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THE REASONER.
EDITED BY G.
No. 888.]
J.
HOLYOAK E.
LONDON, NOVEMBER i, 1868.
Price id.
“I am by the law of my nature a Reasoner. A person who should suppose I meant by that word,
an arguer, flPOuld not only not understand me, but would understand the contrary of my meaning.
I can tak^to interest whatever in hearing or saying anything merely as a fact—merely as
having happened. I must refer to something within me before I can regard it with any curiosity
or care. I require in everything a reason why the thing is at all, and why it is there or then rather
than elsewhere or at another time.”—S. T. Coleridge.
THE PRIESTHOOD OF SCIENCE: THEIR VISIT TO NORWICH.
NEW thing has occurred in the history of the old City, which has
seen many strange things in its time. The British Association for
the Advancement of Science has paid Norwich a visit, and has been
as cordially welcomed, as hospitably entertained, and as civilly treated,
as in any city into which it has travelled. Indeed Mr. Harvey and
Lady Henrietta Harvey, entertained the Members at Crown Point in a
Royal way. By day the grounds were resplendent with gaiety, by night
radiant with fire, accompanied by a costly profusion which knew no
limits, of all that the daintiest appetite could appreciate : and in addition
Mr. Harvey made no speeches and asked none in return ; so that the
philosophic digestion was never disturbed by untimely efforts at coining
phrases of thanks. This was a refinement of philosophic hospitality un
exampled in my experience. The Mayor’s (Mr. J. J. Coleman) final
dinner, truly, left upon the minds and palates of the guests, pleasant
recollections of the civic hospitality of the ancient city of Churches.
And what a pleasant old city of Churches, Norwich is. Ecclesiastical
genius once dwelt there. The old , temples, were no bare Bethels, but
such as a man of taste could worship God in. Even Dissenting Chapels
caught an air of grace which they lack in other places. Still having
regard to the prodigious number of Churches in the City, it is hard to
resist the impression that Norwich must at one time been as wicked as
Gomorrah; and when the population was scanty there must have been a
Church to every family. Certainly a grim taste dwelt among the
citizens once, when they hung up the Ketts alive—one on the Castle
and the other brother on Wymondham Steeple. There must have
been a revolting vigour in the pious stomach, which could look up
morning after morning and calculate how long the famishing wretch
would last in his irons: and go in to pray with the consciousness of that
ghastly agony writhing over the altar. Then there was that ugly hole
the Lollard’s Pit, where they roasted any man who had an opinion of
his own, as to the faith which he thought most acceptable to God.
Even gentlemen and women were scorched, who declined to enter
A
No. I. EIGHTH SERIES.
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REASONER REVIEW.
heaven in the Norwich way, and if any bystander expressed pity for
so forlorn an end, the clergy fried him on the shortest notice, until his
sympathies evaporated. Even now in the reverberations of the old
trees you may detect fragments of shrieks of the writhing wretches.
All this took place at the back of the Bishop’s palace, and his Grace of
that day had the scent of smoking heretic wafted into his breakfast
room, and even now in the old carvings and cornices of the Cathedral
the dreadful odour seems to linger. We have, however, come on better
times now. A series of the best Bishops England has known of late
years have filled the see of Norwich, of which the last, Dr. Hinds, has
displayed a brave conscience. But whether in the battle of pikes or
books, there was always pluck in your Norfolk man, whether Knight
or tradesman, priest or rascal.
It is within the recollection of many Norwich men, who inherit the
Lollard courage of thinking for themselves, that Richard Carlile who
was an occasional speaker to the City, used to pray, especially in the
latter portion of his life, that there might arise in England a Priesthood
of Science. It seemed then like the distant dream of a prophet •, but we
have lived to see it realized. The names of Tyndall, Huxley, Hooker,
Darwin, Spencer, Grove, Lewes, Lyell are names which rule in the
realms of thought, as those of priests did of old, but with a distinction
and beneficence no priests ever exercised. The visit of the philosophers
was attended with some spiritual perturbations, but they left behind
them many blessings.
One of the features of the British Association was the Pre-Historic
Society, the President of which was Sir John Lubbock. No word was
so often- pronounced, no placards were so copiously seen, as those of
the pre-historic people. Their very name smelt strongly of heresy.
Many theological nostrils started at it. To investigate the doings of
man before History began was a personal attack upon Moses, and
many good souls thought that a Baronet might be expected to set a better
example. The British Association commenced its career thirty-eight
years ago with only one Christian sign, which nobody desires to imitate
—that of “fear and trembling.” It begged permission to have an
opinion—it apologized next for having one, and several Presidents did
worse—they tried to harmonise the discoveries of Science with the
dogmas of Religion. Of late years, Presidents have put on more of the
dignity of philosophers, and the independence of thinkers, and have
asserted a right to the territory they have conquered. The British
Association in my time, has never had a President with so wholesome
and impassioned a mind as Dr. Hooker. The tones of his voice were
manly and sincere. He spoke like one who cared for Science, and
asserted its dignity with intrepidity no President ever ventured upon
before. . .Mr. Herbert Spencer’s system of philosophy is as Atheistic as
the positive philosophy of Auguste Comte: yet Dr. Hooker did not
hesitate to name the author and to praise him. The author of the
�THE PRIESTHOOD OF SCIENCE.
3
“ Vestiges of Creation” found it necessary to wear a mask, Dr. Darwin
wrote boldly without one, though proving what the other had only
ventured to suggest. Dr. Hooker distinguished Dr. Darwin by grace
ful homage, Though the President holds at Kew an appointment
under the Crown, he did not hesitate to avow opinions by the side of
which, those of Dr. Colenso, the most honoured and heroic of our
Bishops, seems orthodox.
Dr. Hooker, said “ Science has never in its search hindered the
religious aspirations of good and earnest men; nor have pulpit cautions,
which are but ill disguised deterrents, ever turned inquiring minds from
the revelations of Science.” The President knew the ill office the pulpit
had often done Science, and he drew attention to its “ deterrents.” He
did more, he pointed out where the Priest fails us and Science serves
us. These were his bold words: “ A sea of time spreads its waters
jbetween' that period to which the earliest traditions of our ancestors
[point, and that far earlier period, when man first appeared upon the
globe. For his tract upon that sea man vainly questions his spiritual
teachers. Along its hither shore, if not across it, Science now offers to
pilot himS Dr. Hooker then stated the mission and determination of
the natural philosopher. “ Science, it is true/may never sound the
depths of that sea, may never buoy its shallows, or span its narrowest
■creeks, but she will still build on every tide-washed rock, nor will she
deem her mission fulfilled till she has sounded its profoundest depths
and reached its further shore, or proved the one to be unfathomable
and the other unattainable, upon evidence not yet revealed to mankinds
The President next drew the line between the work of the religionist
and students of nature. “The laws of mind are not yet relegated
to the domain of the teachers of physical science, and that the laws of
matter are not within the religious teacher’s province, these may then
work together in harmony and with good-will. But if they would do
this work in harmony, both parties must beware how they fence with
that most dangerous of all two-edged weapons, Natural Theology—a
■science, falsely so called, when, not content with trustfully accepting
truths hostile to any presumptuous standard it may set up, it seeks to
weigh the infinite in the balance of the finite, and shifts its grounds to
meet the requirements of every new fact that Science establishes, and
every old error that Science exposes. Thus pursued, Natural Theology
is to the Scientific man a delusion, and to the religious man a snare,
leading too often to disordered intellects and to Atheism.” Dr. Paley’s
never received so scalping a criticism as this before.
Professor Tyndall who so astonished the “bold Duke of Buccleugh,”
in his famous lecture to the Working-men of Dundee, last year, carried
forward this year in Norwich'—his demonstrations which no one put
more boldly or brilliantly than himself, of the truths which materialism
may count as her own. When I last spoke in Norwich, it was in discussion with my friend Thomas Cooper, who was disconcerted, when I
�4
REASONER REVIEW.
told him, that as an humble student of Nature, I could discern some of
the processes of causation, but could not explain why they occurred 9
and maintained that Theology itself had not imparted any portion of
the secret to him. Now the greatest authority upon Materialistic Phil
osophy—Professor Tyndall—has told the people of Norwich, in the
presence of the most competent tribunal in Europe; that where the
Materialist is mute the Theologist is also dumb. Professor Tyndall
demonstrated, that the Atomic Action of common Salt, is as formative and
instrumental of design as the architect of the Pyramids of Egypt—that
the growth of thought is the result of processes, as definite as the me
chanical growth of the body, and that the agerft of development in Matter
and Mind “ is a power which has feeling, not knowledge for its base.’l
Hitherto it had been thought the “respectable and proper ” thing
for Scientific men to follow the policy of suppression ; no allusion to the
Atheist was ventured upon. If anything told in favour of the Materialist it
was thought better not to mention his name. Scientific men did not call
him gross or defame him, as a person whose liberal principles pro
ceeded from a loose morality; but they never admitted in high places,
places of public notice, that he had an existence which could be recog
nized or principles that must be taken into account. Professor Tyndall
however, is not one of this order; he did justice to truth, regardless
of “propriety.”—He said in his opening address to his Section:
“ In affirming that the growth of the body is mechanical, and that
thought, as exercised by us, has its correlative in the physics of the
brain, I think the position of the ‘Materialist’ is stated as far as that
position is a tenable one. I think the Materialist will be able finally
to maintain this position against all attacks.”
Two memorable Lectures were delivered in Norwich, one by Pro
fessor Huxley and the other by Mr. Ferguson. A miracle of audacity
was Mr. Ferguson’s Lecture upon Buddhism. Stolid as an Assyriarl
Statue, bronzed with the sun of every clime, Mr. Ferguson told the
story of a great religion which arose ages before Christianity, and
disseminated nobler sentiments, and maintained a career by the side
of which that of Christianity seems poor and petty. This religion which
existed ages before Christianism, taught how pain might be avoided
and life made happy. The great object of the religion was to inculJ
cate kindliness to animals, and above all to establish thoroughly, love
and kindliness among men. One of the edicts of this religion was called
the edict of toleration, and it was one which Christians might with much
propriety follow. It was to the effect that a man must honour his own
faith without blaming that of another, and that there were circumstances
under which the faith of another should be honoured. This Prince
preached the doctrine all over India, and it was by persuasion alone
that it was propagated. There was not a single instance of religious
persecution on the part of this people, although they had to endure
much persecution themselves. Their faith and doctrine was good-wUl
�THE PRIESTHOOD OF SCIENCE.
5
to men, and they never sought to obtain converts to it.” Mr. Ferguson
very quietly said that Christianity might learn a lesson of toleration
from [its memorable and nobler] predecessor. Mr. Ferguson told us
of an old religion, that of the tree and serpent worship, which once
Jcovered the earth, the proofs of which (the best accessible to us) were
locked up forty-five years in a stable, in Whitehall Yard. After
demonstrating the prevalence and antiquity of this extraordinary Faith,
he said in the quietest manner possible, looking the Bishop of Norwich
(who sat near him) in the face. “If this kind of worship had been a
mere local superstition of India, it would be hardly worth his while to
devote so much attention to this point, but I believe that it had pre
vailed in the world from the earliest times. The history of the tree
and the serpent in the book of Genesis, I believe, was a remnant of
that old worship, and the curse of the serpent was a curse of that
impure religion.” Then arises the question ! Why, said Moses nothing
about it? Was Moses ignorant, or why was Moses silent? The
author of Genesis dropped both ages and nations out of his narrative,
and told us nothing of his stupendous omissions. But more wonderful
than the matter, was Mr. Ferguson’s manner. He announced these
revelations, new to the World and wondrous to the Norwich mind,
which takes Moses to be a reliable, historian—in the quietest matter
of fact way, as though each knew that Moses/cOld be nowhere
in his facts, if he read a pre-historic paper aMrojffie British Association.
Dr. Hooker introduced Professor Huxley to thelarge meeting in the
Drill Hall as “a friend of the woAinp'-man whollilP at^trouble to
instruct him.” Without a word of preface, Mr. Huxley said “ if a
shaft were sunk at my feet, deep ijjtp' the eaWhiSthose who conducted
the operation would pass through various strata of earths, but at
length they would arrive at that substance of which every carpenter
carries a piece in his pocket—and which we call ‘ chalk” and for one hour
and a half, he discoursed in language of perfect simplify'and trans
parency, of the diffusion, formation, and marVefi|us age of chalk. The
narrative never halted, and was never obscure. It had no brilliant periods
which illuminated dark passages. It was all light, you saw all along the
line of thought, and over all the vast field through which the Professor
travelled, who ended with a simple, single metaphor of such beauty and
brilliancy that it re-illumed, in a double sense, all the tracks through
which his discourse had extended. He saidjEl have now reached the
end of my task. If I were to take a piece oCTwijand put it into the
dull and obscure flame of burning hydrogen, it would, after a while
be converted into a substance which would shine like the sun, and
which would illuminate on all sided if theseSlalls were not about us,
the darkness of the night without. I have been endeavouring to turn
upon this piece of chalk the heat of by no meaifi a particularly brilliant
course of reasoning, and by degrees, I hope, you helping me, that this
piece of chalk has in an intellectual sense begun to shine, that it has
�6
REASONER REVIEW.
lighted up the remote vista of the past history of the world, that it has
enabled you to get some sort of glimpse into that marvellous and
astonishing history of the planet which we men of Science are trying
patiently and quietly to unravel. And the most important conclusion
of all is that wherever its rays have shone, it has revealed to you,
always working without haste and without rest, Natural Causation?]
A working-man got up and said “they had never heard anything
like that in Norwich before ; they had all been delighted; many had
been instructed; and some, he feared, had been alarmed.” It was
a simple and worthy speech. For never did Science seem so vast and
mere creeds so little, as during Professor Huxley’s masterly discourse.
The Bishop of Norwich said at the Mayor’s Dinner “ he welcomed
men of Science as fellow workmen, as fellow students of different
volumes, occupying different departments of the one Divine Master.”
This is an admission that the field of Science is a Divine department.
“ The great meeting ” he said, “ tended to show that men of faith
should enquire more and men of Science believe more.” It is necessary
advice that “ men of faith should enquire,” men of Science are sure to
believe all that is true. Lamarck when he started the theory of the
origin of species was regarded on all hands as an Atheist and was
treated as one, and Darwin paused twenty years before he ventured
to incur the inheritance of the same odium.
The Rev. J. M. Berkeley, the president of the Biological Section, very
generously defended Dr. Darwin—he said “ nothing could be more
unfair or unwise than to stamp at once this and cognate speculations
with the charge of irreligion. Of this, however, he felt assured, that
the members of that Association would unite with him in bidding that
great and conscientious author, God speed, and join in expressing a
hope that his health might be preserved, to enrich Science with the
results of his great powers of mind and unwearied observation.”
Canon Robinson, who preached at St. John’s, Maddermarket, said,
very liberally, “ that geology teaches us the eternity of God, astronomy
His power, and chemistry His wisdom,while the Bible—His revelation—
speaks to us of His righteousness.” This gives three things to Science—
reserving one to Revelation—a considerable reduction of the magnitude
of theological professions, to which we have been accustomed !
The Dean of Cork made, in his sermon at the Cathedral, concessions
equally remarkable. “We cannot,” he said, “ demonstrate the super
natural. The demonstration of the supernatural is an impossibility: it
is a contradiction in terms. No amount of facts in the world of nature
will ever prove the existence of a world above nature. The very facts
produced to prove the supernatural are supernatural facts; they
are miracles and prophecy. No amount, therefore, of this kind of
evidence would demonstrate the supernatural. Between the man who
believes only what he sees, and the man who believes in order that he
may see, there is a necessary and an endless opposition.”
�THE PRIESTHOOD OF SCIENCE.
7
As for not being able to “ prove the supernatural,” Theologians have
been trying to do it all their lives; and have only just found out
that they- cannot succeed : and the man “ who belives in order that he
may see ” will wear out his faith before he improves his eyesight,
k The Rev. G. Gould preached at St. Mary’s Chapel the most irrelevant
sermon in the Science Week. He, however, admitted that “ Science
may lead us into the secrets of God’s work round about us,” and that
is more than Theology has done. “ But Science,” added Mr. Gould,
“ cannot change the moral nature of man, cannot uplift him of itself
from the degradation into which he may have sunken, through his lusts
and passions, through the caprices in which he has indulged, and the
(mistakes in which he has delighted, that nothing but light from heaven
can irradicate the gloom in which man has immured himself by sin;
nothing but the grace of God, as it is manifested in Christ Jesus, the
light of the world, can at once lay hold of the corrupt human nature,
and by its very teaching purify that nature ; ” Theology, however, has
been so long in trying to do this, and has not done it yet—that
pcience is now entitled to a turn. Even the Earl of Shaftesbury admits
that Spiritural light cannot be expected to grow out of bad material
Conditions, and Science which makes possible good conditions may
“ purify human nature ” faster than Mr. Gould supposes.
The Rev. J. Crompton delivered a lecture worthy of a free Christian
Church and of the occasion that gave rise to it.
In future Free-enquiry in Norwich will have honourable recognition.
The Norfolk News which has not usually been regarded as a Freethinking Journal, wrote upon the subject at the close of the Association
in terms which might be fit for the Reasoner Review or the National
Reformer. It said, “ we therefore strongly urge on our readers the
duty of encouraging the utmost freedom of thought and investigation.
Let no such weakness be exhibited amongst us as some miserable
‘ apologists ’ for Christianity have shown elsewhere, lest something
[may be found out, which ‘ the defenders of the faith ’ would be unable
to answer. They are poor defenders, and that must be a poor faith
which has to supplicate gainsayers, not to gainsay, and sues for mercy
This is boldly and bravely said: it is impossible not to respect Christi
anity when it assumes this frank, fair and courageous tone.
Norwich has an Ecclesiastical atmosphere. If Churches could save
the people the whole county of Norfolk might hope to be translated
to heaven. But in the sacred City itself there are poor, ignorant,
Iniserable and unhealthy people. If every preacher were a teacher,
every creature in Norwich should be well taught. But there are
purlieus no man could wish to see; wretched habitations; courts noisome
with disease; dwellings in which Prince Albert would not have
Buffered his hounds to live. These have grown up with the Churches,
and subsist with them. But a Priesthood of Science would purge the
City in twelve months and make it as intelligent and wholesome as
�REASONER REVIEW.
it is rich in historic renown. Piety has never given the people a park.
Dr. Hooker pleaded for one, but the trust of the people is more in
Mr. Harvey than in the clergy, for the possession of it.
Mr. Ferguson told us that before the time of Asoko, 250 b. c. there
was not in India a single temple worthy of the name, but he taught
the art of gracefulness in such erections. It would be well if the
Free-thinkers of Norwich had some Prince Asoko, who would teach
them that honourable art, for though the temples of Baal do abound,
they have done nothing, as yet, to secure to themselves a place, where
the new cause of Science can be adequately illustrated. The books,
the aims, the news of Science, its moral and liberalising tendencies,
must be entirely unknown to thousands of the inhabitants of Norwich,
and a Society careful of things decent, and afraid of nothing' true,
might open its doors to people who would be grateful for the oppor
tunity of reading and hearing. It is likely that persons of very
opposite opinions would carry into effect a plan by which the humbler
men of all parties would benefit.
The people of Norwich have now the means of judging of the
relative value of men of Creeds, and men of Science. The Clergy save
souls—men of Science save lives, and by improving human conditions
of existence, save from sin which endangers souls: and the people
of Norwich will now see how different is their mode of proceeding.
How timid and supplicatory the one—how manly, how confident the
other—how commanding in its influence is this Priesthood of Science !
Its language how courageous, its tone how independent! The priest
begins with a prayer for help, in addition to his own strength, he
invokes supernatural aid—he points a collect like a Chassepot rifle
at the head of the hearer. The Dissenting minister piles prayer upon
prayer, and puts all heaven in a flutter to aid him in his discourse,
and creates such a din of Hymns in the air, that no aspiration of the
philosopher can be heard as it ascends.
But the man of Science imitates none of these arts of feebleness:
he tells his straightforward story, he adduces his facts and trusts to
reason to give him the victory. He appeals to no terror, he raises
no fear, he scolds no hearer; he does not tell him that he is
stiff-necked, or rebellious, or that he withholds his assent from
depravity of heart.
The Priest of Science is proud and decent
in language, and asks nothing from his hearer, but attention. This was
a new tone in Norwich, and it will be long before the memory
of it dies away.
G. J. H.
The subject of the Next Number will be WORKING-CLASS REPRE
SENTATION. Published November 15, 1868.
’
LONDON BOOK STORE, 282, STRAND.
�
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The priesthood of science: their visit to Norwich.
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Holyoake, G.J.
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Place of publication: London
Collation: 8 p. ; 22 cm.
Notes: From The Reasoner, no. 888, November 1 1868. From the library of Dr Moncure Conway.
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1868
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Science
Rationalism
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Conway Tracts
Norwich
Religion and science