollution, never misled by the sophistries of legal chicanery or political corruption, never led a step beyond the true path by its mighty ambition, never sinking beneath its burdens, never shrinking from peril, see­ ing ever before it vaguely in the darkness alike the glory and the terror, it seems to me one of the sublimest figures of history. Of course I know that the whole class of facts to which I have referred are denied by some; of course, too, any individual case may be doubtful; yet I believe that this class of phenomena is ac­ cepted by the unprejudiced among thinking men, by those who do not let theory exclude fact. The class of facts to which I have referred stand in a somewhat superficial relation to our theme, to which however they may well serve to introduce us. I have tarried among these outlying facts so long, because there are some to whom an introduction to the theme, the being brought into its sphere^so as to feel the reality and the power of it, is more difficult and important than the elabora­ tion of it. Deeper than that class of facts to which I have alluded, lies the sense of sympathy with the lives and actions of others, however far we may be from the ability to reproduce them. This relation Emerson has happily expressed in the opening paragraph of his essay on history. Though the words are fortunately familiar, they are so apt to our present needs that I will quote them: “ There is one mind, common to all individual men. Every man is an inlet �12 Mysticism. [Mar. to the same and to all of the same. He that is once admitted to the right of reason is made a freeman of the whole estate. What Plato has thought he may think; what a saint has felt, he may feel; what at any time has befallen any man, he can understand. Who hath access to this universal mind is a party to all that is or can be done, for this is the only and sovereign agent.”Somewhat similar to this is the sympathy that we feel with na­ ture. The sense of beauty is at heart a sense _of companionship. We recognize in the nature about us a life which is kindred to our own. We rejoice to be wrapped in by this infinite life of nature. The early peoples have loved to speak of the earth as their mother. From this feeling of relationship comes the sympathy which we have with the outward world. Sometimes nature reflects our mood. She is glad or sorrowful according as we are glad or sorrowful. Sometimes she takes us up into her lofty moods. Our spirits grow strong with her strength, tender with her tenderness, calm with her calmness. Whatever form the effect may take it springs from our sense of unity with the life about us. Still deeper lies the metaphysical and religious sense of the unity of all being. This is the principle that our modern science fancies it has discovered while really it is the principle upon which science itself rests, and of which the scientific formulas in regard to the uniformity of law form only a partial expression. It is a principle that the thought of man has always taken for granted, and which finds its complete expression alike in Greece and India, countries the types and habits of whose thought are so largely antithetical to one another. Philosophy takes it for granted. The religious element is not essential to it. Schopenhauer is as thorough a mystic as Madame Guyon. Indeed, some of the fair­ est thoughts of Madame Guyon have been transplanted by Schop­ enhauer to the uncongenial soil of his system, where amid the darkness and the chill they seem scarcely less at home than be­ neath the warm and sunny heavens that before similed about them. It is indeed difficult to draw the exact line where metaphysical passes into religious mysticism. Men may differ, for instance, as to the side of the line on which Spinoza stands, or even in regard to the location of much Hindoo thought, — may doubt as to whether it shall be called''metaphysical or religious. It is, how­ �1874.] Mysticism. 13 ever, in the sphere of religion that mysticism reaches its fairest growth. The oriental religions have given themselves up most thoroughly to this principle. Indeed, it is this that characterizes the central period in the history of the Brahmins, while it is powerfully manifested both in the earlier and later periods of this history. It finds its perfect expression in this Hindoo prayer, Thou art the sacrifice, the prayer of oblation ; the sovereign of 'all creatures; Thou art all that is to be known or to be unknown; 0 universal soul, the whole world consists of thee.” Among the Sufis, whose type of religion is a reaction against the hard super­ ficialness of Mohammedanism, mysticism has found its most pic­ turesque and poetical expression. They tell us, fob? instance, that a saint knocked at the door of Paradise. Who is there ? asked the Lord. It is I, answered the saint. But the gate remained fast closed against him. Again he drew near and knocked, and when the Lord asked, as before, Who is there ? the saint, grown wiser, answered, Lord, it is Thou; and the gates of Paradise flew open to grant him prompt admittance. But though this principle is associated in our minds rather with the religions that I have named than with Christianity, yet in Christianity it is no less truly present. In Him we live, and move, and have our being, cried the clear-headed, active Paul, no less a mystic than the contemplative John. All through the Chris­ tian history have arisen souls as purely mystical in feeling and in thought as any to be found under warmer skies. Their type of religion was exceptional in Christianity only in its degree. The pious Fenelon could justify his mystical piety by unanswerable arguments drawn from the church fathers. Indeed, no religion that has any soul to it can avoid the touch of mysticism. It is the very life of religion. Men may talk of an external creation, may shut up each soul to a sharp and separate individuality, may set off the infinite over against the finite, forgetting that thereby they have two finites and no infinite. But then comes the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, which is that of the very indwelling of God in the soul, and all these finely drawn lines disappear, the hard distinc­ tions become fluid; men become partakers of the divine life, and God is all,and in all. Our tenderest hymns are full of a beautiful �14 [Mar. Mysticism. mysticism. Thus we sing with Furness, —in what I am sometimes tempted to call the sweetest of hymns, — “ What is it ? and whither, whence, This unsleeping, secret sense, Longing for its rest and food In some hidden, unknown good ? “’Tis the soul — mysterious name ; Him it seeks from whom'it came : While I muse I feel the fire Burning on and mounting higher. . ; “ Onward, upward to thy throne, O thou Infinite, Unknown ! Still it presseth, till it see Thee in all, and all in Thee.” Mysticism is Protean in its shapes. It possesses the key to all forms and all creeds. The smallest cell opens into God’s infini­ tude. The harshest dogmas assume a tenderness, the most varied rites a meaning for it. The mystic can take the sacred wafer on his lips finding in it the real presence of God, for is not God in all things ? He can affirm the absolute divinity of Christ, for is not all life divine, the highest and fullest the most divine ? He can af­ firm the dogma of the Trinity, for does not this furnish the formula that includes all the deep and vast relations of the universe ? On the other hand, the mystic, for like reasons, may disown all forms and cast off all creeds. Out of such mysticism, pure and tender, sprang the sect of the friends. He may justify to himself at least the most extreme and solitary individualism; for am not I, the soul may ask, one of the manifestations of the eternal mind ? If I have access to the eternal mind what do I need of other help and guidance ? Not only does mysticism thus hold in solution the forms of reli­ gion ; it brings to the mysteries of religion a solution, so far as any solution is possible. At least it absorbs all other mysteries into itself. Nothing has taxed the thought of men more than the relation between God’s sovereignty and man’s free will. If man is free how is it possible that the will of God should be absolute in the �1874.] Mysticism. 15 moral no less than in the physical world. But if the life of man Ks born out of the life of God, if so far as man truly lives he lives in God and God lives in him, then when man comes to himself, when he lives his true life, his will is one with the will of God. The will of God does not act upon him from without, subduing him by external force. It acts from within. It is indeed his own truest life. Sin is the blackest mystery of the universe. We cannot under­ stand how it should have a place in the universe of Go$l. Mys­ ticism teaches us that there is but one life, and that iffis the divine life. Sin is the absence of this life. It thus is death. If we should mark the presence of this life by light., ther perfect man would be wholly luminous, showing that every part is living; the worst man would be seen to have only a few intermittent;sparks of brightness at the heart of his being. Sin is nothing but the ab­ sence of life, and that is the absence of everything. With all its parade of pride and pomp, sin is thus seen in its psthingness. The leaf, as we have seen, has its life only in the tree, When in the autumn it begins to loosen its ho®: upon the tree, it puts on the greatest appearance of glory. Its gold and its purple fill the earth with splendor. We rejoice in the beauty*, but we rejoice with a sense of sadness in our hearts, fqp we know that what we see is the pomp and glory of death. Such is the splendor that springs from the pride and selfishness of the world. The true man may, in his. humility, confront them with calm confidence. They also spring from the separation of the individual from the universal life. They also are the flaunting glories of death. So also does mysticism help to answer the great question as to the possibility of knowing anything of God. Some thinkers, as we have seen, love to resolve the thought of God into that of an unknown force. But if this power lives in us, if it thinks in us, how shall we not have some revelation of it in ourselves ? Indeed why should we not know more of it than of anything besides. If in religion, then, we find the darkest mystery, in it we find also the clearest light. We may doubt wholly in regard to the nature and even the reality of the things which we see merely from the outside; but of that life that lives ip us, that is the life • of our life, how can we wholly doubt. ' �16 Mysticism. [Mar. Thus does mysticism have the central, the supreme place in the religious thought and life ; but owing to this very supremacy it is beset with perils. From this source of life and strength and knowledge may spring the blackest errors, the most fantastic delusions. The fundamental errors which have too often marred the beauty of mysticism, and which have made the very word so often a re­ proach are, in the first place, the belief, natural enough in theory, that if the true life be life in God, then to reach this true life in its fullness the individual life must be given up. The life must flow backward and downward to become one with its source. Thus in all nations men have sought to find God by giving up all rela­ tion with the world, by shutting up the avenues of sense, by giv­ ing up feeling and thought. Thus the Hindoo mystic sits with his eyes fixed upon a single point, with measured or suspended breath, so far as possible with no emotion in his heart and no thought in his brain, seeking thus, by entering into perfect inanity, to become one with God. Christian mystics have resorted to like measures, and marked out all the steps that lead to the state which is at once the absence and the fullness of life. They have not seen that this fullness which they seek is emptiness. The being they would share is the negation of being. By this process they do not be­ come God, they become nothing. It is as if the bud, knowing that its life is in the life of the parent tree, should seek to become one with the tree by withering and shrinking, and letting its life ebb back into the common life. Seeing it, we should not say, Behold how this bud has become one with the tree ; we should say, The bud is dead. Errors, in the second place, somewhat different from the one I have named, grow out of a less extreme application of the same theory. Instead of giving up the life of thought and feeling, the mystic gives up the control of thought and feeling. Whatever comes to him, apparently, from the depths of his own conscious­ ness, he takes it for granted comes from God. The exercise of reason, of thought, reference to the results of other minds, would mar the freedom of the revelation of God. The favorite motto of the mystic, which may be applied to both forms that I have named, is this: When man sleeps, God wakes. �1874.] Mysticism. 17 He considers himself one of the beloved of God to whom he giveth in their sleep. But when men sleep, answers Hegel, they dream. Hence in the writings of so many mystics we have by the side of thoughts whose depth and beauty thrill us with an inspiration of fresh life, conceits the most fantastic and absurd, multiplied till the reading becomes a weariness and a disgust • Such-men think that by this falling back into the hearts of things they can understand all the phenomena of time and eternity | some ewhhaVe believed that their life could thus become so blended with the common life that they could control the course of things by a word. Thus we have growing out of a grand and fundamental truth all the ex­ travagances of Theosophy and Theurgy. In a more superficial and modern view we have abnormal states ^f the nervous system, or of the bodily life, prized more highly than the-normal. The state of the mesmeric or other trance is cowi'dered by some higher than the state of consciousness. • Buch do not realize that this is a falling back and down, a losing of the re a? individual life in the indistinguishable mass The individual ceases to be a person and becomes a thing acted upon by -wills and forces outside of itself. I do not say that such a process may not, like that of sleep, be sometimes useful. It may Bring to light facts in our nature otherwise unknowable^ Like Sleep, however, it is not an exaltation, but a lowering of the nature. If the life of man is born out of the life of God, if-tfe-divine life is to flow into and fill out the human life, then($he channels for its entrance are those which God himself has Seated; and the most normal life is the life which is most filled with iM^presence. Very refreshing after the distorted, theories which we Have been considering sounds the cry of John, '^God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in himand that of Paul, “ The fruit of the spirit is lov^j joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith.” This^is the true inysticism. It is the true identification of the human with the divine. The bud is most full of the life of the tree when it swells and bursts into the leaf or the flower. So man is most full of the life of God when his natural powers are most fully developed. Not when he sleeps but when he is most awake can he best see God. Th ex­ form of mysticism we first considered cries that God is; it does 3 �18 Mysticism. Mar.] not say what he is. It gives us the copula without the predicate. The /soul gives up also its predicates and sinks back into empty abstraction to find him. The true mysticism adds the predicate. It tells what God is. God is love, and he that would live in God must not fall back but press forward-. He will find. Him, not in emptiness but in fullness. The life of God visits the soul as the life of nature pours itself into the tree, not to bring into it any­ thing strange, but to fill out that which is natural to it. The fruit of the spirit is love, and joy, and peace, the simple, natural flow­ ering and fruitage of the soul. I and my Father are one, said Jesus ; he also said: My Father worketh hitherto, and I work, making thus 'his union with the Father to consist, not in passivity, but in activity. Christianity, thus, while preserving the great truth of mysticism, disentangles it from the perversions which have too often corrupted it, and makes of it the incentive to the noblest and fullest life. Thus mystieism, rightly understood, would increase our confi­ dence. in human nature rather than destroy it. It would increase our confidence in human thought. It would teach us that this is akin to the creative thought of God. He that should stop think­ ing in order to find the truth, would be like one who should close his eyes’ that he might see. But thought alone is partial and superficial. There are depths in the nature of man which thought alone can bring to light, but which thought has only just begun to sound. There are forces in human nature which thought must accept as given. There are spiritual growths of which thought cannot lay bare the roots. Certain habits and instincts spring out of experience. The roots lie near the surface and thought can uncover them and show their place and nature. There are others that are not thus rooted in any superficial experience. As we trace them they stretch down through the drift and debris of our past lives. They are rooted only in the absolute life. They are offshoots from the life of God. Of this nature pre-eminently is the moral sense. I will dwell at some little length upon the aspect of our theme, on ac­ count of its practical importance ; and also that our theme itself may be seen to be not merely a matter of dreamy speculation, but �1874.] Mysticism. 19 bound up in the most momentous issues of our times. Kant was right in making the moral sense pre-eminently the medium by which the reality of the divine being is manifested to us. He was wrong and inconsequent in denying validity to the other fundamental elements of our nature ; but the moral sense, the practical reason, is so much more authoritative, so much more clear and final in its utterances than the rest, it brings us so into the presence of the awfulness and sublimity, as well as of the beauty of the divine* holiness, that we can forgive him that ‘the sense of it obscured everything beside. Especially can we forgive him in the days in which we live, in which the grandeur and authority of morality ar© to susch an extent lost sight of. I think we do not enough realize the terrible pressure against which morality has to contend at this time. . We need not delay to speak much of external causes of this pressure, though these are very powerful. The wa$? in spites of M high purpose, left the legacy that all wars leave, a tendency to demoralization and brutality. Much of the most popular and plausible thought of the age tends in the same direction. I will not here discuss nor question the truth of the theory that human life is a development out of animal life. Least of all will I join in the outcry against it. It is a theory which is compatible with the highest faith; which may, indeed, introduce a new element of beauty and hope­ fulness into our faith. But Bowever readily we may accept the theory, however clearly we may see the high applications of it, it is no less obvious that in the world at large the first impression of it, the superficial judgment in regard toits would feesuit in a lower­ ing of the dignity of human feature. If it is accepted as truth by the scientific world its tendency will in time be seen to be no more anti-spiritual than that of the fact that w< have bodies ; but it will be long before the popular mind will recover from the shock of it. Its tendency will be to put a burden upon many an upward struggling soul, and to sink deeper many a depraved os®. It will seem to degrade human nature, to justify its brutalizaSon, This crisis is one that cannot and could not be avoided ; but the crisis is rendered more perilous to appearance from the fact that the same process of thought which brings man physically nearer to the brute seeks to separate him spiritually from the divine. �20 Mysticism. Mar.] While opening a gulf below, it seeks to unclasp his hold upon the support above. This is especially seen in the manner in which this thought makes light of, or seeks to take away the authority of the moral sense. Bain, one of the foremost English writers on psy­ chology and morality, refers to the old motto, Fiat justitia ruat coelum, Let justice be done though the heavens should fall, only to stigmatize it as the climax of sentimentalism. It is indeed a motto which utilitarianism can have little place for. It shows that to whatever extent utilitarianism may be the guide of morality, there comes at last a point where the two part company. It is a motto which can be used fanatically and foolishly; but yet it is a motto that has sustained and inspired many a noble soul. The sentiment it expresses has, in one and another form, done more to purify the moral atmosphere, to keep human life strong and healthy, and society sweet and clean, than all the treatises on morality that could be piled together. How many a man has it sustained in the performance of an act of justice which would make of his fortunes a mere wreck. The act has been done ; his little heaven has fallen; his little world has collapsed. He has found indeed a heaven within. The sense of justice done has brought its own satisfaction to his soul; but if justice has no inner authority, no inner life, the inner heaven would have fallen with the outer. When John Stuart Mill exclaimed that he would go to hell rather than call that just in God which would be unjust in man, what was that but a new application of the old cry, Let justice be done though heaven should fall. Acting upon this principle the whole human race, the whole community of finite spirits, would leave heaven empty rather than countenance injustice though it might be called divine. If we dismiss the heroic motto with a sneer, we shall find that not only our sentimentalism but that the strength of our manhood, has gone with it. Bain is not the only writer whose theorizing tends in the same direction. Herbert Spencer seeks to solve the question why men have attached special sanctity to the dictates of morality, and he gives as reasons, in effect, the selfish maxims of society and the mistaken assumptions of theology, repeated so often through count­ less generations as to produce a permanent effect on human nature. I do not forget that he elsewhere indicates a system of morality �1874.] Mysticism. 21 which is not without inspiration. I here consider the explanation ‘ which he gives of the authority of morality itself. Now any man who should accept this explanation as all sufficient, and who should find in his own . nature no moral principle that this could not ac­ count for, would, I believe, hold himself free from any responsibilty to the moral principle. SchopMhOr ap#oached the theme in the same manner that Spencer doW| He states, distinctly, that he has not to ask why men should olfejswl mopijj law, but whv they do obey it. Schopenhauer was an atheist and Hrpessimist; but at the same time he was a philosopher and a mystic, and be­ cause he was a mystic, his explanation of the moral sense is such that if you and I accepted it, even though we could find within ourselves no moral instinct which ’this c®uld not amount for, the principle of morality would be stronger within than it was be­ fore ; because we should see its rea® nature more clearly than we did before. Darwin also attempts the explanation of the moral sense with morality left out. He explains the power of c«cience by the simple fact of the prominence of the social instincts:Mel the com­ parative transientness of tHe selfish impulses. No authority is given to morality except the greater prominence of the instincts on which it is based. But the truth is that the regal dignity of .the moral law is never more stronglyfelt <a« when it confronts the selfish impulses. Even when^-t suffers-'Violence at theif hands, it yet receives their homage. With the king in Hamlet ambition was as permanent as the sense of justice. Indeed it was only now and then that the voice of justice made itself heard in his heart. That wonderful soliloquy of his shows us the collision between the two principles. It shows us/®l |ing yieldl A® 7his selfish am­ bition, but, while doing this, feeling himself ashamed in* the presence of the divinity of justice. Shakspeare knew less than Darwin does about plants and animals, but he knew infinitely more about human nature 5 and this single passage, the single picture of this — Limed soul, that struggling to be free Was more engaged, refutes by the simplicity of truth the flimsy reasoning of the naturalist. �22 Mysticism. Mar.] There is a story, happily familiar, that Theodore Parker, when a boy, took up a stone to throw at a tortoise in a pond; but some­ thing within him seemed to forbid the act. He went home and asked his mother what this something was. Suppose she had given him any of the definitions to which I have just referred. Suppose she had told him, for instance, that it was the inherited effects of the maxims of a self-interested society and the assumptions of pre­ sumptuous theologians. It was a turning point in Parker’s life. I think that if his mother had told him this, and he had thoroughly believed her, the next tortoise that he saw would have been in peril. What his mother really did tell him was this: That the something that bade him hold his hand was what men commonly called conscience; but she preferred to call it the voice of God within him. Parker himself tells us the power of these words. His true life seemed to date from them. The voice of conscience, instead of being silenced by sophistry, was recognized and. listened to as the voice of God. His conscience thus nurtured became the conscience of the land. I have dwelt upon this matter that we might realize the odds against which the moral principle has to contend amid the super­ ficial teaching of the time. Such teaching is not shut up within books of science that are sealed to the common thought. Such theories spread more rapidly than the books which contain them, and their effects extend more rapidly than they. I make here no complaint against the science of the day. It is doing its work bravely and well. I reverence the devotion of its students and rejoice in their success. But physical science has to do with only one side of facts. There is another side which is recognized by religion. Religion and science are like two oarsmen on ^opposite sides of one boat. Science is pulling with all its strength. It does not do for religion to drop its oar that it may wave applause to its comrade. Still less does it do for it to wring its hands and cry with terror that the strokes of science are swing­ ing the boat’s head out of its course, that it will be dashed against the rocks or swept far out into the open sea. Rather let religion do what science is doing. Let it also bend itself to the oar. While it rejoices in the strength of its comrade’s stroke, let it make �BW.j Mysticism. 23 its stroke as strong, and the boat will shoot along in its course with a speed that it has never reached before. In other words, religion should emphasize the spiritual facts of life, just as science emphasizes the physical facts of life. While science shows the relation of man to the brute, religion should show his relationship with God. This is to be done, not by fulminations and anathemas, not by ecclesiasticisms and eternal authority; but by making men feel the poweac of God within them ; by bring­ ing into consciousness what I have called the mystical element of life. Mysticism and physical science recognize the opposite poles of being. We need not wait, then, for physical science to come to its aid. Physical science has to do with points, with atoms; mysti­ cism has to do with wholes. The results of mysticism, physical science calls unthinkable ; but they are the-staple of our thoughts. Physical science boasts of the clearness of her results; but these results, without the aid of mysticism, are unthinkable. Physical science can see in each man only a congeries of atoms mingled in a mazy dance. Can you think of yourself as simply a figure in the dance of atoms ? Can you think of the friend you love the most as such a whirl of atoms, a whirl closer and more intricate than that of the sand-column that sweeps across the desert, the material more pliant, but the nature of the two being otherwise alike ? The only element of thought from which.,, we never can escape is per­ sonality. If physical science fails to give us this we see that it needs its complement, if only that its own ilsults may bethinkable. The recognition of personality, of the unity in the midst of the variety of physical elements, is the beginning of mysticism ; its culmination is the recognition of a like unity amid all the variety of the universe, the infinite personality, of which we are a part, but which yet is distinct from us and from which we are distinct; from which and in which is our only life ; to which we must return, not by the mere absorption of being, but by the higher absorption of a joyful love. C. C. Everett. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. 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Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Pamphlet Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Mysticism Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Everett, Charles Carroll [1829-1900] Description An account of the resource Place of publication: Boston Collation: 5-23 p. ; 25 cm. Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. From the Unitarian Review and Religious Magazine. Vol. 1 (March 1874). For content of complete issue see: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89069654465;view=1up;seq=7 (accessed 11/2017). Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available [Unitarian Review and Religious Magazine] Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource [1874] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G5430 Subject The topic of the resource Superstition Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <p class="western"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /><br />This work (Mysticism), identified by <span style="color:#0000ff;"><span lang="zxx"><u>Humanist Library and Archives</u></span></span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</p> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Conway Tracts Mysticism https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/efe06a29ebea93c020a7b188bc6565ca.pdf?Expires=1784764800&Signature=L2OJTWnIqugDuDK5AU1wFL6jYZjJCPj%7EEKhXGjjINtqNf4hJ48Y7V3qxUsAze6Q%7ERuSS03hMWWU2Hqu35Iu9Qa6-B-6Oz-RvrNKwuwrggThoRlGAFGWeQEJx6uQmeotzohvgKNxdhd1y-RJzDjC-pivYuHjqxIB0qqbj3jAgIQNuC5cV5Z2eZVC5LyBqQG7D0NKOGqINT4Zmf6uPgZkUB782IF7n9Bcoz0L-gntnJpj9M5wHRf1pqkjwi8IIrW0306PXiZ2IKKwo5skvDbej5sJEmHQ9mGb2q%7EZkxdvNhy2K-rkDzsj9esIpjdo2aBxcNp3lh4BR%7EW18RB3EU0S9FQ__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 526b38cdb6240bdd5362f6a403e38080 PDF Text Text VICTORIES OF SCIENCE IN ITS WARFARE WITH SUPERSTITION. • ’ * DELIVERED BEFORE THE SUNDAY LECTURE SOCIETY, ON SUNDAY AFTERNOON, 20th FEBRUARY, 1881, 2U■ BY A. ELLEY FINCH. j'lwdu* 1 i-niiHfirhi -sawi) PUBLISHED BY THE SUNDAY LECTURE SOCIETY. 1881.. PRICE THREEPENCE. �SUNDAY LECTURE SOCIETY, To provide for the delivery on Sundays in the Metropolis, and to encourage the delivery elsewhere, of Lectures on Science, —physical, intellectual, and moral,—History, Literature, and Art; especially in their bearing upon the improvement and social well-being of mankind. PRESIDENT. W. B. Carpenter, Esq., C.B., LL.D., M.D., F.R.S., &c. VICE-PRESIDENTS. Professor Alexander Bain. Charles Darwin, Esq., F.R.S., F.L.S. Edward Frankland, Esq., D.C.L., Ph.D., F.R.S. James Heywood, Esq., F.R.S., F.S.A. Ser Arthur Hobhouse, K.C.S.I. Thomas Henry Huxley, Esq., LL.D., F.R.S., F.L.S. Benjamin Ward Richard­ son, Esq., M.D., F.R.S. Herbert Spencer, Esq. W. Spottiswoode, Esq., LL.D., Pres.R.S. John Tyndall, Esq., LL.D., F.R.S. THE SOCIETY’S LECTURES ABE DELIVERED AT ST.. GEORGE’S HALL, LANGHAM PLACE, On SUNDAY Afternoons, at FOUR o’clock precisely. (Annually—from November to May.) Twenty-Four Lectures (in three series) ending 25th April, 1881, will be given. Members’ £1 subscription entitles them to an annual ticket, trans­ ferable (and admitting to the reserved seats), and to eight single resOrved-seat tickets, available for. any lecture. Tickets for each series (one for each lecture) as below,— • To the Shilling Reserved Seats —5s. 6d. To the Sixpenny Seats—2s., being at the rate of Threepence each lecture. For tickets, and for list of the Lectures published by the Society, apply (by letter) to the Hon. Treasurer, Wm. Henry Domville, Esq., 15, Gloucester Crescent, Hyde Park, W. Payment at the door:—One Shilling (Reserved Seats);—Six­ pence and One Penny. . . �The Society’s Lectures by the same Author, now printed, are—on , “ Erasmus ; his Life, Works, and Influence upon the Spirit of the Reformation.” (Price 3d., or post free 3|d.) “ Civilization : a Sketch of its Rise and Progress, its Modem Safe-guards, and Future Prospects.” (Price 3d., or post free 3jd.) “The Influence of Astronomical Discovery in the Development of the Human Mind.” (Price 3d., or post free 3^d.) “The Principles of Political Economy; their Scientific Basis, and Practical application to Social Well-being.” (Price 3d., or post free 3£d.) “The English Free-thinkers of the Eighteenth Cen­ tury.” (Price 3d., or post free 3jd.) “The Science . free 3 jd.) of Life worth Living.” (Price 3d., or post “ The Inductive Philosophy : including a Parallel between Lord Bacon and A. Comte as Philosophers.” With Notes and Authorities, (pp. 100, cloth 8vo., price 5s., or post free 5s. 3d.) “ The Pursuit of Truth : as Exemplified in the Principles of Evidence—Theological, Scientific, and Judicial.” With Notes and Authorities, (pp. 106, cloth 8vo., price 5s., or post free 5s. 3d.) . • . ’9 f Can be obtained (on remittance by letter of postage stamps or order) of the Hon. Treasurer, Wm. Henry Domville, Esq., 15, Gloucester Crescent, Hyde Park, W., or at the Hall on the days of Lecture; or of Mr. John Bumpus, 158, Oxford Street, W. �SYLLABUS. Vast number, variety, and vacillation of Religious Beliefs, pre­ sented to us by the history of the Human Race. Distribution amongst mankind of the eight great Theologies (book-religions) of the present day, viz., Zoroastrianism— Brahmanism—Buddhism—Confucianism —Tao-ism—Mosaism— Christianism—Mahommedanism. No generally acknowledged standard of Theological truth, and why. Theology explained as a human (logical) system, based upon the blending of Religion with Superstition. Religion as defined by Herbert Spencer, the late Lord Amberley, and Dr. James Martineau. Superstition defined as credulity concerning manifestations of the Supernatural inconsistent with the experienced order and veracity of Reason and Nature. Science explained as generalized human knowledge of Natural Phenomena. The criticism of Science purifies Theology by purging it of Superstitions, thereby compelling it to undergo transmutations corresponding to the progress of human intelligence. Illustrations from the conflict of Science with the following Superstitions:— 1. The relative magnitude, flat form, and immobility of the Earth. (Conflict with Astronomical Science.) 2. The six days creation of the world 6,000 years ago. (Conflict with Geological Science.) 3. The government of human life by Special Providence. (Conflict with Physical Science.) 4. The Theological theory of disease, involving miracle-cure, relic-cure, prayer-cure, &c. (Cwflict with Sanitary Science.) 5. Anthropomorphic conceptions of the Nature, Attributes, and Will of Deity. (Conflict with Mental and Mol'd Science.) Probability that popular Theologies are still saturated with Superstitions (e.g., belief in the objective efficacy of sacerdotal supplications, humiliations, and asceticisms, supernatural revela­ tions, and exclusive salvations) which the expansion of Science must eventually explode. Summary of evils of life inflicted by Superstition, and ameli­ orations of human well-being achieved by Science, showing that the increase of Health, Happiness, and the Moral Virtues is coincident with the decline of Superstition and the advancement of Science. The debt Religion owes to Science. �THE VICTORIES OF SCIENCE IN ITS WARFARE WITH SUPERSTITION. HE modern student 'of Universal History, seeking T to enlarge and generalize his conception of human nature by the contemplation of the life of man in almost every discovered clime, and throughout the ages of recorded time, finds himself at the confluence of the greatest number of streams of knowledge that have ever been found flowing and converging together; greatly embarrassed therefore, not to say overwhelmed, by the multiplicity and diversity of his materials. . Even limiting his research to that emotional and imaginative yet transcendently interesting aspect of the human mind presented by religious phenomena, he quickly discovers that he is surrounded by a vast number, variety, and almost incessant fluctuation of Beliefs con­ cerning the supernatural, that have everywhere been found more or less prevailing from the earliest dawn of authentic history. On the one hand, it is remarkable that no people, or trace of a people, has hitherto been discovered absolutely destitute of some of the ultimate elements or sentiments of Beligion, Travellers and thinkers entertaining diverse views on historical, political, and social questions, who have made the early history of man, or his most savage condition subjects of careful study, are really agreed on this fundamental point. On the other hand, the most civilized and polished nations on the fa,ce of the globe have exhibited, and still �6 The Victories of Science in its exhibit almost endless differences, divisions, and distinc­ tions in their theological creeds, rites, and ceremonies. The time now at our disposal would not suffice for the slightest allusion to the numerous Religions or Mythologies of even the chief Nations of the ancient world. Babylonians, Assyrians, Phoenicians, Egyptians, Arabians (before conversion), Greeks, Romans, various Teuton, Celtic, and Sclavonic Nations, the Astecs of Mexico, the Incas of Peru—all having their indigenous and various ways of regarding and. worshipping the supernatural—must now be passed by, in order that I may concentrate some general observations, suggested by so endless a variety of supernatural beliefs, upon those great Theologies or book-religions which constitute the religious faiths of the present inhabitants of our globe— viz.—(taking them in the order of their antiquity)— Zoroastrianism, with its sacred Zend-Avesta, the religion of the Parsees, descendants of the ancient Persians— Brahmanism and Buddhism, with their sacred Vedas and Tripitaka, the chief religions of the inhabitants of the great Indian Peninsula.— Confucianism and Tao-ism with their sacred books of Kings and Tad-te-King, the religions of the Chinese — Mosaism with the Hebrew Scriptures, the religion of the Jews—Christianity with the New Testament, the religion of modem Europeans and Americans—and Mahommedanism, with its sacred volume the Koran, the religion of the Turks and Arabians, and other considerable peoples in Asia. The numbers of the respective members of these several faiths, as given in Johnston’s Physical Atlas, may be summed up thus—assuming the entire population of the earth at 1,000 millions, the Christians constitute 340 millions, the Buddhists 300 millions, the Brahmins 130 millions, the Mahommedans 124 millions, the Jews 6 millions, and all other religions 100 millions. A some­ �Warfare' with Superstition. 7 what different proportion is cited by Professor Max Muller from the geography of Berghaus; where the Buddhists are stated to constitute 31 per cent, of the entire population of the globe, the Christians 30 per cent., the Mahommedans 15 per cent., the Brahmins 13 per cent, the Jews a fraction of 3, and all other religions 8 per cent. These different estimates call of course be only roughly approximate, but either is sufficiently near for illustrating our present purpose. If we looked somewhat closer we should find that these several religious faiths are mostly subdivided in­ ternally into numerous conflicting sects. Christianity, the religion of the most intellectual and cultured peoples in existence, is almost infinitely so divided. In Pro­ fessor Schaff’s comprehensive and learned work upon ‘ The Creeds of Christendom ’ we are furnished with the literal texts of nearly 100 distinct creeds, confessions, articles and formularies of faith of the almost endless denominations among which dogmatic Christianity has now become dispersed. i“ When the mind is thus brought into the simultaneous presence of the irreconcilable dogmas of the numerous and conflicting theological faiths, all devoutly believed in by their respective worshippers, it is difficult to conceive how any one of them can be considered as constituting a supernatural universal scheme necessary for the Salvation of Mankind, seeing th^it it has not, after upwards of 1,800 years, been believed in, or even sb much as heard of by more than about a third part of the great human race. In view of such manifold differences of theological belief as a simple comparison of creeds discloses, it is almost obvious to observe that there can be no generally acknowledged standard or infallible test of theological truth. To use the words of a late accomplished historian—- �8 The Victories of Science in its Henry Thomas Buckle—“ Theological systems are sub­ jects upon which different persons and different nations, equally honest, equally enlightened, and equally com­ petent, have entertained and still entertain the most different opinions, which they advocate with the greatest confidence, and support by arguments perfectly satis­ factory to themselves, but contemptuously rejected by their opponents.” It is so very difficult to place oneself at the point of view of any religion save our own that we invariably hear with amazement the arguments or evidence adduced by the advocates of other religions. Dr. Sprenger, in the course of a theological discussion, was seriously asked by a Mussulman how he could possibly disbelieve the religion of Islam, seeing that Mahomet’s name was written on the gates of Paradise I and Dr. Morell, in his thoughtful work on “ The Philosophy of Religion,” relates the following authentic incident. A distinguished friend of his in the East had been arguing for some time with a Mahommedan upon the evidences of Christianity, and apparently with some success. At length the Mahom­ medan, who had been listening attentively, exclaimed— “ I tell you what it is, Rajah. You Franks are very clever people; God has given you the power to make ships and houses and penknives, and to do a great many wonderful things, but he has granted to us what he has denied to you—the knowledge of the true Religion.” The philosopher, though he is confident that all theo­ logical systems cannot be wholly true, yet feels that in the search after truth it must be possible, however difficult, to arrive at some explanation that may seem to reconcile the existence of so many divergent faiths; and if we look a little carefully into the constituents of theology we may I think discover a clue to the desired solution. Now we find on examination of any theology �Warfare with Superstition. 9 or book-religion that it essentially consists of a body of connected propositions, logically deduced by the human mind from certain assumed to be inspired writings. So long then as to err is human, and man remains short of being infallible, it is clear that such a system of knowledge must contain some amount of error, and we may therefore assert with tolerable accuracy, that every theology the world has seen will be found on analysis to be compounded of two elements—viz., a germ or sub­ stratum of probable truth, and a superstructure or ad­ mixture of positive error. The substratum of truth must ultimately be the same in all theologies, but their several superstructures of error will be found to vary; partly in accordance with difference of climate and other geogra­ phical circumstances ; partly on account of the differing race or genius of the peoples, and their stage of civilization, amongst whom the various theologies have respectively arisen, or by whom they have since been adopted; and partly from the dissimilar mental idiosyncracies of their respective founders or principal expositors. For the purpose of our argument this afternoon, we may conveniently designate the substratum of truth as Religion, and the superstructure of error as Superstition. Now, keeping this simple distinction clearly in view, we shall find that notwithstanding the abuse and vituperation which the Religious World (as it is phrased), have so incessantly heaped upon Science and its professors, men of science, whose noble purpose ever is simply to arrive at truth, and who, for that end, would impress on us the duty of enquiry, and the folly of credulity, have in reality never attacked Religion at all, but that in their discoveries and contentions for the purpose of enabling truth to pre­ vail, they have only been attacking or unmasking the falsehood and error that are ever found lurking in the guise of Superstition. Superstition—that incubus upon �IO The Victories of Science in its the human mind, whose malediction was so eloquently pronounced by Buckle, who declared that against the vitality of that dark and ill-omened principle there was only one weapon, and that weapon was Science. I will now define more exactly what we should under­ stand by the terms Religion and Superstition, in connection with the present discourse. Religion, whatever other quality we claim for it, must certainly be regarded as true. Its intellectual meaning then must be strictly limited to assertions that cannot be contradicted by the discoveries of Science now or hereafter, or by the truly religious assumption of any theology whatever; for religious and scientific truth must ever be one. In reference to this its fundamental requisite, we find that Religion has been defined by many thoughtful minds. Thus, our profound philosopher Herbert Spencer has described it as “ our consciousness of an Inscrutable Power or Cause manifested to us through all phenomena, but whose nature transcends intuition, and is beyond imagination.” The late lamented Lord Amberley, in his exhaustive “ Analysis of Religious Belief,” describes Re­ ligion as ‘ an abstract indefinable pervading sentiment corresponding to the relation subsisting between the hyperphysical (or supernatural) power in the Universe, and the hyperphysical entity in Man.” Dr. James Martineau, one of the most highly cultured and liberalminded of our theologians, has defined or distinguished Religion and Science thus—“Science discloses the method of the World, Religion its cause, and there is no conflict between them, except when either forgets its ignorance of what the other alone can know.” Dr. Martineau however does not leave his definition there. He boldly ventures into the region of assumptions, and affirms “that the universe which includes us and folds us round is the life-dwelling of an Eternal Mind ; that the �Warfare with Superstition. • 11 world of our abode is the scene of a moral government incipient but not yet complete; and that the upper zones of human affection above the clouds of self and passion raise us into the sphere of a Divine Communion.” These three assumptions he considers to be independent of any possible result of the natural sciences. Now let us turn to the consideration of what we are to understand by the term Superstition. Here we have to deal with something that should be regarded as the opposite of Religion, for it is something, which taking its rise from the faculty of fear or dread of the unknown, imaginatively figures to itself the features of some super­ natural or super-human power which is manifested in ways that are inconsistent with our knowledge of the established order of nature and the veracity of human reason; based as such knowledge is on the verified dis­ coveries of science and on the uniformity and analogy of invariable human experience. Superstition then is that which assumes thus to know and to describe the super­ natural. But what, we may ask, is the supernatural ? It was well argued by the sublime philosopher Spinoza (whose noble moral life, and subtle thoughts have lately been so powerfully portrayed by the pen of our good friend and lecturer Frederick Pollock) that “ we cannot pretend to determine the boundary between the natural and the supernatural until the whole of nature shall be open to our knowledge,” and the late Oxford professor, Baden Powell, in his striking Essay on the Order of Nature has remarked, and in approval of this acute observation of Spinoza, that the supernatural can really never be a matter of science or knowledge at all, for the moment it is brought within the cognizance of reason it ceases to be supernatural; and he affirms that all assumed knowledge of the supernatural is the off- �12 . The Victones of Science in its spring of ignorance, and the parent of superstition and idolatry. Now let us briefly consider what, in connection with our subject, we should understand by the term Science. Science you know does not pretend to deal with the supernatural. Its views and its researches are limited entirely to Nature. The natural phenomena, matter, force, and energy are its sources of knowledge, whilst its organon of induction, or methods of investigation subordinate the suggestions of the imagination and the emotions to the dictates of Beason and the evidence of Nature — Science then simply signifies methodized or reasoned knowledge of the experienced course of Nature, i.e. those invariable co-existences and successions of phenomena — which the human mind discovers by accurate observation and reflection, and then generalizes as laws of Nature or unalterable rules constituting the actual or ultimate government of the course of our lives. In an abstract sense these laws, being inferences drawn by the human mind from the observed uniformity of Nature, may be said to possess in themselves no governing power ; and that the force we seem to observe in natural law may in reality be a force behind Nature. This criticism many of you may remember was most ably and lucidly submitted to us by our respected Presi­ dent Dr. Carpenter in the opening lecture of this year. But the practical danger of pressing this metaphysical assumption of some recondite force, of which Science knows and can know nothing, appears to be this, that it has a manifest tendency to cause us to retrogade from Science back to Superstition, for the mystery it involves inevitably allures the mind to disregard the clearly observed Law, and to make its appeal to the force or power assumed to exist behind the law. �Warfare with Superstition. 13 Now, so far as scientific knowledge extends, the exis­ tence of any such force has nowhere been proved. Natural law is apparently universal and ultimate. “ The growing belief” observes Herbert Spencer “in the uni­ versality of law is so conspicuous to cultivated minds as scarcely to need illustration, but,” (he shrewdly adds,) “ Though the fact is sufficiently familiar, the philosophy of the fact is not so.” “ A natural philosopher,” (says Professor Jowett) “ capable of seeing creation with a real scientific insight, would behold the reign of law every­ where ; one and continuous in all the different spheres of knowledge, in all the different realms of Nature, throughout all time, and over all space.” “ And,” (says Dr. Carpenter, referring for instance to the law of gravi­ tation) “ we feel an assurance of its truth which nothing save a complete revolution in the world of matter or in the world of mind can ever shake.” Although then the inference which the mind draws from observing the uniformity of Nature is, at the out­ set, simply a scientific assumption, similar to the meta­ physical assumption of a force existing behind Nature, yet the substantial difference between the two is really this—that whilst the metaphysical assumption ever remains an assumption, the scientific assumption becomes verified as true through the evidence of universal experience. Such undoubtedly are the conclusions of science, and if they cannot be disproved I submit to you, not specu­ latively, but as an important practical matter, that we should be counselled to regulate our lives in obedience to, or conformity with the discovered and verified Law of Nature, and not in reference to some unknown force assumed to exist behind Nature. If now we turn and limit our attention to the more recent history of European Communities we find that �14 The Victories of Science in its their advance in civilization, that is in material and social comfort, and in the conveniences and even neces­ saries of civilized life, has progressed in a remarkable manner parallel with the development of Science. There is scarcely an improvement in real life that is not strictly traceable to scientific discovery or invention, and all such discovery and invention being the result of the exercise of natural human sagacity is, by its very nature, antagonistic to Superstition; and the process of continu­ ally ascertaining and applying the natural law, by which the events of life on earth are found to be really regu­ lated, has the necessary gradual effect of purifying theology, so far. as it superstitiously attributes such events to the immediate action of supernatural causes, and thereby of compelling theology to undergo interpre­ tations and modifications corresponding more or less closely, to the continual progress of human intelligence. We shall I think meet with ample evidence of this progressive change in theological beliefs if we examine, by way of illustration, some few of the more con­ spicuous examples of that ceaseless conflict which Science, since the establishment of Christianity in Europe, has ever had to wage with superstition, and where it has come into collision with the prevailing theological dogmas of the day. The first of these memorable contests which I will mention relates to the supposed magnitude, immobility, and flat form of the Earth. At the time when this con­ flict seriously arose (about the beginning of the 16th century), the Bible was universally believed to be an inspired supernatural authority for every matter asserted or treated of within its various pages, and its true interpretation in any ambiguous matter to have been authoritatively declared in the dogmas decreed by suc­ cessive Councils of the Church, or in the commentaries �Warfare with Superstition. 15 of a succession of personages of extraordinary learning and sanctity termed the Fathers, and it was not only thought to be utterly fallacious but to be awfully wicked for anyone to set up an opinion adverse to so revered a weight of authority as the Bible, Councils, and Fathers combined was held to be. Amongst other matters of fact, believed to have been thereby decided as infallibly true, were the size and shape of the Earth. It was declared to be the largest Or chief body in the Universe, and in form or shape to be a flat plane—and relatively immoveable—and that the sun, moon, and stars all moved round it; and every attempt to show, from observation of Nature or calcula­ tions of the reason based on such observation, that these views were physically untrue was met for a long time with simple scorn and derision : which only became con­ verted into the actual persecution of Science and its professors when so large an amount of evidence to the contrary had been collected, and marshalled in such a way as to produce a profound impression upon the lay intelligence of the age, and when therefore the scientific views could no longer be safely ignored by ecclesiastical power. This evidence I can only glance at, and indeed we are all now of course more or less familiar with it. For instance, the voyages of those adventurous navigators Columbus and Vasco de Gama in the years 1492—97, and of Magellan in the year 1519, who had amongst them actually sailed round the earth, proving to demonstration by this astonishing achievment that it was of definite and comparatively small size, and not in form a flat plane, but a circular or globular body. Then the startling astro­ nomical researches of Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, and Kepler, had resulted in demonstrating the Earth’s motion round the Sun. That it was the Sun that was stationary �16 The Victories of Science in its and not the Earth: and then Galileo who, supplementing previous discoveries by his own, and by the aid of the telescope, then recently invented, verified, visually as well as mathematically, the great outline of our Solar System in a manner that utterly contradicted and indeed outraged all that men had been taught to believe, and did then verily believe, on the faith of scriptural and patristic authority. The discoveries resulting from the invention of the telescope were indeed simply astounding, and they exer­ cised such a withering influence upon the prevailing orthodox theories that many of the theologians refused even to look through the telescope, being afraid to behold the heavenly phenomena then revealed for the first time to mortal eyes. A most amusing letter on the subject from Galileo to Kepler, written in the year 1609 has been preserved: “Oh, my dear Kepler,” he writes, “how I wish we could have one hearty laugh together. Here, at Padua, is the professor of Philosophy, whom I have repeatedly requested to look at the moon and planets through my glass, pertinaciously refusing to do so. Why are you not here ? What laughter we should have at this glorious folly, and to hear the professor labouring before the Grand Duke with logical arguments, as with magical incantations, to charm the new planets out of the sky! ” Now Galileo, you remember, was accused of having attacked Religion; he was prosecuted accordingly, and, though the consummate audacity of the infallible Roman Church has since been equal to the denial of its com­ plicity in his condemnation—he was summoned before the tribunal of the Holy Inquisition, the grand ecclesi­ astical Court of the time, and he was made, as you know, to recant all his scientific convictions. We have the exact words of his recantation, and they sre still worthy �Warfare with Superstition. 17 of being repeated. Galileo was compelled to declare— first, bis proposition, “that the Sun is the Centre of the World and immovable from its place,” is absurd, philo­ sophically false, and formally heretical, because it is expressly contrary to Holy Scripture. Secondly, his proposition, “ that the Earth is not the Centre of the World nor immovable, but that it moves, and also with a diurnal motion,” is absurd, philosophically false, and theologically considered, erroneous in faith. Now it should be observed that the Cardinal Inquisi­ tors who sentenced Galileo were amongst the most enlightened ecclesiastics of their age; they were not bad men, they acted conscientiously according to their light, and their views were in harmony with the generally accepted religious knowledge and sentiments of the time. The case therefore was one in which it was solemnly adjudged by theologians that Science had attacked and was in conflict with Religion. We, living now, know perfectly well that it was nothing of the sort—that it was Science in possession of the truth, sapping the superstitions that formed the superstructure of the theo­ logical system of the day; and now every Schoolboy is taught that Galileo’s recanted propositions are matters of verified astronomical science, and therefore cannot be contradictory to, but must be in harmony with, real re­ ligious truth. Thus the discoveries and reasoning of these astronomers and their illustrious successors Newton, Laplace, Herschel, and divers others, constitute the first complete victory achieved by Science over Super­ stition. I need not stop to dilate upon the deep importance to our thoughts and lives of the transcendent truths dis­ covered by Astronomers, having given a summary of the subject in a lecture delivered here four years ago, and �18 The Victories of Science in its still in print, “ On the Influence of Astronomical discovery “ in the development of the human Mind.” We will now turn to a second illustration of the main argument of the present lecture. Until quite recently, almost within the memory of living men, we were sup­ posed to possess in the Bible a supernatural revelation of the Creation of the World, and the time when and the manner in which it took place. There are ecclesiastical commentaries on the book of Genesis which undertake to inform the reader by means of biblical interpretation the exact month and day of the week when this stupendous event occurred. Generally however, what is known as Archbishop Ussher’s chronology was believed as a part of religious faith, and that system of dates placed the Crea­ tion as occurring precisely 4004 years before the birth of Christ; and the authority of other books of the Penta­ teuch is explicit and confirmatory of the Creation having been accomplished in six days, and according to the method described in the opening chapters of Genesis. We read therein, amongst other amazing assertions, that God rested on the seventh day, and we, or those to whom these writings are assumed to have been addressed, are commanded to keep the seventh day holy on that account, and there can be no doubt of belief in these narrative and injunction being considered as an essen­ tial part of religious faith. Indeed the wearying gloom and austerity in which the religious world still struggle to retain our Sunday are strictly traceable to credulity in the superstition in question. Now, the science of Geology, which, as most of you know, consists primarily of an actual examination of the Earth’s crust or surface and strata beneath for the pur­ pose of ascertaining what they may teach concerning the Earth’s age and history, establishes the existence of a multiplicity of facts which are utterly contradictory to �Warfare with Superstition. 19 and subversive of^-first, the alleged creation of the Earth only some 6,000 years ago, and secondly, of its present order of inhabitants, vegetable, animal, and human, having then been brought into existence in the course of the six days mentioned in the Book of Genesis, and in the order of succession therein particularised. How thoroughly irreconcileable with the Biblical account of the Creation are the scientific conclusions of Geology will sufficiently appear from the consideration of, amongst others, the two following well-established geological con­ clusions :—Evidence has been obtained in Egypt of the existence of inhabitants to some extent civilized in that country 13,000 years ago, and geologists of eminence, however differing on the details of their science are agreed that the present condition of the rocks over and near to which flow the Falls of Niagara evidencing the recession of the falls from Queenstown to their present site, has been occasioned by the continuous action of water throughout a period of 30,000 years—and the most trustworthy and recent geological authorities, such as Lyell, Croll, Darwin, Haeckel, Boyd-Dawkins, and Geikie concur in considering that the antiquity of man is to be reckoned not by tens of thousands, but by hundreds of thousands of years ! But I need not occupy your time by considerations showing how utterly fallacious were the religious notions on the subject derived simply from the study of the Scriptures—their fallacy is now on all hands conceded. I may quote as recent theological authority for our present scientific views the statement of the Bev. Bobert Main, Badcliffe observer in the University of Oxford:— “ Some school books,” he remarks, “ still teach to the ignorant that the Earth is only 6,000 years old, and that all things were created in six days—No well educated person of the present day shares in the delusion. What- �20 The Victories of Science in its ever the meaning of the six days, ending with the seventh day’s mystical and symbolical rest, indisputably we cannot accept them in their literal meaning, they as plainly do not denote the order of succession of all the individual creations.” And Dr. James Martineau has declared emphatically “ that the whole history of the' genesis of things Religion must now unconditionally surrender to Science.” Well, but there is hardly any class of scientific men who have been more vehemently denounced for attacking religion than the geologists. The great argument used to discredit their researches was the old cry that their conclusions contradicted Scripture, and accordingly volumes upon volumes have been published all composed on the same argumentative basis, viz., That what contra­ dicts Scripture cannot be true—an argument as some of you may have heard, as old at least as the time of Galileo. “If nature contradicts Scripture” (said the schoolmen to Galileo), “ Nature must be mistaken, for we know that the Scriptures are true! ” And now how does the case stand as regards our illustration. Geological science being true could not have been attacking religion, but only those parts of the theological system which had been constructed from the superstitions of the day, and thus it has come to pass that, through the discoveries of the geologists, a second great victory has been achieved by Science in its warfare with Superstition. A third illustration I will refer to relates to the super­ stition which I have mentioned in the syllabus of the Lecture as belief in the government of human life by special Providence;—the question being whether the affairs of life are carried on subject to incessant super­ natural intervention, or Whether they take place through the operation of constant invariable natural law. �Warfare with Superstition. 21 Previously to the rise of the physical Sciences, especially Astronomy and Geology, the almost universal belief of Christian Europe was that every significant act #nd occurrence of life was the direct result of the exercise of the providence of God, or the power of the Devil. Not only was this conclusion directly deducible from the literal interpretation of the language of the Bible, but, it being the manifest interest of a priesthood, (whose aim is ever to stand between the prayer of the Votary and the providential act,) to encourage this belief, books of devotion are composed by them based upon this idea, in which instructions are given to enable the worshipper to beseech the Almighty in a becoming manner for almost every conceivable thing the circumstances of his life may for the time being seem to require. The church of England book of Common Prayer com­ piled more than three centuries ago, that is long before the Physical Sciences had been popularly heard of in this Country, need only to be opened at random to confirm what I am now submitting to you. But the progress of Science has proved beyond rational doubt, that those circumstances of our lives which were theologically re­ ferred to as direct Providential or Satanic interventions, the inflictions, chastisement, temptations, judgments, or whatever other sacerdotal phrases are employed to define supposed manifestations of supernatural Will, are the result of the operation of natural Law, that is, they are the direct consequences of the disregard of SQme natural law which might have been observed and obeyed by the sagacious use of man’s natural and moral intelligence. So now, in reference, for example, to the cause and cure of sickness, our attention is being most usefully drawn away by Science from miserably moping over manuals of devotion to the exhilirating study of handy books on the laws of health—and thus it is, in the words of �22 The Victories of Science in its Professor Huxley, that “ Science is teaching the World that the ultimate Court of Appeal is observation and experiment, and not theological authority, she is teaching us to estimate the value of evidence, she is creating a firm and living faith in the existence of immutable moral and physical laws, perfect obedience to which is the highest possible aim of an intelligent being.” No one then who has impartially watched the course and improvement of human life, since we have come to study and to treat its healthy physical and moral exis­ tence as immediately dependent upon the observance of natural law, can doubt that the illustration we are considering constitutes another most important triumph of Science over Superstition. Connected with the last illustration, or rather a con­ tinuation of it, is what we may not inaptly term the theological theory of disease—viz. the notion that diseases, and epidemics especially, were punishments or judgments inflicted by the hand of the Almighty for some individual or national sins, and that they are to be cured sometimes by a miracle, sometimes by devotion to the shrine or relics of a Saint, and sometimes by simple prayer addressed to the Supreme. All these various ways and practices of appealing for relief to supernatural power were until quite recent times devoutly believed in throughout almost the whole of Europe, and were supposed to form essential parts of religious faith. Even now in visiting Boman Catholic Churches, espe­ cially on the Continent, you cannot fail to observe the number of Votive offerings that are fixed or suspended round the shrine and image of a favorite Saint by those who believe that they have recovered from diseases or misfortunes through the intervention of the Saint in answer to the invocations of the patient. This practice, (like the Ritualistic lighting of candles on the Altars of �Warfare with Superstition, 23 Churches in the day time,) has been copied from the ser­ vice of the Temples of the Pagan religions which prevailed in Ancient Rome at the time of the establishment of Christianity in the reign of the Emperor Constantine. Well therefore asks the astute Middleton, in his instruc­ tive “Letter from Rome,”—“ what is all this but a revival of the old impostures, with no other difference, than what the Pagan priests ascribed to the imaginary help of their Deities, the Romish priests as foolishly impute to the favor of their Saints.” Of course it has been the policy of the Church to discourage the physician and his science. He interfered too much with the gifts to and profits of the shrines. At one time it was a constant practice on the breaking out of an epidemic to carry the relics of the Patron Saint of the locality round the infected districts to drive the disease away. The superstitious belief we are considering had become so extravagant, and the practice in connection with it had obtained a height so ludicrous, that no longer ago than the end of the last century, the clergy in Spain induced the people to believe that a pestilence then raging was caused by their allowing the performance of so un­ godly an entertainment as the opera, and it is a fact that the opera had actually on that account to be put a stop to 1 Although sanitary science has now in this country com­ pletely triumphed over the Superstition in question, yet owing to our still continued narrow theological teaching very lamentable occurrences are occasionally seen to happen. For instance, it is still taught at those strong­ holds of sacredotalism, our two great Universities, that the Bible is in every part of it supernaturally inspired truth. Mr. Burgon, recently one of the select preachers at Oxford, in a work addressed to the junior members of the University, thus expressed himself:—“ The Bible is �24 The Victories of Science in its none other than the Voice of Him that sitteth upon the Throne. Every book of it, every chapter of it, every verse of it, every word of it, every syllable of it, every letter of it, is the direct utterance of the Most High. The Bible is none other than the Word of God—not some part of it more some part of it less, but all alike the utterance of Him who sitteth upon the Throne—absolute, faultlegs, unerring, supreme ! ” We cannot wonder then that there should be persons who repose faith in its verbal teaching as applicable at the present time, and who seek to derive benefit from strictly and literally following its plainly expressed precepts. One of the apparently plainest of its injunctions is contained in the general Epistle of St. James the 5th chap, and the 14th and 15th verses. “ Is any sick among you ?, Let him call for the elders of the Church, and let them pray over him anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up.” A religious sect known as the Peculiar People rigidly follow this injunction in cases of sickness, and it is not so long since we were scandalized by the spectacle of a cri­ minal prosecution, on account of the death of a child whose parents had treated it biblically and not medically, and the Magistrate, (Bible and University theological teaching non obstante,) found the Parents to have been guilty of culpable neglect for relying on the Bible, with­ out calling in medical assistance, and punished them accordingly. This case strikingly illustrates the spirit of our age, showing as it does that secular teaching is in point of intelligence very far in advance of theological teaching ; yet it is impossible not to feel commiseration for the unfortunate people who are so drugged with dognfa that their religious beliefs actually become conducive to the deaths of their own offspring, and who are only roused �Warfare with Superstition. 25 out of their superstitions by finding them thus rudely shocked by the judgment and penal sentence of the law. With this exception we in England may be said to have entirely freed ourselves from the folly of this branch of superstition, unless it may be thought still to linger at Guy’s Hospital, where, as we have lately seen, praying nurses are placed in authority over scientific physicians ! The only further illustration I will now give you has reference to those anthropomorphic conceptions of Deity which have more or less disfigured all the theological systems of the world,.and until recently characterised our own conception of the God of Christianity, who is of course the historical continuation of the Jehovah of the Hebrew Scriptures ; for, though the Deity of the New Testament has attributes somewhat different from those of Jehovah (to which I shall presently refer), He is evidently the same God throughout. It might not be easy, it would indeed be impracticable within the time now at our disposal, to exhibit the successive steps which have resulted in generally endow­ ing the foremost minds of our generation with that correct and exalted standard of morality or moral sense by which our social actions, opinions, and beliefs are righteously judged in the last resort, and whereby the practice of life has become so mild and humane and unselfish compared with that of our ancestors, or other semi-barbarous peoples. One great effort to improve the morality of Princes and Rulers stands out conspicuous—I mean the great work of Hugo Grotius published at Paris in the year 1625 and entitled, “ Three books concerning the Rights of War and Peacea work whose main objects were, First—To induce nations to abstain as far as possible from resorting to the dreadful ordeal of war. and to �26 The Victories of Science in its cultivate that noble ideal of the lovers of mankind—a perpetual peace. To recognise the sovereignty of the moral or social law, and to submit their quarrels and conflicting claims to be judged at the bar of conscience. To this end to establish Courts of Conciliation, and agree to settle international disputes by arbitration. Secondly—when that could not be done, or war avoided, to conduct their warfare with as generous a humanity as possible. And thirdly—To treat prisoners of war with the clemency due to them as human beings and brothers, and not with the relentless cruelties that were then habitu­ ally practised towards those unfortunate persons. The chief contents of Grotius’ grand work consist of discussions historical and moral enlivened and embel­ lished with abundant and interesting citations from the most celebrated authors of classical and sacred antiquity —poets, orators, historians, philosophers, and sages of all times and nations are, with the very splendour of learning, laid under contributions for the purpose of supporting, by their conspiring sentiments and reason­ ings, the benevolent objects of the good and great Grotius ; showing in short the unanimity of the higher order of minds of the whole human race on the great rules of duty, and the fundamental principles of morals. If we, studying the lofty argument of Grotius at the present day,’ can hardly fail to find our views of virtue and humanity expanded and inspired by so impressive a display of the principles it expounds, we can easily be­ lieve what is related of it when first published—viz. that it at once fascinated all the sovereigns and ministers and great men of the time ; that the king of Sweden, Gustavus Adolphus carried it about with him and kept it under his pillow ; that a professorship was founded to teach and diffuse its doctrines ; and that it was translated (from its original latin) into most modern languages. �Warfare with Superstition. 27 There has been of course, since the time of the illustri­ ous Grrotius, a succession of similar though lesser lights, whom I will not now stop to name, all exhibiting and enforcing his humane and philanthropic views. Another cause operating in the same direction has been the gradual improvement in the nature and number of criminal punishments. The penal codes of all Euro­ pean nations during the times of theological ascendency were painfully disfigured by the practice of judicial torture and arbitrary imprisonments, and the cruel and vindictive punishments inflicted upon criminals. Bearing in mind too how large an extent the moral sense or conscience of a community is a reflection of its legal system, the pre­ sent mitigated severity and graduated scale of punish­ ments, more or less proportioned to the nature and gravity of the offence, and to the frailty of and tempta­ tion besetting the offender, must have materially assisted in maturing and refining the public moral sentiment. A similar effect is also observable as proceeding from the more civilized character of our popular amusements —bear baiting, bull baiting, badger baiting, dog fighting, cock fighting and shying, and other cruel and depraving sports have now almost ceased amongst us, and if we desire an example to show the connection between such barbarous cruelties and the influence of Superstition, we need only turn our gaze towards Spain, where we see the most brutalizing of sports—bull-fighting—is still the principle pastime of the most superstitious people on the face of Europe. Now that the cause of our advance in intelligence and morality, and of our more earnest love of toleration and truth, has' been scientific or secular, and not theological, seems plain from the fact that it has resulted in causing us to view with a sentiment akin to horror, some of the anthropomorphic attributes and commands of Deity that �28 The Victories of Science in its we find recorded in the books of the Bible, and which previously to the scientific culture and elevation of our moral sense were generally acquiesced in quite as a matter of course; were to be believed (suggested an eminent theologian, the late Dean Mansel,) as God’s temporary suspensions of the laws of moral obligation, or moral miracles ! Thus, in the old Testament the Almighty is represented as walking on the Earth, eating with Abra­ ham, wrestling with Jacob, appearing in a visible form to Moses, .tempting men, and speaking with human speech. Then the shocking stories related, such as the Divine sanction of the frightful massacres of the Canaanites and Levites, with the ruthless slaughter of women and childred, the divine patronage of the odious Jacob—and numerous instances of extraordinary cruelties ascribed to Jehovah in the books of the Pentateuch, making him out to be a man of war, cruel, capricious, revengeful, and not to be trusted. In the New Testament indeed we find an improved character of the Deity, and one in many important aspects widely different. There is however attributed to the God of the New Testament what, if rigorously balanced against the failings ascribed to Jehovah, must be considered to outweigh them all; viz., the eternity of punishment which he will inflict in a future life. No efforts of the disci­ plined human reason, which is guided by the conscious­ ness of right, can discover any justification for the creation of beings whose lives are to terminate in endless torment. The enlightened intellectual and moral capacity of civil­ ized man rejects the idea of eternal punishment as utterly revolting to its sense of justice, mercy, and charity,, and any attempt to realise ‘ in the unpolluted temple of the mind ’ an enormity so awful causes it to recoil from its imputed author, who (as is alleged) could create the human race with the infallible foreknowledge, and therefore �Warfare with Superstition. 29 with the intention, that the majority, or even some were eventually to be consigned to the horrible and everlasting torture of Hell-fire I From the slight review we have now taken of the influ­ ence of Science upon Superstition, and the modifications that religious creeds have thereby undergone, we may feel assured that the process is not yet ended, and that popu­ lar theologies are still disfigured by superstitions which expanding science will explode. Such for instance prob­ ably, as belief in the objective efficacy of the supplications, humiliations, fastings, and other asceticisms prescribed by preistcraft, and not improbably, I venture to think, our beliefs in supernatural revelations and exclusive salva­ tions. We now know through the Science of Geology, whose connected sequence of events was so admirably summar­ ised by Professor Ramsay, in his Presidential address last year to the British Association for the advancement of Science, that in the physical government of the world, throughout the long ages whose history is embraced by this marvellous science, all progress has been continuous and orderly, not varying in kind and intensity from that of which we now have experience, is indeed the effect of causes still in full operation, that is, without cataclysms or catastrophes of any kind. Reasoning by analogy we should say that if such has been the course of the mate­ rial world the course of the spiritual world (the sphere of religious development) has most probably been similar, and that if there has been no physical cataclysm in the one world, neither has there been a spiritual cataclysm in the other, such as a sudden supernatural revelation accompanied by miracles would undoubtedly be, but that throughout the ages all spiritual enlightenment has pro­ gressed by the same means and in the same manner as at the present moment. �30 The Victories of Science in its Probably therefore it may come to be generally believed that the only real revelation is in Science, which, as Herbert Spencer observes, is a continuous disclosure, through the intelligence with which we are endowed, of the established order of the Universe. If time permitted me now to enter upon a catalogue of the evil effects wrought by Superstition, that is false demoralising beliefs relating to the supernatural, we should find that there is scarcely a single one of the great miseries of life that is not distinctly traceable to this, cause. I will only now recall to your mind the horrors of the Crusades, the numerous religious wars, the Spanish Inquisition, the persecutions, burnings, martyrdoms, massacres, and other hideous atrocities that for ages formed part of the very staple of European history, and which directly arose out of the superstitious beliefs en­ gendered by their dogmatic Theology, which, in its merci­ less endeavours to crush freedom of thought and speech, has impelled man to inflict upon his fellow-man every species of cruelty and calamity that bigotted and intoler­ ant fanaticism could devise. Now one of the habits engendered by superstitious belief is of course a tendency to assume that everything happens through the interposition of providence, and. must accordingly be right however unscrutable; and,, however disastrous, yet sent for some good purpose and to chasten or to benefit us somehow and eventually. Of course such a tendency operates mischievously by its withdrawing our minds and energies and precious time from the search in this world for those natural causes of misery which when discovered show that it is remediable by scientific effort, in other words, that it is to be alleviated by the application of our natural intelligence, and not by our taking refuge in that sanctuary of Superstition (pro­ fanely called) the Will of God. �Warfare with Superstition* 31 To enumerate the ameliorations of human well-being that have been achieved through the exercise of man’s natural intelligence would be a theme almost exhaustless. In reference to these I will now confine myself to merely quoting to you the striking summing-up by Macaulay in his brilliant Essay on Lord Bacon, of the utilitarian result of the development of scientific method, so luminously expounded to his contemporaries, and impressed upon his posterity by the genius of the great English Philosopher, who enunciated the fruitful axiom that true philosophy, whatever its theory, is practically the application of the discoveries and methods of the sciences to the regulation of the affairs and conduct of our lives “ Ask a follower of Bacon what Science has effected for man-> kind and his answer is ready. It has lengthened life; it has mitigated pain; it has extinguished diseases; it has increased the fertility of the soil; it has given new securities to the mariner; it has furnished new arms to the warrior; it has spanned great rivers with bridges of form unknown to our fathers; it has guided the thunderbolt innocuously from heaven •to earth ; it has lighted up the night with the splendour of the day; it has extended the range of the human vision; it has multiplied the power of the human muscles; it has accelerated motion; it has annihilated distance; it has facilitated inter­ course, correspondence, all friendly offices, all dispatch of business; it has enabled man to descend to the depths of the sea, to soar into the air, to penetrate securely into the noxious recesses of the earth; to traverse the land in carriages which whirl along without horses, and the ocean in ships which run ten knots an hour against the wind. These are but a part of its fruits, and of its first fruits—for Science never rests, its law is progress.” But in truth every page of the history of civilization shows us that improvement in the health, the happiness, and the virtue of mankind has taken place entirely through the intellectual and moral progress resulting from the teaching of Science. You will find the un­ answerable details of this history very clearly exhibited in Dr. Draper’s remarkable work on “ The intellectual development of Europe,” and also in its condensed and �32 Victories of Science in its Warfare with Superstition. lucid summary, published under the title of ‘ The Con­ flict between Religion and Science.’ An unhappy misnomer this title, however, if the argument of my lecture be a sound one, viz., That it is not Religion that Science has attacked or come into conflict with—but only the superstitions of the hour, that were ignorantly and erroneously supposed to form parts of Religion, and that were 1 intent on offering to the Author of Truth the unclean sacrifice of a lie.’ Now, in exposing and stamping out Superstition and that old theological spirit which has brought so much misery upon the world, Science has actually rendered the most vital service to Religion; for the true beliefs which Science has thus compelled Theology to adopt are far more really reli­ gious than the superstitious beliefs which Science has from time to time forced Theology to surrender. Let us rejoice, in the cause of Humanity, that such has been the case, and moreover that this purifying process is yet proceeding, and that Science, whose coura­ geous career has hitherto been unstained by cruelty, oppression, or crime, will, in her warfare with Supersti­ tion, still continue marching on to Victories alike beneficent and bloodless; for Science is a child as yet, And her power and scope shall grow, And her triumphs in the future Shall diminish toil and woe. Kenny & Co., Printers, 25, Camden Road, N.W. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Pamphlet Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The victories of science in its warfare with superstitions: a lecture delivered before the Sunday Lecture Society, on Sunday afternoon, 20th February 1881 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Finch, A. Elley Description An account of the resource Place of Publication: London Collation: 32 p. ; 18 cm Notes: Part of Morris Miscellaneous Tracts 5. The Society's lectures by the same author on p. [3]. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Sunday Lecture Society Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1881 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G3428 Subject The topic of the resource Science Superstition Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /><br />This work (The victories of science in its warfare with superstitions: a lecture delivered before the Sunday Lecture Society, on Sunday afternoon, 20th February 1881), identified by Humanist Library and Archives, is free of known copyright restrictions. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Morris Tracts Science and Religion Superstition https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/02e4bb429be68c5e9e1971972542ac9a.pdf?Expires=1784764800&Signature=Dg9SDhR5P8HLhxu-jp512UsL3LS0UYWZzNgzq-Of1zaD5F5Zaw687cABsCyvrwuehNum-9mNUFSOMAQXVcWTQXKl%7EE8S30KFwBf4dNLRIeO8wS8A1a7t-3%7EhOz-MaGj-V-PPLA%7ECq40aTbePftpyDMibW-%7EDR2SXpZ65rA-vTU2NWDxTRExEf5eHfsta-NcrQc7WYBtW60MYRaRiw2rhf3y0xDqQA4G--ROs5ppXlSxvy-Ns7cdYojeIVDQUeHkVV4BFjfOui-Pomgrz0n59RbJDQVq93aekt8JVhdv3Xh1-hMwa5LF8xntHXtMmU-jHUS9UqV-WGz2aMp7Uqm2wRQ__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 525e27b147449b72f7e2dfbf40b54b9c PDF Text Text PRICE SIXPENCE. 15 MAR 1909 ��H4~*° SUPERSTITION. She wears a robe of pictured legends, broidered with woven lies. A LECTURE ROBERT G. INGERSOLL. London: R. FORDER, 28 STONECUTTER-STREET, E.C. 1899. ��SUPERSTITION, I. WHAT IS SUPERSTITION? To believe in spite of evidence or without evidence ? To account for one mystery by another. To believe that the world is governed by chance or caprice. To disregard the true relation between cause and effect. To put thought, intention, and design back of nature. To believe that mind created and controls matter. To believe in force apart from substance, or in sub­ stance apart from force. To believe in miracles, spells, and charms, in dreams and prophecies. To believe in the supernatural. The foundation of superstition is ignorance, the super­ structure is faith, and the dome is a vain hope. Super­ stition is the child of ignorance and the mother of misery. In nearly every brain is found some cloud of super­ stition. A woman drops a cloth with which she is washing dishes, and she exclaims : “ That means company.” Most people will admit that there is no possible connection between dropping the cloth and the coming �4 of visitors. SUPERSTITION. The falling cloth could not have put the visit desire in the minds of people not present, and how could the cloth produce the desire to visit the particular person who dropped.it? There is no possible connec­ tion between the dropping of the cloth and the anti­ cipated effects. A man catches a glimpse of the new moon over his left shoulder, and he says : “ This is bad luck.” To see the moon over the right or left shoulder, or hot to see it, could not by any possibility affect the moon, neither could it change the effect or influence of the moon on any earthly thing. Certainly the left­ shoulder glance could in no way affect the nature of things. All the facts in nature would remain the same as though the glance had been over the right shoulder. We see no connection between the left-shoulder glance and any possible evil effects upon the one who saw the moon in this way. A girl counts the leaves of a flower, and she says : “ One, he comes ; two, he tarries ; three, he courts ; four, he marries ; five, he goes away.” Of course the flower did not grow, and the number of its leaves was not determined with reference to the courtship or marriage of this girl, neither could there have been any intelligence that guided her hand when she selected that particular flower. So, counting the seeds in an apple cannot in any way determine whether the future of an individual is to be happy or miserable. Thousands of persons believe in lucky and unlucky days, numbers, signs, and jewels. Many people regard Friday as an unlucky day—as a �SUPERSTITION. 5 bad day to commence a journey, to marry, to make any investment. The only reason given is that Friday is an unlucky day. Starting across the sea on Friday could have no possible effect upon the winds, or waves, or tides, any more than starting on any other day, and the only possible reason for thinking Friday unlucky is the asser­ tion that it is so. So it is thought by many that it is dangerous for thirteen people to dine together. Now, if thirteen is a dangerous number, twenty-six ought to be twice as dangerous, and fifty-two four times as terrible. It is said that one of the thirteen will die in a year. Now, there is no possible relation between the number and the digestion of each, between the number and the individual diseases. If fourteen dine together there is greater probability, if we take into account only the number, of a death within the year than there would be if only thirteen were at the table. Overturning the salt is very unlucky, but spilling the vinegar makes no difference. Why salt should be revengeful and vinegar forgiving has never been told. If the first person who enters a theatre is cross-eyed, the audience will be small and the “ run ” a failure. How the peculiarity of the eyes of the first one who enters changes the intention of a community, or how the intentions of a community cause the cross-eyed man to go early, has never been satisfactorily explained. Between this so-called cause and the so-called effect there is, so far as we can see, no possible relation. To wear an opal is bad luck, but rubies bring health. �6 SUPERSTITION. How these stones affect the future, how they destroy causes and defeat effects, no one pretends to know. So there are thousands of lucky and unlucky things, warnings, omens, and prophecies ; but all sensible, sane, and reasoning human beings know that every one is an absurd and idiotic superstition. Let us take another step :— For many centuries it was believed that eclipses of the sun and moon were prophetic of pestilence or famine, and that comets foretold the death of kings, or the destruction of nations, the coming of war or plague. All strange appearances in the heavens—the Northern Lights, circles about the moon, sun dogs, falling stars —filled our intelligent ancestors with terror. They fell upon their knees—did their best with sacrifice and prayer to avoid the threatened disaster. Their faces were ashen with fear as they closed their eyes and cried to the heavens for help. The clergy, who were as familiar with God then as the orthodox preachers are now, knew exactly the meaning of eclipses and sun dogs and Northern Lights ; knew that God’s patience was nearly exhausted ; that he was then whetting the sword of his wrath, and that the people could save themselves only by obeying the priests, by counting their beads, and doubling their subscriptions. Earthquakes and cyclones filled the coffers of the Church. In the midst of disasters the miser, with trembling hands, opened his purse. In the g'loom of eclipses thieves and robbers divided their booty with God, and poor, honest, ignorant girls, remembering that they had forgotten to say a prayer, gave their little earnings to soften the heart of God. �SUPERSTITION. 7 Now, we know that all these signs and wonders in the heavens have nothing to do with the fate of kings, nations, or individuals ; that they had no more reference to human beings than to colonies of ants, hives of bees, or the eggs of insects. We now know that the signs­ and eclipses, the comets and the falling stars, would have been just the same if not a human being had been upon the earth. We know now that eclipses come at certain times, and that their coming can be exactly fore­ told. A little while ago the belief was general that there were certain healing virtues in inanimate things, in the bones of holy men and women, in the rags that had been torn from the foul clothing of still fouler saints, in hairs from martyrs, in bits of wood and rusty nails from the true cross, in the teeth and finger nails of pious men, and in a thousand other sacred things. The diseased were cured by kissing a box in which was kept some bone, or rag, or bit of wood, some holy hairs, provided the kiss was preceded or followed by a gift—a something for the church. In some mysterious way the virtue in the bone, or rag, or piece of wood, crept or flowed from the box, took possession of the sick who had the necessary faith, and, in the name of God, drove out the devils who were the real disease. This belief in the efficacy of bones or rags and holy hair was born of another belief—the belief that all diseases were produced by evil spirits. The insane were supposed to be possessed by devils. Epilepsy and hysteria were produced by the imps of Satan. In short, every human affliction was the work of the malicious �8 SUPERSTITION. emissaries of the god of hell. This belief was almost universal, and even in our time the sacred bones are believed in by millions of people. But, to-day, no intelligent man believes in the exist­ ence of devils—no intelligent man believes that evil spirits cause disease—consequently, no intelligent person believes that holy bones or rags, sacred hairs or pieces of wood, can drive disease out, or in any way bring back to the pallid cheek the rose of health. Intelligent people now know that the bone of a saint has in it no greater virtue than the bone of any animal. That a rag from a wandering beggar is just as good as one from a saint, and that the hair of a horse will cure disease just as quickly and surely as the hair of a martyr. We now know that all the sacred relics are religious rubbish ; that those who use them are, for the most part, dishonest, and that those who rely on them are almost idiotic. This belief in amulets and charms, in ghosts and devils, is superstition, pure and simple. Our ancestors did not regard these relics as medicine, having a curative power ; but the idea was that evil spirits stood in dread of holy things—that they fled from the bone of a saint, that they feared a piece of the true cross, and that when holy water was sprinkled on a man they immediately left the premises. So these devils hated and dreaded the sound of holy bells, the light of sacred tapers, and, above all, the ever-blessed cross. In those days the priests were fishers for money, and they used these relics for bait. �SUPERSTITION. 9 II. Let us take another step. This belief in the Devil and evil spirits laid the founda­ tion for another belief: Witchcraft. It was believed that the Devil had certain things to give in exchange for a soul. The old man, bowed and broken, could get back his youth—the rounded form, the brown hair, the leaping heart of life’s morning—if he would sign and seal away his soul. So it was thought that the malicious could by charm and spell obtain revenge, that the poor could be enriched, and that the ambitious could rise to place and power. All the good things of this lite were at the disposal of the Devil. For those who resisted the temptations of the Evil One, rewards were waiting in another world ; but the Devil rewarded here in this life. No one has imagination enough to paint the agonies that were endured by reason of this belief in witchcraft. Think of the families destroyed; of the fathers and mothers cast in prison, tortured, and burned ; of the firesides darkened ; of the children murdered ; of the old, the poor, and helpless that were stretched on racks, mangled and flayed ! Think of the days when superstition and fear were in every house, in every mind, when accusation was conviction, when assertion of innocence was regarded �IO SUPERSTITION. as a confession of guilt, and when Christendom was insane 1 Now we know that all of these horrors were the result of superstition. Now we know that ignorance was the mother of all the agonies endured. Now we know that witches never lived, that human beings never bargained with any devil, and that our pious savage ancestors were mistaken. Let us take another step. Our fathers believed in miracles, in signs and wonders, eclipses and comets, in the virtues of bones, and in the powers attributed to evil spirits. All these belonged tothe miraculous. The world was supposed to be full of magic; the spirits were sleight-of-hand performers— necromancers. There were no natural causes behind events. A devil wished, and it happened. One who had sold his soul to Satan made a few motions, uttered sbme strange words, and the event was present. Natural causes were not believed in. Delusion and illusion, the monstrous and miraculous, ruled the world. The founda­ tion was gone—reason had abdicated. Credulity gave tongues and wings to lies, while the dumb and limping facts were left behind—were disregarded and remained untold. WHAT IS A MIRACLE ? An act performed by a master of nature without reference to the facts in nature. This is the only honest definition of a miracle. If a man could make a perfect circle, the diameter of which was exactly one-half the circumference, that would be a miracle in geometry. If a man could make �.S' UPERSTI TION. 11 twice four nine, that would be a miracle in mathe­ matics. If a man could make a stone, falling in the air, pass through a space of ten feet the first second, twenty-five feet the second second, and five feet the third second, that would be a miracle in physics. If a man could put together hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, and produce pure gold, that would be a miracle in chemistry. If a minister were to prove his creed, that would be a theological miracle. If Congress by law would make fifty cents worth of silver worth a dollar, that would be a financial miracle. To make a square triangle would be a most wonderful miracle. To cause a mirror to reflect the faces of persons who stand behind it, instead of those who stand in front, would be a miracle. To make echo answer a question would be a miracle. In other words, to do anything contrary to or without regard to the facts in nature is to perform a miracle. Now we are convinced of what is called the “uniformity of nature.” We believe that all things act and are acted upon in accordance with their nature ; that under like conditions the results will always be substantially the same ; that like ever has and ever will produce like. We now believe that events have natural parents, and that none die childless. Miracles are not simply impossible, but they are un­ thinkable by any man capable of thinking. Now, an intelligent man cannot believe that a miracle ever was, or ever will be, performed. Ignorance is the soil in which belief in miracles grows. �12 SUPERSTITION. III. Let us take another step. While our ancestors filled the darkness with evil spirits, enemies of mankind, they also believed in the existence of good spirits. These good spirits sustained the same relation to God that the evil ones did to the Devil. These good spirits protected the faithful from the temptations and snares of the Evil One. They took care of those who carried amulets and charms, of those who repeated prayers and counted beads, of those who fasted and performed ceremonies. These good spirits would turn aside the sword and arrow from the breast of the faithful. They made poison harmless, they protected the credulous, and in a thousand ways defended and rescued the true believer. They drove doubts from the minds of the pious, sowed the seeds of credulity and faith, saved saints from the wiles ot women, painted the glories of heaven for those who fasted and prayed, made it possible for the really good to dispense with the pleasures of sense and to hate the Devil. These angels watched over infants who had been baptized, over persons who had made holy vows, over priests and nuns and wandering beggars who believed. These spirits were of various kinds : some had once �SUPERSTITION. i3 been men or women, some had never lived in this world, and some had been angels from the commencement. Nobody pretended to know exactly what they were, or exactly how they looked, or in what way they went from place to place, or how they affected or controlled the minds of men. It was believed that the king of all these evil spirits was the Devil, and that the king of all the good spirits was God. It was also believed that God was in fact the king of all, and that the Devil himself was one of the children of this God. This God and this Devil were at war, each trying to secure the souls of men. God offered the rewards of eternal joy and threatened eternal pain. The Devil baited his traps with pleasant pleasure, with the gratification of the senses, with the ecstasies of love, and laughed at the joys of heaven and the pangs of hell. With malicious hand he sowed the seeds of doubt—induced men to investigate, to reason, to call for evidence, to rely upon themselves ; planted in their hearts the love of liberty, assisted them to break their chains, to escape from their prisons, and besought them to think. In this way he corrupted the children of men. Our fathers believed that they could, by prayer, by sacrifice, by fasting, by performing certain ceremonies, gain the assistance of this God and of these good spirits. They were not quite logical. They did not believe that the Devil was the author of all evil. They thought that flood and famine, plague and cyclone, earthquake and war, were sometimes sent by God as punishment for unbelief. They fell upon their knees and, with white lips, prayed the good God to stay his �SUPERSTITION. hand. They humbled themselves, confessed their sins, and filled the heavens with their vows and cries. With priests and prayers they tried to stay the plague. They kissed the relics, fell at shrines, besought the Virgin and the saints ; but the prayers all died in the heartless air, and the plague swept on to its natural end. Our poor fathers knew nothing of any science. Back of all events they put spirits, good or bad, angels or demons, gods or devils. To them nothing had what we call a natural cause. Everything was the work of spirits. All was done by the supernatural; and everything was done by evil spirits that they could do to ruin, punish, mislead, and damn the children of men. This world was a field of battle, and here the hosts of heaven and hell waged war. �SUPERSTITION. 1.5 IV. Now, no man in whose brain the torch of reason burns; no man who investigates, who really thinks, who is capable of weighing evidence, believes in signs, in lucky or unlucky days, in lucky or unlucky numbers. He knows that Fridays and Thursdays are alike ; that thirteen is no more deadly than twelve. He knows that opals affect the wearer the same as rubies, diamonds, or common glass. He knows that the matrimonial chances of a maiden are not increased or decreased by the number of leaves of a flower or seeds in an apple. He knows that a glance at the moon over the left shoulder is as healthful and lucky as one over the right. He does not care whether the first comer to a theatre is cross-eyed or hump-backed, bow-legged, or as wellproportioned as Apollo. He knows that a strange cat could be denied asylum without bringing any mis­ fortune to the family. He knows that an owl does not. hoot in the full of the moon because a distinguished man is about to die. He knows that comets and eclipses would come if all the folks were dead. He is, not frightened by sun dogs or the Morning of the North, when the glittering lances pierce the shield of night. He knows that all these things occur without �i6 5 UPERSTITION. the slightest reference to the human race. He feels certain that floods would destroy and cyclones rend and earthquakes devour ; that the stars would shine ; that day and night would still pursue each other around the world ; that flowers would give their perfume to the air, and light would paint the seven-hued arch upon the dusky bosom of the cloud if every human being was unconscious dust. A man of thought and sense does not believe in the existence of the Devil. He feels certain that imps, goblins, demons, and evil spirits exist only in the imagi­ nation of the ignorant and frightened, He knows how these malevolent myths were made, He knows the part they have played in all religions. He knows that for many centuries a belief in these devils, these evil spirits, was substantially universal. He knows that the priest believed as firmly as the peasant. In those days the best educated and the most ignorant were equal dupes. Kings and courtiers, ladies and clowns, soldiers and artists, slaves and convicts, believed as firmly in the Devil as they did in God. Back of this belief there is no evidence, and there never has been. This belief did not rest on any fact. It was supported by mistakes, exaggerations, and lies. The mistakes were natural, the exaggerations were mostly unconscious, and the lies were generally honest. Back of these mistakes, these exaggerations, these lies, was the love of the marvellous. Wonder listened with greedy ears, with wide eyes, and ignorance with open mouth. The man of sense knows the history of this belief, and he knows, also, that for many centuries its truth �SUPERSTITION. was established by the Holy Bible. He knows that the Old Testament is filled with allusions to the Devil, to evil spirits ; and that the New Testament is the same. He knows that Christ himself was a believer in the Devil, in evil spirits ; and that his principal business was casting out devils from the bodies of men and women. He knows that Christ himself, according to the New Testament, was not only tempted by the Devil, but was carried by his Satanic Highness to the top of the temple. If the New Testament is the inspired word of God, then I admit that these devils, these imps, do actually exist, and that they do take possession of human beings. To deny the existence of these evil spirits, to deny the existence of the Devil, is to deny the truth of the New Testament. To deny the existence of these imps of darkness is to contradict the words of Jesus Christ. If these devils do not exist, if they do not cause disease, if they do not tempt and mislead their victims, then Christ was an ignorant, superstitious man, insane, an impostor, or the New Testament is not a true record of what he said and what he pretended to do. If we give up the belief in devils, we must give up the inspiration ot the Old and New Testament. We must give up the divinity of Christ. To deny the existence of evil spirits is to utterly destroy the foundation of Christianity. There is no half-way ground. Compromise is impos­ sible. If all the accounts in the New Testament of casting out devils are false, what part of the Blessed Book is true ? As a matter of fact, the success of the Devil in the Garden of Eden made the coming of Christ a necessity, �i8 SUPERSTITION. laid the foundation for the Atonement, crucified the Savior, and gave us the Trinity. . If the Devil does not exist, the Christian creeds all crumble, and the superstructure known as “Christianity ” built by the fathers, by popes, by priests, and theologians—built with mistakes and falsehoods, with miracles and wonders, with blood and flame, with lies and legends borrowed from the savage world—becomes a shapeless ruin. If we give up the belief in devils and evil spirits, we are compelled to say that a witch never lived. No sensible human being now believes in witchcraft. We know that it was a delusion. We now know that thousands and thousands of innocent men, women, and children were tortured and burned for having been found guilty of an impossible crime ; and we also know, if our minds have not been deformed by faith, that all the books in which the existence of witches is taught were written by ignorant and superstitious men. We also know that the Old Testament asserted the existence of witches. According to that Holy Book, Jehovah was a believer in witchcraft, and said to his chosen people : “ Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” This one commandment, this simple line, demon­ strates that Jehovah was not only not God, but that he was a poor, ignorant, superstitious savage. This one line proves beyond all possible doubt that the Old Testament was written by men, by barbarians. John Wesley was right when he said that to give up a belief in witchcraft was to give up the Bible. Give up the Devil, and what can you do with the book �S UPERSTITION *9 of Job ? How will you account for the lying spirits that Jehovah sent to mislead Ahab ? Ministers who admit that witchcraft is a superstition will read the story of the Witch of Endor—will read it in a solemn, reverential voice—with a theological voice—and will have the impudence to say that they believe it. It would be delightful to know that angels hover in the air ; that they guard the innocent, protect the good ; that they bend over the cradles and give health and happy dreams to pallid babes ; that they fill dungeons with the light of their presence, and give hope to the imprisoned ; that they follow the fallen, the erring, the outcasts, the friendless, and win them back to virtue, love, and joy. But we have no more evidence of the existence of good spirits than of bad. The angels that visited Abraham and the mother of Samson are as unreal as the ghosts and goblins of the Middle Ages. The angel that stopped the donkey of Balaam, the one who walked in the furnace flames with Meshech, Shadrack, and Abednego, the one who slew the Assyrians, and the one who, in a dream, removed the suspicions of Joseph, were all created by the imagination of the credulous, by the lovers of the marvellous, and they have been handed down from dotage to infancy, from ignorance to igno­ rance, through all the years. Except in Catholic countries, no winged citizen of the celestial realm has visited the world for hundreds of years. Only those who are blind to facts can see these beautiful creatures, and only those who reach conclusions without the assistance of evidence can believe in their existence. It is told that the great Angelo, in decorating a church, �20 SUPERSTITION. painted some angels wearing sandals. A cardinal, looking at the picture, said to the artist : “ Whoever saw angels with sandals ?” Angelo answered with another question : “ Whoever saw an angel bare­ footed ?” The existence of angels has never been established. Of course, we know that millions and millions have believed in seraphim and cherubim ; have believed that the angel Michael contended with the Devil for the body of Moses ; that angels shut the mouths of the lions for the protection of Daniel ; that angels ministered unto Christ, and that countless angels will accompany the Savior when he comes to take possession of the world. And we know that all these millions believe through blind, unreasoning faith, holding all evidence and all facts in theological contempt. But the angels come no more. They bring no balm to any wounded heart. Long ago they folded their pinions and faded from the earth and air. These winged guardians no longer protect the innocent ; no longer cheer the suffering; no longer whisper words of com­ fort to the helpless. They have become dreams— vanished visions. �SUPERSTITION. 21 V. In the dear old religious days the earth was flat—a little dishing, if anything—and just above it was Jehovah’s house, and just below it was where the Devil lived. God and his angels inhabited the third storey, the Devil and his imps the basement, and the human race the second floor. Then they knew where heaven was. They could almost hear the harps and hallelujahs. They knew where hell was, and they could almost hear the groans and smell the sulphurous fumes. They regarded the volcanoes as chimneys. They were perfectly acquainted with the celestial, the terrestrial, and the infernal. They were quite familiar with the New Jerusalem, with its golden streets and gates of pearl. Then the trans­ lation of Enoch seemed reasonable enough, and no one doubted that before the Flood the sons of God came down and made love to the daughters of men. The theologians thought that the builders of Babel would have succeeded if God had not come down and caused them to forget the meaning of w’ords. In those blessed days the priests knew all about heaven and hell. They knew that God governed the world by hope and fear, by promise and threat, by reward and punishment. The reward was to be eternal, �22 SUPERSTITION. and so was the punishment. It was not God’s plan to develop the human brain, so that man would perceive and comprehend the right and avoid the wrong. He taught ignorance nothing but obedience, and for obedi­ ence he offered eternal joy. He loved the submissive— the kneelers and crawlers. He hated the doubters, the investigators, the thinkers, the philosophers. For them he created the eternal prison where he could feed forever the hunger of his hate. He loved the credulous —those who believed without evidence ; and for them he prepared a home in the realm of fadeless light. He delighted in the company of the questionless. But where is this heaven, and where is this hell ? We now know that heaven is not just above the clouds, and that hell is not just below the earth. The telescope has done away with the ancient heaven, and the re­ volving world has quenched the flames of the ancient hell. These theological countries, these imagined worlds, have disappeared. No one knows, and no one pretends to know, where heaven is ; and no one knows, and no one pretends to know, the locality of hell. Now the theologians say that hell and heaven are not places, but states of mind—conditions. The belief in gods and devils has been substantially universal. Back of the good, man placed a god ; back of the evil, a devil; back of health, sunshine, and harvest was a good deity ; back of disease, misfortune, and death he placed a malicious fiend. Is there any evidence that gods and devils exist ? The evidence of the existence of a god and of a devil is substantially the same. Both of these deities are inferences ; each one is a perhaps. They have not �SUPERSTITION. 23 been seen—they are invisible—and they have not ventured within the horizon of the senses. The old lady who said there must be a devil, else how could they make pictures that looked exactly like him, reasoned like a trained theologian—like a doctor of divinity. Now, no intelligent man believes in the existence of a devil—no longer fears the leering fiend. Most people who think have given up a personal God, a creative deity. They now talk about the “ Unknown,” the “Infinite Energy”; but they put Jehovah with Jupiter. They regard them both as broken dolls from the nursery of the past. The men or women who ask for evidence—who desire to know the truth—care nothing for signs ; nothing for what are called wonders ; nothing for lucky or unlucky jewels, days or numbers ; nothing for charms or amulets ; nothing for comets or eclipses, and have no belief in good or evil spirits, in gods or devils. They place no reliance on general or special providence —on any power that rescues, protects, and saves the good, or punishes the vile and vicious. They do not believe that in the whole history of mankind a prayer has been answered. They think that all the sacrifices have been wasted, and that all the incense has ascended in vain. They do not believe that the world was created and prepared for man, any more than it was created and prepared for insects. They do not think it probable that whales were invented to supply the Eskimo with blubber, or that flames were created to attract and destroy moths. On every hand there seems to be evidence of design—design for the accomplish- �24 SUPERSTITION. ment of good, design for the accomplishment of evil. On every side are the benevolent and malicious—some­ thing toiling to preserve, something laboring to destroy. Everything surrounded by friends and enemies—by the love that protects, by the hate that kills. Design is as apparent in decay, as growth ; in failure, as success ; in grief, as joy. Nature with one hand building, with one hand tearing down, armed with sword and shield—slaying and protecting, and protecting but to slay. All life journeying towards death, and all death hastening back to life. Everywhere waste and economy, care and negligence. We watch the flow and ebb of life and death—the great drama that forever holds the stage, where players act their parts and disappear; the great drama in which all must act—ignorant and learned, idiotic and insane—without rehearsal and without the slightest knowledge of a part, or of any plot or purpose in the play. The scene shifts ; some actors disappear and others come, and again the scene shifts ; mystery everywhere. We try to explain, and the explanation of one fact contradicts another. Behind each veil removed, another. All things equal in wonder. One drop of water as wonderful as all the seas ; one grain of sand as all the world ; one moth with painted wings as all the things that live ; one egg from which warmth, in darkness, woos to life an organised and breathing form—a form with sinews, bones, and nerves, with blood and brain, with instincts, passions, thoughts, and wants—as all the stars that wheel in space. The smallest seed that, wrapped in soil, has dreams �SUPERSTITION. 25 of April rains and days of June withholds its secret from the wisest men. The wisdom of the world cannot explain one blade of grass, the faintest motion of the smallest leaf. And yet theologians, popes, priests, parsons, who speechless stand before the wonder of the smallest thing that is, know all about the origin of worlds, know when the beginning was, when the end will be, know all about the God who with a wish created all, know what his plan and purpose was, the means he uses and the end he seeks. To them all mysteries have been revealed, except the mystery of things that touch the senses of a living man. But honest men do not pretend to know ; they are candid and sincere ; they love the truth ; they admit their ignorance, and they say, “ We do not know.” After all, why should we worship our ignorance, why should we kneel to the Unknown, why should we prostrate ourselves before a guess ? If God exists, how do we know that he is good, that he cares for us? The Christians say that their God has existed from eternity; that he forever has been, and forever will be, infinite, wise, and good. Could this God have avoided being God? Could he have avoided being good ? Was he wise and good without his wish or will ? Being from eternity, he was not produced. He was back of all cause. What he is, he was, and will be, unchanged, unchangeable. He had nothing to do with the making or developing of his character. Nothing to do with the development of his mind. What he was, he is. He has made no progress. �26 SUPERSTITION. What he is, he will be; there can be no change. Why then, I ask, should we praise him ? He could not have been different from what he was and is. Why should we pray to him, he cannot change ? And yet Christians implore their God not to do wrong. The meanest thing charged against the Devil is that he leads the children of men into temptation, and yet, in the Lord’s Prayer, God is insultingly asked not to imitate the king of fiends. “ Lead us not into temptation.” Why should God demand praise ? He is as he was. He has never learned anything ; has never practised any self-denial ; was never tempted, never touched by fear or hope, and never had a want. Why should he demand our praise ? Does anyone know that this God exists; that he ever heard or answered any prayer ? Is it known that he governs the world ; that he interferes in the affairs of men ; that he protects the good or punishes the wicked ? Can evidence of this be found in the history of mankind ? If God governs the world, why should we credit him for the good and not charge him with the evil? To justify this God we must say that good is good, and that evil is also good. If all is done by this God, we should make no distinction between his actions—between the actions of the in­ finitely wise, powerful, and good. If we thank him for sunshine and harvest, we should also thank him for plague and famine. If we thank him for liberty, the slave should raise his chained hands in worship and thank God that he toils unpaid with the lash upon his �SUPERSTITION. naked back. If we thank him for victory, we should thank him for defeat. Only a few days ago our President, by proclamation, thanked God for giving us the victory at Santiago. He did not thank him for sending the yellow fever. To be consistent, the President should have thanked him equally for both. The truth is that good and evil spirits—gods and devils—are beyond the realm of experience ; beyond the horizon of our senses ; beyond the limits of our thoughts ; beyond imagination’s utmost flight. Man should think ; he should use all his senses ; he should examine ; he should reason. The man who cannot think is less than man ; the man who will not think is traitor to himself; the man who fears to think is superstition’s slave. �28 SUPERSTITION. VI. What harm does superstition do? What harm in believing in fables, in legends ? To believe in signs and wonders, in amulets, charms, and miracles, in gods and devils, in heavens and hells, makes the brain an insane ward, the world a madhouse, takes all certainty from the mind, makes experience a snare, destroys the kinship of effect and cause the unity of nature—and makes man a trembling serf and slave. With this belief a knowledge of nature sheds no light upon the path to be pursued. Nature becomes a puppet of the unseen powers. The fairy, called the supernatural, touches with her wand a fact; it disappears. Causes are barren of effects, and effects are independent of all natural causes. Caprice is king. The foundation is gone. The great dome rests on air. There is no constancy, in qualities, relations, or results. Reason abdicates, and superstition wears her crown. The heart hardens, and the brain softens. The energies of man are wasted in a vain effort to secure the protection of the supernatural. Credulity, ceremony, worship, sacrifice, and prayer take the place of honest work, of investigation, of intellectual effort, of observation, of experience. Progress becomes im­ possible. �SUPERSTITION. 29 Superstition is, always has been, and forever will be, the enemy of liberty. Superstition created all the gods and angels, all the devils and ghosts, all the witches, demons, and goblins, gave us all the augurs, soothsayers, and prophets, filled the heavens with signs and wonders, broke the chain of cause and effect, and wrote the history of man in miracles and lies. Superstition made all the popes, cardinals, bishops, and priests, all the monks and nuns, the begging friars and the filthy saints, all the preachers and exhorters, all the “called” and “set apart.” Superstition made men fall upon their knees before beasts and stones, caused them to worship snakes and trees and insane phantoms of the air, beguiled them or their gold and toil, and made them shed their children’s blood and give their babes to flames. Superstition built the cathedrals and temples, all the altars, mosques, and churches, filled the world with amulets and charms, with images and idols, with sacred bones and holy hairs, with martyrs’ blood and rags, with bits of wood that frighten devils from the breasts of men. Super­ stition invented and used the instruments of torture, flayed men and women alive, loaded millions with chains, and destroyed hundreds of thousands with fire. Superstition mistook insanity for inspiration, and the ravings of maniacs for prophesy, for the wisdom of God. Superstition imprisoned the virtuous, tortured the thoughtful, killed the heroic, put chains on the body, manacles on the brain, and utterly destroyed the liberty of speech. Superstition gave us all the prayers and ceremonies ; taught all the kneelings, genuflections, and prostrations ; taught men to hate themselves, to despise �30 SUPERSTITION. pleasure, to scar their flesh, to grovel in the dust, to desert their wives and children, to shun their fellow men, and to spend their lives in useless pain and prayer. Superstition taught that human love is degrading, low, and vile ; taught that monks are purer than fathers, that nuns are holier than mothers, that faith is superior to fact, that credulity leads to heaven, that doubt is the road to hell, that belief is better than knowledge, and that to ask for evidence is to insult God. Superstition is, always has been, and forever will be, the foe of progress, the enemy of education, and the assassin of freedom. It sacrifices the known to the unknown, the present to the future, this actual world to the shadowy next. It has given us a selfish heaven, and a hell of infinite revenge ; it has filled the world with hatred, war and crime, with the malice of meekness and the arrogance of humility. Superstition is the only enemy of science in all the world. Nations, races, have been destroyed by this monster. For nearly two thousand years the infallible agent of God has lived in Italy. That country has been covered with nunneries, monasteries, cathedrals, and temples— filled with all varieties of priests and holy men. For centuries Italy was enriched with the gold of the faithful. All roads led to Rome, and these roads were filled with pilgrims bearing gifts ; and yet Italy, in spite of all the prayers, steadily pursued the downward path, died and was buried, and would at this moment be in her grave had it not been for Cavour, Mazzini, and Garibaldi. For her poverty, her misery, she is indebted to the holy Catholic Church, to the infallible agents of God. For the life she has she is indebted to the enemies of super- �SUPERSTITION. 3i stition. A few years ago Italy was great enough to build a monument to Giordano Bruno Bruno, the victim of the “Triumphant Beast”;—Bruno, thesublimest of her sons. Spain was at one time owner of half the earth, and held within her greedy hands the gold and silver of the world. At that time all nations were in the darkness of superstition. At that time the world was governed by priests. Spain clung to her creed. Some nations began to think, but Spain continued to believe. In some countries priests lost power, but not in Spain. The power behind her throne was the cowled monk. In some countries men began to interest themselves in science, but not in Spain. Spain told her beads, and continued to pray to the Virgin. Spain was busy saving her soul. In her zeal she destroyed herself. She relied on the supernatural ; not on knowledge, but superstition. Her prayers were never answered. The saints were dead. They could not help, and the Blessed Virgin did not hear. Some countries were in the dawn of a 'new day, but Spain gladly remained in the night. With fire and sword she exterminated the men who thought. Her greatest festival was the aato da fe. Other nations grew great, while Spain grew small. Day by day her power waned, but her faith increased. One by one her colonies were lost, but she kept her creed. She gave her gold to superstition, her brain to priests ; but she faithfully counted her beads. Only a few days ago, relying on her God and his priests, on charms and amulets, on holy water and pieces of the true cross, she waged war against the great Republic. Bishops blessed her armies and �32 SUPERSTITION. sprinkled holy water on her ships, and yet her armies were defeated and captured, her ships battered, beached, and burned, and in her helplessness she sued for peace. But she has her creed ; her superstition is not lost. Poor Spain, wrecked by faith, the victim of religion ! Portugal, slowly dying, growing poorer every day, still clings to the faith. Her prayers are never answered, but she makes them still. Austria is nearly gone, a victim of superstition. Germany is travelling towards the night. God placed her Kaiser on the throne. The people must obey. Philosophers and scientists fall upon their knees and become the puppets of the divinely crowned. �SUPERSTITION. 33 VII. The believers in the supernatural, in a power superior to nature, in God, have what they call “ inspired books.” These books contain the absolute truth. They must be believed. He who denies them will be punished with eternal pain. These books are not addressed to human reason. They are above reason. They care nothing for what a man calls “facts.” Facts that do not agree with these books are mistakes. These books are inde­ pendent of human experience, of human reason. Our inspired books constitute what we call the “ Bible.” The man who reads this inspired book, look­ ing for contradictions, mistakes, and interpolations, imperils the salvation of his soul. While he reads he has no right to think, no right to reason. To believe is his only duty. Millions of men have wasted their lives in the study of this book—in trying to harmonise contradictions and to explain the obscure and seemingly absurd. In doing this they have justified nearly every crime and every cruelty. In its follies they have found the profoundest wisdom. Hundreds of creeds have been con­ structed from its inspired passages. Probably no two of its readers have agreed as to its meaning. Thou­ sands have studied Hebrew and Greek that they might read the Old and New Testament in the languages in �34 SUPERSTITION. which they were written. The more they studied, the more they differed. By the same book they proved that nearly everybody is to be lost, and that all are to be saved ; that slavery is a divine institution, and that all men should be free ; that polygamy is right, and that no man should have more than one wife ; that the powers that be are ordained of God, and that the people have a right to overturn and destroy the powers that be ; that all the actions of men were predestined—pre­ ordained from eternity, and yet that man is free ; that all the heathen will be lost ; that all the heathen will be saved ; that all men who live according to the light of nature will be damned for their pains ; that you must be baptised by sprinkling ; that you must be baptised by immersion ; that there is no salvation without baptism ; that baptism is useless ; that you must believe in the Trinity ; that it is sufficient to believe in God; that you must believe that a Hebrew peasant was God; that at the same time he was half man, that he was of the blood of David through his supposed father Joseph, who was not his father, and that it is not necessary to believe that Christ was God ; that you must believe that the Holy Ghost proceeded ; that it makes no difference whether you do or not; that you must keep the Sabbath holy ; that Christ taught nothing of the kind ; that Christ established a Church ; that he established no Church ; that the dead are to be raised ; that there is to be no resurrection ; that Christ is coming again ; that he has made his last visit; that Christ went to hell and preached to the spirits in prison ; that he did nothing of the kind ; that all the Jews are going to perdition ; that they are all going to heaven ; that all the miracles �SUPERSTITION. 35 described in the Bible were performed ; that some of them were not, because they are foolish, childish, and idiotic ; that all the Bible is inspired ; that some of the books are not inspired; that there is to be a general judgment, when the sheep and goats are to be divided ; that there never will be any general judgment ; that the sacramental bread and wine are changed into the flesh and blood of God and the Trinity ; that they are not changed ; that God has no flesh or blood ; that there is a place called “purgatory”; that there is no such place ; that unbaptised infants will be lost; that they will be saved ; that we must believe the Apostles’ Creed; that the apostles made no creed ; that the Holy Ghost was the father of Christ ; that Joseph was his father ; that the Holy Ghost had the form of a dove ; that there is no Holy Ghost; that heretics should be killed ; that you must not resist evil; that you should murder unbelievers ; that you must love your enemies ; that you should take no thought for the morrow, but should be diligent in business ; that you should lend to all who ask, and that one who does not provide for his own household is worse than an infidel. In defence of all these creeds, all these contradictions, thousands of volumes have been written, millions of sermons have been preached, countless swords reddened with blood, and thousands and thousands of nights made lurid with the faggot’s flames. Hundreds and hundreds of commentators have ob­ scured and darkened the meaning of the plainest texts, spiritualised dates, names, numbers, and even genealo­ gies. They have degraded the poetic, changed parables to history, and imagery to stupid and impossible facts. �36 SUPERSTITION. They have wrestled with rhapsody and prophecy, with visions and dreams, with illusions and delusions, with myths and miracles, with the blunders of ignorance, the ravings of insanity, and the ecstasy of hysterics. Millions of priests and preachers have added to the mysteries of the inspired book by explanation, by show­ ing the wisdom of foolishness, the foolishness of wisdom, the mercy of cruelty, and the probability of the impossible. The theologians made the Bible a master, and the people its slaves. With this book they destroyed intellectual veracity, the natural manliness of man. With this book they banished pity from the heart, subverted all ideas of justice and fairness, imprisoned the soul in the dungeon of fear, and made honest doubt a crime. Think of what the world has suffered from fear. Think of the millions who were driven to insanity. Think of the fearful nights—nights filled with phantoms, with flying, crawling monsters, with hissing serpents that slowly uncoiled, with vague and formless horrors, with burning and malicious eyes. Think of the fear of death, of infinite wrath, of ever­ lasting revenge in the prisons of fire, of an eternity of thirst, of endless regret, of the sobs and sighs, the shrieks and groans of eternal pain I Think of the hearts hardened, of the hearts broken, of the cruelties inflicted, of the agonies endured, of the lives darkened. The inspired Bible has been, and is, the greatest curse of Christendom, and will so remain as long as it is held to be inspired. �SUPERSTITION. 37 VIII. Our God was made by men, sculptured by savages who did the best they could. They made our God somewhat like themselves, and gave to him their passions, their ideas of right and wrong. As man advanced he slowly changed his God—took a little ferocity from his heart, and put the light of kindness in his eyes. As man progressed he obtained a wider view, extended the intellectual horizon, and again he changed his God, making him as nearly perfect as he could, and yet this God was patterned after those who made him. As man became civilized, as he became merciful, he began to love justice, and as his mind expanded his ideal became purer, nobler, and so his God became more merciful, more loving. In ,our day Jehovah has been outgrown. He is no longer the perfect. Now theologians talk, not about Jehovah, but about a God of love, call him the Eternal Father and the perpetual friend and providence of man. But, while they talk about this God of love, cyclones wreck and rend, the earthquake devours, the flood destroys, the red bolt leaping from the cloud still crashes the life out of men, and plague and fever still are tireless reapers in the harvest fields of death. They tell us now that all is good ; that evil is but �SUPERSTITION. blessing in disguise, that pain makes strong and virtuous men—makes character—while pleasure en­ feebles and degrades. If this be so, the souls in hell should grow to greatness, while those in heaven should shrink and shrivel. But we know that good is good. ’ We know that good is not evil, and that evil is not good. We know that light is not darkness, and that darkness is not light. But we do not feel that good and evil were planned and caused by a supernatural God. We regard them both as necessities. We neither thank nor curse. We know that some evil can be avoided, and that the good can be increased. We know that this can be done by increasing knowledge, by developing the brain. As Christians have changed their God, so they have accordingly changed their Bible. The impossible and absurd, the cruel and the infamous, have been mostly thrown aside, and thousands are now engaged in trying to save the inspired word. Of course, the orthodox still cling to every word, and still insist that every line is true. They are literalists. To them the Bible means exactly what it says. They want no explanation. They care nothing for commentators. Contradictions cannot disturb their faith. They deny that any contra­ dictions exist. They loyally stand by the sacred text, and they give it the narrowest possible interpretation. They are like the janitor of an apartment house who refused to rent a flat to a gentleman because he said he had children. “But,” said the gentleman, “my children are both married and live in Iowa.” “That makes no difference,” said the janitor; “I am �SUPERSTITION. 39 not allowed to rent a flat to any man who has children.” All the orthodox churches are obstructions on the highway or progress. Every orthodox creed is a chain, a dungeon. Every believer in the “ inspired book ” is a slave who drives reason from her throne, and in her stead crowns fear. Reason is the light, the sun, of the brain. It is the compass of the mind, the ever-constant Northern Star, the mountain peak that lifts itself above all clouds. �40 SUPERSTITION. IX. There were centuries of darkness when religion had control of Christendom. Superstition was almost universal. Not one in twenty thousand could read or write. During these centuries the people lived with their back to the sunrise, and pursued their way towards the dens of ignorance and faith. There was no progress, no invention, no discovery. On every hand, cruelty and worship, persecution and prayer. The priests were the enemies of thought, of investigation. They were the shepherds, and the people were their sheep ; and it was their business to guard the flock from the wolves of thought and doubt. This world was of no importance compared with the next. This life was to be spent in preparing for the life to come. The gold and labor of men were wasted in building cathedrals, and in supporting the pious and the useless. During these Dark Ages of Christianity, as I said before, nothing was invented, nothing was discovered, calcu­ lated to increase the well-being of men. The energies of Christendom were wasted in the vain effort to obtain assistance from the supernatural. For centuries the business of Christians was to wrest from the followers of Mohammed the empty sepulchre of Christ. Upon the altar of this folly millions of �5 UPERSTITION. 4i lives were sacrificed, and yet the soldiers of the impostor were victorious, and the wretches who carried the banner of Christ were scattered like leaves before the storm. There was, I believe, one invention during these ages. It is said that in the Thirteenth Century Roger Bacon, a Franciscan monk, invented gun­ powder ; but this invention was without a fellow. Yet we cannot give Christianity the credit, because Bacon was an infidel, and was great enough to say that in all things reason must be the standard. He was persecuted and imprisoned, as most sensible men were in those blessed days. The Church was triumphant. The sceptre and mitre were in her hands, and yet her success was the result of force and fraud, and it carried within itself the seeds of its defeat. The Church attempted the impossible. It endeavored to make the world of one belief ; to force all minds to a common form, and utterly destroy the individuality of man. To accomplish this it employed every art and artifice that cunning could suggest. It inflicted every cruelty by every means that malice could invent. But, in spite of all, a few men began to think. They became interested in the affairs of this world—in the great panorama of nature. They began to seek for causes, for the explanations of phenomena. They were not satisfied with the assertions of the Church. These thinkers withdrew their gaze from the skies and looked at their own surroundings. They were unspiritual enough to desire comfort here. They became sensible and secular, worldly and wise. What was the result ? They began to invent, to discover, to find the relation between facts, the �42 SUPERSTITION. conditions of happiness, and the means that would increase the well-being of their fellow men. Movable types were invented, paper was borrowed from the Moors, books appeared, and it became possible to save the intellectual wealth, so that each generation could hand it to the next. History began to take the place of legend and rumour. The telescope was invented. The orbits of the stars were traced, and men became citizens of the universe. The steam engine was con­ structed, and now steam, the great slave, does the work of hundreds of millions of men. The Black Art, the impossible, was abandoned, and chemistry, the useful, took its place. Astrology became astronomy. Kepler discovered the three great laws, one of the greatest triumphs of human genius, and our constellation became a poem, a symphony. Newton gave us the mathe­ matical expression of the attraction of gravitation. Harvey discovered the circulation of the blood. He gave us the fact, and Draper gave us the reason. Steamships conquered the seas, and railways covered the land. Houses and streets were lighted with gas. Through the invention of matches fire became the com­ panion of man. The art of photography became known ; the sun became an artist. Telegraphs and cables were invented. The lightning became a carrier of thought, and the nations became neighbours. An es­ thetics were discovered, and pain was lost in sleep. Surgery became a science. The telephone was invented -—the telephone that carries and deposits in listening ears the waves of words. The phonograph, that catches and retains in marks and dots and gives again the echoes of our speech. �SUPERSTITION. 43 Then came electric light that fills the night with day, and all the wonderful machines that use the subtle force—-the same force that leaps from the summer cloud to ravage and destroy. The Spectrum Analysis that tells us of the substance of the sun ; the Rontgen rays that change the opaque to the transparent. The great thinkers demonstrated the indestructibility of force and matter demon­ strated that the indestructible could not have been created. The geologist, in rocks and deposits and mountains and continents, read a little of the story of the world—of its changes, of the glacial epoch the story of vegetable and animal life. The biologists, through the fossil forms of life, established the antiquity of man, and demonstrated the worthlessness of Holy Writ. Then came evolution, the survival of the fittest, and natural selection. Thousands of mysteries were explained, and science wrested the sceptre from superstition. The cell theory was advanced, and embryology was studied ; the microscope discovered germs of disease, and taught us how to stay the plague. These great theories and discoveries, together with countless inventions, are the children of intellectual liberty. �44 SUPERSTITION. X. After all we know but little. In the darkness of life there are a few gleams of light. Possibly the dropping of a dishcloth prophesies the coming of company ; but we have no evidence. Possibly it is dangerous for thirteen to dine together ; but we have no evidence. Possibly a maiden’s matrimonial chances are determined by the number of seeds in an apple, or by the number of leaves on a flower ; but we have no evidence. Pos­ sibly certain stones give good luck to the wearer, while the wearing of others brings loss and death. Possibly a glimpse of the new moon over the left shoulder brings misfortune. Possibly there are curative virtues in old bones, in sacred rags and holy hairs, in images and bits of w’ood, in rusty nails and dried blood ; but the trouble is, we have no evidence. Possibly comets, eclipses, and shooting stars foretell the death of kings, the des­ truction of nations, or the coming of plague. Possibly devils take possession of the bodies and minds of men. Possibly witches, with the Devil’s help, control the winds, breed storms on sea and land, fill summer’s lap with frosts and snow, and work with charm and spell against the public weal ; but of this we have no evi­ dence. It may be that all the miracles described in the Old and New Testament were performed; that the �SUPERSTITION. 45 pallid flesh of the dead felt once more the thrill of life ; that the corpse arose and felt upon his smiling lips the kiss of wife and child. Possibly water was turned into wine, loaves and fishes increased, and possibly devils were expelled from men and women ; possibly fishes were found with money in their mouths ; possibly clay and spittle brought back the light to sightless eyes, and possibly words cured disease and made the leper clean ; but of this we have no evidence. Possibly iron floated, rivers divided, waters burst from dry bones, birds carried food to prophets, and angels flourished drawn swords ; but of this we have no evidence. Possibly Jehovah employed lying spirits to deceive a king, and all the wonders of the savage world may have .happened; but the trouble is there is no proof. So there may be a Devil, almost infinite in cunning and power, and he may have a countless number of imps whose only business is to sow the seeds of evil and to vex, mislead, capture, and imprison in eternal flames the souls of men. All this, so far as we know, is pos­ sible. All we know is that we have no evidence except the assertions of ignorant priests. Possibly there is a place called “ hell,” where all the devils live—a hell whose flames are waiting for all the men who think and have the courage to express their thoughts, for all who fail to credit priests and sacred books, for all who walk the path that reason lights, for all the good and brave who lack credulity and faith ; but of this, I am happy to say, there is no ' proof. And so there may be a place called “ heaven,” the �46 SUPERSTITION. home of God, where angels float and fly and play on harps, and hear with joy the groans and shrieks of the lost in hell; but of this there is no evidence. It all rests on dreams and visions of the insane. There may be a power superior to nature, a power that governs and directs all things ; but the existence of this power has not been established. In the presence of the mysteries of life and thought, of force and substance, of growth and decay, of birth and death, of joy and pain, of the sufferings of the good, the triumphs of wrong, the intelligent, honest man is compelled to say : “ I do not know.” But we do know how gods and devils, heavens and hells, have been made. We know the history of inspired books—the origin of religions. We know how the seeds of superstition were planted, and what made them grow. We know that all superstitions, all creeds, all follies and mistakes, all crimes and cruelties, all virtues, vices, hopes, and fears, all discoveries and inventions, have been naturally produced. By the light of reason we divide the useful from the hurtful, the false from the true. We know the past—the paths that man has travelled —-his mistakes, his triumphs. We know a few facts, a few fragments ; and the imagination, the artist of the mind, with these facts, these fragments, rebuilds the past, and on the canvas of the future deftly paints the things to be. We believe in the natural, in the unbroken and un­ breakable succession of causes and effects. We deny the existence of the supernatural. We do not believe in any God who can be pleased with incense, with �SUPERSTITION. 47 kneeling, with bell-ringing, psalm-singing, bead-count­ ing, fasting, or prayer—in any God who can be flattered by words of faith or fear. We believe in the natural. We have no fear of devils, ghosts, or hells. We believe that Mahatmas, astral bodies, materialisations of spirits, crystal gazing, seeing the future, telepathy, mind-reading, and Christian Science are only cunning frauds, the genuineness of which is established by the testimony of incompetent, honest witnesses. We believe that Cunning plates fraud with the gold of honesty, and veneers vice with virtue. We know that millions are seeking the impossible­ trying to secure the aid of the supernatural—to solve the problem of life—to guess the riddle of destiny, and to pluck from the future its secret. We know that all their efforts are in vain. We believe in the natural. We believe in home and fireside—in wife and child and friend—in the realities of this world. We have faith in facts—in knowledge—in the development of the brain. We throw away super­ stition and welcome science. We banish the phantoms, the mistakes, and lies, and cling to the truth. We do not enthrone the unknown and crown our ignorance. We do not stand with our backs to the sun and mistake our shadow for God. We do not create a master and thankfully wear his chains. We do not enslave ourselves. We want no leaders—no followers. Our desire is that every human being shall be true to himself, to his ideal, unbribed by promises, careless of threats. We want no tyrant on the earth or in the air. �48 SUPERSTITION. We know that superstition has given us delusions and illusions, dreams and visions, ceremonies and cruelties, faith and fanaticism, beggars and bigots, per­ secutions and prayers, theology and torture, piety and poverty, saints and slaves, miracles and mummeries, disease and death. We know that science has given us all we have of value. Science is the only civiliser. It has freed the slave, clothed the naked, fed the hungry, lengthened life, given us homes and hearths, pictures and books, ships and railways, telegraphs and cables, engines that tirelessly turn the countless wheels ; and it has destroyed the monsters, the phantoms, the winged horrors that filled the savage brain. Science is the real redeemer. It will put honesty above hypocrisy ; mental veracity above all belief. It will teach the religion of usefulness. It will destroy bigotry in all its forms. It will put thoughtful doubt above thoughtless faith. It will give us philosophers, thinkers, and savants, instead of priests, theologians, and saints. It will abolish poverty and crime, and, greater, grander, nobler than all else, it will make the whole world free. ��WORKS BY Col. INGERSOLL. Some Mistakes of Moses. Is Suicide a Sin ? 2d. The only complete edition in Last Words on Suicide. 2d. England. Accurate as Co- God and the State. 2d. lenso, and fascinating as a Why am I an Agnostic ? novel. 132 pp., is.; superior Part I. 2d. paper, cloth, is. 6d. Why am I an Agnostic ?’ Defence of Freethought. Part II. 2d. A Five Hours’ Speech at the Faith and Fact. Reply to Trial of C. B. Reynolds for Dr. Field. 2d. Blasphemy. 6d. God and Man. Second reply Shakespeare. 6d. to Dr. Field. 2d. The Dying Creed, ad. The Gods. 6d. The Limits of Toleration. The Holy Bible. 6d. A Discussion with the Hon. Reply to Gladstone. With F. D. Coudert and Gov. S. L. a Biography by J. M. Wheeler. Woodford. 2d. 4d. Rome or Reason ? A Reply The Household of Faith. 2d. to Cardinal Manning. 4d. Crimes against Criminals. Art and Morality. 2d. Do I Blaspheme ? 2d. 3<L Oration on Walt Whitman. The Clergy and Common Sense. 2d. 3dI Social Salvation. 2d. Oration on Voltaire. 3d. Marriage and Divorce. 2d. Abraham Lincoln. 3d. Skulls. 2d. Paine the Pioneer. 2d. Humanity’s Debt to Thomas 1 The Great Mistake, id. Live Topics, id. Paine. 2d. Ernest Renan and Jesus Myth and Miracle, id. Christ. 2d. Real Blasphemy, id. True Religion. 2d. Repairing the Idols, id. Three Philanthropists. 2d. Christ and Miracles, id. Love the Redeemer. 2d. Creeds and Spirituality, id. London : R. Forder, 28 Stonecutter-street, E.C. THE FREETHINKER, EDITED BY G. W. FOOTE, contributed to by leading Freethought ■writers. Published every Thursday. Price Twopence. Publisher: R. Forder, 28 Stonecutter-street, E.C. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Pamphlet Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Superstition : a lecture Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ingersoll, Robert Green [1833-1899] Description An account of the resource Place of publication: London Collation: 49 p. ; 19 cm. Notes: Part of the NSS pamphlet collection. Works by Col. Ingersoll listed on back cover. Stamp for 'M. Steinberger, London, E.C.' on front cover. No. 74a (later ed. with 49 p.) in Stein checklist. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available R. Forder Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1899 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context N400 Subject The topic of the resource Superstition Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Superstition : a lecture), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English NSS Superstition https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/0f4ea3dac422b0101303fc30ce969346.pdf?Expires=1784764800&Signature=pSbjjXgxesIXwme5Zs68TMjjrwwj0GBTV5xxl2gk1g3unHi1OVY539nBbm1SrTKZlfpJKNGiWtKbvUIJhMF66EAtq9d7WSNEa1zifhrNzDdxgaMgGy9PqblHC%7Eft3EoX0F4d9iXDRBoU3Fmq%7E%7Ev8VSR%7EVNPgmqGpg8KLM7j3nO91Yr0yxMkyDAT07bX06X5RfVh77bKADz0V5aWHlUol1bpWvmdYhGCl27K64BSruqDrkjPGUGLGP3mZDjIvFYDi4be2glfFD7XSwARz4hclDsIOIG4xoZ0WCltMfztZsY%7E8rLX7SwG7Wcw5xHbsbfPS-BGJKLO%7E0zPncuKwb44z7A__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM c6e6c47ef21f07947c48f2368da50f6f PDF Text Text ����� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Pamphlet Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Superstition in the nineteenth century Description An account of the resource Place of publication: [London] Collation: 964-967 p. ; 21 cm. Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Article signed 'A Friend to Christian Reform'. From Christian Reformer, or, Unitarian Magazine and Review 6 (no. 61, January 1839). Printed by C. Green, Hackney. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available [Sherwood, Gilbert & Piper; Smallfield & Son] Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource [1839] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CT65 Subject The topic of the resource Superstition Cornwall Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource [Unknown] Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Superstition in the nineteenth century), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Conway Tracts Cornwall Superstition https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/3ae5188978d1b5d133edad1a3f0ab03b.pdf?Expires=1784764800&Signature=krRKWJX9Yvg-zuMv04rB-qaPGCLNXhFjY2eJsO0dF1A-H4kQAiPJI4VtHC61KUgbw%7EwU0cpN8vEHh3IDtz1vjqOPrTkNWSW0P0DMk0Bdp0m-vutjKTdQmxcrFLxWeTaiJiKj3SchnXgvAxPx5fT78Te0tdSC8uYHdWeqXIuvbn1p9hYcsF-uvcSnRxFXZjOy5%7E%7EgQYYZx14VCYK%7Epck3ogPkBWcP8LzGqkvMrrapscOB-QMoriVJk%7EZCOX46yhV718T%7EwuIjvSSeI7p31zPya10bQSTaD-rFXu5JOSKOne9VCBbY2qlm6pzhQ1c0ihR-0c4GiLLqkzPvxVPbjD3qSw__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM d19eecc0feb7fb031f2657e1f6e45781 PDF Text Text AN ANSWER TO THE ARGUMENTS OF HUME, LECKY, AND OTHERS, AGAINST MIRACLES, BY ALFRED R. WALLACE, Author of “ TJie Malay Archipelago" and “ Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection." PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION, BY JAMES BEVERIDGE, FULL WOOD’S RENTS, HIGH HOLBOBN. 1871. ��AN ANSWER TO THE ARGUMENTS OF HUME, LECKY, AND OTHERS, AGAINST MIRACLES It is now generally admitted, that those opinions and beliefs in which men have been educated generation after generation, and which have thus come to form part of their mental nature, are especially liable to be erroneous, because they keep alive and perpetuate the ideas and prejudices of a bygone and less enlightened age. It is therefore in the interest of truth, that every doctrine or belief, however well established or sacred they may appear to be, should at certain intervals be challenged, to arm themselves with such facts and reasonings as they possess, to meet their opponents in the open field of controversy, and do battle for their right to live. Nor can any exemption be claimed in favour of those beliefs which are the product of modern civilisation, and which have, for several generations, been held unquestioned by the great mass of the edu­ cated community ; for the prejudice in their favour will be proportionately great, and, as was the case with the doctrines of Aristotle and the dogmas of the schoolman, they may live on by mere weight of authority and force of habit, long after they have been shown to be opposed alike to fact and to reason. There have been times when popular beliefs were defended by the terrors of the law, �4 and when the sceptic could only attack them at the peril of his life. Now we all admit that truth can take care of itself, and that only error needs protection. But there is another mode of defence which equally implies a claim to certain and absolute truth, and which is therefore equally unworthy and unphilosophical—that of ridicule, misrepresentation, or a contemptuous refusal to discuss the question at all. This method is used among us even now; for there is one belief, or rather disbelief, whose advocates claim more than papal infallibility, by refusing to examine the evidence brought against it, and by alleging general arguments which have been in use for two centuries to prove that it cannot be erroneous. The belief to which I allude is, that all alleged miracles are false,—that what is com­ monly understood by the term supernatural does not exist, or if it does is incapable of proof by any amount of human testimony,—that all the phenomena we can have cognisance of depend on ascertainable physical laws, and that no other intelligent beings than man and the inferior animals can or do act upon our material world. These views have been now held almost un­ questioned for many generations; they are inculcated as an essential part of a liberal education ; they are popular, and are held to be one of the indications of our intellectual advancement; and they have become so much a part of our mental nature that all facts and arguments brought against them are either ignored as unworthy of serious consideration, or listened to with undisguised contempt. Now this frame of mind is certainly not one favourable to the discovery of truth, and strikingly resembles that by which, in former ages, systems of error have been fostered and maintained. The time has, therefore, come when it must be called upon to justify itself. This is the more necessary because the doctrine, whether true or false, actually rests upon a most unsafe and rotten foundation. I propose to show that the best arguments hitherto relied upon to prove it are, one and all, fallacious, and prove nothing of the kind. But a theory or belief may be supported by very bad argu­ �5 ments, and yet be true ; while it may be supported by some good arguments, and yet • be false. But there never was a true theory which had no good arguments to support it. If therefore all the arguments hitherto used against miracles in general can be shown to be bad, it will behove sceptics to discover good ones ; and if they cannot do so, the evidence in favour of miracles must be fairly met and judged on its own merits, not ruled out of court as it is now. It will be perceived, therefore, that my present pur­ pose is to clear the ground for the discussion of the great question of the so-called supernatural. I shall not attempt to bring arguments either for or against the main proposition, but shall confine myself to an examina­ tion of the allegations and the reasonings which have been supposed to settle the whole question on general grounds. One of the most remarkable works of the great Scotch philosopher, David Hume is, An Inquiry con­ cerning Human Understanding, and the tenth chapter of this work is On Miracles, in which occur the argu­ ments which are so often quoted to show that no evi­ dence can prove a miracle. Hume himself had a very high opinion of this part of his work, for he says at the beginning of the chapter, “ I flatter myself that I have discovered an argument which, if just, will with the wise and learned be an everlasting check to all kinds of superstitious delusion, and consequently will be useful as long as the world endures; for so long, I presume, will the accounts of miracles and prodigies be found in all history, sacred and profane.” DEFINITION OF THE TEEM “ MIRACLE.” After a few general observations on the nature of evidence and the value of human testimony in different cases, he proceeds to define what he means by a miracle. And here at the very beginning of the subject we find that we have to take objection to Hume’s definition of a miracle, which exhibits unfounded assumptions and false premises. He gives two definitions in different parts of his essay. The first is, “ A miracle is a viola­ tion of the laws of nature.” The second is, “ A miracle �6 is a transgression of a law of nature by a particular volition of the Deity, or by the interposition of some invisible agent.” Now both these definitions are bad or imperfect. The first assumes, that we know all the laws of nature, that the particular effect could not be produced by some unknown law of nature overcoming the law we do know ; it assumes, also, that if any in­ visible intelligent being held an apple suspended in the air, that act would violate the law of gravity. The second is not precise; it should be “ some invisible intelligent agent,” otherwise the action of galvanism or electricity, when these agents were first discovered, and before they were ascertained to form part of the order of nature, would answer accurately to this definition of a miracle. The words. “ violation ” and “ transgression ” are both improperly used, and really beg the question by the definition. How does Hume know that any particular miracle is a violation of a law of nature ? He assumes this without a shadow of proof, and on these words, as we shall see, rests his whole argument. Before proceeding further, it is necessary for us to consider what is the true definition of a miracle, or what is most commonly meant by that word. A miracle, as distinguished from a new and unheard of natural phenomenon, supposes an intelligent superhuman agent either visible or invisible. It is not necessary that what is done should be beyond the power of man to do : the simplest action, if performed independently of human or visible agency, such as a teacup lifted in the air at request, as by an invisible hand and without assignable cause, would be universally admitted to be a miracle; as much so as the lifting of a house into the air, the instantaneous healing of a wound, or the instantaneous production of an elaborate drawing. My definition of a miracle therefore is as follows :—“ Any act or event implying the existence and agency of superhuman in­ telligences,” considering the human soul or spirit, if manifested out of the body, as one of these superhuman intelligencies. This definition is more complete than that of Hume, and defines more accurately the essence of that which is commonly termed a miracle. �7 THE EVIDENCE OF THE REALITY OF MIRACLES. We now have to consider Hume’s arguments. first is as follows :— The “ A miracle is a violation of the Ians of nature; and as a firm and unalterable experience has established these laws, the proof against a miracle, from the very nature, of the fact, is as entire as any argument from experience can possibly be imagined. Why is it more than probable that all men must die; that lead cannot of itself remain suspended in the air; that fire consumes wood, and is extinguished by water ; unless it be, that these events are found agreeable to the laws of nature, and there is required a violation of these Ians, or, in other words a miracle, to prevent them ? Nothing is esteemed a miracle, if it ever happened in the common course of nature. It is no miracle that a man seemingly in good health should die on a sudden ; because such a kind of death, though more unusual than any other, has yet been frequently observed to happen. But it is a miracle that a dead man should come to life ; because that has never been observed in any age or coun­ try. There must, therefore, be an uniform experience against every miraculous event, otherwise the event would not merit that appellation. And as an uniform experience amounts to a proof, there is here a direct and full proof, from the nature of the fact, against the existence of any miracle ; nor can such a proof be destroyed, or the miracle rendered credible, but by an opposite proof, which is superior.” This argument is radically fallacious, because if it were sound, no perfectly new fact could ever be proved, since the first and each succeeding witness would be assumed to have universal experience against him. Such a simple fact as the existence of flying fish could never be proved, if Hume’s argument is a good one; for the first man who saw and described one, would have the universal experience against him that fish do not fly, or make any approach to flying, and his evi­ dence being rejected, the same argument would apply to the second, and to every subsequent witness, and thus no man at the present day who has not seen a flying fish ought to believe that such things exist. Again, painless operations in a state produced by mere passes of the hand, were, twenty-five years ago, maintained to be contrary to the laws of nature, con­ trary to all human experience, and therefore incredible. On Hume’s principles they were miracles, and no �8 amount of testimony could ever prove them to be real. But miracles do not stand alone, single facts opposed to uniform experience. Reputed miracles abound in all periods of history; every one has a host of others leading up to it; and every one has strictly analogous facts testified to at the present day. The uniform op­ posing experience, therefore, on which Hume lays so much stress does not exist. What, for instance, can be a more striking miracle than the levitation 01 raising of the human body into' the air without visible cause, yet this fact has been testified to during a long series of centuries. A few well known examples are those of St. Francis d’Assisi, who was often seen by many persons to rise in the air, and the fact is testified to by his secretary, who could only reach his feet. Saint Theresa, a nun in a convent in Spain, was often raised into the air in the sight of all the sisterhood. Lord Orrery and Mr. Valentine Greatorex both informed Dr. Henry More and Mr. Glanvil, that at Lord Conway’s house at Ragley in Ireland, a gentleman’s butler, in their pre­ sence and in broad daylight, rose into the air and floated about the room above their heads. This is related by Glanvil in his Sadducismus Triumphatus. A similai fact is narrated by eyewitnesses of Ignatius de Loyola : and Mr. Madden, in his life of Savonarola, after narrat­ ing a similar circumstance of that saint, remarks, that similar phenomena are related in numerous instances, and that the evidence upon which some of the narra­ tives rest, is as reliable as any human testimony can be. Butler, in his Lives of the Saints, says that many such facts are related by persons of undoubted veracity, who testify that they themselves were eyewitnesses of them. So, we all know that at least fifty persons of high character may be found in London, who will testify that they have seen the same thing happen to Mr. Home. I do not adduce this testimony as proving that the circumstances related really took place; I merely bring it forward now to show how utterly unfounded is Hume’s argument, which rests upon universal testi­ mony on the one side, and no testimony on the other. �9 THE CONTBADICTOBY NATUBE OF HUME’S ESSAY. I now have to show that in Hume’s efforts to prove his point, he contradicts himself in a manner so gross and complete, as is perhaps not to be found in the works of any other eminent author. The first passage I will quote is as follows :— “ For, first, there is not to be found, in all history, any mira­ cle attested by a sufficient number of men, of such unques­ tioned good sense, education, and learning, as to secure us against all delusion in themselves ; of such undoubted integrity, as to place them beyond all suspicion of any design to deceive others ; of such credit and reputation in the eyes of mankind, as to have a great deal to lose in case of their being detected in any falsehood ; and at the same time attesting facts per­ formed in such a public manner, and in so celebrated apa/rt of the world, as to render the detection unavoidable : all which circumstances are requisite to give us a full assurance in the testimony of men.” A few pages further on, we find this passage :— “ There surely never was a greater number of miracles as­ cribed to one person, than those which were lately said to have been wrought in France upon the tomb of Abbe Paris, the famous Jansenist, with whose sanctity the people were so long deluded. The curing of the sick, giving hearing to the deaf, and sight to the blind, were everywhere talked of as the usual effects of that holy sepulchre. But what is more extra­ ordinary, many of the miracles were immediately proved upon the spot, before judges of unquestioned integrity, attested by witnesses of credit and distinction, in a learned age, and on the most eminent theatre that is non in the norld. Nor is this all. A relation of them was published and dispersed every­ where ; nor were the Jesuits, though a learned body, supported by the civil magistrate, and determined enemies to those opinions, in whose favour the miracles were said to have been wrought, ever able distinctly to refute or detect them. Where shall we find such a number of circumstances, agreeing to the corroboration of one fact ? And what have we to oppose to such a cloud of witnesses, but the absolute impossibility, or miraculous nature of the events which they relate ? And this, surely, in the eyes of all reasonable people, will alone be re­ garded as a sufficient refutation.” In the second passage he affirms the existence of every single fact and quality which in the first passage he declared never existed, and he entirely changes his ground of argument by appealing to the inherent impos­ �10 sibility of the fact, andnot at all to the insufficiency of the evidence. He even makes this contradiction still more remarkable by a note which he has himself given to this passage, a portion of which is as follows : — “ This book was writ by Mons. Montgeron, councillor or judge of the parliament of Paris, a man of figure and charac-i ter, who was also a martyr to the cause, and is now said to be somewhere in a dungeon on account of his book. . . . “Many of the miracles of Abbe Paris were proved immedi­ ately by witnesses before the officiality or bishop’s court at Paris, under the eye of Cardinal Ncailles ; whose character for integrity and capacity was never contested, even by his ene­ mies. “ His successor in the archbishopric was an enemy to the Jan­ senists, and for that reason promoted to the see by the court. Yet twenty-two rectors or cures of Paris, with infinite earnest­ ness, press him to examine those miracles, which they assert to be known to the whole world, and indisputably certain; but he wisely forbore. . . . “ All who have been in France about that time have heard of the reputation of Mons. Herault, the lieutenant of Police, whose vigilance, penetration, activity, and extensive intelli-l gence, have been much talked of. This magistrate who, by the nature of his office, is almost absolute, was invested with full powers, on purpose to suppress or discredit these miracles; and he frequently seized immediately, and examined the wit­ nesses and subjects to them : but never could reach anything satisfactory against them. “ In the case of Mademoiselle Thibaut he sent the famous De Sylva to examine her ; whose evidence is very curious. The physician declares, that it was impossible that she could have been so ill as was proved by witnesses ; because it was impos­ sible she could in so short a time have recovered so perfectly as he found her. He reasoned like a man of sense, from natural causes; but the opposite party told him, that the whole was a miracle, and that his evidence was the very best proof of it. , . . “ No less a man than the Due de Chatillon, a duke and peer of France, of the highest rank and family, gives evidence of a miraculous cure performed upon a servant of his, who had lived several years in his house with a visible and palpable in­ firmity. “ I shall conclude with observing, that no clergy are more celebrated for strictness of life and manners than the regular clergy of France, particularly the rectors or cuiAs of Paris, who bear testimony to these impostures. “ The learning, genius, and probity of the gentlemen, and the austerity of the nuns of Port-Royal, have been much cele­ brated all over Europe. Yet they all give evidence for a �11 miracle, wrought on the niece of the famous Pascal, whose sanctity of life, as well as extraordinary capacity, is well known. The famous Racine gives an account of this miracle in his famous history of Port-Royal, and fortifies it with all the proofs, which a multitude of nuns, priests, physicians, and men of the world, all of them of undoubted credit, could be­ stow upon it. Several men of letters, particularly the Bishop of Tournay, thought this miracle so certain, as to employ it in the refutation of Atheists and Freethinkers. The queen-regent of France, who was extremely prejudiced, against the PortRoyal, sent her own physician to examine the miracle, who returned an absolute convert. In short the supernatural cure was so incontestible, that it saved, for a time, that famous monastery from the ruin with which it was threatened by the Jesuits. Had it been a cheat, it had certainly been detected by such sagacious and powerful antagonists, and must have hastened the ruin of the contrivers." It seems almost incredible that this can have been written by the great sceptic David Hume, and written in the same work in which he has already affirmed that in all history no such evidence is to be found. In order to show how very remarkable the evidence is to which he alludes, I think it well to give you one of the cases in greater detail, as recorded in the original work of Montgeron, and quoted in Mr. William Howitt’s History of the Supernatural:— “ Mademoiselle Coirin was afflicted, amongst other ailments, with a cancer in the left breast, for twelve years. The breast was destroyed by it, and came away in a mass ; the effluvia from the cancer was horrible, and the whole blood of the system was pronounced infected by it. Every physician pro­ nounced the case utterly incurable, yet, by a visit to the tomb, she was perfectly cured ; and, what was more astonishing, the breast and nipple were wholly restored, with the skin pure and fresh, and free from any trace of scar. This case was known to the highest people in the realm. When the miracle was denied, Mademoiselle Coirin went to Paris, was examined by the royal physician, and made a formal deposition of her cure before a public notary. Mademoiselle Coirin was daughter of an officer of the royal household, and had two brothers in attendance on the person of the king. The testimonies of the doctors are of the most decisive kind. M. Gaulard, physician to the king, deposed officially, that, ‘ to restore a nipple abso­ lutely destroyed, and separated from the breast, was an actual creation, because a nipple is not merely a continuity of the vessels of the breast, but a particular body, which is of a distinct and peculiar organisation.’ M. Souchay, surgeon to the Prince of Conti, not only pronounced the cancer incurable, but, having �12 examined the breast after the cure, went of himself to the public notary, and made a formal deposition ‘ that the cure was per­ fect that each breast had its nipple in its natural form and condition, with the colours and attributes proper to those parts.’ Such also are the testimonies of Seguier, the surgeon of the hospital at Nanterre ; of M. Deshieres, surgeon to the Duchess of Berry • of M. Hequet, one of the most celebrated surgeons in France; and numbers of others, as well as of public officers and parties of the greatest reputation, univer­ sally known ; all of whose depositions are officially and fully given by Montgeron.” This is only one out of a great number of cases equally marvellous, and equally well attested, and we therefore cannot be surprised at Hume’s being obliged to give up the argument of the insufficiency of the evi­ dence for miracles and of the uniform experience against them, the wonder being that he ever put forth an argu­ ment which he was himself able to refute so completely. We now have another argument which Hume brings forward, but which is, if possible, still weaker than the last. He says :— “I may add, as a fourth reason, which diminishes the au­ thority of prodigies, that there is no testimony for any, even those which have not been expressly detected, that is not op­ posed by any infinite number of witnesses ; so that not only the miracle destroys the credit of testimony, but the testimony destroys itself. To make this the better understood, let us consider that, in matters of religion, whatever is different is contrary; and that it is impossible the religions of ancient Borne, of Turkey, and Siam, and of China, should, all of them, be established on any solid foundation. Everymiracle, therefore, pretended to have been wrought in any of these religions (and all of them abound in miracles), as its direct scope is to estab­ lish the particular system to which it is attributed ; so has it the same force, though more indirectly, to overthrow every other system. In destroying a rival system, it likewise des­ troys the credit of those miracles on which that system was established ; so that all the prodigies of different religions are to be regarded as contrary facts ; and the evidences of these prodigies, whether weak or strong, as opposite to each other. According to this method of reasoning, when we believe any miracle of Mahomet or his successors, we have for our war­ rant the testimony of a few barbarous Arabians. And, on the other hand, we are to regard the authority of Titus Livius, Plutarch, Tacitus, and, in short, of all the authors and wit­ nesses, Grecian, Chinese, and Roman Catholic, who have related any miracle in their particular religion ; I say, we are �13 to regard their testimony in the same light as if they had mentioned that Mahometan miracle, and had in express terms contradicted it, with the sam e certainty as they have for the miracle they relate.” Now this argument, if argument it can be called, rests upon the extraordinary assumption that a miracle, if real, can only come from God, and must therefore support only a true religion. It assumes also that religions cannot be true unless given by God. Mr. Hume assumes, therefore, to know that nothing which we term a miracle can possibly be performed by any of the probably infinite number of intelligent beings who may exist in the universe between ourselves and the Deity. He confounds the evidence for the fact with the theories to account for the fact, and most illogically and unphilosophically argues, that if the theories lead to con­ tradictions, the facts themselves do not exist. I think, therefore, that I have now shown that—1. Hume gives a false definition of miracles, which begs the question of their possibility. 2. He states the fal­ lacy that miracles are isolated facts, to which the entire course of human testimony is opposed. 3. He delibe­ rately and absolutely contradicts himself as to the amount and quality of the testimony in favour of miracles. 4. He propounds the palpable fallacy as to miracles connected with opposing religions destroying each other. MODERN OBJECTIONS TO MIRACLES. We will now proceed to some of the more modern arguments against miracles. One of the most popular modern objections consists of making a supposition and drawing an inference, which looks like a dilemma, but which is really none at all. This argument has been put in several forms. One is, “ If a man tells me he came from York by the tele­ graph-wire, I do not believe him. If fifty men tell me they came from York by telegraph wires, I do not believe them. If any number of men tell me the same, I do not believe them. Therefore, Mr. Home did not float in the air, notwithstanding any amount of testimony you may bring to prove it.” �14 Another is, “ If a man tells me that he saw the lion on Northumberland-house descend into Trafalgar-square and drink water from the fountains, I should not believe him. If fifty men, or any number of men, informed me of the same thing, I should still not believe them.” Hence it is inferred that there are certain things so absurd and so incredible, that no amount of testimony could possibly make a sane man believe them. Now, these illustrations look like arguments, and at first sight it is not easy to see the proper way to answer them ; but the fact is that they are utter fallacies, be­ cause their whole force depends upon an assumed pro­ position which has never been proved, and which I challenge anyone to prove. The proposition is, that a large number of independent, honest, sane, and sen­ sible witnesses, can testify to a plain matter of fact which never occurred at all. Now, no evidence has ever been adduced to show, that this ever has happened or ever could happen. But the assumption is rendered still more monstrous when we consider the circumstances attending such cases as those of the cures at the tomb of the Abbe Paris, and the cases of modern scientific men being converted to a belief in the reality of the phenomena of modern Spiritualism; for we must assume that, being fully warned that the alleged facts are impossible and are therefore delusions, and having the source of the sup­ posed delusion pointed out, and all the prejudices of the age and the whole tone of educated thought being against the reality of such facts, yet numbers of edu­ cated men, including physicians and men of science, are convinced of the reality of the facts after the most searching investigation. Yet the assumption that such an amount and quality of independent converging evidence can be all false, must be proved to be a fact if the argument is to have the slightest value, otherwise it is merely begging the question. It must be remem-l bered that we have to consider, not absurd beliefs or false inferences, but plain matters of fact; and it cannot be proved, and never has been proved, that any large amount of cumulative evidence of disinterested and �15 sensible men, was ever obtained for an absolute and entire delusion. To put the matter in a simple form, the asserted fact is either possible, or not possible. If possible, such evidence as we have been considering would prove it; if not possible, such evidence could not exist. The argument is, therefore, an absolute fallacy, since its fundamental assumption cannot be proved. If it is intended merely to enunciate the proposition, that the more strange and unusual a thing is the more and the better evidence we require for it, that we all admit; but I maintain, that human testimony increases in value in such an enormous ratio with each additional inde­ pendent and honest witness, that no fact ought to be rejected when attested by such a body of evidence as exists for many of the events termed miraculous or supernatural, and which occur now daily among us. The burden of proof lies on those who maintain that such evidence can possibly be fallacious ; let them point out one case in which such cumulative evidence existed, and which yet proved to be false; let them give not supposition, but proof. THE UNCEBTAINTY OF THE ASSEBTED PHENOMENA OF MODEBN SPITITUALISM. Another modern argument is used more especially against the reality of the so-called Spiritual phenomena. It is said, “ These phenomena are so uncertain, you have no control over them, they follow no law; prove to us that they follow definite laws like all other groups of natural phenomena, and we will believe them.” This argument appears to have weight with some per­ sons, and yet it is really an absurdity. The essence of the alleged phenomena (whether they be true or not, is of no importance) is, that they seem to be the result of the action of independent intelligences, and are therefore deemed to be Spiritual or superhuman. If they had been found to follow strict law and not inde­ pendent will, no one would have ever supposed them to be Spiritual. The argument, therefore, is merely the statement of a foregone conclusion, namely, “ As long as your facts go to prove the existence of distinct intel­ �16 ligences, we will not believe > them; demonstrate that they follow fixed law, and not.,intelligence, and then we will believe them,” This argument appears to me to be childish, and yet it is used by some persons who claim to be philosophical. THE NECESSITY OE SCIENTIFIC TESTIMONY. Another objection which I have heard stated in publicJ and received with applause is, that it requires immense scientific knowledge to decide on the reality of any un­ common or incredible facts, and that till scientific men investigate and prove them they are not worthy of credit. Now I venture to say, that a greater fallacy than this was never put forth. The subject is a very important one, and the error is a very common one, but the fact is the exact opposite of what is stated ; for I assert that, whenever the scientific men of any age have denied the facts of investigators on a priori grounds, they have always been wrong. It is not necessary to do more than refer to the worldknown names of Galileo, Harvey, and Jenner; the great discoveries they made were, as we all know, violently opposed by their scientific contemporaries, to whom they appeared absurd and incredible; but we have equally striking examples much nearer to our own day. When Benjamin Franklin brought the subject of light­ ning conductors before the Boyal Society, he was laughed at as a dreamer, and his paper was not admitted to the Philosophical Transactions. When Young put forth his wonderful proofs of the undulatory theory of light, he was equally hooted at as absurd by the popular scientific writers of the day. The Edinburgh Review called upon the public to put Thomas Gray into a straight jacket for maintaining the practicability of railroads. Sir Humphry Davy laughed at the idea of London ever being lighted with gas. When Stephenson proposed to use locomotives on the Liverpool and Man­ chester Bailway, learned men gave evidence that it was impossible that they could go even twelve miles an hour. Another great scientific authority declared it to be equally impossible for ocean steamers ever to cross �17 the Atlantic. The French Academy of Sciences ridi­ culed the great astronomer Arago, when he wanted even to discuss the subject of the electric telegraph. Medical men ridiculed the stethoscope 'when it was first dis­ covered. Painless operations during the mesmeric coma were pronounced impossible, and therefore impostures. But one of the most striking, because one of the most recent cases of this opposition to, or rather disbelief in facts opposed to the current belief of the day, among men who are generally charged with going too far in the other direction, is that of the doctrine of the “Anti­ quity of Man.” Boue, an experienced French geologist, in 1823, discovered a human skeleton eighty feet deep in the loess or hardened mud of the Rhine. It was sent to the great anatomist Cuvier, who so utterly dis­ credited the fact that he threw aside this invaluable fossil as worthless, and it was lost. Sir C. Lyell, from personal investigation on the spot, now believes that the statements of the original observer were quite accu­ rate. So early as 1715 flint weapons were found with the skeleton of an elephant in an excavation in Gray’sinn-lane, in the presence of Mr. Conyers, who placed them in the British Museum, where they remained, utterly unnoticed till quite recently. In 1800, Mfr. Frere found flint weapons along with the remains of extinct animals at Hoxne, in Suffolk. From 1841 to 1846, the celebrated French geologist, Boucher de Perthes, discovered great quantities of flint weapons in the drift gravels of the North of France, but for many years he could convince none of his fellow scientific men that they were works of art, or worthy of the slightest attention. At length, however, in 1853, he began to make converts. In 1859-60, some of our own most eminent geologists visited the spot, and fully affirmed the truth of his observations and deductions. Another branch of the subject was, if possible, still worse treated. In 1825, Mr. McEnery, of Torquay, discovered worked flints along with the remains of extinct amimals in the celebrated Kent’s Hole Cavern, but his account of his discoveries was simply laughed at. tin 1840, one of our first geologists, Mr. Godwin Austen, �18 brought this matter before the Geological Society, and Mr. Vivian, of Torquay, sent in a paper fully confirming Mr. McEnery’s discoveries, but it was thought too im­ probable to be pubhshed. Fourteen years later, the Torquay Natural History Society made further observa­ tions, entirely confirming the previous ones, and sent an account of them to the Geological Society of London, but the paper was rejected as too improbable for publi­ cation. Now, however, for five years past, the cave has been systematically explored under the superinten­ dence of a Committee of the British Association, and all the previous reports for forty years have been confirmed, and have been shown to be even less wonderful than the reality. It may be said that “ this was proper scientific caution.” Perhaps it was; but at all events it proves this important fact, that in this, as in every other case, the observers have been right, those who rejected their observations have been wrong. Now, are the modern observers of some phenomena usually termed supernatural and incredible, less worthy of attention than these already quoted ? Let us take, first, the reality of what is called clairvoyance. The men who have observed this phenomenon, who have carefully tested it through long years or through their whole lives, will rank in scientific knowledge, and in intellectual ability, as quite equal to any observers in any other branch of discovery. We have no less than seven eminent medical men, Drs. Elliotson, Gregory, AshburneK, Lee, Herbert Mayo, Esdaile, and Haddock, besides persons of such high ability as Miss Martineau, Mr. H. G. Atkinson, Mr. Charles Bray, and Baron Richenbach. With the history of previous discoverers before us, is it more likely that these eleven educated persons, knowing all the arguments against the facts, and investigating them carefully, should be all wrong, and those who say a priori that the thing is impossible should be all right, or the contrary? If we are to learn anything by history and experience, then we may safely prognosticate that, in this case as in so many others, the disbelievers in other men’s observations will be found to be in the wrong. �19 REVIEW OF MB. LECKY’S STATEMENTS ABOUT MIRACLES. We now come to the modern philosophical objectors, most eminent among whom is Mr. Lecky, author of the History of Rationalism and the History of Morals. In the latter work he has devoted some space to this ques­ tion, and his clear and well expressed views may be taken to represent the general opinions and feelings of the educated portion of modern society. He says:— “The attitude of ordinary educated people towards miracles is not that of doubt, of hesitation, of discontent with the existing evidence, but rather of absolute, derisive, and even unexamining incredulity.” He then goes on to explain why this is so :— “ In certain stages of society, and under the action of cer­ tain influences, an accretion of miracles is invariably formed around every prominent person or institution. We can analyse the general causes that have impelled men towards the miraculous; we can show that these causes have never failed to produce the effect; and we can trace the gradual alteration of mental conditions invariably accompanying the decline of the belief. “When men are destitute of the critical spirit, when the notion of uniform law is yet unborn, and when their imagina­ tions are still incapable of rising to abstract ideas, histories of miracles are always formed and always believed ; and they continue to flourish and to multiply until these conditions are altered. Miracles cease when men cease to believe and ex­ pect them. . . .” Again:— “We do not say they are impossible, or even that they are not authenticated by as much evidence as many facts we believe. We only say that, in certain states of society, illu­ sions of this kind inevitably appear. ...” “ Sometimes we can discover the precise natural fact which the superstition has misread, but more frequently we can give only a general explanation, enabling us to assign these legends to their place, as the normal expression of a certain stage of knowledge or intellectual power; and this explanation is their refutation.” Now, in these statements and arguments of Mr. Lecky, we find some fallacies hardly less striking than �20 those of Hume. His assertion that in certain stages of society an accretion of miracles is invariably formed round every prominent person or institution, appears to me to be absolutely contradicted by certain wellknown historical facts. The Church of Home has ever been the great theatre of miracles, whether ancient or modern. The most prominent person in the Church of Rome is the Pope; the most prominent institution is the Papacy. We should expect, therefore, if Mr. Lecky’s statement be correct, that the Popes would be pre-eminently miracle­ workers. But the fact is, that with the exception of one or two very early ones, no miracles whatever are recorded of the great majority of the Popes. On the contrary, it has been generally among the very humblest members of the Romish Church, whether clergy or laity, that the power of working miracles has ap­ peared, and which has led to their being canonized as saints. Again, to take another instance, the most prominent person connected with the reformed churches is Luther. He himself believed in .miracles. The whole world in his day believed in miracles, and miracles, though gene­ rally of a demoniac character, continued rife in all Pro­ testant churches for many generations after his death ; yet there has been no accretion of miracles round this remarkable man. Nearer to our own day we have Irving, at the head of a church of miracle-workers; and J oe Smith, the founder of the miracle-working Mormons • yet there is. not the slightest sign of any tendency to impute any miracles to either of these men, other than those which the latter individual claimed for himself before his sect was established. These very striking facts seem to me to prove that there must be some basis of fact in nearly every alleged miracle, and that the theory of any growth or accretion round prominent individuals is utterly without evidence to support it. It is one of those convenient general statements which sound very plausible and very philosophical, but for which no proof whatever is offered. �21 THE DECLINE OF BELIEF IN MIRACLES. Another of Mr. Lecky’s statements is, that there is an alteration of mental conditions invariably accom­ panying the decline of belief. But this “invariable accompaniment” certainly cannot be proved, because the decline of the belief has only occurred once in the history of the world ; and, what is still more remark­ able, while the mental conditions which accompanied that one decline have continued in force or have even increased in energy and are much more widely diffused, belief has now for twenty years been growing up again. In the highest states of ancient civilisation, both among the Greeks and Romans, the belief existed in full force, and has been testified to by the highest and most intel­ lectual men of every age. The decline which in the present century has certainly taken place, cannot, therefore, be imputed to any general law, since it is but an exceptional instance. Again, Mr. Lecky says that the belief in the super­ natural only exists “ when men are destitute of the critical spirit, and when the notion of uniform law is yet unborn.” Mr. Lecky in this matter contradicts himself almost as much as Hume did. One of the greatest advocates for the belief in the supernatural was Glanvil, and this is what Mr. Lecky says of Glanvil. He says that Glanvil “ has been surpassed in genius by few of his successors.” ‘‘ The predominating characteristic of Glanvil’s mind was an intense scepticism. He has even been termed by a modern critic the first English writer who has thrown scepticism into a definite form ; and if we regard this expression as simply implying a profound distrust of human faculties, the judgment can hardly be denied. And certainly it would be difficult to fmd a work displaying less of credulity and superstition than the treatise on ‘The Vanity of Dogmatising,’ afterwards pub­ lished as Scepsis Scientifica, in which. Glanvil expounded his philosophical views......... The Sadducismus Triumphatus is probably the ablest book ever published in defence of the reality of witchcraft. Dr. Henry Moore, the illustrious Boyle, and the scarcely less eminent Cudworth, warmly supported Glanvil; and no writer comparable to these in ability or in­ fluence appeared on the other side ; yet the scepticism steadily ingreased.” �22 Again Mr. Lecky thus speaks of Glanvil:— -‘It was between the writings of Bacon and Locke that that latitudinarian school was formed which was irradiated by the genius of Taylor, Glanvil, and Hales, and which became th* very centre and seedplot of religious liberty.” M__‘ jail ipg These are the men and these the mental conditions vtwi which are favourable to superstition and delusion ! The critical spirit and the notion of uniform law are certainly powerful enough in the present day, yet ir every country in the civilised world there are now hun­ dreds and thousands of intelligent men who believe, on the testimony of their own senses, in phenomena which Mr. Lecky and others would term miraculous, anc therefore incredible. Instead of being, as Mr. Lecky says, an indication of “ certain states of society”—“ tht normal expression of a certain stage of knowledge or in­ wtt tellectual power”—this belief has existed in all states oi Ml-* society, and has accompanied every stage of intellectual power. Socrates, Plutarch, and St. Augustine alike, givr personal testimony to supernatural facts ; this testimony never ceased through the middle ages; the early reformers, Luther and Calvin, throng the ranks of wit- ~ nesses ; all the philosophers, and all the judges oi England down to Sir Matthew Hale, admitted that the ara evidence for such facts was irrefutable. Many cases tji have been rigidly investigated by the police authorities of various countries, and, as we have already seen, th-1 miracles at the tomb of the Abbe Paris, which occurred :.i_ in the most sceptical period of Trench history, in the ofv age of Voltaire and the encyclopaedists, were proved by wk such an array of evidence, and were so open to investi- mw gation, that one of the noblemen of that court—con---- * vinced of their reality after the closest scrutiny— /'.bi­ suffered the martyrdom of imprisonment in the Bastite A for insisting upon making them public. And in our _ own day we have, at the lowest estimate, many millions—afcr of believers in modern Spiritualism in all classes oi society; so that the belief which Mr. Lecky imputes '/rat' to a certain stage of intellectual culture only, apau pears on the contrary to have all the attributes of uni­ versality. �23 7/ IS THE BELIEF IN MIRACLES A SURVIVAL OF SAVAGE THOUGHT ? The philosophical argument has been put in another form by Mr. E. B. Tylor, in a lecture at the Royal Institution, and in several passages in his other works. He main tains-that all Spiritualistic and other beliefs in the supernatural are examples of the survival of savage thought among civilised people; but he ignores the facts which compel the beliefs. The thoughts of those edu­ cated men who know, from the evidence of their own senses, that things called supernatural are true and real facts, are as totally distinct from those of savages, as are their thoughts respecting the sun, or thunder, or disease, or any other natural phenomenon. As well might he maintain that the modern belief that the sun is a fiery mass, is a survival of savage thought, because some savages believe so too ; or that our belief that cer­ tain diseases are contagious, is a similar survival of the savage idea that a man can convey a disease to his enemy. The question is a question of facts, not of theories or thoughts, and I entirely deny the value or relevance of any general arguments, theories, or analo­ gies, when we have to decide on matters of fact. Thousands of intelligent men now living know, from personal observation, that some of the strange phenomena which have been pronounced absurd and i impossible by scientific men, are nevertheless true. It is no answer to these and no explanation of the facts, to tell them that such beliefs, only occur when men are destitute of the critical spirit, and when the notion of uniform law is yet unborn; that in certain states of society illusions of this kind inevitably appear, that they are only the normal expression of certain stages of knowledge and of intellectual power, and that they clearly prove the survival of savage modes of thought in the midst of modern civilisation. I believe that I have now shown—1. That Hume’s arguments against miracles are full of unwarranted assumptions, fallacies, and contradictions; 2. That the modern argument of the telegraph-wire conveyance and �24 drinking stone-lion, are positively no arguments at all, since they rest on false or unproved premises ; 3. That the argument, that dependence is to be placed upon men of science and upon them only, is opposed to uni­ versal experience and the whole history of science ; 4. That the philosophical argument' so well put by Mr. Lecky and Mr. Tylor, rests on false or unproved assump­ tions, and is therefore valueless. In conclusion, I must again emphatically declare that the question I have been discussing is—in no way whether miracles are true or false, or whether modern Spiritualism rests upon a basis of fact or of delusion,— but solely, whether the arguments that have hitherto been supposed conclusive against them have any weight or value. If I have shown, as I flatter myself I have done, that the arguments which have been supposed to settle the general question so completely as to render it quite unnecessary to go into particular cases, are all utterly fallacious, then I shall have cleared the ground for the production of evidence, and no honest man desirous of arriving at truth will be able to evade an enquiry into the nature and amount of .that evidence, by moving the previous question—that miracles are unprovable by any amount of human testimony. It is time that the “ derisive and unexamining incredulity ” which has hitherto existed should give way to a less dogmatic and more philosophical spirit, or history will again have to record the melancholy spectacle of men, who should have known better, assuming to limit the dis­ covery of new powers and agencies in the universe, and deciding, without investigation, whether other men’s observations are true or false. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; Archives. 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Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Pamphlet Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource An answer to the arguments of Hume, Lecky and others, against miracles Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Wallace, Alfred Russel [1823-1913] Description An account of the resource Place of publication: London Collation: 24 p. ; 18 cm. Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Printed for private circulation by James Beveridge, High Holborn Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1871 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G5231 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (An answer to the arguments of Hume, Lecky and others, against miracles), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Subject The topic of the resource Superstition Conway Tracts Miracles Superstition https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/fb8c72ceaed855269677f11ed7fcc672.pdf?Expires=1784764800&Signature=pQzEffXQXtk4iIGpEdEiBsszh7oIGzGvK55U6NdpQ1k7fDq1hRxoNCr74ipo165F0LKIyqigSAS4p7obtDle85XaYb22tNvZbvaP8IijQ%7E1ZbZSNaXFn0Y04M%7EFBgBi9lV54SSLz0Ky0Mrbtn198kJRQ2F2zadspvmYP71P%7EP8qyXdpos1edU9%7EMCqhNtzm48udC2IAcP4YYtIi0ObFYZqwhIx7R1Vo4Q1rVUX-KZpviqC4VIhzK1rEv3NyCkY7AHo%7ENHwsVGSjlSkSg6SvbBL9LzLpBl2xeGvN--OPLO5UvesXYshGBWyiJksHQXLt7WYFjxCWPcNIyN5zEEeBsaw__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 92af1ef847474167df1cfd59a5c85d56 PDF Text Text NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY AN ESSAY * ON MIRACLES. BY 'p DAVID HUME. WITH AN INTRODUCTION Commenting upon the views of Campbell, Paley, Mill, Powell, Greg, Mozley, Tyndall, Huxley, etc., 1SY JOSEPH MAZZINI WHEELER. “Apologists find it much more convenient to evade the simple but effective arguments of Hume than to answer them."—11 Supernatural Religion," vol. i.,p. 78. LONDON : I FREETHOUGHT PUBLISHING COMPANY, 28, STONECUTTER STREET, E.C. 1 882. PRICE THREEPENCE. �BIBLE ROMANCES. By G. W. FOOTE. 1. —THE CREATION. STORY' .................. 2. —NOAH’S FLOOD .................................. 3. —EVE AND THE APPLE.......................... 4. —THE BIBLE DEVIL.................................. 5. —THE TEN PLAGUES .......................... 6. —JONAH AND THE WHALE.................. 7. —THE WANDERING JEWS .................. A—THE TOWER OF BABEL .................. 9.—BALAAM’S ASS......................................... 10. —GOD’S THIEVES IN CANAAN ........... 11. —CAIN AND ABEL .................................. 12. —LOT’S WIFE .......................................... Id. Id. Id. Id. Id. Id. Id. Id. Id. Id. Id. Id. BIBLE ROMANCES—First Series—Containing the above Twelve Numbers, bound in handsome wrapper. Is. SECOND SERIES. 13. —DANIEL AND THE LIONS .......... 14. —THE JEW JUDGES .......................... Id. Id. The SECOND SERIES will soon be completed in six instalments. Other Pamphlets by G. W. Foote. Secularism the True Philosophy of Life. and a Defence ... ... ... An Exposition Atheism and Morality ........................................... 2d. The Futility of Prayer....................................... ' ... 2d. Death’s Test: or Christian Lies about Dying Infidels. 2d. Atheism and Suicide. (A reply to Alfred Tennyson—Paet Laureate)... ... ... .. " ... The God Christians Swear By .............................. 2d. Was Jesus Insane P ................................................. Id. London: FREETHOUGHT PUBLISHING COMPANY 28, Stonecutter Street, E.C. �INTRODUCTION. When an author has the fortune to be attacked by every succeeding writer upon the same subject for upwards of a century, and when his opinions, so far from being crushed out, become more widely spread by each “ refutation,” it induces a supicion that “ sophisms ” so constantly refuted may be truisms after all. This has been notably the case with the essay here reprinted. Since its first publication in 1748 it has been the bête noire of Christian controversialists. Campbell, IPhley, De Quincey, Chalmers, Whately, Babbage, Mansel, Mozley, and a shoal of ministerial minnows sailing in the wake of these theological Tritons, have felt it incumbent upon them to refute the “ sophisms ” of the sceptic Hume Yet no one will say that unbelief in the miraculous is upon the decline.. On the contrary, never were Christians less anxious to insist upon the supernatural elements of their îehgion, and never more willing to seek reconcilements with science ; never were there so many trained minds with perfect confidence that the uniformity of nature has never been dis­ turbed by coups d’état célestes. In truth, Hume’s argument, though so constantly assailed, has never been refuted at all. It has been misapprehended and evaded, but it remains as unanswerable as that of Arch­ bishop Tillotson against the real presence. And this, because m point of fact—the terms being rightly understood—it is a truism. John Stuart Mill well says: “Hume’s celebrated principle that nothing is credible which is contradictory to experience, or at variance with laws of nature, is merely this very plain and harmless proposition, that whatever is contra­ dictory to a complete induction is incredible. That such a maxim as this should either be accounted a dangerous heresy, or mistaken for a great and recondite truth, speaks ill for the state of philosophical speculation on such subjects-.” (“System of Logic,” book 3, chap, xxv., sec. 2.) Few essays so brief, for it must be borne in mind that the first part contains the argument complete in itself, have been so persistently misunderstood. The whole school of Christian evidence writers have either argued as it were an à priori argument against the possibility of miracles, or as if it were an argument against testimony being received for wonders • whereas it is neither the one nor the other. Principal Campbell, as Mill points out, considered it a complete answer to * Hume’s doctrine (that things are incredible which are contrary to the uniform course of experience) that we do not disbelieve. * “ Logic.” See the “ Three Essays,” p. 217. �2 merely because the chances were against them, things in strict conformity to the uniform course of experience. Yet no one would call an unusual combination which was found by experi­ ence to occur among the whole number of possible cases a. miracle, save in the popular, indefinite style of speech which is totally unfit for theological, and still more for logical, pur­ poses. And here lies the gist of the whole misunderstanding. Everyone knows that both etymologically and popularly the word miracle is equivalent simply to a wonder. But Hume’s argument is not directed against the occurrence of wonders, prodigies or unprecedented events; though it offers a criterion by which the value of their evidence can be judged. He was not such a simpleton as to contend, or intend, that no testi­ mony could be sufficient to add to our knowledge of the laws of nature. His argument is based on the theological definition of miracles as infractions of the laws of nature by a super­ natural being or beings exterior to those laws. The essay has done much to modify the views of theolo­ gians, and they have since its time done their best to class their miracles under’ “unknown laws.” Yet Canon Mozley, certainly the ablest late defender of miracles, admits that “ their evidential value depends entirely upon their deviating from the order of nature.” A miracle in the theological sense denotes not simply the counteraction of one natural law by another, which is not opposed to experience, but the suppres­ sion of the law of uniformity of cause and effect, which ex­ perience shows to be universal, and in which all other laws are included. As Hume puts it, unless there were an uniform * experience against any miraculous event, “the event would not merit that appellation.” If, by some unknown law, persons could, under given c onditions, be raised from the dead, such facts, however wonderful, would take their place in the vast scheme of nature, and no more be properly entitled supernatural than any other. But such an event is classed as a miracle, as our essayist says, “ because it has never been observed in any age or country.” The instance of the King of Siam rejecting accounts of ice has often, foolishly enough, been quoted against Hume by opponents who failed to notice the distinction between a dis­ covery of the laws of nature and their suspension. If we could be taken to a region where the dead rise at command with the same certainty that water freezes when the temperature is below a certain point the fact would be indubitable, but the miracle would be gone. We cannot admit a proposition as a law of nature and yet believe a fact in contradiction to it. We must disbelieve the alleged fact, or believe that we are See Mill’s “Essay on Theism,” p. 222. �8 mistaken in admitting the supposed law. In gaming the fact the miracle is lost; because to this, the supernatural nature or the fact, all testimony is incompetent. Mr. Vv. H. Greg pointed out that the assertion of a miracle being performed * involves three elements, a fact and two inferences. It predi­ cates, first, that such an event took place; second, that it was brought about by the act and will of the individual to whom it is attributed ; third, that it could not have been pro­ duced by natural means. The fact may have been conectly o served, and yet either or both of the inferences be unwarranted; or either inference may be rendered unsound by the slightest deviation from accuracy in the observation or statement ot the fact. Nay, any new discovery in science may show that the inference which has hitherto appeared quite irrefragable, was, in fact, wholly unwarranted and incorrect. But it has been said : Assume a supernatural power and the antecedent improbability of supernatural visitations is re­ moved. Paley says, “ In a word, once believe that there is a God, and miracles are not incredible.’’t To this assertion Mill has been thought to lend his. authority. He endorses Hume’s argument only as substantiating that ‘‘ no evidence can prove a miracle to anyone who did not previously believe the existence of a being or beings with supernatural power ; or who believes himself to have full proof that the character of the Being whom he recognises, is inconsistent with his having seen fit to interfere on the occasion in question. + Now this statement is inadequate. The existence of.God, if He be the Supreme Cause of the order of the universe, is rather an additional difficulty to those who think that order was created by Him and subsequently disturbed. The argument against miracles rests on our experience of the order of nature ; and is, therefore, equally valid whether a cause of that order be assumed or not. For the only test of the will or way of work­ ing of such a cause is to be found within the order itself. Any interference with that order still has to be. proved by testimony; and the question remains whether it is more credible that men have been deceived, or that the laws of nature have been disturbed? This last is the aspect of the argument which comes home to the popular mind. Every individual has experience that men lie and make mistakes ; none that miracles occur. Expe­ riment upon experiment; the records of generation after * “ Creed of Christendom,” vol. ii., p. 136. + Evidences of Christianity. “Preparatory Considerations.” + “System of Logic,” Bk. 3, ch. xxv., sec. 2. Dr. Farrar’s abuse of Mill’s reasoning is well exposed by the author of “ Supernatural Religion,” Pt. 1, ch. iii. �4 generation; the very stability of our life depends upon and confirms the belief m the uniformity of law “In the case of miracles, then,” says Professor Tyndall, “ it behoves us to understand the weight of the negative before we assign a value to the positive ; to comprehend the protest of nature before we attempt to measure with it the assertions of men. * Paley’s supposition of “ twelve men whose probity and good sense I had well known,” who should be ready, one after another, to be racked, burnt or strangled, rather than give up the assertion that they had witnessed miracles, does not even meeu the case. For how could it be shown that it was impos­ sible tor these twelve men to be deceived? Twelve infallible men w ould be as incredible as any miracle they were supposed to assert. Paley’s reference is simply a disingenuous attempt to. imply that twelve good witnesses testified to the Christian miracles at the time and in the place where they are said to have occurred, and that they suffered on this account. Whereas not one single original witness is known ; nor can even any early Christian be proved to have suffered for his belief in miracles. Professor Huxley, who,, in his admirable little book on Hume, very captiously, as it seems to me, takes exception to iiume s defining miracles in their theological sense, agrees that his arguments on the matter of testimony resolve them­ selves into a simple statement of the dictates of common­ sense, which may be expressed in this canon: the more a statement of fact conflicts with previous experience, the more complete must be the evidence which is to justify us in be­ lieving it. It is upon this principle that everyone carries on the business of common life. “ If,” continues the Professor, a man tells me he saw a piebald horse in Piccadilly, I believe ~.lm w^hout hesitation. The thing itself is likely enough, and there is no imaginable motive for his deceiving me. But if the.same person tells me he observed a zebra there, I might hesitate a little about accepting his testimony, unless I were well satisfied, not only as to his previous acquaintance with zebras, but as to his powers and opportunities of observation in the present case. If, however, my informant assured me that he beheld a centaur trotting down that famous thoroughrare, I should emphatically decline to credit his statement; and this even if he were the most saintly of men, and ready to suffer martyrdom in support of his belief. In such a case I could, of course, entertain no doubt of the good faith of the witness; it would be only his competency, which, unfortunately, * “ Fragments of Science,” “ On Miracles and Special Providence ” vol. ii., p. 33. 1879. ’ �5 has very little to do with good faith or intensity of conviction, which I should presume to call in question.”* The sceptic being securely entrenched in the first part of the essay, the second carries the war into the supernaturalists’ camp. With the confidence of a thorough student of human nature and historian, Hume gives his conviction that there is not in all history an wholly trustworthy testimony to mira­ culous events. Huxley says on this passage (page 10 of this edition):—“ These are grave assertions, but they are least likely to be challenged by those who have made it their busi­ ness to weigh evidence and to give their decision under a due sense of the moral responsibility which they incur in so doing.” Miracles are only alleged to have happened among people devoid of scientific information and critical spirit. The learned author of “ Supernatural Religion,” in his chapter on “ The Age of Miracles,’’gives abundant proof that the miracles now credited arose in a time of the grossest superstition, among a people believing in the every-day operations of angels and demons, full of religious excitement, and prone to exaggera­ tion. In an age of science, where no one expects miracles, they do not occur, and most are ready to take as evidence of superstition the belief in any others than those in faith of which they have themselves been reared. The same silent process which has destroyed the belief in fairies and witch­ craft has undermined all other supernatural beliefs, and they only await the application of criticism to be levelled with the dust. It is true the universe remains a mystery. In one sense every atom is a miracle. It is so because man’s faculties are finite and the relations of nature infinite. But the mystery ef nature affords no ground for belief in miraculous events, the only testimony for which has been handed down from superstitious and ill-informed ancestors. It is rather a reason for abiding by the only light we have—the light which comes from reason and observation. The part of a wise man is to study and investigate, and “ proportion his belief to the evidence.” There being slight variations in the various editions of the Essay, the present text has been carefully compared with all those in the library of the British Museum. * “English Men of Letters : Hume,” p. 134. �ON MIRACLES. -------- ♦-------- PART I. There is in Dr. Tillotson’s writings an argument against the real presence, which is as concise, and elegant, and strong as any argument can possibly be supposed against a doctrine that is so little worthy of a serious refutation. It is acknowledged on all hands, says that learned prelate, that the authority, either of the scripture or of tradition, is founded merely in the testi­ mony of the apostles, who were eye-witnesses to those miracles of our Savior, by which he proved his divine mission. Our evidence, then, for the truth of the Christian religion is less than the evidence for the truth of our senses ; because, even in the first authors of our religion, it was no greater; and it is evident it must diminish in passing from them to their disciples; nor can any one be so certain of the truth of their testimony, as of the immediate object of his senses. But a weaker evidence can never destroy a stronger; and therefore, were the doctrine of the real presence ever so clearly revealed in scripture, it were directly contrary to the rules of just reasoning to give our assent to it. It contradicts sense, though both the scripture and tradition, on which it is supposed to be built, carry not such evidence with them as sense, when they are considered merely as external evidences, and are not brought home to every one’s breast by the immediate operation of the Holy Spirit. Nothing is so convenient as a decisive argument of this kind, which must at least silence the most arrogant bigotry and superstition, and free us from their impertinent solicitations. I flatter myself, that I have discovered an argument of a like nature, which, if just, will, with the wise and learned, be an everlasting check to all kinds of superstitious delusion, and consequently, will be useful as long as the world endures. For so long, I presume, will the accounts of miracles and prodigies be found in all history, sacred and profane. Though experience be our only guide in reasoning concerning matters of fact; it must be acknowledged that this guide is not altogether infallible, but in some cases is apt to lead us into errors and mistakes. One, who, in our climate, should expect better weather in any week of June than in one of December, would reason justly, and conformably to experience; but it is certain that he may happen, in the event, to find himself mistaken. However, we may observe, that, in such a case, he would have no cause to complain of experience; �7 because it commonly informs us beforehand of the uncertainty, by that contrariety of events, which we may learn from a diligent observation. All effects follow not with like certainty from their supposed causes. Some events are found, in all countries and all ages, to have been constantly conjoined to­ gether : Others are found to have been more variable, and sometimes to disappoint our expectations; so that, in our reasonings concerning matter of fact, there are all imaginable degrees of assurance, from the highest certainty to the lowest species of moral evidence. A wise man, therefore, proportions his belief to the evidence. In such conclusions as are founded on an infallible experience, he expects the event with the last degree of assurance, and regards his past experience as a full proof of the future existence of that event. In other cases he proceeds with more caution: He weighs the opposite experiments: He considers which side is supported by the greatest number of experiments: To that side he inclines with doubt and hesi­ tation ; and when at last he fixes his judgment, the evidence exceeds not what we properly probability. All probability, then, supposes an opposition of experiments and observations; where the one side is found to overbalance the other, and to produce a degree of evidence proportioned to the superiority. A hundred instances or experiments on one side, and fifty on another, afford a very doubtful expectation of any event; though a hundred uniform experiments, with only one that is contradictory, reasonably beget a pretty strong degree of assurance. In all cases, we must balance the opposite experi­ ments, where they are opposite, and deduct the smaller number from the greater, in order to know the exact force of the superior evidence. To apply these principles to a particular instance ; we may observe that there is no species of reasoning more common, more useful, and even necessary to human life, than that derived from the testimony of men, and the reports of eye­ witnesses and spectators. This species of reasoning, perhaps, one may deny to be founded on the relation of cause and effect. I shall not dispute about a word. It will be sufficient to observe, that our assurance in any argument of this kind is derived from no other principle than our observation of the veracity of human testimony, and of the usual conformity of facts to the reports of witnesses. It being a general maxim, that no objects have any discoverable connexion together, and that all the inferences which we can draw from one to another are founded merely on our experience of their constant and regular conjunction; it is evident that we ought not to make an exception to this maxim in favor of human testimony, whose connexion with any events seems, in itself, as liitJo �8 necessary as any other. Were not the memory tenacious to a certain degree ; had not men commonly an inclination to truth and a principle of probity; were they not sensible to snanie wh.cn detected in a falsehood : TiVere not these, I say, discovered by experience to be qualities inherent in ’human natuie, we should never repose the least confidence in human testimony. A man delirious, or noted for falsehood and villainy has no manner of authority with us. ’ And as the evidence, derived from witnesses and human testimony, is founded on past experience, so it varies with the experience, and is reg'arded either as a proof or a proba­ bility according as the conjunction between any particular kind of report and any kind of objects, has been found to be constant or variable. There are a number of circumstances to be taken into consideration in all judgments of this kind; and the ultimate standard, by which we determine all disputes that may arise concerning them, is always derived from experience and observation. . Where this experience is not entirely uni­ form on any side, it is attended with an unavoidable contrariety in our judgments, and with the same opposition and mutual destruction of arguments as in every other kind of evidence. We frequently hesitate concerning the reports of others. We balance the opposite circumstances which cause tiny doubt or uncertainty; and when we discover a superiority on any side, we incline to it; but still with a diminution of assurance in proportion to the force of its antagonist. This contrariety of evidence, in the present case, may be derived from several different causes; from the opposition of contrary testimony, from the character or number of the wit­ nesses, from the manner of their delivering their testimony, or from the union of all these circumstances. We entertain a suspicion concerning any matter of fact when the witnesses contradict each other, when they are but few or of a doubtful character, when they have an interest in what they affirm, when they deliver their testimony with doubt and hesitation’ or, on the contrary, with too violent asseverations. There are many other particulars of the same kind, which may diminish or destroy the force of any argument derived from human testimony. Suppose, for instance, that the fact which the testimony endeavors to establish partakes of the extraordinary and the marvellous, in that case, the evidence resulting from the testi­ mony admits of a diminution greater or less in proportion as the fact is more or less unusual. The reason why we place any credit in witnesses and historians is not from any con­ nexion, which we perceive a priori, between testimony and reality, but because we are accustomed to find a conformity between them. But when the fact attested is such a one as �9 has seldom fallen under our observation, here is a contest of two opposite experiences; of which the one destroys the othc-, -as far . as its force goes, and the superior can only operate on the mind by the force which remains. The very same principle of experience, which gives us a certain degree of assurance in the testimony of witnesses, gives us also, in this case, another 'degree of assurance against the fact which they endeavor to establish; from which contradiction there necessarily arise a •counterpoise, and mutual destruction of belief and authority. “ I should not believe such a story were it told me by Cato ; ” was a proverbial , saying in Rome, even during the lifetime of that philosophical patriot (1). The incredibility of a fact, at was allowed, might invalidate so great an authority. The Indian prince who refused to believe the first relations concerning the effects of frost reasoned justly, and it naturally required very strong testimony to engage his assent to facts which, arose from a state of nature with which he was un­ acquainted, and bore so little analogy to those events of which he had had constant and uniform experience. Though they were not contrary to his experience, they were not conform­ able to it (2). But in order to increase the probability against the testi­ mony of witnesses, let us suppose that the fact which they n,inrm, instead of being only marvellous, is really miraculous, suppose also, that the testimony, considered apart and in itself, amounts to an. entire proof ; in that case there is proof against proof, of which the strongest must prevail, but still with a diminution of its force, in proportion to that of its antagonist. A miracle is a violation of the laws of nature; and as a firm and unalterable experience has established these laws, the proof against a miracle, from the very nature of the fact is as entire as any argument from experience can possibly ’be imagined Why is it more than probable that all men must y?e» iea(l cannot of itself remain suspended in the air • that fire consumes wood, and is extinguished by water; unless it be that these events are found agreeable to the laws of nature, and there is required a violation of these laws, or in other words, a miracle to prevent them? Nothing is esteemed a miracle if it ever happen in the common course of nature It is no miracle that a man seemingly in good health should •die on a sudden : because such a kind of death, though more unusual than any other, has yet been frequently observed to happen. But it is a miracle that a dead man should come to -Ute; because that has never been observed in any age or countrv There must, therefore, be an uniform experience against every miraculous event, otherwise the event would not merit that appellation. And as an uniform experience amounts to a proof �10 there is here a direct and full proof from the nature of the fact against the existence of any miracle; nor can such a proof be destroyed or the miracle rendered credible by an opposite proof, which is superior (3). . The plain consequence is (and it is a general maxim worthy of our attention), “ That no testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle unless the testimony be of such a kind that its false­ hood would be more miraculous than the fact which it en­ deavors to establish: And even in that case there is a mutual destruction of arguments, and the superior only gives us an assurance suitable to that degree of force which remains after deducting the inferior.” When anyone tells me that he saw a dead man restored to life, I immediately consider with myself whether it be more probable that this person should either deceive or be deceived, or that the fact which he relates, should really have happened. I weigh the one miracle against the other; and, according to the superiority which I discover, I pronounce my decision, and always reject the greater miracle. If the falsehood of his testimony would be more miraculous than the event which he relates; then, and not till then, can he pretend to command my belief or opinion. PART II. In the foregoing reasoning we have supposed that the testi­ mony upon which a miracle is founded may possibly amount to an entire proof, and that the falsehood of that testimony would be a real prodigy : But it is easy to show that we have been a oreat deal too liberal in our concession, and that there never was a miraculous event established on so full an evidence. * For first, there is not to be found in all history any miracle attested by a sufficient number of men, of such unquestioned yood sense, education, and learning as to secure us against all delusion in themselves; of such undoubted integrity as to place them beyond all suspicion of any design to deceive others; of such credit and reputation in the eyes of mankind as to have a o-reat deal to lose in case of being detected in any falsehood; and at the same time attesting facts, performed m such a public manner and in so celebrated a part of. the world, as to render the detection unavoidable: All which circumstances are requisite to give us a full assurance in the testimony of men. Secondly. We may observe in human nature a principle which, if strictly examined, will be. found to dimmish ex­ tremely the assurance which we might have from human testimony in any kind of prodigy. The maxim by which we commonly conduct ourselves in our reasonings, is, that the objects, of which we have no experience, resemble those of * The 1750 edition inserts: “ In any history.” �11 which we have; that what we have found to be most usual is always most probable; and that where there is an opposition of arguments, we ought to give the preference to such of them as are founded on the greatest number of past observations. But though, in proceeding by this rule, we readily reject any fact which is unusual and incredible in an ordinary degree; yet in advancing farther, the mind observes not always the same rule, but when anything is affirmed utterly absurd and miraculous, it rather the more readily admits such a fact, upon account of that very circumstance which ought to destroy all its authority. The passion of surprise and wonder, arising from miracles, being an agreeable emotion, gives a sensible tendency towards the belief of those events from which it is derived. And this goes so far, that even those who cannot enjoy this pleasure immediately, nor can believe those miraculous events of which they are informed, yet love to partake of the satisfaction at second-hand or by rebound, and place a pride and delight in exciting the admiration of others. With what greediness are the miraculous accounts of travellers received, their descriptions of sea and land mon­ sters, their relations of wonderful adventures, strange men, and uncouth manners ! But if the spirit of religion join itself to the love of wonder, there is an end of common-sense, and human testimony, in these circumstances, loses all pretensions to authority. A religionist may be an enthusiast, and imagine he sees what has no reality : He may know his narration to be fal3e, and yet persevere in it with the best intentions in the world for the sake of promoting so holy a cause: Or even where this delusion has no place, vanity, excited by so strong a tempta­ tion, operates on him more powerfully than on the rest of mankind in any other circumstances; and self-interest with equal force. His auditors may not have, and commonly have not, sufficient judgment to canvass his evidence : What judgment they have, they renounce by principle, in these sublime and mysterious subjects : Or if they were ever so willing to employ it, passion and a heated imagination disturb the regularity of its operations. Their credulity increases his impudence ; and his impudence overpowers their credulity. Eloquence, when in its highest pitch, leaves little room for reason or reflection, but addressing itself entirely to the fancy or the affections, captivates the willing hearers, and subdues their understandings. Happily, this pitch it seldom attains. But what a Cicero or a Demosthenes could scarcely operate over a Roman or Athenian audience, every Capuchin, every itinerant or stationary teacher, can perform over the generality of mankind, and in a higher degree, by touching such gross and vulgar passions (4). Thirdly. It forms a very strong presumption against all �12 supernatural and miraculous relations, that they are observed chiefly to abound among ignorant and barbarous nations; or if a civilised people has ever given admission to any of them, that people will be found to have received them from ignorant and barbarous ancestors, who transmitted them with that in­ violable sanction and authority which always attend received opinions. When we peruse the first histories of all nations we are apt to imagine ourselves transported into some new world, where the w’hole frame of nature is disjointed and every element performs its operations in a different manner from what it does at present. Battles, revolutions, pestilence, famine, and death, are never the effects of those natural causes which we experience. Prodigies, omens, oracles, judgments, quite obscure the few natural events that are intermingled with them. But as the former grow thinner every page, in proportion as we advance nearer the enlightened ages of science and knowledge, we soon learn that there is nothing mysterious or supernatural in the case, but that all proceeds from the usual propensity of mankind towards the marvellous, and that, though this inclination may at inter­ vals receive a check from sense and learning, it can never thoroughly be extirpated from human nature. ‘‘ It is strange,” a judicious reader is apt to say upon the peru­ sal of these wonderful historians, “that such prodigious events never happen in our days.” But it is nothing strange, I hope, that men should lie in all ages. You must surely have seen instances enow of that frailty. You have yourself heard many such marvellous relations started, which, being treated with scorn by all the wise and judicious, have at last been abandoned even by the vulgar. Be assured, that those re­ nowned lies which have spread and flourished to such a monstrous height, arose from like beginnings, but being sown in a more proper soil, shot up at last into prodigies almost equal to those which they relate. It was a wise policy in that false prophet, Alexander, who, though now forgotten, was once so famous, to lay the first scene of his impostures in Paphlagonia, where, as Lucian tells us, the people were extremely ignorant and stupid, and ready to swallow even the grossest delusion. People at a distance, who are weak enough to think the matter at all worthy inquiry, have no opportunity of receiving better information. The stories come magnified to them by a hundred circumstances. Fools, are industrious in propagating the imposture; while the wise and learned are contented, in general, to deride its absurdity, without informing themselves of the particular facts by which it .may be distinctly refuted. And thus the impostor above-mentioned was enabled to proceed from his ignorant Paphlagonians to the enlisting of votaries, even among the �13 Grecian philosophers and men of the most eminent rank and distinction in Rome : Nay, could engage the attention of that sage emperor, Marcus Aurelius, so far as to make him trust the success of a military expedition to his delusive prophecies. The advantages are so great, of starting an imposture among an ignorant people, that even though the delusion should be too gross to impose on the generality of them—which, though seldom, is sometimes the case—it has a much better chance of suc­ ceeding in remote countries, than if the first scene had been laid in a city renowned for arts and knowledge. The most ignorant and barbarous of these barbarians carry the report abroad. None of their countrymen have large correspondence or sufficient credit and authority to contradict and beat down the delusion. Men’s inclination to the marvellous has full opportunity to display itself. And thus a story, which is universally exploded in the place where it was first started, shall pass for certain at a thousand miles distance. But had Alex­ ander fixed his residence at Athens, the philosophers of that renowned mart of learning had immediately spread throughout the whole Roman empire, their sense of the matter; which, being supported by so great authority, and displayed by all the force of reason and eloquence, had entirely opened the eyes of mankind. It is true, Lucian, passing by chance through Paphlagonia, had an opportunity of performing this good office. But, though much to be wished, it does not always happen, that every Alexander meets with a Lucian, ready to expose and detect his im­ postures (5). I may add as a fourth reason which diminishes the authority of prodigies, that there is no testimony for any, even those •which have not been expressly detected, that is not opposed by an infinite number of witnesses ; so that not only the miracle destroys the credit of the testimony, but even the testimony destroys itself. To make this the better understood, let us consider, that in matters of religion, whatever is different is contrary, and that it is impossible the religions of ancient Rome, of Turkey, of Siam, and of China should, all of them, be established on any solid foundation. Every miracle, there­ fore, pretended to have been wrought in any of these religions (and all of them abound in miracles), as its direct scope is to establish the particular system to which it is attributed; so has it the same force, though more indirectly, to overthow every other system. In destroying a rival system, it likewise destroys the credit of those miracles on which that system was established ; so that all the prodigies of different religions are to be regarded as contrary facts, and the evidences of these prodigies, whether weak or strong, as opposite to each other. According to this method of reasoning, when we believe any miracle of Mahomet or any of his successors, we have for our �14 warrant the testimony of a few barbarous Arabians : And on the other hand, we are to regard the authority of Titus Livius, Plutarch, Tacitus, and, in short, of all the authors and witnesses, Grecian, . Chinese, and Roman Catholic, who have related any miracle in their. particular religion; I say, we are to regard theii testimony in . the same light as if they had mentioned that .Mahometan miracle, and had in express terms contradicted it, with the same certainty as they have for the miracles they relate. This argument may appear over subtle and refined, but is not in reality different from the reasoning of a judge who supposes that the credit of two witnesses maintaining a crime against any one is destroyed by the testimony of two others who affirm him to have been two hundred leagues dis­ tant, at the same instant when the crime is said to have been committed. One of the best attested miracles in all profane history is that .which Tacitus reports of Vespasian, who cured a blind man in Alexandria by means of his spittle, and a lame man by the mere touch of his foot; in obedience to a vision of the god Serapis, who had enjoined them to have recourse to the Emperor for these miraculous cures. The story may be seen in that fine historian (6); where every circumstance seems to add weight to the testimony, and might be dis­ played at large with all the force of argument and eloquence if anyone were now concerned to enforce the evidence of that exploded and idolatrous superstition. The gravity, solidity, age, and probity of so great an emperor, who, through the whole course of his life conversed in a familiar manner with his. friends and. courtiers, and never affected those extra­ ordinary airs of divinity assumed by Alexander and Demetrius: The historian, a cotemporary writer noted for candor and veracity, and withal the greatest and most penetrating genius perhaps of all antiquity; and so free from any superstition and credulity that he even lies under the contrary imputation of Atheism and pro.faneness : The persons, from whose testimony he related.the miracle, of established character for judgment and veracity, as we may well presume; eye-witnesses of the fact, and confirming their verdict after the Flavian family were despoiled of the empire, and could no longer give any reward as the price of a lie. TJtrumque, qui interfuere, nunc quoque memorant, postquam nullum mendacio pretium. To which, if we add the public nature of the facts as related, it will ap­ pear that no evidence can well be supposed stronger for so gross and. so palpable a falsehood. There is also a memorable story related by Cardinal de Betz, which may well deserve our consideration. When that intriguing politician fled into Spain to avoid the perse­ cution of his enemies he passed through Saragossa, the capital �15 of Arragon, where he was shown ^n^was well known had served seven years as a doo_ - p , devotions to everybody in at that chnrch. He had bee ri1bbin" of holy oil upon, a leg; but recovered that limb by the rub Jwo leUgiP’Thids mirade X vouched by all the canons3 of the the relator was also cotemporary.to the&nius; S7X°x^":"r<; i :«»: r»e“ardS» -to give any credit to it ^d conseq CO]lsidered justly, of anv concurrence m the holy traua. f+li..Atl,re “ ? Z accSly to ^■s^)rro^^^ree''^S^'^OQfr SavSy^and its falsehood through all the °irc^s^an k Y £ mediately present, by reason of the bigotry, 1g°^^0C™0^ ss-sssaaxgs by any human testimony, was more propeily a subject o ^Tteh^XieXalabreater number of miracles ascribed to o“^E those which were lately ; to have been wrought in France upon the tomb of Abbe Pans, ta Jansenist, with whose sanctity the people ^re s° 1on deluclecL Whp pnri-no- of the sick, giving hearing to the deal ana si&m io S bhnd wire everywhere talked of as the usual effects of Iw hSv sepulchre. But what is more extraordinary; many oflh^miraclto were immediately proved upon the spot^before iudo-es of unquestioned integrity, attested y rnoqf Stand distinction. in a learned Xid N^r is ftis alb l^SX^ofSem w^pSisSd and disperse'd everywhere ; nor were the Jesuits though a learned body supP°rted in oivil magistrate, and determined enemies to those opimonsi whose favor the miracles were said to h^7^eei».g^ll we .able distinctly to refute or detect them ( ). �16 XIS>of^fiSp°A±Z?i1Ce5 agreeiag t0 the “r- tb?utao?tnSie.U^ jusf; bTu?e some huma“ testimony has- distance have been able to determine between them ? The contrariety is equally strong between the miraclesTreated bv or th“e deUYered by MariaUa’ Me' country, his family, Or himself, or in any other way§strikes in with his natural inclinations and propensities But what greater temptation than to appear a missionary, a prophet an d±Zad0^?m uaVeU? Wh0^uld not encounter man? ter ?°%r ?fdh^U1pV inporde.r to attaiu so sublime a charac° ?y t^e help of vaW and a heated imagination ainf? the 5? made a ?onvert of himself and entered^seriously into the delusion; who ever scruples to make use of pious frauds m support of so holy and meritorious a cause ? lhe smallest spark may here kindle into the greatest flame because the materials are always prepared for it. The avicbum genus aurwularum(8), the gazing populace, receive greedily motesUwondSmatl°n’ whatever soothes superstition, and prol St?EeSi ?f this nature have in a11 ages been detected and exploded in their infancy? How many more have been celebrated for a time, and have afterwards sunk into negiect and oblivion? Where such reports, therefore, fly about, the solution of the phenomenon is obvious, and we iudge m conformity to regular experience and observation when we account for it by the known and natural principles of credulity and delusion. And shall we, rather than have a resource to so. natural a solution allow of a miraculous violation of the most established laws of nature ? i I need not mention the difficulty of detecting a falsehood in any private or even public history, at the time and place where it is said to happen, much more where the scene is removed to ever so small a distance. Even a court of judicature, with all �17 the authority, accuracy, and judgment, which they can employ, find themselves often at a loss to distinguish between truth and falsehood in most recent actions. But the matter never comes to any issue if trusted to the common method of alter­ cation and debate and flying rumors ; especially when men’s passions have taken part on either side. In the infancy of new religions the wise and learned com­ monly esteem the mattei- too inconsiderable to deserve their attention or regard. And when afterwards they would will­ ingly detect the cheat in order to undeceive the deluded multi­ tude, the season is now past, and the records and witnesses, which might clear up the matter, have perished beyond recovery. No means of detection remain but those which must be drawn from the very testimony itself of the reporters : And these, though always sufficient with the judicious and know­ ing, are commonly too fine to fall under the comprehension of the vulgar. _ Upon the whole, then, it appears that no testimony for any kind of miracle has ever amounted to a probability much less * to a proof; and that, even supposing it amounted to a proof, it would be opposed by another proof; derived from the very nature of the fact which it would endeavor to establish. It is experience only, which gives authority to human testimony; and it is the same experience, which assures us of the laws of nature. When, therefore, these two kinds of experience are contrary, we have nothing to do but subtract the one from the other, and embrace an opinion either on one side or the other with that assurance which arises from the remainder. But according to the principle here explained, this subtraction with regard to all popular religions, amounts to an entire annihilation; and therefore we may establish it as a maxim that no human testimony can have such force as to prove a miracle and make it a just foundation for any such system of religion (9). I am the better pleased with this method of reasoning, as X think it may serve to confound those dangerous friends or disguised enemies to the Ghistian religion, who have under­ taken to defend it by the principles of human reason. Our most holy religion is founded on Faith, not on reason, and it is a sure method of exposing it to put it to such a trial, as it is by no means fitted to endure. To make this more evident, let us examine those miracles related in scripture, and not to lose our­ selves in too wide a field, let us confine ourselves to such as we find in the Pentateuch, which we shall examine according to the principles of these pretended Christians, not as the word or testimony of God himself, but as the production of a mere * The first two editions read; “ Can ever possibly amount.' �18 human writer and historian. Here, then, we are first to con­ sider a book presented to us by a barbarous and ignorant people, written in an age when they were still more barbarous •and in all probability long after the facts which it relates, corroborated by no concurring testimony, and resembling those fabulous accounts which every nation gives of its origin. Upon reading this book, we find it full of prodigies and miracles. It gives an account of a state of the world and of human nature entirely different from the present: Of our fall from that state : Of the age of man extended to near a thousand years : Of the destruction of the world by a deluge : •Of the arbitrary choice of one people as the favorites of heaven and that people the countrymen of the author: Of their deliver­ ance from bondage by prodigies the most astonishing imagin­ able : I desire anyone to lay his hand upon his heart and after serious consideration declare whether he thinks that the false­ hood of such a book, supported by such a testimony, would be more extraordinary and miraculous than all the miracles it relates ; which is, however, necessary to make it be received according to the measures of probability above established. What we have said of miracles may be applied without any variation to prophecies; and indeed all prophecies are real miracles, and as such only, can be admitted as proofs of any revelation. If it did not exceed the capacity of human nature to foretel future events, it would be absurd to employ any prophecy as an argument for a divine mission or authority from heaven; so that, upon the whole, we may conclude that the Christian religion not only was at first attended with miracles, but even at this day cannot be believed by any reasonable person without one. Mere reason is insufficient to •convince us of its veracity: And whoever is moved by Faith to assent to it is conscious of a continued miracle in his own person, which subverts all the principles of his understanding, and gives him a determination to believe what is most con­ trary to custom and experience. NOTES. (1) Plutarch, in vita Catonis Min. 19. *(2) No Indian, it is evident, could have experience that water did not freeze in cold climates. This, is placing. nature in a situation quite unknown to him, and it is impossible for him to tell a priori what will result from it. It is making a new experiment, the consequence of which is always uncertain. One may sometimes conjecture from analogy what will follow; but still this is but conjecture. And it must be confessed, that in the present case of freezing, the event follows contrary to �19 Ihe rules of analogy, and is such, as a rational Indian would not look for. The operations of cold upon water are not Gradual according to the degrees of cold, but. whenever it comes to the freezing point the water passes m a moment from the utmost liquidity to perfect hardness. Such an event therefore may be denominated extraordinary, and requires a pretty strong testimony to render it credible to people in a warm climate ; but still it is not miraudous., nor contrary to uniform experience of the course of nature in cases where all the circumstances are the same. The inhabitants of Sumatra have always seen water fluid in their own climate,.and the freezing of their rivers ought to be deemed a prodigy: but they never saw water in Muscovy during the winter; and therefore they cannot reasonably be positive what would there be the consequence. (3) Sometimes an event may not, in itself, seem, to be con­ trary to the laws of nature, and yet, if it were real, it might, by reason of some circumstances, be denominated a miracle, be­ cause, in fact, it is contrary to these laws. Thus, if a person, claiming a divine authority, should command a sick person to be well, a healthful man to fall down dead, the clouds to pour rain, the winds to blow—in short, should order many natural events which immediately, follow upon his commandthese might justly be esteemed miracles, because they arereally, in this case, contrary to the laws of nature. For if any suspicion remain that the event and command concurred by accident there is no miracle and no transgression of the laws of nature. If this suspicion be removed, there is evidently a miracle, and a trans­ gression of these laws; because nothing can be more contrary to nature than that the voice or command of a man should have such an influence. A miracle may be accurately, defined, a transgression of a law of nature by a particular volition of the Deity, or by the interposition of some invisible agent. A miracle may either be discoverable by men or not. This alters not its nature and essence. The raising of a house or ship into the air is a visible miracle. The raising of a feather, when the wind wants ever so little of a force requisite.for that purpose, is as real a miracle, though not so sensible with regard to us. (4) The many instances of forged miracles, and prophecies, and supernatural events, which, in all ages, have either been detected by contrary evidence, or which detect themselves by their absurdity, mark sufficiently the strong propensity of man kind to the extraordinary and the marvellous., and ought reasonably to beget a suspicion against all relations of this kind. This is our natural way of thinking, even with regard to the most common and most credible events. i^For instance, there is no kind of report which rises so easily and spreads so quickly, especially in country places and provincial towns, as �20 those concerning marriages; insomuch that two young persons’ n^Sr1!,00^1011 “?ver see each Other twice, but thePwTole “fh’kborhood immediately join them together. The pleasure so interesting, the^ntefiSenceAnd of r.6 • 1Ug k Plece reporters of it, spread of propagating it and being the first hSeXS1 ¿ST “,r “of rnse evidenc? Bn „S confirmed by some greater inel^n fi. D noV?6 Sfme Pa?sions, and others still stronger ino- tv'+p e generality of mankind to the believing and reportm&ade^V116 Sre&teSt vebemence and assurance all religious (5)It may here perhaps be objected that I proceed rashlv Mvenrf mJ motions of -erely froâ the aecS given ot Mm by Lucian, a professed enemy. It were indeed, foil 6 Wisbed tbat some of the. accounts published by his contSSbSiaCCO^P neS had remained- The oppositio? and as^X hvZf? J6 Character aHd conduct of the same man Hfe m^ohbwnrï - ?b°r aU as strong’ even in common two ZÎin T * mSe ^l1^0118 matters, as that betwixt any two men m the world—betwixt Alexander and St. Paul for instance. See a letter to Gilbert West, Esq., on the conver­ sion and apostlesMp of St. Paul. 4 oonver aoSuSÏ’X VespP Suetoaius “““IF the seme ri„^j^^SA%°^:jra8yr^ei1 by Mons. deMontgeron, counsellor or judge of the Parliament of Paris, a man of figure and cha­ racter, who was also a martyr to the cause, and is now said to be somewhere m a dungeon on account of his book. /here is another book, in three volumes (called “Recueil des Miracles de 1 Abbe Pans ”), giving an account of many of these miracles and accompanied with prefatory discourses, which XiVerp ^Iel1 Wri-jt.en-1 Tbere runs’ however, through the whole of these a ridiculous comparison between the miracles SaV-f an<l th?S%0f tbe Abbé’ therein it is asserted that the evidence for the latter is equal to that for the former • Übu etesfr-onyof men could ever be put in the balance with that of God himself, who conducted the pen of the inspired writers. If these writers, indeed, were to be con­ sidered merely as human testimony, the French author is very moderate m his comparison, since he might, with some appear­ ance of reason, pretend that the Jansenist miracles much surpass the others in evidence and authority. The following circumstances are drawn from authentic papers inserted in the above-mentioned book. Many of the miracles of Abbé Paris were proved immediately by witnesses before the officiality or bishop’s court at Paris» under the eyes of Cardinal Noailles, whose character for in­ tegrity and capacity was never contested even by his enemies» �21 His successor in the archbishopric was an enemy to the Jansenists, and for that reason promoted to the see by the •Court. Yet twenty-two rectors or cures of Paris, with infinite earnestness, press him to examine those miracles, which they assert to be known to the whole world, and indisputably certain: But he wisely forbore. The Molinist party had tried to discredit these miracles in -one instance, that of Madamoiselle le Franc. But besides that, their proceedings in many respects are the most irregular in the world, particularly in citing only a few of the Jansenist’s wit­ nesses, whom they tampered with: Besides this, I say they •soon found themselves overwhelmed by a cloud of new witnesses one hundred and twenty in number, most of them persons of •credit and substance in Paris, who gave oath for the miracle. This was accompanied with a solemn and earnest appeal to the Parliament. But the Parliament were forbidden by authority to meddle in the affair. It was at last observed that where men are heated by zeal and enthusiasm there is no degree of human testimony so strong as may not be procured for the greatest absurdity : And those who will be so silly as to examine the affair by that medium, and seek particular flaws in the testi­ mony, are almost sure to be confounded. It must be a miser­ able imposture indeed that does not prevail in that contest. All who have been in France about that time have heard of the great reputation of Mons. Heraut, the Lieutenant de Police, whose vigilance, penetration, activity and extensive intelligence Fave been much talked of. This magistrate, who by the nature of his office is almost absolute, was invested with full powers on purpose to suppress or discredit these miracles; and he frequently seized immediately and examined the witnesses .and subjects of them; but never could reach anything satis­ factory against them. In the case of Madamoiselle Thibaut he sent the famous ■de Sylvia to examine her, whose evidence is very curious. The physician declares that it was impossible she could have been so ill as was proved by witnesses, because it was impossible she could in so short a time have recovered so perfectly as he found her. He reasoned like a man of sense from natural •causes ; but the opposite party told him that the whole was a miracle, and that his evidence was the very best proof of it. The Molinists were in a sad dilemma. They dared not assert the absolute insufficiency of human evidence to prove a miracle. They were obliged to say that these miracles were wrought by witchcraft and the devil. But they were told that this was the resource of the Jews of old. No Jansenist was ever embarrassed to account for the cessation of the miracles, when the churchyard was shut up by the king’s edict. It was the touch of the tomb which �22 produced these extraordinary effects ; and when no one could approach the tomb, no effects could be expected. God indeed could have thrown down the walls in a moment; but he is master of his own graces and works, and it belongs not to us to account for them. He did not throw down the walls of every city like those of Jericho on the sounding of the rams’’ horns, nor break up the prison of every apostle like that of St. Paul. No less a man than the Due de Chatillon, a duke and peer of France of the highest rank and family, gives evidence of a miraculous cure performed upon a servant of his, who had lived several years in his house with a visible and palpable infirmity. I shall conclude with observing that no clergy are more celebrated for strictness of life and manners than the secular clergy of France, particularly the rectors or cures of Paris who bear testimony to these impostures. The learning, genius, and probity of the gentlemen, and the austerity of the nuns of Port Royal, have been much celebrated all over Europe. Yet they all give evidence for a miracle wrought on the niece of the famous Pascal, whose sanctity of life, as well as extraordinary capacity, is well known. The famous Racine gives an account of this miracle in his famous history of Port-Royal, and fortifies it with all the proofs which a multitude of nuns, priests, physicians and men of the world, all of them of undoubted credit, could bestow upon it. Several men of letters, particularly the Bishop of Tournay, thought this miracle so certain, as to employ it in the refutation of Atheists and Freethinkers. The Queen-Regent of France, who was extremely prejudiced against the Port-Royal, sent hei’ own physician to examine the miracle, who returned an absolute convert.. In short, the supernatural cure was so uncontestable that it saved for a time that famous monastery from the ruin with which it was threatened by the Jesuits. Had it been a cheat, it had certainly been detected by such sagacious and powerful antagonists and must have hastened the ruin of the contrivers. Our divines who can build up a formidable castle from suoh despicable materials, what a pro­ digious fabric could they have reared from these and many other circumstances which I have not mentioned!—How oft would the great names of Pascal, Racine, Arnaud, Nicole, have resounded in our ears ? But if they be wise, they had better adopt the miracle as being more worth a thousand times than all the rest of their collection. Besides, it may serve very much to their purpose. For that miracle was really per­ formed by the touch of an authentic holy prickle of the holy thorn, which composed the holy crown, which, etc. (8) Lucret, iv., 594. �('9'1 I beg the limitations here made may be remarked when I say that a miracle can never be proved so as to be the founda­ tion of a system of religion. For I own, that otherwise there may possibly be miracles or violations of the usual course of nature, of such a kind as to admit of proof from human testi­ mony, though perhaps it will be impossible to find any such in 51 ¿he recordsP of history. Thus, suppose all authors m all languages agree that from the 1st of January 1600, there was a total darkness over the whole earth for eight days: SuPPos® that the tradition of this extraordinary event is still strong and lively among the people, that all travellers who return from foreign countries bring us accounts , of the same tradition without the least variation or contradiction: It¡is evident that our present philosophers, instead of doubting that fact, to receive it for certain, and ought to search for the causes whence it might be derived. The decay, corruption, and dis­ solution of nature, is an event rendered probable by so many analogies, that any phsenomenon which seems to have a tendency towards that catastrophe, comes within the reach of human testimony, if that testimony be very extensive and U1 But^uppose that all the historians who treat of England should agree, that, on the 1st of January 1600, Queen Eliza­ beth died; that both before and after her death she was seen by her physicians and the whole court, as is usual with person» of her rank; that her successor was acknowledged and pro­ claimed by the Parliament; and that, after being interred a month, she again appeared, took possession of the throne, and governed England for three years : I must confess I should be surprised at the concurrence of so many odd circumstances, but should not have the least inclination to believe somiraculous an event. I should not doubt of her pretended death and of those other public circumstances that followed it: I should only assert it to have been pretended, and that.it neither was nor possibly could be real. You would m vam obiect to me the difficulty and almost impossibility of deceiving the world in an affair of such consequence ; the wisdom and integrity of that renowned queen; with the little or no advantage which, she could reap from so poor an artifice: All this might astonish me; hut I would still reply that the knavery and folly of men are such common phenomena that I should rather believe the most extraordinary events to arise from their concurrence than admit so signal a violation ot the laws of nature. , ~ But should this miracle be ascribed to any new system of religion men in all ages have been so much imposed on by ridiculous stories of that kind, that this, very .circumstance would be a full proof of a cheat, and sufficient with all men of �24 sense not only to make them reject the fact, but reject it without farther examination. Though the being to whom the miracle is ascribed be in this case Almighty, it does not upon that account, become a whit more probable ; since it is impossible for us to know the attributes or actions of such a Benig, otherwise than from the experience which we have of ms productions m the usual course of nature. This still reduces us to past observation, and obliges us to compare the instance of the violations of truth in the testimony of men with those of the violation of the laws of nature by miracles m order to judge which of them is most likely and probable’ As the violations of truth are more common in the testimony concerning religious miracles than in that concerning any other matter of fact; this must diminish very much the authority of the former testimony, and make us form a general resolution never to lend any attention to it, with whatever specious pretext it may be covered. ‘■’•Lord Bacon seems to have embraced the same principles of reasoning:—“ We ought,” says he, “to make a collection or particular history of all monsters and prodigious births or productions, and in a word of everything new, rare, and extra­ ordinary m nature. But this must be done with the most severe scrutiny, lest we depart from truth. Above all every relation must be considered as suspicious which depends in any degree upon religion, as the prodigies of Livy: And no less so, everything that is to be found in the writers of natural magic or alchemy, or such authors, who seem, all of them to have an uncontrollable appetite for falsehood and fable.” hacienda enim est congeries sive historia naturalis par­ ticulars omnium monstrorum et partuum naturse prodio-i®sorum; omnis denique novitatis et raritatis et inconsueti in natura. Hoc vero faciendum est cum severissimo delectu, ut constet fides. Maxime autem habenda sunt pro suspectis quae pendent quomodocunque ex religione, ut prodigia Livn: Nec minus quae inveniuntur in scriptoribus ma^iae naturals, aut etiam alchymiae, et hujusmodi hominibns; qui tanquam proci sunt et amatores fabularum.”—“Nov Organ ” lib. 2., Aph. 29. ° ” London: Freethought Publishing Company, 28, Stonecutter St., E.CL �A new edition, the best ever issued, printed in large type, on good paper, Is.; cloth gilt, Is. 6d. THE AGE OF REASON. Complete, with Preface by C. Bradlaugh. In Two Volumes, neatly bound in cloth, 8s.; or in Forty-Six Numbers, 2d. each. THE DEVIL’S PULPIT: BEING Astronomico-Theological Discourses. By the Rev. ROBERT TAYLOR, B.A., of St. John’s College, Cambridge, Author of the “ Diegesis,” “ Syntagma,” &c. (Reprinted verbatim from Richard Carlile's original edition.) Paper Covers, Is.; Cloth Gilt. Is. Gd. The True Source of Christianity; 0r5 A Voice from the Ganges. By AN INDIAN OFFICER. “ This is a reprint of a very scarce work. The author gives a thorough analysis of the Gospels, and shows how they differ from each other and from authentic history ; traces the obliga­ tions of Christianity to Pagan and Rabbinical teaching, and the close resemblance of many of its doctrines to the tenets of the Essenes : examines the prophetical claims of the Evangelists on behalf of Christ ; and freely criticises, although in no ungenerous spirit, the moral and religious ideas of Christ himself. He does all this with considerable aid from authoritative scholars, and his numerous quotations will be especially valuable to the amateur champions of Freethought in their contests with the representa­ tives of Christianity. We cordially recommend this little volume of 138 pages which is one of the cheapest shilling’s-worth we have yet seen.”—Freethinker. London: Freethought Publishing Company, 28, Stonecutter St.,E.C. �THE FREETHINKER. Edited PUBLISHED by G. W. FOOTE. EVERY THURSDAY. Price One Penny. THE FREETHINKER is first of all aggressive. It wages relent­ THE THE THE THE THE less war against Superstition in general, and against Christian Superstition in particular. No personal attacks, however, will. he made, except when the practical rights of Freet&iukers are assailed, in which case retaliation is only a form of Self-defence; or when persons and principles are s0 closely identified that both must be struck together. FREETHINKER assists the propaganda of heresy by fur­ nishing hints to those engaged in it as to the policy they .. should pursue. Special attention is given during the summer months to out-door advocacy. FREETHINKER is not full of long, lumpy articles. It is something between English and American journalism, and, without being trivial, as smart as the editor can make it. Under the head of “ Acid Drops ” the reader will find some racy paragraphs on orthodox ideas and practices ; jvhile under the head of “ Sugar Plums ” will be found succinct records of the progress of Freethought in all parts of the world whence such information can be obtained. American and European papers are laid under contribution. FREETHINKER, in order to stimulate the courage and activity of all workers in the good cause, from time to time gives biographical sketches of those heroes and martyrs of progress who in past days made greater sacrifices for freedom than are now either necessary or possible. FREETHINKER keeps a sharp eye on professional Chris­ tians (priests, parsons, preachers or lecturers), and does its utmost to catch them tripping in their advocacy or public conduct, and to expose them before the world. FREETHINKER also does its best to employ the resources of Science, Scholarship, Philosophy, and Ethics against the claims of the Bible as a Divine Revelation; and it does not scruple to employ for the same purpose any weapons of ridi­ cule or sarcasm that may be borrowed from the armory of Common Sense. A copy sent weekly for one year, post free, for (i.s\ Qcl.; six months, ?js.?>d. Freethought Publishing Company, 28, Stonecutter St., E.C. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; Archives. 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Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Pamphlet Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource An essay on miracles Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hume, David [1711-1776] Wheeler, Joseph Mazzini [1850-1898] Description An account of the resource Place of publication: London Collation: 24 p. ; 18 cm. Notes: Includes bibliographical references. Publisher's advertisements inside front cover and inside and on back cover. "With an introduction commenting upon the views of Campbell, Paley, Mill, Powell, Grey, Mozley, Tyndall, Huxley, etc. by Joseph Mazzini Wheeler". [Front cover]. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Freethought Publishing Company Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1882 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context N315 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (An essay on miracles), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Subject The topic of the resource Miracles Superstition Miracles NSS