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PROFESSOR TYNDALL’S
INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
[From The Inquirer of September 5, 1874.]
HE Inaugural Address delivered at Belfast, on
August 19, by Professor Tyndall, President of
the British Association, has probably come like a
thunder-clap to thousands who have read it or heard
of it. For here is one of the strongest, one of the
most generally acknowledged, representatives of
science, the chief, indeed, of the highest scientific
society in the world, from the very throne of science
—the presidential chair—speaking what will seem to
multitudes no other, than the most undisguised
Materialism, which to them will also be the blankest
Atheism. For it will seem the burden of the Address,
that matter alone is the mother and cause of all things,
and that beside it there is no other cause. No God,
no human soul.
When so intelligent a journal as the Spectator thus
interprets the Address in the issue immediately after
its delivery, we may be sure that thousands of persons
will thus interpret it also. And this word of Tyndall,
coming from such a source, supported by such pres
tige and such authority, will make the hearts of many
quail and sicken with fear and sadness. They will
feel a great darkness falling on them. The same
doctrine they will no doubt have often heard before,
but not from such a quarter, with such distinctness,
and coming with such terrible weight. They have
T
�2
thought of it hitherto as the craze of individual and
eccentric scientists, but now it comes as the testimony
of the whole spirit of science, past and present,
spoken through the mouthpiece of one of her latest
and greatest sons. And the thought cannot but
whisper itself: “ Is it, then, really true, or, if not
true, is science going to be all-powerful and make it
seem true, and so make it ultimately prevail ? If so,
then hope and faith must fade. Religion will have
no place. Prayer and preaching will cease. All the
various creeds through which we believe and about
which we contend will equally vanish. Religious
societies will be dissolved, and the whole spirit of
our civilisation must be changed, so that it is terribleto think what the future ages may be.”
We cannot wonder that already the tocsin of alarm
has resounded from many a pulpit. We may be sure
that for months, perhaps years to come, there will be
heard from thousands of pulpits protests, arguments,
denunciations, pleadings, intended to lay the terrible
ghosts which this memorable Address has raised.
But what is it that Dr Tyndall has really said to
cause such sensation and such fear ? He has simply
said out boldly what science has been really saying,
though often with timid, hesitating speech, for many a
year, we may say for many an age. It is this : that
matter, as we become more and more acquainted with it,
shows itself to us as capable, by its own inherent laws
and forces, of developing into all the forms and causing
all the phenomena in the universe that we witness or
experience. And so with matter given to begin with,
existing it may be in its crudest form, but still with
all its inherent laws and forces, there is no need of
any other Being, any Creator, any God to mould it,
for it will infallibly mould itself. It is but the same
thought with a wider extension which Laplace
uttered : “ I ask no more than the laws of motion,
heat, and gravitation, and I will write you the
nativity and biography of the solar system.”
�3
Yet do not let us be alarmed through mistaking
the real force and bearing of this apparently most
materialistic affirmation. Observe at the outset the
expression, that matter being given with its inherent
laws and forces, no other creator is necessary to
mould it. Surely not, we, too, say, because the
Creator, the eternal former and sustainer, is in the
laws and forces : they are but the expression of his
action. It is not, then, against the idea of God
Himself that the hostility of science, as represented
by the President of the British Association, is
directed, but against a form of thought in which
men in general have clothed God and presented him
to their minds. They have thought of Him under
the image of a Great Artificer, one who, using matter
as his raw material, worked it up by his power and
skill into the forms which we behold. It is this
thought of an Almighty Artificer, separate from
matter, that science cannot tolerate. But the de
struction of this form of thought, instead of plunging
us into the darkness of Atheism, opens upon us the
light of true Theism. It leaves us free to form
another far grander and worthier thought of God,
that of the In-dwelling, all-forming, and all-sustaining
Spirit of the Universe, which it is clear that Dr Tyndall
recognises under what he calls a Cosmical life—that
is, a life of the Universe.
The truth is, that this conception of God as the
Great Artificer has been inadequate and erroneous
from the beginning. We can now see that it was an
idol, because not the highest conception that we can
form, though perhaps inevitable to the times of
ignorance at which God has winked. And science,
like a young Abraham, has sought from its very
youth to break the idol in pieces. This is why
science has seemed so Atheistic in its tendencies.
The legend of Abraham preserved in the Koran is,
that when he was a young man he went into one of
the temples of his people in their absence and broke
�in pieces all the idols except the biggest there.
Abraham’s hostile feeling towards the idols was
known. He was arrested and brought before the
Assembly. “ Hast thou done this unto our gods,
O Abraham ? ” they inquired. “Nay, that biggest
of them has done the deed : ask them, if they can
speak.” For a time the people were confounded
with his reply, but soon recovered to say to oneanother, “Burn him, and avenge your gods.” The
young Abraham, science, conceived from the first a
hostility to the idol of an artificer God set up in the
temple of man’s mind, and sought to destroy it.
Dr Tyndall’s Address is partly a history of these
endeavours of science to break in pieces the idol.
He tells how in the infancy of Greek science Demo
critus, the laughing philosopher, declared his uncom
promising antagonism to those who deduced the
phenomena of nature from the gods. Empedocles,
who probably met death in his zeal for science in the
burning crater of Etna, and then Epicurus, followed
in the footsteps of Democritus. In the century
before Christ the Roman poet Lucretius boldly
announced the doctrine that Nature was sufficient for
herself. “If,” said he, “you will apprehend and
keep in mind these things, Nature, free at once and
rid of her high lords (the gods and demons), is seen
to do all things spontaneously of herself without the
meddling of the gods.” Whilst science slept, during
the Middle Ages, the voice of protest was not heard;
but when she awoke again, in the era of the Refor
mation, Giordano Bruno, once an Italian monk, again
raised the old witness, and declared that the infinity
of forms under which matter appears were not
imposed upon it by an external artificer. “ By its
own intrinsic force and virtue f he said, “ it brings
these forms forth. Matter is not the mere naked,
empty capacity which philosophers have pictured it,
but the universal mother who brings forth all things
as the fruit of her womb.” And the devotees of the
�5
idol, an artificer god, which he sought to break in
pieces, said, “Burn him, and avenge your god.” And
the Venetian Inquisitors did burn him at the stake.
Taking up Tyndall’s thought, we can now see that
the whole progress of science has seemed to strengthen
the protest and to give more strength to the doctrine
of Lucretius and Bruno, that “ matter, by its own
intrinsic force and virtue, brings these forms (of
nature) forth.”
Newton’s “Principia” went to show that, given,
in matter, the force and law of gravitation and the
laws of motion, there needed no artificer now to
conduct the solar system. The nebular hypothesis
of Kant and Laplace set forth that matter originally
needed no artificer to mould it into worlds, if we
suppose its particles scattered abroad in space
endowed with repulsion and attraction. They would
of themselves form rings, planets, satellites, and sun.
Dalton’s Chemistry showed that if we suppose a few
kinds of primordial atoms of different magnitudes, or
endowed with different forces and possessing certain
laws of attractive affinity, no artificer is necessary to
combine them into the innumerable compounds and
endow them with the qualities with which we are
familiar.
Darwin’s “ Origin of Species ” and
“ Descent of Man ” suggested that, given certain
organic forms of lowly type, no artificer was needed
to construct all the countless forms of organic nature.
For there were in these lowly forms intrinsic force and
virtue, by which they develop into higher forms, and
these into higher, until the ascidian becomes the man.
Herbert Spencer, and now Tyndall, suggest that even
in the inorganic forms of air, water, phosphorus, and
a few other elements, there are intrinsic force and
virtue to make them at some period or other of the
world’s history—Bastian says to make them now—of
themselves combine and form organisms of low type,
which develop, according to Darwin’s idea, even into
higher type ; therefore these inorganic atoms possess
�6
a latent life. Huxley would persuade us not only
that these inorganic atoms come in organic forms to
live, but that in the human brain they think and feel
and will. Thus every line of scientific inquiry seems
to have led to larger and larger belief in Bruno’s
intrinsic force and virtue of matter, making more
and more needless the conception of a Supreme
Artificer.
But we shall be mistaken if we suppose that this
antagonism between matter and God—that is, God
as the Artificer—has been felt only in the world of
science. It has been felt, too, though with less open
confession, in the world of religion. It has been
felt, it may be, where ignorance was bliss. As long
as science was unknown or ignored in the Church,
as during the Middle Ages, religions minds could
hold the belief in an artificer God without misgiving.
But as soon as science began to creep into the Church,
the paralysis of faith began. From that moment was
acted over again the story which the Greek poets
give us of the Theban Sphinx, the beautiful monster,
half-maid, half-lion, who, sitting on a rock, proposed
enigmas to the passers-by, and those who could not
answer them destroyed.
Beautiful but terrible science became the Sphinx.
She was always proposing to those who came near
her the enigma, “How can matter, which seems to
have force and virtue in it sufficient to account for
all things, have any need for an artificer Creator ? ”
And those who could not answer the question were
lost as to their faith in God. This, we believe, is
partly the explanation of the coldness and deadness
that came upon our Churches, especially our Pres
byterian Churches, during the last century. Ministers
and people had become more educated, they had
learnt something of the new science that was rising;
and then they heard the enigma of the Sphinx and
were troubled. Thenceforth it was a struggle with
them to believe. They had lost the child-like faith of
�7
their fathers. The old heartiness of prayer was gone.
Ministers and people began to be shy of strictly reli
gious topics, and to fall back on these ethical common
places of which they were more sure. And if this
same coldness and deadness has lasted on in some of
our churches till our own day, we suspect it has been
because there the old conception of God as the Arti
ficer has been maintained, whilst all the while the
Sphinx has been putting the question which has made
it unbelievable ; and that it is chiefly where the new
conception of the In-dwelling God has been introduced
through the influence of men like Dr Channing,
Martineau, and Theodore Parker, that the devotional
life has been again quickened and deepened.
Truly, then, men like Tyndall and Huxley, Spencer
and Darwin, with the terrible weapons of their
materialism, do but break down an old and much
battered idol which has long been the cause of dread
ful doubts, even to its own devotees, and has set
religion and science at bitter variance. But in
breaking down the idol they are doing us the greatest
service. They are letting in the light; they are
leaving us face to face with a conception of God
before hidden from us by our idol, but which presents
him to us not only in a form which science will allow
—before which, indeed, science and religion become
one—but in a form which is immeasurably grander,
more beautiful, and every way worthier of God than
that which has been broken down. Let us clearly
recognise that, when Tyndall claims for matter that
it is sufficient for everything, he is not thinking of
matter as that dead brute thing which the mass of
men suppose it. To him, as to Herbert Spencer,
matter is but the manifestation of a Great Entity, in
itself unknown and unknowable. It is but the
garment of what Tyndall calls the great cosmical
life—the great life of the cosmos—the Universe.
What is this Great Entity, what is this Great
Cosmical Life, but the Eternal God Himself, of whom,
�8
and through whom, and to whom are all things, who
“besets us behind and before,” and “ in whom we
live and move and have our being ” ? What is this
■conception suggested of the relation of God to the
world but that of the Psalmist—“The heavens shall
wax old as doth a garment, and as a vesture shalt
thou change them ” ? And what is this doctrine of
the unknown and unknowable life but that of Job?
“Lo ! these are parts of his ways, but how little a
portion is heard of him ! but the thunder of his power
who can understand ? ”
T. E. P.
FRITTED BY C. W. REYNELL, LITTLE PULTEKEY STREET, HAYMARKET.
�
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Victorian Blogging
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & 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>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Title
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Professor Tyndall's inaugural address
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: [London]
Collation: 4 p. ; 18 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Signed 'T.E.P.'; possibly Thomas Elford Poynting. The Address was given in Belfast to the British Association for the Advancement of Science on August 19, 1874. Reprinted from 'The Inquirer', September 5, 1874. Printed by C.W. Reynell, Little Pulteney Street, London. "The address before the annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science was an occasion to state the aims and concerns of the premiere body of elite men of Victorian science. It was consequently one of the most prestigious places from which to pronounce on what men of science should be doing. John Tyndall famously used his address in 1874 to argue for the superior authority of science over religious or non-rationalist explanations. By the time of this address the Association had largely been taken over by the young guard, men like T.H. Huxley and Tyndall. Nevertheless, Tyndall's bold statement for rationalism and natural law was made in Belfast, a stronghold of religious belief then as now and so it was taken as an aggressive attack on religion. The address was popularly believed to advocate materialism as the true philosophy of science. It remains a powerful call for rationalism, consistency and scepticism." From Victorianweb: http://www.victorianweb.org/science/science_texts/belfast.html [accessed 12/2017].
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[Thomas Scott]
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[1874]
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G5529
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[Unknown]
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Philosophy
Rationalism
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<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 (Professor Tyndall's inaugural address), 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>
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application/pdf
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Text
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English
Conway Tracts
Materialism
Natural Law
Philosophy and Science
Rationalism
Science and Religion
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Text
SCIENTIFIC MEN
AND RELIGIOUS TEACHERS
mum
SUGGESTED BY PROFESSOR HUXLEY’S ADDRESS TO THE
STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN
AND
PREACHED IN THE FREE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, KENTISH TOWN
T-
■
BY
P. W. CLAYDEN
'Appovia 7ratra
avopoiow avyKeiTat
LONDON
E. T. WHITFIELD, 178, STRAND, W.C.
MANCHESTER : JOHNSON AND RAWSON
1874
�THE FREE CHRISTIAN CHURCH,
Clarence Road, Kentish Town,
ds founded on the principles set forth in the Constitution of
the late Free Christian Union:—
“ Whereas with the progressive changes of thought and feeling
uniformity in doctrinal opinion becomes ever more precarious, while
moral and spiritual affinities grow and deepen, and whereas the
Divine Will is summed up by Jesus Christ Himself in Love to
God and Love to Man, and the terms of pious union among men
should be as wide as those of communion with God:
“This Society, desiring a spiritual union co-extensive with these
terms, invites to common action all who deem men responsible, not
for the attainment of Divine truth, but only for the serious search of
it; and who rely, for the improvement of human life, on filial Piety
and brotherly Charity, with or without more particular agreement in
matters of doctrinal theology. Its object is, by relieving the Chris
tian life from reliance on theological articles or external rites, to save
it from conflict with the reason and conscience of mankind and
bring it back to the essential conditions of harmony between God
and Man 1”
�I.
“Then said Jesus unto the twelve, will ye also go away?
Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go ?
Thou hast the words of eternal life.”—JOHN vi. 67-68.
promised to day to speak
the remark
able
in Professor
address to
I HAVEpassageUniversity ofHuxley’son in which the
students of the
Aberdeen,
he
gives expression to the highest word of science in re
spect to practical religion. The subject, ho‘wever, sug
gests a preliminary question, which it is of great im
portance to discuss and settle. In giving what I regard
as the natural reply of religious men to a teacher
who tells them to do what they can to do what they
ought, and leaye hoping and fearing alone, one may
be open to the charge of making too much of one
transitory phase of scientific scepticism. But it has
always been my aim to connect the thought of the
Church with the thought of the world. Though the
preacher’s duty is to call your thoughts away from
the passing to the eternal, he should adopt the
spirit of the Terentian maxim, and his motto should
be, I am a man of my time, and whatever interests
the men of my time interests me. Now, one ten
dency of the men of our time is that of setting up
Popes. Caesarism in politics is the curious birth of
a democratic age, and the setting up of new autho
rities, even though it be authorities in scepticism, is
the remarkable effect of an outburst of free thought.
Because Mr. Huxley has made great discoveries as
to the physical basis of life he must assume to teach
us as to its spiritual duties. Because Mr. Darwin
has made some shrewd suggestions on the physical
origin of man I must sit at his feet to learn my des
�4
tiny. Because Dr. Tyndall has made large additions
to many realms of our knowledge of nature I must
accept his assurance that if I do anything else than
study material things I shall waste my time. This
setting up of oracles is a very ancient weakness of
mankind. The Church of Rome found rest in that
infallibility of the Church which, in our own days
has developed into the infallibility of the Pope.
When the Reformers revolted from this authority
they set up another, and for an infallible Church sub
stituted an infallible Book. The present generation
has broken away from an infallible Bible, and has
taken its unchained intellect, its daring thought, its
untameable speculation, to lay it all down at the feet
of infallible Science. It is as great a heresy in some
quarters to express a doubt as to the authority of a
scientific man, as in others it is to doubt the inspira
tion of the Bible, or in some others to question the in
fallibility of the Church. Men who laugh the Church
to scorn, and smile like superior beings on any one
who believes in the Bible, lose all their self-possession
in presence of a great scientific authority, and when
Huxley, or Tyndall, or Darwin, or Spencer speak,
uncover their heads as in the presence of an oracle
and say in manner, if not in words,—“ It is the voice of
a God, and not of a man.” This is not the fault of
scientific men—it is the fault of human nature. We
are too idle to think out a creed for ourselves, and we
are glad to find an authority to do our thinking for
us. To a certain extent we are right in so doing. If
a man has spent his life in the study of a single
question, he is likely to know more about it than
those of us who have only thought it over now and
then. If, for example, a man has occupied the best
years of his active life in studying the habits of an
insect—say, of a spider or a fly—he is likely to be an
authority on that point, and when he says anything
about spiders or flies, we yield to his superior know
ledge, and, until somebody else disproves all his
�5
peaching, we give him full allegiance and take our
belief about spiders and flies from his authority. But
that is the full extent to which we yield to authority.
If a man knows and I do not know; if he has seen
and I have not seen ; if he has studied and inves
tigated and I have not done so, I feel no shame in
yielding to his superior knowledge, and in that one
matter I sit at his feet and learn of him.
But mark whither this very simple principle leads
us. I hear men say that they scorn to be the disciples
of any man. They will take up with enthusiasm any
new fact which a scientific man tells them about the
distant past of this planet’s history; they will sit
with admiring delight at the feet of men who, having
patiently watched the heavens, or spent a lifetime in
studying the doings of an invisible animalcule, can
tell them of wonderful movements in the atmosphere
of the sun, or describe how a globe-shaped creature
in a drop of water can turn itself inside out; but when
great prophetic voices tell them of a universe which
they have seen in spiritual contemplation behind the
shadows of these material things ; or when a great
soul, standing far above our common level, cries down
the ages “ Come unto me all ye that labour and are
heavy laden and I will give you rest,” they laugh
such pretensions to scorn. To me it seems that both
kinds of teachers rest their claims on like foundations.
I do not know, a«id they do know. They testify to
me what they have seen and felt and handled, whether
of physical knowledge or of the Word of Life. Spend
ing our time in the world’s common duties, you and I
have no means of watching the physical phenomena
of the universe, and we take the testimony of men'
who have watched and seen. Occupied and immersed
in the world’s affairs we cannot draw aside into that
life of contemplation in which the seers and sages of
our race catch the outlines of other worlds, hear the
wisdom of the immortals, and hold communion with
God, and we therefore come to them, to learn divine
�6
wisdom from them and find the secret of their peace.
The mountain they ascend is veiled in clouds and
darkness ; but when they come down, like Moses of
old, with a light upon their faces which is not of this
earthly sun, and tell the story of their converse face
to face with God, I am content to accept on their
authority what I cannot verify for myself. And when
in one among them I see the signs of a divine en
lightenment ; when in his life I feel that all which
conscience tells me is embodied and acted out; when
his precepts speak to my heart as never man spake
before, I am content to come and sit at his feet and
hear his words ; I feel no shame in looking up to him
and being discipledto him. Thou knowest and I am
ignorant—oh teach me wisdom. Thou seest and I
am blind—oh lead my way. “ Lord, to whom shall we
go?—Thou hast the words of Eternal Life.”
Now it seems to me that Peter’s expression in these
words gives us the true attitude of discipleship. How
natural an attitude it is. If a man has knowledge
which I do not possess I take it from him as an
authority. Among the blind the one-eyed is king—
so, among the ignorant, the man who knows is lord.
But here comes in the abuse of this principle against
which I want to enter a protest to-day. The principle
on which all discipleship is based, is—superiority. If
I feel that a man is my superior in any matter, I feel
so far rest and satisfaction in leaving myself in his
hands. If beyond this, I have a perfect trust in his
goodness, in his friendly and benevolent feeling, and
in his personal regard for me, my tendency to lean on
him is indefinitely increased. It is the very same
feeling which makes the child hush its crying when
the mother’s arms are round it, or the young man
happy and contented in the course of conduct he
takes under his father’s counsel. It is the feeling, too,
which enables an army to go into the trackless bush
and face an almost invisible and numberless enemy,
under the guidance of a leader whose knowledge it
�7
trusts, and whose wisdom it believes in. But this
•very mingling of personal affection in discipleship
gives rise to an abuse. For example, is there any
reason why a soldier, who might follow a great com
mander into battle should therefore take from the
same man his political opinions or his religious creed ?
Yet it seems to me that this is exactly the mistake
which has been made in all time. It was no doubt
wise that in the mediaeval church some authority
should rule the ecclesiastical body in matters of dis
cipline and ritual; and this arrangement grew into an
infallible Church and Pope. It was well in the stir
ring times of the Reformation to have some authority
to fall back on, reverend in its age, venerable in its
associations, and this was found in the words which
had come down in the Bible from the prophetic souls
of fotmer ages. But because these holy men of old
could inspire our devotion and lead our praise, they,
too, were set up as infallible teachers of universal
knowledge, and their words, whether they spoke of
those spiritual things which they knew or of those
worldly and scientific things of which they were
ignorant, were all alike taken as inspired, and infallible,
and divine. Something parallel to this is now taking
place in respect of science. The age has made won
derful discoveries. It has pushed the bright bound
aries of our knowledge over vast plains that to our
fathers lay in the boundless desert of the unknown
and unknowable. It has won a victory over nature
and the forces of the outer world, such as earlier ages
had never dreamed of. But when our scientific men
come back to tell the story of the vast conquests they
have made, we ask them of other matters. Because
a man has. found out the laws of bodily health we
ask him to tell us what will happen to us when we
die. Because he has patiently watched some spider
weave his web, or learned the ways and habits of a
bird, or noted the movement and measured the diam
eter of some distant star, we ask him to unfold for
�8
us the great web of Providence, or tell us the ways of
heaven, or foretell the movement of the great thought
of God. I have heard it asserted from our liberal
pulpits, and have seen it preached in the newspapers,
that our scientific men are the true teachers of the age,
and some of them evidently take the flattering
unction to their souls and believe it. No doubt they
are teachers—teachers of science, but as a President
of the British Association, an eminent man of science
and a religious man, reminded them from the chair a
couple of years ago—not teachers of religion. I will
sit at their feet when they discourse of what they
know. I will be discipled to them when they tell me
of what they have seen and found ; but when they
step beyond their knowledge and tell me that the
great spiritual geniuses of the past were wrong ; that
the prophetic souls of history, the mediators who
catch the light of heaven and reflect it upon us, were
mere enthusiasts ; when they bring their telescopes
to. find out God, and seek for the immortal life by
chemical analysis, I follow them no farther. “Jesus I
know, and Paul I know, but who are ye ? ” And
as I turn from such helpless intruders upon holy
ground I see the gentle face of the Man of Sorrows
looking down on me in my disappointment and dis
may, and I cry again with one of old—“Lord, to
whom shall we go?—Thou hast the words of Eternal
Life.”
You will not misunderstand me in saying this. I
an? by no means depreciating science. In many
things it can guide us, though it cannot yet become
the Providence of life. Nor do I objeet to scientific
men setting forth the bearing of their discoveries on
many of the old doctrines of the Church. You will,
however, observe that in many cases they do not do
this, but, like Mr. Huxley, love to go deeper and to give
advice as to the conduct of life. But let us ask what
it is that qualifies a man to speak. Professor Tyndall
writes on heat and kindred subjects, Professor Huxley
�9
on biological subjects. They know more about these
matters than anybody else, and I hear them as oracles.
But there are deeper things I want to hear about than
these. Mr. Huxley quotes from the great German
philosopher one of those profound truths which it is
given only to great genius to utter. “ The ultimate
object of all knowledge,” says Kant, “ is to give replies
to three questions; what can I do; what ought I to do;
what may I hope for.” Is not that statement true;
is it not a summary of the questions that are
practically important to man ? But if a man is to
answer them for me I naturally ask his qualifications
for the task. Does he know my duty ? Can he tell
me the limits of my powers, and have any pulsations
of the future touched and inspired him ? It is of no
use to tell me that you have pushed your investiga
tions into man’s physical frame almost to the pene
tralia of life itself; that you can trace the flash of my
will’s message along my nerves when, almost uncon
sciously to myself, I raise a finger or move a limb.
All this is beside the mark. I want to know what I
can do, not only in matters of business but in high
matters of duty. Have you been in temptation and
learned the weakness of your will and sought and
found some Power to strengthen it ? I want to know
what I ought to do. My way through this tempestuous
world is dark. Can you tell me of a Hand that
leads ? All around me are mysteries inscrutable, an
order which I cannot understand, a confusion which
pains me. Can you point me to the light ? I look
forward to a vague and uncertain future; clouds
and darkness gather round the West where my sun
goes down, and the chill of the eternal night settles
on my soul. Have you felt these agonies of the
heart and found refuge from them ? Have you cried
from these depths and heard answer by One who was
able to save ? Have you felt that you could not do
the things you would ; that there is a startling and
frightful gulf between what you ought to be and what
you are, and have you found how to bridge it over and
B
�IO
make your way to peace? Have you looked Into
the open grave where one you loved had disappeared,
and heard the hollow fall of earth to earth, ashes to
ashes, dust to dust, as it smote your ear and woke
a dull echo in your heart, and turned away from that
narrow opening to feel that all you hoped and all you
lived for, the charm and zest of life, lay buried there,
out of your sight for ever ? Have you then seen a
light dawning on the darkness, and caught the inspi
ration of immortal hope and learned to know what it
was to sing with heart and understanding the song of
triumph over death, and victory over the grave ? If so,
if you have gone through the fiery furnace and come
out a conqueror, I will sit at your feet and learn from
you, if I can, the secret of your victory. But if you
have not been through these depths of what value is
your advice to me when I am in them ? You can
weigh the moon and measure the sun, and count the
stars ; what is all that to me in my time of weakness
and temptation, or in my hour of need or sorrow ? I
turn to those who have known nothing of your science,
to whom the sun was but a lamp to light our earthly
day, and the moon and stars but little lamps to give
us help by night, but I find in them a deep knowledge
of my needs, sympathy with my experiences, and a
solace for my fears. When my heart is overwhelmed
within me they lead me to a Rock that is higher than
I. When I feel my weakness they bring me to a
source of all-sufficient help ; when I know and realize
my imperfection they show me the way in which to
go from strength to strength. And the one Perfect
Example, touched with a feeling of my infirmities, sets
before me his own life of complete humility and
perfect faith, shows the way to conquer evil and de
spoil the grave, and not only tells me what to hope
for, but almost turns my faith to sight. This is the
teacher I need. To him I will be discipled ; at his
feet I will sit to hear his words. “ Lord, to whom shall
we go, Thou hast the words of Eternal Life.”
I conclude therefore that he only can teach who
�it
knows, and that for a man to teach religion and the
philosophy of life he must himself have been through
the depths. Discipleship to a man in scientific mat
ters is the being able and willing to accept on his
authority that which I cannot myself find out or
prove.. I have but a vague idea how to weigh a
planet, but when a philosopher gives me the equiva
lent of Jupiter in tons I take it on his authority, be
cause I know just enough to be certain that he knows.
Just so when Christ tells us of the blessedness of the
meek ; of the divine vision which is granted to the
pure in heart; of the peace passing all understanding
that is found in perfect resignation to the Father’s
will; of the Kingdom of Heaven within us which per
fect self-renunciation brings, I believe him, because I
have had just enough knowledge of these things to be
able to receive his teaching, and to know that in this
matter he is one who knows. But how much deeper
a thing is this religious discipleship than any other.
My scientific opinions hardly touch my life—my re
ligious principles entirely shape and mould it. Hence
an element of personal affection enters into the one
which is absent from the other. I know no more
beautiful description of the attitude of discipleship
in this religious sense than that which Tennyson
gives in some lines of his In Memoriam. Speaking
of the friend whom he mourned,- and of the doubts
which would force themselves upon him whether he
should ever be his mate again; or whether he might not
Tho’ following with an upward mind
The wonders that have come to thee,
Thro’ all the secular to be,
Be evermore a life behind ;—
he turns upon himself, rebuking his own doubts, and
says
I vex my heart with fancies dim,
He still outstript me in the race;
It was but unity of place
That made me dream I ranked with him.-
�12
And so may Place retain us still,
And he, the much-beloved, again,
A lord of large experience, train
To riper growth the mind and will:
And what delights can equal those,
That stir the spirit’s inner deeps,
When one that loves but knows not, reaps
A truth from one that loves and knows ?
That is discipleship. That is the way to learn the
deep mysteries of the faith. Just as a little child
who loves but knows not, learns all his early know
ledge of the world into which he has come from the
parents who love and know ; so we learn the higher
truths of life from those who have been through its
'trials before us, and who love and know—the great
souls of history, who lived and suffered and died for us
—who went through the deep waters to make our way
the easier, and died that we might live. And as the
example of this trust and confidence speaks home to
us and inspires us, is not our attitude with respect to
Jesus ; the attitude which the great souls of history
teach us, something like that of which Tennyson sings,
the true trust of soul—the discipleship of love.
For him she plays, to him she sings
Of early faith and plighted vows ;
She knows but matters of the house,
And he, he knows a thousand things.
Her faith is fixt and cannot move,
She darkly feels him great and wise,
She dwells on him with faithful eyes,
‘ I cannot understand : I love/
�13
II.,
“ Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant
in prayer.”—Romans xii. 12.
'T'HE address of Professor Huxley to the students
of the University of Aberdeen is worthy of
notice for two reasons. In the first place, it strongly
illustrates the tendency of the age to set up new re
ligious authorities, and the natural instinct of man
kind to rush into some kind of discipleship, of which
I spoke last Sunday morning. In the second place,
it illustrates what I may call the modern sceptical
view of Life and Duty. The men of olden time
looked up to Heaven, and, believing in a great in
visible Power there, exclaimed, “ Lord, what wouldest
Thou have me to do ?” For hundreds of generations
mankind believed that to this cry answer came, that
wisdom was given them to discern what they ought
to do ; that strength was sent down into their hearts
to help them in doing it; and that an awful Presence
was ever near them to be the object of their reverent
fear, and an everlasting life was before them to be
the stimulus of their hope. But in every generation
there have been those who have gone to some visible
form of authority to ask what they shall believe and
what they shall do. To-day the authority is science.
We go to science as the soldiers went to John the
Baptist, and say, “And what shall we do then ?” and
here is the whole sum and substance of the scientific
answer. I quote the whole passage in which it stands,
that you may see exactly its bearing. It is a fine
and effective sermon in itself:—
In an ideal University, as I conceive it, a man should be
able to obtain instruction in all forms of knowledge, and
�14
discipline in the use of all the methods by which knowledge is
obtained. In such an University, the force of living example
should fire the student with a noble ambition to emulate the
learning of learned men, and to follow in the footsteps of the
explorers of new fields of knowledge. And the very air he
breathes should be charged with that enthusiasm for truth, that
fanaticism of veracity, which is a greater possession than much
learning; a nobler gift than the power of increasing knowledge;
by so much greater and nobler than these, as the moral nature
of man is greater than the intellectual; for veracity is the heart
of morality. But the man who is all morality and intellect,
although he may be good and even great, is, after all, only half
a man. There is beauty in the moral world and in the intel
lectual world; but there is also a beauty which is neither moral
nor intellectual—the beauty of the world of art. There are
men who are devoid of the power of seeing it, as there are
men who are born deaf and blind, and the loss of those, as of
these, is simply infinite. There are others in whom it is an
overpowering passion; happy men, born with the productive,
or at lowest, the appreciative, genius of the artist. But, in the
mass of mankind, the aesthetic faculty, like the reasoning power
and the moral sense, needs to be roused, directed, and culti
vated ; and I know not why the development of that side of
his nature through which man has access to a perennial spring
of ennobling pleasure, should be omitted from any compre
hensive scheme of University education....................... I just
now expressed the opinion that, in our ideal University, a man
should be able to obtain instruction in all forms of knowledge.
Now, by “forms of knowledge” I mean the great classes of
things knowable; of which the first, in logical, though not in
natural order, is knowledge relating to the scope and limits of
the mental faculties of man; a form of knowledge which, in
its positive aspect, answers pretty much to logic and part of
psychology, while, on its negative and critical side, it corres
ponds with metaphysics. A second class comprehends all that
knowledge which relates to man’s welfare, so far as it is deter
mined by his own acts, or what we call his conduct. It answers
to moral and religious philosophy. Practically, it is the most
directly valuable of all forms of knowledge, but, speculatively,
it is limited and criticised by that which precedes and by that
which follows it in my order of enumeration. A third class
embraces knowledge of the phenomena of the universe, as
that which lies about the individual man; and of the rules
which those phenomena are observed to follow in the order of
their occurrence, which we term the laws of nature. This is
what ought to be called natural science, or physiology, though
those terms are hopelessly diverted from such a meaning; and
it includes all exact knowledge of natural fact, whether mathe-
�i5
matical, physical, biological, or social. Kant has said that the
ultimate object of all knowledge is to give replies to these
three questions. What can I do ? What ought I to do ?
What may I hope for ? The forms of knowledge which I have
enumerated should furnish such replies as are within human
reach to the first and second of these questions. While to the
third, perhaps, the wisest answer is, “ Do what you can to do
what you ought, and leave hoping and fearing alone.” If this
be a just and an exhaustive classification of the forms of know
ledge, no question as to their relative importance, or as to the
superiority of one to the other, can be seriously raised. On
the face of the matter, it is absurd to ask whether it is more
important to know the limits of one’s powers; or the ends for
which they ought to be exerted; or the conditions under which
they must be exerted. One may as well inquire which of the
terms of a rule of three sum one ought to know, in order to get
a trustworthy result. Practical life is such a sum, in which
your duty multiplied into your capacity, and divided by your
circumstances, gives you'the fourth term in the proportion,
which is your deserts, with great accuracy.
Now I have no hesitation in describing this as
pre-eminently noble teaching. It Reminds one of the
philosophers of antiquity. There is a classic breadth,
and I may add, a classic sternness about it, which
admirably suits the air of an ancient university, and
is almost surprising in a sturdy opponent of the old
system of classical instruction. It is infinitely higher
than the common teaching of the Churches. We
are, of course, all open to the influence of human
motives. But when I am asked to give my assent to
certain opinions on pain of everlasting damnation,
the course I am impelled to take, impelled by every
noble impulse in my nature, is to reject the opinions,
and take the consequences. Such an appeal is an
attempt to reach my will, not through my in
tellect, but through my feelings. It is an effort to
warp me, to bias me, to bribe me. And when we are
told that we must do certain things, because we shall
be punished if we do not, we are appealed to by
childish motives. Burns says,—
“ The fear of hell’s a hangman’s whip
To keep the wretch in order
♦
�i6
and men who are only kept in order by the fear of
hell are wretched indeed. There is something far
nobler than this religion of fear in what Mr. Huxley
teaches. Paraphrased, it reads something like this,
“ Do your duty with all your ability, and to the best *
of your knowledge ; but do not do it from any fear of
punishment, or any hope of reward.” Now such a
motive, where it is a possible one, is also a noble one.
It is deliberately choosing the better way, because it
is the better, and not from any knowledge as to
whither it leads. Before a man can do this he must
be filled with the love of the beautiful and the true. *
He must so fully understand all the charms of a
noble life, so profoundly appreciate all the beauty of
self-control, so entirely love the perfectness of the
perfect, that he can but live to it and for it. There
is beauty in the moral and intellectual world, and
beauty in the world of art, as Professor Huxley says;
and there is such a thing as living in the love of
that beauty, and finding that love to be its own
reward. A mother absorbed in her child never needs
to think whether her love will be returned ; an artist
buried in his art would cultivate it, even though no
eye ever looked on his productions ; a poet smitten
with the love of song would give utterance to his
thoughts, even though no ear should listen to his
verses ; just so a man who was fully possessed with
admiration of the things which are right, and beau
tiful, and true in human character, would reflect that
beauty in his life, even though every virtue was born
to blush unseen of men or angels, and every noble
action of his life wasted its sweetness on the desert
air of a forsaken world. He would do what he could
to do what he ought, and would do it from “that
enthusiasm for truth, that fanaticism of veracity,” of
which Mr. Huxley speaks, even though no outward
encouragement was given him, no reward promised
him, and he was obliged to let hoping and fearing
alone.
�i7
So far, then, I am heartily in accord with this
noble teaching. As a philosophy of life—a philo
sophy, mark, and not a religion—it is one which will
dignify and elevate those who act on it. For young
men who have not known trouble, and loss, and
sorrow, before whom the horizon of this world lies
dim and shining in the distance, it will do well
enough. For every one of us, as a lesson of prac
tical duty, it will be of value, as tending to lift us
out of that mere love of reward, or fear of penalty,
which St. Paul calls being under the law. But here
it stops. It is as far below the highest motives of
human conduct as it is above the lowest. It is the
step out of bondage from the law, but another step
must be taken before we are in the liberty of love.
For when I am told to do what I can to do what I
ought, the question of my power comes in. One of
the very earliest, yet, perhaps, the deepest experiences
of the soul is that which comes to us when, for the
first time, we learn the meaning of that kind apology
of Jesus for his disciples, “The spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak.” The “ natural man ” knows
nothing of this antithesis between weakness and wil
lingness, between the spirit and the flesh. He does the
bidding of his desires, and sees no reason why those
desires, so long as they are lawful, should not be law.
But when the spiritual nature has awakened in him,
and he hears voices calling out of the Infinite, and
knows of some great law of. truth, and rectitude, and
beauty, which he ought to serve, which he desires to
serve, and which he is only happy in serving; when he is
filled with “ enthusiasm for truth” and the “ fanaticism
of veracity,” he cannot satisfy himself that the amount
of his ability is the measure of his duty. Not only
does he feel that he cannot do what he ought, but he
is compelled to say with the apostle of old that he
cannot do the things he would. His will is weak, his
high purpose stumbles and falters, and the mount of
beatitude, up which he would climb with winged
�i8
feet, becomes a dark and frowning Sinai. Is such a
man to sit down content, and leave those heights
untrodden, and make his golden calf and dance
around it till he no more cares to hope, and forgets
to fear? To do so is to crush his imperial instinct,
and dwarf his nature. Indeed, he cannot do so. He
cannot, without a spiritual suicide, lose himself in
worldly things. He must strive on, fighting his own
weakness, and looking round him for some source of
strength. The philosophy of which I speak to-day
regards all this effort as superfluous, all this anxiety
as vain and futile. Do what you can, it says, and
leave the rest. But a higher and Diviner philosophy
tells of a Helper in time of need, a Strengthener of our
weakness, a Power which can come into us, and lift
us above ourselves. You cannot of yourself do what
you ought, but when the Lord stands by and
strengthens you, you are strong indeed. Imagine
this advice given to soldiers on the eve of battle—
“Never mind what England expects. Do not think
of home, and what the friends there are hoping and
fearing for you. Do what you can to do what you
ought, and let hoping and fearing alone.” What
would you say to a General who should thus address
his army, and what, think you, would be their chances
of victory ? The General who understands his men
says to them, “ Soldiers, the eyes of England are on
you, her honour is in your keeping ; think what they
will say at home, the welcomes there when you return
victorious. By all you hope and fear from them, do
your duty manfully to-day.” And to an army just
going out into the battle of life the true leader
says, in precisely similar language—“You must not
be content with anything you do. Think of those
who have gone before and won their peace. Think
of the welcomes which await you when the great
cloud of witnesses hail you as one who has over
come ; and, by all you hope and all you fear, do your
duty nobly in the strength of God.” They who thus
�19
go out, not merely doing what they can, but doing
what God helps them to do, find that though they
themselves are weak and can do nothing, they
can do all things through Him that strengtheneth
them.
Here, then, is the first defect of this scientific
gospel. There is no glad tidings in it. There is no
saving efficacy in it. There is no all-conquering might
revealed or communicated by it. It can say, indeed,
Work out your own salvation ; but it can say nothing
of a God who worketh in us to will and to do of his
good pleasure. But it may be said that practically
this external source of strength is included in the
advice, for a man has not done what he can to do what
he ought till he has sought and found such power and
such strength as there may be in the Universe to help
him in it. But this strength comes through faith, and
“faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen,” while this advice is to let hoping and
fearing alone. But we will just suppose that a man
did not get to this deep religious experience. Sup
pose that he lives on the dead level of life, has no
ideal, is one of God’s once-born children, in whom
the spiritual faculties have never yet awoke—how can
even such a man be a man and let hoping and fearing
alone? Pie knows too much of modern thought to
have any low fear of the theologian’s hell, he is not
in bondage to an imaginary devil, and knows there is
no such being in the universe as an angry God. Let
him, thus emancipated from superstitious fear, absorb
himself in outward things, and do what he can to do
what he ought, and be quite content with what he
can do, and not over-anxious about his shortcomings.
I can imagine such an one living a fairly honourable
life, with nothing of the heroic in it, and not much
even of self-denial and self-control. But all this is
very well in youth, and strength, and the summer of
life. It does for action ; but it breaks down utterly
when we are driven back upon ourselves in the inner
�20
life of contemplation. How can an ordinary man be
patient in tribulation, if he has no hope to rejoice in ?
Let him lose some one whom he loves—a little child
who has been the darling and the pet of his domestic
hours, the sunshine of his home—a wife who was the
idol of his boyhood, and the beloved helper of his
struggling manhood, and the fond mother of his
children, and the good angel of his household ; or let
him be himself thrown aside from work and set face to
face with death ; how can he have the courage then
to let hoping and fearing alone ? At such times we
must hope or we must fear. The longing heart cannot
give up its dead ; it follows them whither they have
gone, and either sees the earth close over them in
vague fear and dull despair, or else feels that they
are not there, but are already risen and gone before
along the shining upward way. You may preach to
the man your gloomy gospel of despair, but you cannot
prove to him that his dead are turned to dust, and
that the glorified being of his imagination is nothing
but the mocking reflection of his memory ; you may
make him fear, but you cannot still all desire within.
I know nothing so utterly dark, so awfully and
unnaturally depressing, as to stand at the side of a
grave with those who have no gospel for that hour of
need, and who see no light beyond the darkness
there. The effort to let hoping and fearing alone at
such a time ; to have done with the dead ; to bury all
that we have loved, and let it lie in dull obstruction
and forgetfulness ; to think of those sweet smiles as
only a flash of joy which shone on us for a moment
and then went out for ever, is a more fearful trial of
our nature than any that superstition can inflict. It
turns the natural and loving hope to fear; and as it
refuses the expectation of reunion beyond the grave, it
creates the natural dread and inward horror of our
selves falling into nothingness. At the grave we
must call for some kindly light to lead. The night has
come, and we are far from home, and science can only
�21
tell us to stoop down and feel our way along the dark
ened path, or camp on the cold ground till the gloom is
gone and the new day of forgetfulness of our grief
comes round again. But religion comes to us in our
darkness and abandonment, and bids us lift up our eyes
from earth to heaven ; and there, where our sun has
just gone down, the light of other worlds appears,
and in the darkened sky the stars shine out, and hope
and faith see the promise of another dawn. “ Hope
springs eternal in the human breast,” and making us
free of two worlds links Time and Eternity together.
Any philosophy of life which tells men to leave
hoping and fearing alone is therefore simply imprac
ticable. Professor Huxley carries out his teaching
by adding that practical life is like a rule-of-three
sum, in which your duty multiplied into your capacity
and divided by your circumstances gives you the
fourth term in the proportion, which is your deserts,
with great accuracy. No doubt it does, but the
accuracy of the result depends on the correctness of
the figures which state the terms of the problem.
What is my exact duty ? What is my exact capa
city ? How far do circumstances help or hinder or
divide ? I cannot know these things; I cannot,
therefore, even set the sum, much less work it out,
though it shall be set and shall be worked out infal
libly in the great judgment which Heaven is always
passing on my doings. But then, as to our deserts.
Are you content, my friends, to have your deserts and
nothing more ? When the awful rule-of-three sum is
set by the unerring Hand ; when the great Assessor
puts down the precise amount of your capacity, and
multiplies your duty into it, and divides it by your
circumstances, and brings out the exact figure which
estimates your deserts, are you content to abide the
issue ? Do you not feel that some fear comes in lest
in such an estimate of your deserts you should be
found wanting ? and do you not look round you for
some ground of hope that the merciful Master will in
�22
some things take the will for the deed, make allow
ance for your weakness and your wilfulness, and give
some weight, and value, and efficacy to your tears
of penitence ? To me this hard philosophy of life,
which makes the world a machine, and man a slave,
and life a rule-of-three sum, with no escape from the
stern payment of one’s deserts, is like the view of
the universe which a man born blind may make in
his fancy. He has heard of sea and air, of landscape
and cloud, of the wide horizon and the deep arch of
heaven, and from the narrow experience he has gained
from his sense of touch has tried to picture what they
all are ; but some day the Divine Healer comes and
touches his blind eyes, and he then sees and knows.
How infinitely wider is the earth and sea—how infi
nitely deeper that infinite heaven—than anything his
poor imagination had constructed for him. So it is
with us when religion with divine finger opens our
spiritual eyes and shows the world of mere material
forces lying in the sunshine of a Maker’s love. It is
the great step from the natural to the spiritual; from
law to gospel ; from the sternness of a universe
governed by unintelligent and unfeeling forces to the
brightness and gentleness of a home ruled by a loving
will. No doubt this floating cradle of God, this
spinning nursery of souls, this play-room of the
Great Father’s house, is built of material forces. The
child’s eyes cannot yet see beyond the cradle, and the
angels 'as they rock it bend over it invisibly. But so
surely as over the human babe the mother bends and
her invisible love shields it from danger, and listens to
its inarticulate cry, and runs to satisfy its needs ; so
surely over this cradle of souls an Invisible Protector
bends, and shields us from evil, and hears us when
we cry, and gives us help in all our feeble efforts to
run the upward way, and gently supports our nascent
virtue as it goes out into the world to get its disci
pline and win its crown. This doctrine of a God who
is indeed our Father; this glorious assurance of ever-
�23
lasting life in Him ; this long line of witnesses, who
have caught some ray of his divine beauty and shed it
upon us—these things, which religion grafts upon
philosophy, make life rich indeed. We can fly for
shelter from Infinite Law, and take refuge and find
peace in Infinite Love. We can see the terrible sum
which estimates our deserts worked out, confident in
Him who will blot out the handwriting that is against
us. We can do what we can to do what we ought,
knowing that wisdom to see and strength to do shall
both be given us in answer to our prayer. And when
the fear of death comes on us, we can look through
the darkness to the light beyond, and lie down in
hope, knowing Whom we have believed, and confident
that He will keep that which, in life’s last act of re
nunciation, we commit to Him. It is this tone of
triumphant confidence, this enthusiasm of faith in the
truth of the Universe, this fanaticism of trust in the
veracity of God, which gives zest to life. It is this
hope which brightens the eye and nerves the hand,
makes us strong and happy in the conflict of duty,
and enables us to overcome the world. It is this
certainty of faith which turns belief into knowledge,
and is the everlasting Rock on which we stand secure
amid the changes and calamities of time. To “let
hoping and fearing alone ” is to renounce our birth
right as the sons of God ; to fear only that which is
beneath our nature, and to hope always and hope
everything from Heaven, is to take full possession of
our heritage as “heirs of God and joint heirs with
Christ ”—“ followers of them who, through faith and
patience, inherit the promises.”
Woodfall & Kinder, Printers, Milford Lane, Strand, London, W.C.
�st
�
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & 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>
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Scientific men and religious teachers
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Clayden, P. W. (Peter William)
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Place of publication: London
Collation: 23 p. ; 18 cm.
Notes: : Two sermons suggested by Professor Huxley's address to the students of the University of Aberdeen and preached in the Free Christian Church, Kentish Town. From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Printed by Woodfall & Kinder, Strand, London.
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1874
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Conway Tracts
Science and Religion
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Text
WHAT 18 RELIGION?
(F. Max Midler's First Hibbert Lecture)
A DISCOURSE
GIVEN AT
^OUTH
j-’LACE
J^HAFEIz,
MAY $th, 1878,
BY
MONCURE D. CONWAY, M.A.
LONDON :
SOUTH PLACE, FINSBURY,
PRICE TWOPENCE.
�LONDON:
PRINTED BY WATERLOW AND SONS LIMITHD,
LONDON WALL.
�WHAT IS RELIGION?
The community may congratulate itself upon the fact
that the bequest of an advanced liberal man for the
promotion of free religious inquiry, should find its
fulfilment in the ancient chapter-house of Westminster
Abbey. It is probable that if the dogmas which
founded that Abbey still reigned, the first Hibbert
lecturer would have been sooner burnt than listened
to. But now, amid those historic walls are repre
sented ideas of religion which have been raised quite
out of the region of authority, and worthily claim only
to stand or fall along with the reason and knowledge
of man,—acknowledging no revelation but the history
of man.
On Thursday last, in his second lecture, the Pro
fessor remarked that even if the theory of human pro
gression could be proved m all other affaiis of mankind,
that would not prove the same theory true of religion.
�4
This remark applied to the far past; and it is true
that what is called religion was for ages the unpro
gressive, the stationary institution of the world. And
this because the religious sentiment was confused with
theology,—identified with alleged revelations,—thus
removed from the normal current of human interests.
But the scene- in the chapter-house marks a great
change. The Hibbert Trust is, I believe, outcome
of money earned by toiling negroes on West Indian
plantations. The House of Commons freed those
slaves. The wealth they coined comes back to the
room in «which the House of Commons first sat.
There African degradation is turning to English cul■ ture. The progress in civilisation represented in that
fact is not greater than the religious progress it
implies. The leading Unitarian (Martineau) and the
. Dean of Westminster have united to bring a German
liberal there to raise the standard of a human religion.
It is now a religious House of Commons. Four
centuries ago an old monk frescoed the walls of it
with the visions of the Apocalypse. The angels and
dragons are now fading around a wider apocalypse.
The Isle of Patmos sinks beneath the horizon. The
■ Isle of England rises from the night, its awakened eye
■ holding the Apocalypse of Man.
The eminence of Max Muller is the work he has
. done in recovering the vast fields of human experi
�5
ence represented by the Aryan race. No West Indian
slave was more bound under his master than our:
English brains under thraldom to ancient Semitic
notions. Hebraism waved its sceptre over European
culture, and excluded two-thirds of the world and of
history as heathenism and devil’s work. Many have
been our deliverers from that prison, but no one of
them has done more than our first Hibbert lecturer
to carry this liberation from the scholar’s study to
the layman’s home. It was because of this that he
was called to expound the religion of humanity amid
walls built to fortify the dogmas of one tribe against
the rest of mankind, and against universal progress.Westminster Abbey has survived to hear sentence
passed upon every creed for which it stood. And so
at last even tardy religion is caught up into the great
loom of the world to be woven in with general civili
sation.
That is, so far as it is a sound thread. But is it
sound ? Is it real ? Some say it is rotten, some say
unreal: man’s childish awe of phantoms, conjured up
by his own ignorance. But Max Muller detaches re
ligion from all its special forms or accidents; maintains
its reality and vitality; rests it upon the universal human
sense and feeling of the Infinite. He appeals to the
broad facts common to the civilized man and the
barbarian, to East, West, North, South; and he thus,
�6
in laying his foundation, leaves out of sight those
facts not universal; such as the special and narrow
theories of which a Christian may feel conscious here
and a Buddhist there. His question relates not to
this so-called religion or that, but to religion itself.
All religions might perish, and this essential religion
still stand. That he declares to be a natural thing,
which has had natural evolutions comprehensible by
science. Supernaturalism may, therefore, so far as the
present atmosphere of Westminster Abbey is con
cerned, be regarded as a small way one religion] has
of saying to another “ Stand aside, I am holier than
thou.” The interest of the human intellect has
passed beyond that pious egotism. It is now pro
foundly concerned to know, not whether Christianity
is true, but whether religion itself is real; or whether
our spiritual emotion is merely surviving emotion of
waves after the blasts of superstition have so long
swept over them.
The main principle affirmed is, that religion is man’s
apprehension of the Infinite. In searching the largest
and the smallest, man reaches an end of his com
prehension, the limit of the heavens he can see, the
limit of the atom he can divide; but where compre
hension ends, apprehension continues; imagination,
wonder, admiration, faith, hope, soar on into an immea
surable expanse; and the emotion awakened within
�7
for that transcendent immensity is the religious emo
tion.
Now there are certain inferences from this principle
which it hardly lay in the way of the lecturer to un
fold. It was intimated, however, in what he said
about the progressive development of conceptions of
colour, and I will use that to illustrate my own point.
In arguing that the ancient races of men apprehended
the Infinite vaguely, though they had no word for it,
he said, 11 We divide colour by seven rough degrees.
Even those seven degrees are of late date in the evolu
tion of our sensuous knowledge. In common Arabic, as
Palgrave tells us, the names for green, black and brown
are constantly confounded. In the Edda the rainbow is
called a three-coloured bridge. Xenophanes says that
what people call Iris is a cloud, purple, red and yellow.
Even Aristotle still speaks of the tricoloured rainbow,
red, yellow and green. Blue, which seems to us so
definite a Colour, was worked out of the infinity of
colours at a comparatively late time. There is hardly
a book now in which we do not read of the blue sky.
But in the ancient hymns of the Veda, so full of the
dawn, the sun and the sky, the blue sky is never men
tioned in the Zendavesta the blue sky is never men
tioned ; in Homer the blue sky is never mentioned;
in the Old, and even in the New, Testament, the blue
sky is never mentioned. In the Teutonic languages
�S'
blue comes from a.root which originally meant bleak
and black. The Romance languages found no useful
word for blue in Latin and "borrowed their word from
the Germans.’7
The Hibbert lecturer believes those ancients saw
the blue sky as we do, but they had no word
for it because they had not detached it mentally from
dark or bright. But whether the outer eye has un
folded or the inner eye,—visual power or the analytic
mind behind it,—it is equally shown that the full
phenomena were not revealed; and we are again
reminded that in going back to the ancient world for
his beliefs man suffers a relapse from the height he
has attained. In the matter of blue sky the Bible is
as much a blank as the Vedas. So far neither was a
revelation—or unveiling—of phenomena. That know
ledge, by natural means and scientific culture, we have
reached, and see seven colours where our ancestors
saw three or four. Are we to suppose their spiritual
senses were finer, while their other senses were duller,
than ours? Are we to suppose that their religious
analysis was more perfect than ours ? If so, it would
be a miracle; but where is the evidence of any such
miracle? Compare the God of the Vedas or of the
Bible—Indra or Jehovah—with the God of Theodore
Parker, nay, of any living Theist, and only a blindness
worse than blue-blindness can declare those thunder--
�9
gods equal to the Divine Love adored by the en
lightened heart to-day.
That conclusion is inevitable from the moment it
is admitted that religion is a subject for scientific
treatment. Once let it be admitted that religion is to
be dealt with by unbiassed reason,—by such calm
sifting of facts as if the subject were electricity,—and
from that instant every particular system of religion
must take its place in the natural history of mankind.
Be it Brahminism, be it Christianity, it comes down
from the bench and goes into the witness-box. Each
testifies what it knows, but it cannot coerce the judg
ment of Reason, Christianity may testify that it saw
miracles; Confucianism that it saw none; Islamism
that it was revealed from Allah ; but it is no longer
the sword which determines their credibility; it is
Reason. So their testimony goes for precisely what
it is worth. If they saw only three colours where
there were seven, possibly they also saw miracle
where there was only natural fact. The world cannot
go back to the year One for its ideas of the Infinite
any more than for its optics. It may recognise in
Christ a great religious teacher, just as it recognises
in Aristotle a great scientific teacher; but as it
cannot diminish the known colours because Aristotle
knew only three, so it cannot deny religious facts
because unknown to Christ. But it may find fresh
�IO
reason for faith in science and religion in that, with
grand vitality, they far outgrow both Aristotle and
Christ, and all the systems that would confine them.
Now, as to this apprehension of the Infinite in
which the Hibbert lecturer finds the religious faculty;
it sounds at first rather metaphysical. It is tolerably
clear that no abstract notions of the Infinite can have
any commanding power over the nature and passions
of mankind. We must, therefore, in considering
historic religions, think rather of the forms with which
human imagination has peopled the Infinite. The
Infinite in itself is metaphysical; but its vault, popu
lous with gods, becomes practical. The creed which
has. swayed the world has been in an Infinite just
transcending man s finite in power or excellence ;
while it is finite enough to deal with him and feel
with him. The god or personality which man asso
ciates with infinitude may be of unknown strength,
so separate from finite man; but he may be angry»
loving, ambitious, so-linked on to the finite?
It is just in this twofold aspect of these images of
the Infinite that we may discover the reality and
meaning of religion. To which side of the god does
it belong—his finite or his infinite side ? his likeness
to man or his transcendency of man? his compre
hensibility or incomprehensibility.
Religion,—whether it be a sense of dependence, or
�II
awe, of emotion, or aspiration—whatever its aspect,
•refers to that in which the object of worship passes
beyond the worshipper. In this it differs from
theology, which concerns itself with that side of the
god which is within the knowledge of man. The
Theology of one period may describe the gods, as the
Greeks did, even to the colour of their hair; the
Theology of another period may disprove such gods’
existence, substituting invisible Beings, as that of Paul
‘did. One Theology may build up a Trinity; another
may supersede it with a Quatemity or Unity. ‘ But it
would be an error to suppose that Religion is either
directly making those images, or directly replacing them.
These personifications are the successive inventions
of a changing science; they are utilised by priests who
support theologians to maintain them, or, when they
become discredited, to modify or replace them. But,
although the religious condition of man may be har
monious with such images at one time, discordant
with them at another, what human worship adores is
the unknown, the eternal, the vast, the perfect, all
expanding beyond its conception, but yet believed to
be powerfully existent.
' Thus Religion is different 'from Fear. Man would
never fear the Infinite. It is only when to its vastness
Theology adds a smallness like man’s own that men
begin to tremble. It is not J ove, the incomprehensible
�12
Heaven, man fears; but Jove, the comprehensible
Chieftain, going about with a thunderclub to kill him.
That Jove men fear, because they understand him;
they go about themselves with clubs less big but
equally murderous. That is not Religion—it is
Theology; a primitive speculative science of gods.
But we have reached now a Science of Religion, and
understand that its reverence, its devoutness, emotion,
love, so far as really awakened in man, were for what
rose above his own weakness, his passions, and his
sorrows.
What, then, does this apprehension (which must be
distinguished from comprehension) this feeling about
the Iniinite amount to ? Simply to man’s belief in
something better than himself. Man believes in a
Wisdom greater than his own. Theology may per
sonify it in Minerva, or in the Holy Ghost; but the
worship is not for the work of man’s wisdom—it is
for the wisdom ascending beyond man. So the forms
perish : the worship of wisdom perishes not. Man
adores a power beyond his own: theology may
identify it with mountain and lightning, sea and whirl
wind, and these may overawe his heart so long as he
knows nothing of them : but when the mountain is
climbed, and the sea voyaged over, the cloud seen as
vapour, the wind weighed, the lightning bottled and
sealed up, the ever-kneeling spirit of Religion passes
�i3
onward, and amid innumerable forms and names that
come and go, seeks still the better, the wiser, the >
more powerful and happy,—ever leading on from the
finite to the Infinite.
And this high seeking, born of each heart’s faith in
a better than, it knows, is the religious force, because
it is the controlling and creative force. It is idle to'
tell us, in face of the moral progress of the world,
that the life of man has been the result of correct
metaphysics, theological definitions, abstractions about
the Absolute and co-eternal Persons. The force that
is moving the world onward is the longing in each
human being for somewhat more perfect than what
they have or are. It is Maya in India praying her
babe Siddartba (Buddha) may be wise beyond all men
she ever knew; or Mary in Palestine praying the same
as she watches her baby Jesus ; or any mother that
hears- me, whose tender breast feels stirring within
hope that the new nature she has started on its career
may ascend till she can kneel in homage before it. It
may be the humblest workman dreaming of a more
perfect skill; the young artisan feeling after an inven
tion pregnant with results incalculable. Wherever
and however manifested it is the great vision of a
glory transcending our own; and though such ideals
are always being reached and passed by—infinites
becoming finites—so, endlessly the spirit grows, so
�14
immortal is its nature, so unceasing the work of
creation, the outline is never filled up. Over crumbled
gods and goddesses, religion ascends for ever, burning,
disintegrating, generating, regenerating,—Humanity’s
passion for the Perfect.
There is a danger in the method of the historian
and archseologist of religion. Because he must trace
the evolution of religion through its visible and
definable effects—fetish, shrine, dogma, temple—
there is danger that these may be regarded as types
and forms of religion itself. When a geologist walks
over hills, cliffs, rocks, he traces the path of drifting
glaciers scratched on rock; he finds sea-shells on
the hill-tops, boulders dropped in meadows, pebbles
rounded by waves long ebbed away to channels many
miles distant: he says, seas and rivers have smoothed
and deposited these shells and sands, and shaped
these undulations of hill and vale. Yet these are
not the sea,—they are but fringes and accidents in the
history of the sea. But in religion men still have the
habit of seeing the shards and shells of theory—the
pebbles of theology worn from crumbled temples—as
forms of Religion itself. They are but things which
Religion influenced, they report its ancient tides and
currents, but they are not—never were — religion
itself.
Having now detached the religious sentiment from
�i5
the forms which have borrowed its consecration;
having identified it as man’s impulse towards the
Perfect—which philosophy calls the Infinite—let us
ask whether we are genuine and true in calling this
religion. Or is our use of that word only a piece of
conventionality ? Does Religion mean anything diffe
rent from morality, or different from conscience ? If
not, then our use of it is mystification, conformity,
cowardice.
I believe Religion to be a different thing from
Morality. I understand by morality rules and stan
dards of conduct relating to recognised social duties.
But there is something in man which leads him to
defy the rules and standards around him. A bad man
violates moral rules for the sake of self: but another
man breaks them at the cost of self. What leads Jesus
to break the Sabbath, or Buddha to refuse offerings
to the gods ? Or what leads the reformer of to-day to
challenge the social and political order ?
Are such men seeking the benefit of the majority ?
The majority are against them. The majority is made
uncomfortable by them. Are they seeking general
advantages ? They are often plunging everything into
revolution, and doing it consciously. You might per
suade a freethinker that to disestablish the Church
would leave the majority poorer than now; or that
innumerable advantages to millions would be lost if
�t6
the Athanasian Creed were exploded. But would any
consideration of majorities make him support the
Church: would any advantages make him advocate
the Creed ? It may be said he is obeying the voice of
conscience. That explains nothing. Conscience is
an organ of forces beyond itself. It dictates war to
one tribe, peace to another. Conscience is a majestic
throne, but we search for the power behind the
throne.
Now, here we have a force in man which often
confronts customs, moralities, the social and political
order, which disregards majorities and their interests,
disregards self-interest also; and this force with
passion, enthusiasm and martyrdom, seeks something
it never saw, something that never existed. It is
manifested in all history, and is known in universal
experience; it actuates theists and non-theists; it is
especially visible in the overthrow of popular idols
and dogmas claiming its worship. Is that morality ?
Not a whit more than it is politics, or trade, or art, or
any one of the manifold human interests which slowly
but steadily follow the lead of that pillar of cloud and
fire.
I call it Religion, because that is a universal name
which no sect or nation has ever tried to monopolise :
but I do. not care for that name if any one has a
better. I do care that it shall not be confused with
�'1'7
wholly different things, with either morality, politics
or science. Much less, with Theology. For Theology
is the great enemy of religion. Morality, Society,
Science, are its ministers, but Theology is its rival,—
the Opposer that would arrest the current of its life,
and nail man down to bestow upon a fragment of his
universe and himself the passion born for aspiration
to the perfect whole. To call it ideality, poetry,
harmony, love of humanity, is to name the fruits by
which this religious life is known. To name it
Religion may, indeed, be very inadequate ; neither
etymologically or practically can that word do more
than preserve the distinction and witness the existence
of that which language cannot define; but as in
accuracy of words like “ sunrise ” and “ sunset ”
cannot now mar the glories they suggest, so no
etymologic fault can disparage that only catholic
name we have (Religion) so long as it is left
us by Sectarianism and Superstition to • designate
the universal aspirations of mankind. Christianity
can only claim to be a religion; it cannot claim
to be Religion. No sect can claim to be Religion
itself. That is an older banner than any existing
nation or church; under its broad folds and
heaven-born tints thousands of sects have perished;
it widens with the ages, blends with all grandeurs
without and within, leads onward the steady march of
�i8
man with his world to that supreme beauty which
enchains his senses and enchants his heart.
For essential religion no adequate word or definition
has ever been discovered, or is likely to be discovered.
If the lecturer’s statement there halts, it is because
the Infinite, the Perfect, cannot be defined. To call
it the Infinite leaves the moral sentiment unexpressed.
To call it “ morality touched with enthusiasm,” leaves
the progressive life untold. The philosophers of Germany
and America in the beginning of this generation called
it Transcendentalism;—but that white light wanted
fire, and faded. Some have called it absolute Being.
Jesus called it Love; and no fairer emblem of it was
ever named than that supreme glory which quickens
the world, from the marriage of flower with flower
which to-day clothes the earth with blossoms, to the
mother and her babe, and all the manifestations of
that unselfish joy which alone can transfigure human
passions. But man needs Light as well as Love.
And so it is that the highest in us is as ineffable as that
which it seeks. When we have dwelt on its varied
intimations ; when we have thought of Ideality and
Poetry, perfect Being, the Infinite, the Immortal,
Supreme Reason, pure Beauty, universal Love—even
then the wise heart is conscious that it has touched
but a few chords of the harp with a thousand strings ;
and when the thousand strings have all been swept,
�when human language has rehearsed all its concepts
and its dreams to the last accent, yet in the silent
heart the still small voice will go on sweetly singing of
a dawn fairer thap. all the rest.
Waterlow & Sons Limited, Printers, London Wall, London. '•
�•■9
•
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The Sacred Anthology: A Book
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Do,
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David Frederick Strauss ..
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Intellectual Suicide
The First Love again
Our Cause and its Accusers
Alcestis in England
Unbelief: Its nature, cause, and cure
Entering Society ..
The Religion of Children
The Peri! of War
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BY REV. P. H. WICKSTEED, M.A.
Going Through and Getting Over
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The Modern Analogue of the Ancient
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Victorian Blogging
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & 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>
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What is religion?: a discourse given at South Place Chapel, May 5th, 1878
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Conway, Moncure Daniel [1832-1907.]
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Notes: Morris Miscellaneous Tracts 2. 'F. Max Muller's First Hibbert Lecture' [From title page]. Publisher's list on back page. Printed by Waterlow & Sons, London Wall.
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God (Christianity)
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WHAT 18 RELIGION?
{F. Max Muller's First Hibbert Lecture)
A DISCOURSE
GIVEN AT
JSOUTH
J^LACE
JThAFEL,
MAY $th, 1878,
by'
MONCURE D. CONWAY, M.A.
LONDON :
SOUTH PLACE, FINSBURY.
PRICE TWOPENCE.
�LONDON:
PRINTED BY WATERLOW AND SONS LIMITED,
LONDON WALL.
�WHAT IS RELIGION?
The community may congratulate itself upon the fact
that the bequest of an advanced liberal man for the
promotion of free religious inquiry, should find its
fulfilment in the ancient chapter-house of Westminster
Abbey. It is probable that if the dogmas which
founded that Abbey still reigned, the first Hibbert
lecturer would have been sooner burnt than listened
to. But now, amid those historic walls are repre
sented ideas of religion which have been raised quite
out of the region of authority, and worthily claim only
to stand or fall along with the reason and knowledge
, of man,—acknowledging no revelation but the history
of man.
On Thursday last, in his second lecture, the Pro
fessor remarked that, even if the theory of human pro
gression could be proved in all other affairs of mankind,
that would not prove the same theory true of religion.
�4
This remark applied to the far past; and it is true
that what is called religion was for ages the unpro
gressive, the stationary institution of the world. And
this because the religious sentiment was confused with
theology,—identified with alleged revelations,—thus
removed from the normal current of human interests.
But the scene in the chapter-house marks a great
change. The Hibbert Trust is, I believe, outcome
of money earned by toiling negroes on West Indian
plantations. The House of Commons freed those
slaves. The wealth they coined comes back to the
room in which the House of Commons first sat.
There African degradation is turning to English cul
ture. The progress in civilisation represented in that
fact is not greater than ,the religious progress it
implies. The leading Unitarian (Martineau) and the
Dean of Westminster have united to bring a German
• liberal there to raise the standard of a human religion.
It is now a religious House of Commons. Four
centuries ago an old monk frescoed the walls of it
with the visions of the Apocalypse. The angels and
dragons are now fading around a wider apocalypse.
The Isle of Patmos sinks beneath the horizon. The
Isle of England rises from the night, its awakened eye
■ holding the Apocalypse of Man.
The eminence of Max Muller is the work he has
done in recovering the vast fields of human experi
�5
ence represented by the Aryan race. No West Indian
slave was more bound under his master than our
English brains under thraldom to ancient Semitic
notions. Hebraism waved its sceptre over European
culture, and excluded two-thirds of the world and of
history as heathenism and devil’s work. Many have
been our deliverers from that prison, but no one of
them has done more than our first Hibbert lecturer
to carry this liberation from the scholar’s study to
the layman’s home. It was because of this that he
was called to expound the religion of humanity amid
walls built to fortify the dogmas of one tribe against
the rest of mankind, and against universal progress.
Westminster Abbey has survived to hear sentence
passed upon every creed for which it stood. And so
at last even tardy religion is caught up into the great
loom of the world to be woven in with general civili
sation.
That is, so far as it is a sound thread. But is it
sound ? Is it real ? Some say it is rotten, some say
unreal: man’s childish awe of phantoms, conjured up
by his own ignorance. But Max Muller detaches re
ligion from all its special forms or accidents; maintains
its reality and vitality; rests it upon the universal human
sense and feeling of the Infinite. He appeals to the
broad facts common to the civilized man and the
barbarian, to East, West, North, South; and he thus,
�6
in laying his foundation, leaves out of sight those
facts not universal; such as the special and narrow
theories of which a Christian may feel conscious here
and a Buddhist there. His question relates not to
this so-called religion or that, but to religion itself.
All religions might perish, and this essential religion
still stand. That he declares to be a natural thing,
which has had natural evolutions comprehensible by
science. Supernaturalism may, therefore, so far as the
present atmosphere of Westminster Abbey is con
cerned, be regarded as a small way one religion’ has
of saying to another “ Stand aside, I am holier than
thou.” The interest of the human intellect has
passed beyond that pious egotism. It is now pro
foundly concerned to know, not whether Christianity
is true, but whether religion itself is real; or whether
our spiritual emotion is merely surviving emotion of
waves after the blasts of superstition have so long
swept over them.
The main principle affirmed is, that religion is man’s
apprehension of the Infinite. In searching the largest
and the smallest, man reaches an end of his com
prehension, the limit of the heavens he can see, the
limit of the atom he can divide; but where compre
hension ends, apprehension continues; imagination,
wonder, admiration, faith, hope, soar on into an immea
surable expanse; and the emotion awakened within
�7
for that transcendent immensity is the religious emo
tion.
Now there are certain inferences from this principle
which it hardly lay in the way of the lecturer to un
fold. It was intimated, however, in what he said
about the progressive development of conceptions of
colour, and I will use that to illustrate my own point.
In arguing that the ancient races of men apprehended
the Infinite vaguely, though they had no word for it,
he said, 11 We divide colour by seven rough degrees.
Even those seven degrees are of late date in the evolu
tion of our sensuous knowledge. In common Arabic, as
Palgrave tells us, the names for green, black and brown
are constantly confounded. In the Edda the rainbow is
called a three-coloured bridge. Xenophanes says that
what people call Iris is a cloud, purple, red and yellow.
Even Aristotle still speaks of the tricoloured rainbow,
red, yellow and green. Blue, which seems to us so
definite a colour, was worked out of the infinity of
colours at a comparatively late time. There is hardly
a book now in which we do not read of the blue sky.
But in the ancient hymns of the Veda, so full of the
dawn, the sun and the sky, the blue sky is never men
tioned in the Zendavesta the blue sky is never men
tioned ; in Homer the blue sky is never mentioned ;
in the Old, and even in the New, Testament, the blue
sky is never mentioned. In the Teutonic languages
�§
blue comes from a root which originally meant bleak
and black. The Romance languages found no useful
word for blue in Latin and 'borrowed their word from
the Germans.”
The Hibbert lecturer believes those ancients saw
the blue sky as we do, but they had no word
for it because they had not detached it mentally from
dark or bright. But whether the outer eye has un
folded or the inner eye,—visual power or the analytic
mind behind it,—-it is equally shown that the full
phenomena were not revealed j and we are again
reminded that in going back to the ancient world for
his beliefs man suffers a relapse from the height he
has attained. In the matter of blue sky the Bible is
as much a blank as the Vedas. So far neither was a
revelation—or unveiling—of phenomena. That know
ledge, by natural means and scientific culture, we have
reached, and see seven colours where our ancestors
saw three or four. Are we to suppose their spiritual
senses were finer, while their other senses were duller,
than ours ? Are we to suppose that their religious
analysis was more perfect than ours ? If so, it would
be a miracle; but where is the evidence of any such
miracle ? Compare the God of the Vedas or of the
Bible—Indra or Jehovah—with the God of Theodore
Parker, nay, of any living Theist, and only a blindness
worse than blue-blindness can declare those thunder-;
�9
gods equal to the Divine Love adored by the en
lightened heart to-day.
That conclusion is inevitable from the moment it
is admitted that religion is a subject for scientific
treatment. Once let it be admitted that religion is to
be dealt with by unbiassed reason,—by such calm
sifting of facts as if the subject were electricity,—and
from that instant every particular system of religion
must take its place in the natural history of mankind.
Be it Brahminism, be it Christianity, it comes down
from the bench and goes into the witness-box. Each
testifies what it knows, but it cannot coerce the judg
ment of Reason. Christianity may testify that it saw
miracles; Confucianism that it saw none; Islamism
that it was revealed from Allah; but it is no longer
the sword which determines their credibility; it is
Reason. So their testimony goes for precisely what
it is worth. If they saw only three colours where
there were seven, possibly they also saw miracle
where there was only natural fact. The world cannot
go back to the year One for its ideas of the Infinite
any more than for its optics. It may recognise in
Christ a great religious teacher, just as it recognises
in Aristotle a great scientific teacher; but as it
cannot diminish the known colours because Aristotle
knew only three, so it cannot deny religious facts
because unknown to Christ. But it may find fresh
�IO
reason for faith in science and religion in that, with
grand vitality, they far outgrow both Aristotle and
Christ, and all the systems that would confine them.
Now, as to this apprehension of the Infinite in
which the Hibbert lecturer finds the religious faculty ;
it souhds at first rather metaphysical. It is tolerably
clear that no abstract notions of the Infinite can have
any commanding power over the nature and passions
of mankind. We must, therefore, in considering
historic religions, think rather of the forms with which
human imagination has peopled the Infinite. The
Infinite in itself is metaphysical ; but its vault, popu
lous with gods, becomes practical. The creed which
has swayed the world has been in an Infinite just
transcending man’s finite in power or excellence ;
while it is finite enough to deal with him and feel
with him. The god or personality which man asso
ciates with infinitude may be of unknown strength,
so separate from finite man ; but he may be angry,
loving, ambitious, so linked on to the finite?
It is just in this twofold aspect of these images of
the Infinite that we may discover the reality and
meaning of religion. To which side of the god does
it belong—his finite or his infinite side ? his likeness
to man or his transcendency of man? his compre
hensibility or incomprehensibility.
Religion,—whether it be a sense of dependence, or
�II
awe, of emotion, or aspiration—whatever its aspect,
refers to that in which the object of worship passes
beyond the worshipper. In this it differs from
theology, which concerns itself with that side of the
god which is within the knowledge of man. The
Theology of one period may describe the gods, as the
Greeks did, even to the colour of their hair; the
Theology of another period may disprove such gods’
'existence, substituting invisible Beings, as that of Paul
‘did. One Theology may build up a Trinity; another
may supersede it with a Quaternity or Unity. But it
would be an error to suppose that Religion is either
'directly making those images,or directly replacing them.
These personifications are the successive inventions
of a changing science; they are utilised by priests who
support theologians to maintain them, or, when they
become discredited, to modify or replace them. But,
although the religious condition of man may be har
monious with such images at one time, discordant
with them at another, what human worship adores is
the unknown, the eternal, the vast, the perfect,—all
expanding beyond its conception, but yet believed to
■be powerfully existent.
Thus Religion is different from Fear. Man would
hover fear the Infinite. It is only when to its vastness
Theology adds a smallness like man’s own that men
beginto tremble. It is not Jove, the incomprehensible
�.12
Heaven, man fears; but Jove, the comprehensible
Chieftain, going about with a thunderclub to kill him.
That Jove men fear, because they understand him;,
they go about themselves with clubs less big but
equally murderous. That is not Religion—it is
Theology; a primitive speculative science of gods.
But we have reached now a Science of Religion, and
understand that its reverence, its devoutness, emotion,
love, so far as really awakened in man, were for what
rose above his own weakness, his passions, and his
sorrows.
What, then, does this apprehension (which must be
distinguished from comprehension) this feeling about
the Infinite amount to ? Simply to man’s belief in
something better than himself. Man believes in a
Wisdom greater than his own. Theology may per
sonify it in Minerva, or in the Holy Ghost; but the
worship is not. for the work of man’s wisdom—it is
for the wisdom ascending beyond man. So the forms
perish : the worship of wisdom perishes not. Man
adores a power beyond his own: theology may
identify it with mountain and lightning, sea and whirl
wind, and these may overawe his heart so long as he
knows nothing of them : but when the mountain is
climbed, and the sea voyaged over, the cloud seen as
vapour, the wind weighed, the lightning bottled and
sealed up, the ever-kneeling spirit of Religion passes
�T3
onward, and amid innumerable forms and names that
come and go, seeks still the better, the wiser, the,
more powerful and happy,—ever leading on from the
finite to the Infinite.
And this high seeking, born of each heart’s faith in
a better than it knows, is the religious force, because
it is the controlling and creative force. It is idle to
tell us, in face of the moral progress of the world,
that the life of man has been the result of correct
metaphysics, theological definitions, abstractions about
the Absolute and co-eternal Persons. The force that
is moving the world onward 'is the longing in each
human being for somewhat more perfect than what
they have or are. It is Maya in India praying her
babe Siddartha (Buddha) may be wise beyond all men
she ever knew; or Mary in Palestine praying the same
as she watches her baby Jesus ; or any mother that
hears me, whose tender breast feels stirring within
hope that the new nature she has started on its career
may ascend till she can kneel in homage before it. It
may be the humblest workman dreaming of a more
perfect skill; the young artisan feeling after an inven
tion pregnant with results incalculable. Wherever
and however manifested it is the great vision of a
glory transcending our own; and though such ideals
are always being reached and passed by—infinites
becoming Unites—so endlessly the spirit grows, so
�14
immortal is its nature, so unceasing the work of
creation, the outline is never filled up. Over crumbled
gods and goddesses, religion ascends for ever, burning,
disintegrating, generating, regenerating,—Humanity’s
passion for the Perfect.
There is a danger in the method of the historian
and archaeologist of religion. Because he must trace
the evolution of religion through its visible and
definable effects—fetish, shrine, dogma, temple—
there is danger that these may be regarded as types
and forms of religion itself. When a geologist walks
over hills, cliffs, rocks, he traces the path of drifting
glaciers scratched on rock; he finds sea-shells on
the hill-tops, boulders dropped in meadows, pebbles
rounded by waves long ebbed away to channels many
miles distant: he says, seas and rivers have smoothed
and deposited these shells and sands, and shaped
these undulations of hill and vale. Yet these are
not the sea,—they are but fringes and accidents in the
history of the sea. But in religion men still have the
habit of seeing the shards and shells of theory—the
pebbles of theology worn from crumbled temples—as
forms of Religion itself. They are but things which
Religion influenced, they report its ancient tides and
currents, but they are not—never were—religion
itself.
Having now detached the religious sentiment from
�i5
the forms which have borrowed its consecration;
having identified it as man’s impulse towards the
Perfect—which philosophy calls the Infinite—let us
ask whether we are genuine and true in calling this
religion. Or is our use of that word only a piece of
conventionality ? Does Religion mean anything diffe
rent from morality, or different from conscience ? If
not, then our use of it is mystification, conformity,
cowardice.
I believe Religion to be a different thing from
Morality. I understand by morality rules and stan
dards of conduct relating to recognised social duties.
But there is something in man which leads him to
defy the rules and standards around him. A bad man
violates moral rules for the sake of self: but another
man breaks them at the cost of self. What leads Jesus
to break the Sabbath, or Buddha to refuse offerings
to the gods ? Or what leads the reformer of to-day to
challenge the social and political order ?
Are such men seeking the benefit of the majority ?
The majority are against them. The majority is made
uncomfortable by them. Are they seeking general
advantages ? They are often plunging everything into
revolution, and doing it consciously. You might per
suade a freethinker that to disestablish the Church
would leave the majority poorer than now; or that
innumerable advantages to millions would be lost if
�the Athanasian Creed were exploded. But would any
consideration of majorities make him support the
Church: would any advantages make him advocate
the Creed ? It may be said he is obeying the voice of
conscience. That explains nothing. Conscience is
an organ of forces beyond itself. It dictates war to
one tribe, peace to another. Conscience is a majestic
throne, but we search for the power behind the
throne.
Now, here we have a force in man which often
confronts customs, moralities, the social and political
order, which disregards majorities and their interests,
disregards self-interest also; and this force with
passion, enthusiasm and martyrdom, seeks something
it never saw, something that never existed. It is
manifested in all history, and is known in universal
experience; it actuates theists and non-theists; it is
especially visible in the overthrow of popular idols
and dogmas claiming its worship. Is that morality?
Not a whit more than it is politics, or trade, or art, or
any one of the manifold human interests which slowly
but steadily follow the lead of that pillar of cloud and
fire.
I call it Religion, because that is a universal name
which no sect or nation has ever tried to monopolise :
but I do not care for that name if any one has a
better. I do care that it shall not be confused with
�i7
wholly different things, with either morality, politics
or science. Much less, with Theology. For Theology
is the great enemy of religion. Morality, Society,
Science, are its ministers, but Theology is its rival,—
the Opposer that would arrest the current of its life,
and nail man down to bestow upon a fragment of his
universe and himself the passion born for aspiration
to the perfect whole. To call it ideality, poetry,
harmony, love of humanity, is to name the fruits by
which this religious life is known. To name it
Religion may, indeed, be very inadequate ; neither
etymologically or practically can that word do more
than preserve the distinction and witness the existence
of that which language cannot define; but as in
accuracy of words like “ sunrise ” and “ sunset ”
cannot now mar the glories they suggest, so no
etymologic fault can disparage that only catholic
name we have (Religion) so long as it is left
us by Sectarianism and Superstition to designate
the universal aspirations of mankind. Christianity
can only claim to be a religion; it cannot claim
to be Religion. No sect can claim to be Religion
itself. That is an older banner than any existing
nation or church; under its broad folds and
heaven-born tints thousands of sects have perished;
it widens with the ages, blends with all grandeurs
without and within, leads onward the steady march of
�i8
man with his world to that supreme beauty which
enchains his senses and enchants his heart.
For essential religion no adequate word or definition
has ever been discovered, or is likely to be discovered.
If the lecturer’s statement there halts, it is because
the Infinite, the Perfect, cannot be defined. To call
it the Infinite leaves the moral sentiment unexpressed.
To call it “ morality touched with enthusiasm,” leaves
the progressive life untold. The philosophers of Germany
and America in the beginning of this generation called
it Transcendentalism;—but that white light wanted
fire, and faded. Some have called it absolute Being.
Jesus called it Love; and no fairer emblem of it was
ever named than that supreme glory which quickens
the world, from the marriage of flower with flower
which to-day clothes the earth with blossoms, to the
mother and her babe, and all the manifestations of
that unselfish joy which alone can transfigure human
passions. But man needs Light as well as Love.
And so it is that the highest in us is as ineffable as that
which it seeks. When we have dwelt on its varied
intimations ; when we have thought of Ideality and
Poetry, perfect Being, the Infinite, the Immortal,
Supreme Reason, pure Beauty, universal Love—even
then the wise heart is conscious that it has touched
but a few chords of the harp with a thousand strings ;
and when the thousand strings have all been swept,
�i9
when human language has rehearsed all its concepts
and its dreams to the last accent, yet in the silent
heart the still small voice will go on sweetly singing of
a dawn fairer than all the rest.
Waterldw & Sons Limited, Printers, London Wall, London.
�WORKS TO BE OBTAINED IN THE LIBRARY.
BY M. D. CONWAY, M.A.
PRICES,
s.
The Sacred Anthology: A Book
of Ethnical Scriptures ..
The Earthward Pilgrimage
Do.
do.
Republican Superstitions..
Christianity
.........................
Human Sacrifices in England ..
David Frederick Strauss ..
Sterling and Maurice
Intellectual Suicide
The First Love again
Our Cause and its Accusers
Alcestis in England
Unbelief: its nature, cause, and cure
Entering Society.........................
The Religion of Children
The Peri! of War
10
5
2
2
1
1
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0
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0
0
6
6
6
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3
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2
2
1
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Idols and Ideals fincluding the Essay
on Christianity^, 350 pp............................ 7
6
NEW WORK BY M. D. CONWAY, M.A.
Members of the Congregation, can obtain this
work in the Library at 5/-.
BY A. J. ELLIS, B.A., F.R.8., &c., &c.
Salvation ..........
0
Truth
.......................................................0
Speculation
........................ ;
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0
Duty
..........
0
The Dyer's Hand ........
0
2
2
2
2
2
BY REV. P. H. WICKSTEED, M.A.
Going Through and Getting Over
..
0
2
BY REV. T. W. FRECKELTON.
The Modern Analogue of the Ancient
Prophet ..........
02
BY W. C. COUPLAND, M.A.
The Conduct of Life
Hymns and Anthems
..
..
..
0
2
V; 2f: 3/.
�
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Victorian Blogging
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & 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>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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What is religion? : a discourse given at South Place Chapel, May 5th 1878
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Conway, Moncure Daniel [1832-1907.]
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Place of publication: London
Collation: 19, [1] p. ; 15 cm.
Notes: Part of Morris Miscellaneous Tracts 1. List of works to be obtained from the Library of South Place Chapel at end of pamphlet. Printed by Waterlow and Sons, London Wall. About F. Max Muller's First Hibbert Lecture on 'The Perception of the Infinite' given at Westminster Abbey in April 1878.
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G3338
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Religion
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<img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /><br /><span>This work (What is religion? : a discourse given at South Place Chapel, May 5th 1878), identified by </span><span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk">Humanist Library and Archives</a></span><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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God (Christianity)
Moral Philosophy
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Morris Tracts
Religion and science
Science and Religion
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Text
THE SCIENCE OF LIFE
WORTH LIVING.
DELIVERED BEFORE THE
SUNDAY LECTURE SOCIETY,
ON
SUNDAY AFTERNOON, 22nd, FEBRUARY, 1880,
By A. ELLEY FINCH.
London:
PUBLISHED BY THE SUNDAY LECTURE SOCIETY.
1880.
PRICE THEEPENCE.
�The Society’s Leetures 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 3jd.)
“ Civilization : a Sketch of its Rise and Progress, its Modem
Safe-guards, and Future Prospects.” (Price 3d., or post
free 3^d.)
“ The Influence of Astronomical Discovery in the
Development of the Human Mink.” (Price 3d., or post
free 3jd.)
“The Principles of Political Economy; their Scientific
Basis, and Practical application to Social Well-being.”
(Price 3d., or post free 3 jd.)
“ The English Free-thinkers of the Eighteenth Cen
tury.” (Price 3d., or post free 3^d.)
“ 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.)
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.
The two theories of the Universe and of Human Life, derived
respectively from Superstition and Science.
1. The theory derived from Superstition stated, with indica
tions of its source.
Biassed belief in this (theological) theory arising from early
training in creeds, catechisms, and sermons, and from the in
fluence of proselyting societies. Illustrations from the Reports
of the Sunday School Union Society; the British and Foreign
Bible Society; the Religious Tract Society.
Our actual condition (or practice) of life shown to be based
upon the theological theory. Illustrations of its overcrowding,
poverty, intemperance, disease, crime, premature death, &c.,
from the Census Population Returns. The Registrar General’s
Returns. Fry’s Royal Guide to the London Charities. Statistics
of Prisons and Lunatic Asylums.
The present attitude of Science in relation to these features of
human existence.
2. The theory of the Universe and of Human Life (physio
logical) derived from Science stated, with indications of its source.
Illustrations from Newton’s Principia. Darwin’s Descent of
Man.
Remarkable absence of Societies for spreading knowledge of
and inducing belief in the theory derived from Science.
Summary of the Natural Law by virtue of which organised
bodies are multiplied in excess of their means of subsistence.
Illustrations of the inexorable operation of this law from
Haeckel’s History of the Creation. Darwin’s Origin of Species.
Walford’s Famines of the World.
The first canon of scientific culture of life involves limitation
of numbers, and the controlling of physical conditions of repro
duction through the application of human intelligence.
How the continuity or similarity of structure and function
between human, animal, and vegetal organisms, enables Science
(through comparative research) to acquire knowledge of the
nature of the constitution of man, and to originate rules for its
right treatment and progressive improvement. Illustrations
from Huxley’s Man’s place in Nature—Galton’s Hereditary
Genius.
Responsibility (taught by Science) in becoming a factor of
posterity.
To what extent, by applying (analogically) to the rearing of
the Human Being the scientific methods that have produced the
exquisite growth, maturity, and beauty of cultivated Flowers
and Fruit, and the joyousness, hilarity, and perfection of form,
temper, and disposition of the thorough-bred Animal, the evils
of our present existence might be eliminated, its morality puri
fied and elevated, its course converted into a career of virtuous
enjoyment, and Life practically made worth Living.
��THE
SCIENCE OF LIFE WORTH LIVING.
----- !-----
Iw the arena of European thought there are at the pre
sent time conspicuous two conflicting conceptions or
theories concerning the nature of the Universe, and the
origin and nature of Human Life.
One of these theories is based upon supposed Super
natural Knowledge, and, inasmuch as, from the point of
view of Science, all alleged knowledge of what transcends
Nature relates to the region of the emotional imagination,
I will, for the sake of distinction, designate the concep
tion I am now alluding to as—;the theofy derived from
Superstition.
The other conception is one which has slowly emerged
from the long series of human discoveries that have
gradually brought to light those facts and laws of Nature
upon the truth and experience of which it will be found
to be exclusively based. I will designate it therefore as
—the theory derived from Science.
You all know, more or less, what are the salient points
of these respective theories, having probably learnt them
by rote. I am going to restate them now, because the
argument of the Lecture is founded upon an endeavour
to realise them by our reason, and to reflect upon them
by way of comparison; notwithstanding that it has be
come the intellectual fashion with a certain school to en
courage subtle and plausible attempts to reconcile these
theories—or hopelessly to confuse the separate provinces
of reason and faith.
�6
The Science of Life Worth Living.
Now the prior-mentioned theory may I think be shortly
stated thus—First, with regard to the Universe; that it
came into existence by the fiat of the Will of an Almighty
Power, which, somewhere about six thousand years ago,
created it out of nothing in six days. That the principle
part of this Universe consists of the World our Earth,
which is a fixed plain or vast floor, arched over by a con
cave vault. The Sun and Moon, and the Stars which
stud this vault or firmament, and which move round the
fixed earth, are simply greater and lesser lights created
subordinate to, and called into existence for the purpose
of the earth, and to give light thereon.
Secondly, with respect to the origin and nature of
Man, the theory under consideration is more complex, as
well as of more serious interest, and can only be com
prehended (so far as human reason can comprehend any
thing so mysterious,) by entering into somewhat more
detail.
It is related then that the Almighty Power created
man by forming him out of the dust of the ground, and
breathing into his nostrils the breath of life, whereby
man became a living soul; and the other sex we are told
was created by the causing of a deep sleep to fall upon
the man, and the taking out of one of his ribs, and the
closing up of the flesh instead thereof; and the rib which
was so taken from the man was made into a woman; and
this first-created pair were commanded to be fruitful and
multiply.
The theory then goes on to relate that the man and
woman, thus created pure and sinless, were immediately
tempted into sin by Satan in the form of a serpent. That
this sin of our first parents brought a curse upon the
Earth, and incurred the penalty of death for themselves
�The Science of Life Worth Living.
7
and for all their posterity. That the human race thence
forth became more wicked, so that the Almighty repented
that he had made man, and destroyed by a deluge all the
inhabitants of the Earth, with the exception of eight per
sons who had feared him, chiefly Noah and his sons; who
also were commanded to be fruitful and multiply. This
sweeping purification however was as futile as the origi
nal design, and men became more wicked than ever, and
the final remedy devised by the Almighty for the salva
tion of his human creatures was the incarnation of him
self in the person of his only Son (the second person of a
mysterious trinity). That the death of such only Son
upon the Cross, the innocent for the guilty, was a vi
carious expiation or atonement of the sins of the World;
provided however that all this should be believed; faith
or belief in it being made the condition upon which
alone such salvation is possible.
The theory does not however stop there. It declares
that everything which happens upon the Earth is the
direct effect of the exercise of the Will of this Almighty
Power, so that even a sparrow cannot fall to the ground
without his sanction or knowledge, and moreover that the
ills of life are to be remedied by means of prayer or en
treaty directed to him. Man therefore is emphatically
counselled to be constant in prayer; to pray without
ceasing. He is assured that the prayer of a righteous
man availeth much. That the prayer of faith shall save
the sick. That when two or three are gathered in the
name of the Almighty he will grant their requests, and
that whatsoever any man shall ask Him in the name of
Christ (his only son before mentioned) it shall be granted
to him.
Then, as to our state of life; the theory inculcates that
�8
The Science of Life Worth Living.
poverty on Earth is a condition pleasing to the Almighty,
and will be rewarded by riches in Heaven, and that the
aim of our life here should be to qualify ourselves for ob
taining this heavenly reward. That wealth and happiness
on Earth are not therefore the ends in view at all, but are
rather obstacles than otherwise to attaining Life everlast
ing in the Kingdom of Heaven.
That our brief existence in this World is a transitory
state of probation, merely accessory or a passage to an
other, where life will be endless ; eternal bliss in Heaven
to those who have believed in this theory, eternal torment
in Hell to those who have disbelieved in it.
Such, in short compass, is an outline of the one theory
of the Universe, and of the origin and nature of the life
of Man.
Now it is by no means easy to point out the source of
the theory I have been slightly sketching. It is commonly
supposed to be contained in the Bible. Partly no doubt
it is so, partly it is even more ancient, for India and
Egypt share in its origin with Palestine and Syria. As
a whole it is the theory of theology; that is to say, it has
been, in its ultimate shape, elaborated from the metaphy
sical and scholastic subtleties of that remarkable class of
men the Patres et Doctores—the Fathers and Schoolmen
who flourished throughout the early centuries of the
Christian era, and during that period of scientific dark
ness termed the middle ages; and, so potent has been the
indirect influence of their speculative interpretations of
the oriental metaphors of scripture, that it is quite doubt
ful whether any of us now living are capable of reading
the Bible free from the prejudices and preconceptions
that, partly by inheritance, and partly by education, we
have imbibed from such speculations, and which, in the
�The Science of Life Worth Living.
&
mystifying form of creeds, catechisms, confessions of
faith, and other ecclesiastical devices, are now found to
stand between man’s unsophisticated reason and the,
unique language of Holy Writ.
We are educated then to believe in this theological
theory, and our belief is not only thus biassed from birth
to manhood, but throughout our whole lives the most
extraordinary pains are taken to retain our understand
ings in its thraldom.
It may surprise some of you to hear that there are in
this metropolis alone upwards of 150 Missionary, Bible,
Beligious Tract, Christian evidence, and other proselyting
Societies applying large funds and exercising wide ranging
influence in spreading the knowledge of, and persuading
to the belief in this theological theory. Some idea may
be gained of the extent of the operations of these societies
if I give you a very few of the published statistics of some
two or three of them.
First I will instance the Sunday School Union Society,
who, in their Annual lieport for last year of what they
term their threefold work of pioneering, extension, and
consolidation, and the overcoming of prejudices, sophisms,
and personal antipathies, state that they have now in
London upwards of 830 schools, 20,000 teachers, and.
231,000 scholars.
I may here very appositely remark in reference gene
rally to the academical system of this country, that there
is not even yet a single one of our great Public Schools
that is presided over by a head master who is not a theo
logian. When therefore we read of a Conference of Head
Masters, such as was held on 22nd of December last, we.
must not be shocked to find that an adequate or more
thorough teaching of Science formed no part of their pro
�10
The Science of Life Worth Living.
gramme, and that they should be largely occupied in
discussing such subjects as “de flagellatione corporis” and
“ de cerevisia potendo ”—that is—concerning the flogging
of the little boys, and stopping the beer of the big ones.
Next I will take a very few facts and figures from the
last Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society. It
is therein stated that in the year 1878 the Society had
issued and circulated upwards of 3,340,000 copies of the
scriptures in whole or in part. That from the commence
ment of the Society’s operations in the year 1804, upwards
of eighty-five millions of such copies had been circulated,
and they calculate that they have thereby rendered the
Bible available to seven hundred millions of the human
family!
I will lastly turn to the Report of the Religious Tract
Society for the year 1878. There I find it stated that the
total circulation from London alone of the various mis
cellaneous issues of this energetic body had reached the
astounding total of upwards of sixty millions, of which
28,500,000 were religious tracts; so that I think we may
conclude that the community is tolerably saturated with
this species of literature, even if we did not know, what
is probably within the experience of nearly every one
present, viz.: That you cannot walk the streets without
having these publications thrust upon you, and that you
can hardly enter a Railway Station or a room in a Hotel
throughout the Kingdom which is not supplied with the
scriptures gratis, and partly adorned by a display of theo
logical tracts and texts.
We cannot wonder then if we find, as the fact is, that
the actual condition or practice of our lives is based upon
the theological theory, and that whatever may be the
prevalent form of ailment with society or any of its
�The Science of Life Worth Living.
11
members, the sovereign cure suggested by our accredited
teachers is resort to the theological agency of Prayer,
Intercession, or Thanksgiving to the Supernatural Pro
vidence assumed by the theory to be specially regulating
the affairs of life. Things serious and trivial are alike
affected by it.
If bells are to be hung in a Church, they must first be
blessed by the ministers of supernatural grace. If a
vessel of war is to be named, a christening or theological
ceremony must be performed over it. If new colours are
presented to a regiment of soldiers, the approval of the
supernatural must be invoked. If an epidemic prevails,
prayer is to be resorted to to drive it away. If the
weather is such that the crops will not ripen, the super
natural is appealed to to change it. If, notwithstanding
such appeal, the weather continues disastrous, the crops
are destroyed, and the farmer is ruined, so inveterate are
our theological habits that a harvest Thanksgiving to the
supernatural must nevertheless be held 1
Even the sick room is overshadowed by this superstition,
and sometimes becomes converted into the chamber of
death, by reason of the physician’s skill being baffled, not
by the symptoms of the disease but by the patient’s
nervous depression and anxiety resulting from terrified
belief in the theological theory.
And now, if we turn to the characteristics of our life
carried on under the influence of this theory, what do we
find them to be ? I think I do not err if I describe them
as being for the most part divers forms and shapes of
misery, and variety of wretchedness—I am not of course
alluding to the lives of the upper ten thousand, who are
by their special circumstances exceptionally placed in
relation to any theory, but I am referring more particu
�12
The Science of Life Worth Living.
larly to the lives of the masses of those who compose the
middle and lower ranks of society.
In verification of this assertion I will again appeal to
the irrefutable logic of statistics. If we turn to the
Population Census returns we find that whilst, in the
judgment of the Registrar-General (whose conclusion I
may add is confirmed by the reasonings and research of
our friend Dr. Richardson), the fair natural limit of the
life of the human being is stated to be 100 years, yet the
average length of life in this country, taking all of us
together, is only between forty and fifty years, whilst, if
we confine our calculation to those who constitute our
toiling millions, their actual average length of life is only
between twenty and thirty years. It may be literally said
that the natural length of life is ground out of them by
over-work, by overcrowding, by intemperance, by disease,
and by destitution. So short a span of existence can in
deed be to many of them little more than the prolonged
agony of a slow death. “We don’t live,”—said many of
the street folk to Horace Mayhew, when he was enquiring
into the habits of the London poor,—“ We don’t live—
we starve.”
Again, in the Registrar-General’s summary of births,
deaths, and marriages for the year 1878 we find it recorded
that out of the 83,000 deaths that occurred in London in
that year, upwards of 42,000 took place at ages under
twenty years, and it appears as a general inference from
his figures that of the children that are brought into
existence upwards of 40 per cent, of them perish under
five years of age ! "
Now these are very fearful facts, in whatever light we
may view them, and the amount of human misery they
involve can hardly be realised by means of languages
�The Science of Life Worth Living.
13
though if it were necessary to paint with sadder colours
the sorrows of our existence I would refer to Fry’s Royal
Guide to the London Charities, amongst which are enume
rated no less than some seventy Hospitals, having an
annual aggregate of nearly 1,000,000 in-and-out-door
patients 1
All honour indeed to those whose munificence supports
these beneficent Institutions, but, what we are now con
cerned to notice is the appalling mass of disease and
destitution that renders them necessary, and fills to over
flowing their tens of thousands of beds and appliances.
I might7 even still further darken the picture of life if
I summed up, however briefly, the statistics of our habits
of intemperance and the numbers of committals to jails
and of the inmates of lunatic asylums; but I think that
what I have stated may at any rate be regarded as suffi
ciently justifying the Apostle of Superstition, who has
lately been heard to enquire so despairingly—Is Life
worth Living ?
Now, remembering that in obedience to the theological
theory millions of prayers, in every conceivable variety
that the will of man can devise, have been, and are being
continually uttered imploring supernatural relief from
the evils of this world of woe, I think we might well
reply to the above enquiry by asking—Is it not time
seriously to try something else ?
There is no doubt that in one sense enlightened minds
have been for a long time engaged in endeavouring to
lessen the ills of life by the application of the teachings
of Science. Philanthropists have especially sought to
show that in matters relating to health, diseases for
instance, chiefly result from the disregard of certain
natural laws; but, between Superstition and Science there
�14
The Science of Life Worth Living.
is really no ratio, and, whilst the one appeals to super
natural Providence for the cure of evil, and the other
would rouse up the human reason to discover the law of
nature which the presence of evil shows us has been dis
regarded, it is in fact impracticable effectually to graft
the resources of science upon the theological theory, and,
in attempting it, we are only engaged in the delusive
practice of pouring new wine into old bottles. The old
bottles of theology are indeed from time to time burst,
while the new wine of science is mostly spilt and lost.
Not but what a summary of the achievements of science
during even the present century would show us very
remarkable changes bearing upon the progress of our
every day life,—commerce freed from restrictions; trade
monopolies broken down; the necessaries of life cheapened;
important political, economic, and legal reforms effected;
locomotion and the means of communication marvellously
expedited ; vast improvements in the medical art; pain
mitigated, diseases diminished, life itself lengthened.
Yet the conclusion I desire to put to you is, that the
expected beneficial results of these scientific achievements
have been more or less neutralized or impeded through
the influence of the theological theory, by the stimulus
they have thereby been encouraged to impart to the irra
tional and reckless over production of human beings, so
that their most striking effect has been the excessive, that
is, the too rapid increase of our population, especially of
the indigent or wage receiving class, whose miserable
lives and untimely deaths are but too surely vouched for
by those remorseless returns of the Registrar General.
It appears by the published digest of the last census
that the population of England and Wales, which, in the
year 1801 was nine millions, had doubled its numbers by
�The Science of Life Worth Living.
15
the year 1851, and, by the year 1871, had increased to
twenty-three millions I
Then in relation to our education on the theological
basis, the attitude of science is thus humourously de
scribed by Professor Huxley. “The educational tree,” he
remarks, “ seems to have its roots in the air, its leaves
and flowers in the ground, and I confess I should like to
turn it upside down, so that its roots might be solidly
embedded among the facts of nature, and draw thence a
sound nutriment for its foliage and fruit of literature and
of art. I think I do not err in saying that if Science
were made the foundation of education instead of being
at most stuck on as a cornice to the edifice, the present
state of things could not exist.”
Let us now turn to the consideration of the theory of
the Universe, and of the origin an-d nature of Human Life
which we have derived from the discoveries of Science.
When you look up at the sky on a bright cLear night
of course you see the vast apparent dome over your heads
profusely studded with constellations and multitudes of
stars. You observe that the great majority of these
appear to be fixed in their relative positions, always
appearing in their accustomed places, no matter where .
the observer may be, but that with regard to some few of
the-stars, which appear to be larger than the rest, and to
shine with a more brilliant and attractive light, these
you observe to be perpetually shifting their positions,
only some of them appearing together on any particular
night.
,
Now the marvellous discoveries of astronomical science
respecting the stars are shortly this. Those that are
never seen to move out of their relative positions, and
therefore called the fixed stars, are at an enormous,
�16
The Science of Life Worth Living.
practically an incalculable distance from the Earth, and
are of vast size compared with it, many of them being
indeed suns, the centres of systems similar to what is
termed our solar system. They are altogether so removed
from us as to exert no appreciable influence upon the
earth, and they may be dismissed from present considera
tion with the single observation, that they powerfully
impress us with the vastness of the universe according to
the scientific conception of it, far beyond realisation by
the human imagination, and convince us that our earth can
not be the world that the theological theory asserts, but that
it is really only a very minute portion of the vast creation.
To attain anything like a realisable idea of our World
according to Science we must limit our reflections to those
few moving stars whose larger size and softer brilliancy
seem so to fascinate our sight and thoughts, and which are,
relatively to the fixed stars, very near to us. These mov
ing stars then are the planets that circle round our Sun.
The Earth is known by science to be one of such planets,
and to an observer placed upon the surface of any of the
others the earth would appear very much like what they
appear to us, though indeed, as to some of them, the
planet Jupiter for instance with its four satellites or
moons and whose bulk is some 1300 times larger than
that of the Earth, our planet with its one moon would
appear to an inhabitant of Jupiter, if visible at all, as a
very insignificant star indeed.
‘ To comprehend this more clearly we must mentally
separate this planetary system from the rest of the starry
universe, and contemplate it distinctly by itself.
Here you have an ordinary representation of a few of
the chief bodies of the system,* showing the Sun in the
* See diagram on opposite page.
�The Science of Life Worth Living.
URANUS'^..
17
�18
The Science of Life Worth Living.
centre and the several principle planets in their respec
tive orbits round the Sun. It tolerably represents what
the eye would see, supposing we were not upon the Earth,
but looking down on the system from a great elevation
on its north side.
Now, of this majestic system Science explains the pro
bable formation. That is to say—It is known, from tele
scopic observations and mathematical calculations, that
the moving bodies in this system are all similar in form,
being globes not quite spherical or round but oblate, that
is, flattened at their poles. ( That they all severally ro
tate upon their axes in the same direction. That they
all move through space in the same common direction
from West to East. That the curve of their respective
orbits is not mathematically circular but elliptical. That
the eccentricity of their orbits is very slight, and the incli
nation of their planes very small in comparison with that
of the Solar Equator, and that all these planetary bodies
revolve round the central Sun in particular periodic
times.
Now these discovered facts, considered in connection
with the known natural laws of gravitation, of motion,
and of heat, and the known laws that rule the human in
tellect in its search after truth, impel our reason towards
certain conclusions, viz.: That the former state of the
solar atmosphere, myriads of ages ago, was that of a vast
zone of nebulous or gaseous matter in a state of extreme
heat, extending to the utmost limits of the system, under
going a gradual process of progressive cooling, contrac
tion, and condensation, and that the present state of the
system is simply the necessary physical result of such
natural process of cooling, contracting, and condensing .
by virtue of which the nebulous mass broke up, or sepa
�The Science of Life Worth Living.
19
rated into its several component moving bodies, at first
liquid, then becoming solid and such as we now see them.
The entire system, which, as you have seen, is but a
fragment of the starry cosmos, is yet of a size almost
beyond the grasp of our understanding. Thus, the central
Sun is a body 883,000 miles in diameter and is at a dis
tance from our Earth of 93 millions of miles. The Sun’s
distance from the planet Jupiter is 496 millions of miles,
and its distance from the planet Neptune is more than
2,800 millions of miles. These figures help to give us
some idea of the immense magnitude of this relatively
small system.
Now the points to which I wish to draw your attention
are that science has further discovered that this system
and every portion of it is governed by, as well as being
the result of the operation of, fixed natural laws, especially
the laws of gravitation, of motion, of light, and of heat.
That these laws operate uniformly and continuously upon
each one of the bodies of this system as a part of the
whole, and that, with regard to some of these laws—the
law of gravitation for example, it could not possibly be
suspended or altered (physically speaking) in reference to
any one of these bodies, without affecting the relation
subsisting between it and all the other bodies of the
system, so as to perturb, probably annihilate its cosmic,
harmony, as we have it mathematically demonstrated in
the immortal “ Principia ” of Sir Isaac Newton.
You need not then be startled to hear that some of the
greatest astronomers the world has seen, men who have
made the laws of this stupendous system their profoundest
study, notably the illustrious Laplace and Lalande, have
declared that they had been unable to detect in the recon
dite mechanism of its invariable order any indication what
ever of the God of theology.
�20
The Science of Life Worth Living.
The system, so far as human knowledge of it extends,
may be described as a realm of Natural invariable law,
Such as we see it now, it has existed through countless
ages, and such it must continue to exist for countless
ages to come!
Therefore, whilst theologians for the last 1800 years
have been perpetually preaching the approaching end of
the World, astronomers have only recently calculated the
coming variations in the eccentricity of the Earth’s orbit
for a million years following the year 1800 I
Hence Science teaches us that the general laws of the
astronomical phenomena of our solar system constitute
the basis of all our real knowledge.
So a venerated philosopher has said—•
“ Two things I contemplate with ceaseles awe;
The Stars of Heaven, and man’s sense of Law.”
Turning now from the system, we must concentrate
our attention upon a very small, but integral portion of
it, a body scarcely 8000 miles in diameter, that globe
which we call the Earth; for obviously we can form no
scientific theory of human existence without knowing the
scientific elements that characterise the planet which is
the home of that existence. The sciences then of As
tronomy and Geology, which together give us the space
scale and the time scale of our world, armed with the
knowledge of the natural laws already referred to, have
been able to trace the formation, the shape, and the his
tory of the Earth for ages before man appeared upon it,
and to tell us that plants and animals came into existence
by slow degrees, and that the condition to which they
had severally attained at the time of man’s appearance
was the result of variation or natural selection progress
ing by means of the physiological interaction of adapta
�The Science of Life Worth Living.
21
tion, and inheritance and survival of the fittest operating
throughout, not six days, but enormously long periods of
time. In fact, as to the progress or change in every
thing taking place on our planet, including the seemingly
capricious phenomena of human actions, and even, (as
Dr. Maudesley put it to us so clearly last Sunday), the
apparent freedom of the will, Science has discovered that
all is regulated by the operation of invariable natural law,
linked together, that is, in a chain of secondary causation,
whose only modification is brought about by the interven
tion of human intelligence.
Thus Science is assured that the law of gravitation
would annihilate in an instant the most pious person in
the kingdom, if he lost his footing on a mountain without
having first placed himself in circumstances to counteract
the inexorable operation of such law, or, that if he inno
cently swallowed what the laws of physiology have shown
to be a fatal dose of prussic acid, not all the prayers of
Christendom could avail to save his life.
We are thus according to Science living under the reign
of invariable natural law, and not according to Theology
under the reign of arbitrary supernatural will, and there
fore the aim of the human mind should be to find out and
to study Natural Law, rather than to keep on seeking by
perpetual entreaty to influence Supernatural Will.
These few facts, which for our present purpose may be
accepted as sufficiently representing an outline of the
theory of the Universe derived from Science, are no longer
questioned by competent minds, and I should hardly think
that anyone capable of giving them unprejudiced con
sideration could fail to perceive, that they are contradictory
to, and incompatible with the theory derived from Super-?
stition, which I commenced by describing.
�22
The Science of Life Worth Living.
Now, with reference to the first appearance or creation
of man, Science can at present furnish us only with proba
bilities. These are however the logical outcome of an ap
paratus of evidence almost irresistable.
The scientific view of the origin of the human species
is that which has been made more or less familiar to us
by the works of our illustrious countryman Charles Darwin.
The logic of his argument is really very clear, as well as
cogent, and the result of it may, I think, be thus in
telligibly stated. Due regard being had to what is now
known geologically, zoologically, and embryologically of
the ascending gradations of animal life, especially in the
vertebrate series, and regard being also had to the known
continuity of Nature, it is highly probable that man is the
evolution or development of some lower animal form of
the simian or ape species, from the individuals of which
he is found to differ organically less than the higher and
lower apes differ from each other.
Observe—Darwin does not say that Man came from a
monkey. No one capable of comprehending his great
argument would give utterance to such an absurdity; but,
if Darwin’s biological theory embodies the truth, then
there must have been some ancestral link in the pedigree
of man which has not yet been discovered.
Man, observes Darwin, must be included with other
organic beings in any general conclusion respecting the
manner of his appearance on this earth. And Professor
Huxley, in his treatise on Man’s place in Nature, has
clearly shown from exhaustive observation of biological
phenomena, that the mode of origin and the early stages
of the development of man are identical with those of the
animals below him in the scale.
But, be man’s origin what it may, that with which we
�The Science of Life Worth Living.
23
are more immediately concerned is a scientifically estab
lished fact, viz., his unity of organization with the higher
animals, which again are scientifically found to be organi
cally co-ordinated with the entire series of life below them.
So that it may be said all the organisms on our planet are
related through their structural and functional resem
blances—the human being similar to the animal organism,
only higher in degree.
Such then is the conception of the origin and nature of
Human Life derived from the discoveries of Science.
Now it is remarkable that with regard to the scientific
theory of the Universe, and of the origin and nature of
Man, there is an almost total absence of proselyting
societies for diffusing knowledge of the theory and bringing
about belief in it. There is no Sunday Science School
Society. There is no gratuitous distribution of scientific
tracts or texts.
Indeed, with the exception of the British Association
for the Advancement of Science, and the Society under
whose auspices I am now addressing you, I can scarcely
call to mind a single Society whose main object it is to
circulate the knowledge of scientific truth amongst the
people at large, and not only so, but we may call to mind
that on this day of the week at this very hour there are
being delivered from thousands of pulpits exciting exhor
tations to persuade or to frighten men and women (chiefly
I suspect the latter) still to go on, supinely acquiescing
in the theological theory; whilst, with reference to our
Society’s Lectures delivered here, they have, on the part
of the public press, been simply welcomed ■with the con
spiracy of silence.
Yet I do not think the people, if encouraging oppor
tunities were affored them, would be found generally
�24
The Science of Life Worth Living,
indifferent to the acquisition of scientific truth, insensible
to its sublimity, or regardless of its utility.
The Archbishop of York, in his sermon preached on
the occasion of the meeting of the British Association in
August last, declared that “ he did not know how it
would fare with them if none but scientific theories were
to guide them, for ” (said his Grace) “ the great majority
of men did not take an interest in scientific generalisa
tions, they could not appreciate them.” Well, 1 think it
might fairly be replied to these observations that the
majority of men are simply kept in ignorance of science,
and have really at present no available means provided
for their gaining scientific knowledge; but, if they had, I
will venture to say most advisedly that they would soon
be found to prefer Science to Superstition, quickly become
able to distinguish the light of nature from the darkness
of dogma, and eager to guide themselves by scientific
authority.
The scientific theory, having then explained to us the
probable origin, and the physiological nature of man#
proceeds to enlighten us concerning the conditions under
which he is found to increase and multiply.
Now the fundamental natural law discovered by science
in relation to the multiplication of living organisms is
simply this,—that they are everywhere, and under purely
physical conditions, produced in excess of their means of
subsistence. In other words, many more are born than
can possibly survive. Hence the great struggle for exist
ence, so graphically described, especially in relation to
plants and animals, in Haeckel’s “ History of the
Creation,” and in Darwin’s great works.
But this primordial natural law is proved to apply
equally to the production of human beings, and our
�The Science of Life Worth Living.
25
. interest at the present moment is the consideration of the
effect of its operation and consequent struggle for exist
ence on the human race.
If we carry our minds to the populations of the East
we can have no difficulty in realising this problem. In
Cornelius Walford’s instructive book on “the Famines of
the World,” we read accounts of “Nature’s terrible cor
rectives of redundancy ” in all their unmitigated horror.
The recent famine in India has destroyed in one Presidency
alone more than 500,000 people by starvation! and has
thrown a million and a half more upon charity. It has
indeed been recently stated on authority that 1,250,000
persons have perished of this famine. Such is the
appalling result of the people recklessly multiplying
beyond their means of subsistence.
We are blind however to the operation of the law of
population amongst ourselves. We fail to see its working
in the premature deaths of the forty per cent, of all that
are born under five years of age, in the 42,000 deaths
under twenty years of age out of the 83,000 annual
deaths in this metropolis, so blinded are we to the
warnings of Nature through our biassed belief in the
theological theory. Yet the great majority of our un
timely deaths are truly traceable to the very causes that
in uncivilised countries terminate in actual starvation!
The first canon of scientific culture of life therefore
requires that reckless or irrational multiplication should
be restrained, and that man should apply his intelligence
towards controlling the purely physical and mechanical
conditions of reproduction.
We see this canon systematically carried out by the
florist in his culture of flowers. Seeds are sown, but
when they come up they are carefully thinned out, in
�26
The Science of Life Worth Living.
order that, there - being no overcrowding, healthy and
beautiful flowers may be produced by those that are left.
We see the same principle in operation where fine fruit
is desired. The buds are thinned out upon the trees, in
order that the diminished number that are left may attain
perfection of size and maturity. The agriculturist follows
precisely the same course. He is careful, as regards his
stock, that only a limited number of offspring shall be
produced or allowed to survive, and, moreover, that their
parentage shall be the result of careful selection.
Some idea may be gained of the value and importance
of such selective breeding from a case recently decided in
our Law Courts, in which a well known grazier recovered
a sum of =£750 damages for the injury inflicted on his
herd by the fraudulent introduction of an animal with a
false pedigree, but guaranteed, when he purchased it, to
be thorough bred.
Can we doubt what might be the improvement of the
human race, if even the slightest similar care were taken
with our own marriages ?
“ Man’s natural qualities,” observes Francis Gallon, in
his masterly work on Hereditary Genius, “are derived
by inheritance under exactly the same conditions as are
the form and the physical features of the whole organic
world.” “ Man,” says Darwin, “ scans with scrupulous
care the character and pedigree of his horses, cattle, and
dogs before he matches them, but when he comes to his
own marriage, he rarely or never takes any such care.
Yet he might by selection do something, not only for the
bodily constitution and frame of his offspring, but for
their intellectual and moral qualities.”
Now the continuity of structure and function, that
has been traced by biological science to exist between
�The Science of Life Worth Living.
27
human, animal, and vegetal organisms, has enabled
Science by comparative research, that is, by observation
and experiment upon the lower animals, and even upon
individuals of the vegetable kingdom, to acquire remark
ably useful knowledge of the organic nature and constitu
tion of the human being, and, through these means, to
suggest most important rules for its treatment and pro
gressive improvement.
This is no new idea even in this country. Sir Richard
Steele, writing in the “ Tatler ” 150 years ago, told his
readers that “ one might wear any passion out of a family
by culture, as skilful gardeners blot a colour out of a
tulip that hurts its beauty.”
Science in short shows us that the life of man, like
that of all other living organisms on our planet, is
governed by fixed natural laws, and that by the use of his
understanding man can improve his life through the dis
covery of these laws, and by regulating his. conduct in
obedience to their dictates. That all his faculties are
adapted to his existence in this world of Nature; that
they do not inform him of any Super-natural world,
thereby suggesting that prosperity and enjoyment on
earth are the real moral ends to be desired, and that his
noblest aspirations should be transmuted into good and
useful actions for mankind, and not consumed in senseless
supplications addressed to Supernatural Power.
Thus Science shows us that the discovery by man of
the physiological laws will enable him to enjoy health and
good spirits—of the intellectual laws to acquire know
ledge and mental power—of the economic laws to gain
wealth or competency—of the social and moral laws to
practice virtue, to delight in duty, and to attain to
happiness.
�28
The Science of Life Worth Living.
Therefore Science, which yearns to see mankind re
joicing in life and action, counsels us that one great object
of education should be the study of these laws—to in
culcate obedience to them, and to train our understandings
so that we may conform our lives to their unalterable
nature.
In illustration of these propositions I observe, for
example, that Science has established beyond controversy
that the qualities, whether good or bad, of the parent are
transmitted to, or are inherited by the offspring, and that
this result is as certainly true of the human being as it is
of the lower animal. Hence we are taught what grave
responsibility does in reality rest upon us in becoming
the factors of posterity—in other words, in bringing
children into the world, for we are thus shown that the
future of human life will be what we make it. So true is
what our late friend Professor Clifford told us, “ that man
has made himself,” to which therefore let us add, “ man
can make himself better.”
The theological theory indeed assumes a supernatural
mystery in the matter. Its favourite text, “Be fruitful
and multiply,” addressed, you remember, to Noah, when
nearly all the inhabitants of the earth had been destroyed,
is supposed to be applicable to the teeming millions of
the crowded cities of this nineteenth century! and it is
correspondingly asserted by the theological theory that
“ when God sends mouths he sends meat to fill them.”
But Science reads us a very different lesson, and I will
quote, as pointedly expressing its salutary teaching, what
Professor Matthew Arnold, in his remarkable book
“ Culture and Anarchy,” has said upon that subject.
“ A man’s children ” (he declares) “ are not sent any
more than the pictures upon his walls or the-horses in
�The Science of Life Worth Living.
29
his stable are sent, and to bring people into the world
when one cannot afford to keep them and oneself
decently .... or to bring more of them into the world
than one can offord so to keep.... is by no means an
accomplishment of the divine will, or a fulfilment of
Nature’s simplest laws, but is just as wrong, just as con
trary to the will of God, as for a man to have horses, or
carriages, or pictures when he cannot afford them, or to
have more of them than he can afford.”
This extract from Matthew Arnold’s writings, you may
think is very plain speaking, but, as J. Stuart Mill has
remarked, no one would guess from ordinary talk, that
man had any voice or choice in the matter, so complete is
the confusion of ideas on the whole subject, owing to the
mystery in which it is shrouded by a spurious delicacy,
and that the diseases of society can no more than corporal
maladies be prevented or cured without being spoken
about in plain language.
Now I think we may observe amongst our men of
science, especially those whose minds are most free from
the taint of that inherited mental malady Superstition,
a growing tendency towards advocating the application
to the culture of the Human Being of those scientific me
thods that have proved so successful in producing the ex
quisite growth, maturity, and beauty of cultivated Flowers
and Fruit, and the joyousuess, hilarity, and perfection of
form, temper, and disposition of the thorough - bred
Animal.
Such methods can of course only be applied to man by
way of analogy—that is to say, in reference for instance
to overpopulation, human beings cannot, like flowers, be
destroyed after they are once born, nor can they be
treated by mechanical methods as the lower animals are,
�30
The Science of Life Worth Living.
but man’s intelligence can be appealed to in his own
behalf, his reason can be aroused, and his moral senti
ments interested, and the mode by which the reckless
increase of his numbers should be diminished will un
doubtedly be by inducing fewer births, so as to put a stop
to premature deaths, and the diseases by which premature
deaths are ushered in, diseases, which should plainly in
struct us that, somehow the laws of Nature are being
outraged.
Now, if this were to any appreciable extent accomp
lished it can hardly be doubted that a vast amount of
human misery, that, viz., which is scientifically attribu
table to overpopulation, might be gradually eliminated.
Even war could eventually be deprived of its victims, and
the hideous vice that haunts the public places of our
cities, so reproachful to our boasted civilization and the
moral spirit of our age, might to a great extent be got rid
of; so too the large amount of crime that results from
temptation, so sorely pressing upon the indigent, made
indigent by the competition of the overwhelming numbers
that throng the labour market and depress the rate of
wages, would almost disappear; the savagery of personal
assaults especially upon wives, so often traceable to the
irritability arising from overcrowding, and the demora
lising effect of its vitiated atmosphere, would be found to
vanish; and thus in fine our low-toned morality, which is
the despair of the theologian, would in many respects be
purified and elevated, the course of our existence tend to
become converted into a career of virtuous enjoyment, and
earthly Life, whose inborn delight is at present so em
bittered to all of us by its blendings, or surroundings of
suffering, sorrow, and sin, might, not merely in theory,
but really, and practically be made worth Living.
�
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The science of life worth living: a lecture delivered before the Sunday Lecture Society on Sunday afternoon, 22nd February, 1880
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Finch, A. Elley
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Place of publication: London
Collation: 30, [2] p. : ill. (diag.) ; 18 cm
Series: no 29
Notes: Publisher's series list on unnumbered pages at the end. A list of published pamphlets by the same author listed on title page verso.
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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
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�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.
�
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The victories of science in its warfare with superstitions: a lecture delivered before the Sunday Lecture Society, on Sunday afternoon, 20th February 1881
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Notes: Part of Morris Miscellaneous Tracts 5. The Society's lectures by the same author on p. [3].
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Science
Superstition
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Morris Tracts
Science and Religion
Superstition
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Text
Q-
NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY
PROBLEMS OF THE
FUTURE
BY
S. LAING
AUTHOR OF “ MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT,”
“A MODERN ZOROASTRIAN,” ETC.
Revised and brought up to date by Joseph MeCabe
[issued for
the rationalist press association, limited]
WATTS & CO.,
17, JOHNSON’S COURT, FLEET STREET, LONDON, E.C.
1905
��CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION .
*
7
CHAPTER I.
9
SOLAR HEAT
Difference between Astronomers and Geologists—The former say twenty, the latter two
hundred millions of years—Argument of Astronomers—Amount of Heat received from
Sun—How Supply kept up—Meteorites—Gravity—-Method of Calculation—Result:
Supply of Heat cannot have lasted more than ten to fifteen millions of years—Case of
Geologists—-Progress of the Science—Theological—Theologic-Scientific—Scientific
Uniformity of Conditions—Proved by Fossil Remains—By Temperature and Atmosphere
—Assuming Uniformity, Time required—Instances—-Solent River—Eocene Lake—Lake
of Geneva—Coal Measures—Geology based on Facts—-Mathematical Conclusions on
Theory—If Heat comes from Gravity, where does Gravity come from ?—Gravity really
unknown—Different Theories as to Solar Heat—Lockyer and Crookes—Sun-spots—
Magnetic Storms—Conservation of Energy.
CHAPTER II.
WHAT THE UNIVERSE IS MADE OF
.
.
.
.
.
•
•
.21
Shooting Stars: their number, velocity, size—Connection with Comets—Composition—
Spectra—Meteorite Theory—Genesis of Stars and Nebulae—Further stage of Theory
Impact Theory—Dark Suns in Space—Temperature of Visible Stars—Their proper
Motions—New Stars—Variable Stars—Facts better explained by Impact Theory—Laplace’s
Theory—Based solely on Gravity—Not inconsistent, but insufficient—Even Impact Theory
not last step—Stony Masses made of Atoms—-What are Atoms ?—Chemical Elements—
Attempts to reduce them to one—Hydrogen—Helium—Mendelejeffs Law—Atoms
Manufactured Articles—All of one Pattern—Vortex Theory—Theory of Electrons—What
behind Atoms ?—The Unknowable.
CHAPTER III.
CLIMATE
29
Conflict between Geology and Astronomy—Geology asserts Uniformity of Climate until
Recent Times—Astronomy asserts Inclination of Earth’s Axis to be invariable, and
therefore Climates necessary—-Evidence for Warm and Uniform Climates—Greenland
—Spitzbergen—Impossible under Existing Conditions—-Heat, Light, and Actinism—
Invariability of Earth’s Axis—Causes of Higher and more Uniform Temperature—
Cooling of the Earth—More Heat from the Sun—Warmer regions of Space—More
Carbonic-dioxide—Would not explain Uniformity of Temperature—Excess of Oxygen—
Modification of Species—Configuration of Sea and Land—Croll’s Theory—Displacement
*of Earth’s Axis—Inclination of Axis of Planets and Moon—Unsolved Problems of the
Future.
CHAPTER IV.
THE GLACIAL PERIOD ..........
Importance of Date of Glacial Period-—Its Bearing on Origin of Man—Short Date
Theories—Prestwich says 20,000, Lyell 200,000, years—Croll’s Theory—Prestwich’s
Arguments—Solar Heat—Human Progress—Shown by Palaeolithic Remains—Geological
Evidence—Advance of Greenland Glaciers—Denudation—-Erosion of Cliffs and Valleys—
Deposition—Loess—Elevation and Depression of Land—All Show Immense Antiquity—
35
�CONTENTS
4
Post-Glacial Period—Prestwich says 8,000 to 10,000 years—Mellard Reade 60,000—His
Reasons—Inconsistent with Short-Date Theories—Causes of Glacial Period—Cooling of
Earth—Cold Regions of Space—Change of Earth’s Axis—More Vapour in Atmosphere—
Lyell’s Theory—Different Configuration of Sea and Land—Conditions of GlaciationProblems Pressing for Solution.
PAGE
CHAPTER V.
TERTIARY MAN
..........
47
Antiquity of Man—Man part of Quaternary Fauna—What this Implies—Historical and
Neolithic Periods—Palaeolithic—Caves and River Gravels—Glacial and Inter-Glacial
Deposits—Wide Distribution of Palaeolithic Implements in Early Quaternary Deposits—
Origin of Species—Evolution and Migration—Diversity of Human Types—Objections to
Tertiary Man—Specialisation of Type—Survival through Vicissitudes .of Climate—
Positive Evidence for—-St. Prest—Thenay—Tagus Valley—Monte Aperto—Cuts in Bones
of Balaeonotus—Elephas Meridionalis and Halitherium—Auvergne Worked Flints in
Pliocene Tuffs—Castelnedolo—Human Bones in Pliocene—Olmo—Evidence from America
—Californian Auriferous Gravels—Tuolumne and Calaveras Skulls—Age of Gravels—
Skertchley’s Stone Implements—The Nampa Image—Brazilian Caves—Pamprean Strata—
Summary of Evidence.
CHAPTER VI.
THE MISSING LINK
..........
65
Human Origins—-Evolution or Miracle—First Theories Miraculous—Conception of
Natural Law—Law Proved to be Universal in Inorganic World—Application to Life
and Man—Darwin and Evolution—Struggle for Life and Survival of the Fittest—Con
firmed by Discovery of Missing Links—Professor Cope’s Summary—M. Gaudry—
Instances of Missing Links—Bears and Dogs—Horse—Pedigree of the Horse from
Palseotherium and Eohippus—Appearance and Disappearance of Species—Specialisation
from Primitive Types—Condvlarthra—Reptiles and Birds—Links between other Genera
and Orders—Marsupials and Mammals—-Monotremata—Ascidians and Fish—Evolution
of Individuals and Species from Primitive Cell—Question of Missing Links Applied to
Man—Man and Ape—Resemblances and Differences—Specialisation of Human Type—
For Erect Posture—How Man Differs from Animals—Mental and Moral Faculties—
Language—Tools—-Progress—Mental Development—Lines of Research for Missing Links
—Inferior Races—Fossil Remains—The Pithecanthropus—Point in Direction of Tertiary
Origin.
CHAPTER VII.
ANIMAL MAGNETISM AND SPIRITUALISM
.
.
.
.
.
•
«
79
Binet and Fere’s Volume—School of Salpetriere—Dr. Braid—Hypnotism—How Produced
—Effects of—Lethargy—Catalepsy—Somnambulism—Hallucination—Dreams—-Hypnotic
Suggestion—Instances of—-Visible Rendered Invisible—Emotions Excited—Acts Dictated
— Magnet — Trance — Alternating Identity —• Thought - Reading —■ Clairvoyance —
Spiritualism — Slate-Writing—Scybert Commission—-Ail Gross imposture—Dancing
Chairs and Tables—Large Field Opened up by French Investigations—Point to
Materialistic Results.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE.
AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY
.
.
-9°
PART I.
Are they Reconcilable?—Definitions of Agnosticism and Christianity—Christian Dogma
—Rests on Intuition, not Reason—Descartes, Kant, Coleridge—Christian Agnostics—#
Tendency of the Age—Carlyle, George Eliot, Renan—Anglican Divines, Spurgeon.
CHAPTER VHL—
PART II.
1
Effect on Morals—Evolution of Morality—Moral Instincts—Practical Religion—Herbert
Spencer and Frederic Harrison—Positivism and the Unknowable—-Creeds and Doctrines
—Priests and Churches—Duty of Agnostics—Prospects of the Future.
�5
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER VIII.—(continued)
PART III.
Practical Philosophy—Zoroastrian Theory—Emerson on Compensation—Good and Evil—
Leads to Toleration and Charity-Matthew Arnold and Philistinism-Salvation ArmyConflict of Theology and Science—Creed of Nineteenth Century.
CHAPTER IX.
. 108
THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT IN THE GOSPELS
•
•
•
Huxley and Dr. Wace-Sermon on the Mount, and Lord’s Prayer—English and German
Biblical Criticism—Papias—His Account of O^gm the Gospels-Confirmed ^ Inter^
Evidence - Common-sense Conclusions - Miracles a Question of Faith -^vMence
Required—The Ascension—Early Christian and Mediaeval Miracles—St Thoma a
Becket—Faith—Historical Element—Virgin Mary—Guiding Principles of Histor cal
Inquiry—Minimum of Miracles—Admissions which Tell Against—Jesus an Historica
Person-Born at Nazareth-Legends of Nativity-St, John the Baptist-Kingd om of Go Socialistic Spirit-Pure Morality-Nucleus of Fact in
Disputes with Scribes and Pharisees-Jesus a Jew—Messiahship—Dying Words Passion
and” Crucifixion —Improbabilities —Pilate—Resurrection—Contradictions—Growth of
Te£rend—Probable Nucleus of Fact—Riot in the Temple—Return of Disciples to Galilee
—Conflicting Accounts of Resurrection—Return of Apostles to Jerusalem and Foundation
of Christian Church.
CHAPTER X.
128
SCEPTICISM AND PESSIMISM
Carlyle—Causes of Pessimism—Decay of Faith—A Prosaic Future-Denial of’ these
Charges—Definition of Scepticism—Demonology—Treatment of Lunatics WJ*chcra
Heresy—Religious Wars—Nationality has Superseded Religion—Wars
Humane
Originality of Modern Events and Characters-Louis Napoleon-Bismarck-GladstoneAbraham Lincoln—Lord Beaconsfield—Darwin—Huxley—Poetry—Fiction Painting
A Happier World.
CHAPTER XI.
CREEDS OF GREAT POETS
...••
••
’
14K
What is a Great Poet ?—Ancient and Modern Poets—Byron, Shelley, Swmbuije,
Browning, Pope, Dryden, Coleridge, Spenser—Chaucer—Wordsworth-Nature-Worship
—Ode on 'immortality—Byron and Shelley—Burns—Gospel of Practical Life—Shakespeare
—Self recorded in Hamlet and Prospero—The Sonnets—\ lews of Death—Behind the
Veil—Prospero—Views identical with Goethe’s Faust—And with the Maya qr Musiar ot
Buddhism—Pantheism—Ignoring of Religion—Patriotism and Loyalty his Ruling Motives
—Practical Influence of Religion Exaggerated—Religious Poets—Dante Milton
Contrast between Greek Tragedy and Modern Poetry—Tennyson—Poet of Modern
Thought—In Hemoriam^—Practical Conclusions.
INDEX
4
•
I5S
��INTRODUCTION
“ Men, my brothers, men the workers, ever
reaping something new,
That which they have done but earnest of the
things that they shall do.”
—Tennyson’s Locksley Hall.
The traveller in the Alps, after struggling
up through dense fir woods, in which his
view is limited to a few yards, emerges
on grassy slopes, where swelling ridges
and rocky peaks appear to bound the
horizon. Weary and scant of breath, he
thinks if he can surmount these his
labour will be ended, and a free view
enjoyed, with nothing but the vault of
heaven above him. But, no ! When
these heights are scaled he sees before
him ridge behind ridge of loftier summits,
and, in the background of all, the glitter
ing peaks of Jungfraus and Matterhorns,
standing out white and seemingly inac
cessible, against the deep blue sky.
But, if he is a practical mountaineer, he
knows that, grim as are the glaciers and
precipices which girdle their icy for
tresses, they are not invincible to human
effort; and, as the foot of man has stood
on some of the loftiest summits, he feels
assured that it will stand on those which
remain unsealed.
So it is with modern science. For
centuries it had to grope its purblind
way through dense jungles of superstitious
ignorance, where misty shapes of theo
logical and metaphysical speculation
obscured the real facts of the universe,
or were mistaken for them. At length,
and comparatively quite recently, the
human intellect emerged into the light of
day, and, gaining the first heights, began
to acquire accurate ideas of the true laws
and constitution of the universe. The
progress, once begun, went on at an
accelerated • rate, until in the last halfcentury it has carried with it in an
impetuous torrent old creeds and
cherished convictions, like so much
drift-wood floating on the surface of
Lake Erie, when caught by the current
which hurries it down the Falls of
Niagara.
So irresistible and so widespread has
been the advance of science that at first
sight we are perhaps disposed to overrate
it, and to fancy, like Alexander, that no
more worlds remain to conquer, or that,
at most, a few unimportant territories are
still unannexed. But the true man of
science knows differently. He sees ridge
still rising behind ridge, and at every
step wider horizons opening, with distant
peaks that still baffle the boldest climber.
But he no longer gazes at them with
aimless wonder, or, if he fails to under- •
stand them, invents a high-sounding
phrase to disguise his ignorance. His
faith is firm in the laws of Nature, and
he feels assured that whatever lies within
their domain is discoverable, and will,
sooner or later, and probably sooner
rather than later, be discovered.
In former works I have attempted to
give some popular view of what modern
�8
INTRODUCTION
science has actually accomplished in the
domains of Space, Time, Matter, Energy,
Life, Human Origins, and other cognate
subjects. In this I will endeavour to
point out some of the “Problems of
the Future” which have been raised
but not solved, and are pressing for
solution.
In both cases I address myself to what
may be called the semi-scientific reader.
The advanced student of science will find
little which he does not already know.
Ihose who are ignorant of the first
elements of science, and, like Gallio,
care for none of these things, will
scarcely understand or feel an interest in
the questions discussed. But there is a
•large, and I believe rapidly increasing,
class, who have already acquired some
elementary ideas about science, and who
desire to know more. Curiosity and
culture are in effect convertible terms:
the wish to know is the first condition of
knowing. To many who are in this
stage of culture, but who have neither
the time nor faculty for following up
closely the ever-widening circle of
advanced thought, it may be interesting
to get some general and popular idea of
a few of the unsolved problems which
have been raised by modern science, and
are occupying the thoughts of the men
who lead its van.
In selecting a few among the many
questions which have been thus raised, I
have been guided by this principle. In
the course of nature, I must have left
this earth before they have been solved.1
If the option were given me of paying it
a short visit fifty or a hundred years
hence, what are the questions which I
should ask with the most eager curiosity,
and to which I should expect to get a
satisfactory reply ?
They are partly scientific questions,
respecting the age of the earth, the con
stitution of the sun and solar system; the
ultimate nature of matter and energy, the
beginnings of life, the origin and anti
quity of man; partly religious, social, and
political questions which are looming on
the horizon and engaging the attention of
thinking men.
I do not pretend to have exhausted
the list, but I hope I may have done
something to give definiteness and pre
cision to the ideas of some of the edu
cated public who are not specialists upon
various questions which are now pressing
forward and waiting for solution.
S. L.
1 Mr. Laing died in 1903.
�PROBLEMS OF THE FUTURE
Chapter
I.
SOLAR HEAT
Difference between Astronomersand Geologists—
The former say twenty, the latter two hundred
millions of years—Argument of Astronomers—
Amount of Heat received from Sun—How Sup
ply kept up—Meteorites—Gravity—Method
of Calculation—Result: Supply of Heat can
not have lasted more than ten to fifteen millions
of years—Case of Geologists—Progress of the
Science—Theological—Theologic-Scientific—
Scientific—Uniformity of Conditions—Proved
by Fossil Remains—By Temperature and
Atmosphere—Assuming uniformity, time re
quired — Instances — Solent River—Eocene
Lake—Lake of Geneva—Coal Measures—
Geology based on Facts—-Mathematical Con
clusions on Theory—If Heat comes from
Gravity, where does Gravity come from ?—
Gravity really unknown—Different Theories
as to Solar Heat—Lockyer and Crookes—
Sun-spots—Magnetic Storms—Conservation
of Energy.
One of the most interesting and per
plexing scientific problems of the day is
that raised by the conflict between phy
sicists and geologists as to the duration
of solar heat.
Leading mathematicians, such as Lord
Kelvin and Helmholtz, assign twenty, or
more probably ten, millions of years as
the outside possible past duration of a
supply of heat from the sun, sufficient to
maintain the earth under conditions
enabling it to support life. Lyell, and a
majority of the best geologists, consider
that one hundred to two hundred millions
of years are required to account for the
undoubted facts of geology since life
began. Each side support their case by
arguments which, taken by themselves,
seem conclusive. And yet the gap
between the two is so wide that it cannot
be bridged over by mutual concessions,
and it is evident that there must be some
fundamental error in the assumed data
on one side or the other.
The mathematicians base their argu
ment on the supply of solar heat. They
say the present amount of heat radiated
by the sun is a measurable quantity ; the
principle of the conservation of energy
shows that this heat cannot J>e self
supplied, but must be a transformation
of pre-existing energy; the only sufficient
energy we know of is that of the mechan
ical force generated by the contraction
of the sun as it cools. This, again, is a
measurable quantity, and the outside
amount of mechanical power generated
by contraction of the sun’s mass to its
present volume by gravity would not
supply the present amount of heat for
more than twenty millions, or more pro
bably for more than ten or fifteen millions
of years.
This forms a chain of reasoning, every
link of which seems to be solidly welded.
Let us examine each link in detail. The
amount of solar heat received at the
earth’s surface has been carefully measured
by Herschell, Pouillet, and other eminent
observers, the principle being to intercept
a beam of sunshine of known dimen
sions, and make it give up its heat
to a known mass of water or other sub
stance, measuring accurately the rise of
A*
�IO
SOLAR HEAT
temperature produced in a given time.
The result is this: the heat, measured
by calorics, or units of heat sufficient to
raise the temperature of one kilogramme
of water one degree Centigrade, received
per minute by one square metre exposed
perpendicularly to the sun’s rays at the
upper surface of the atmosphere, ranges
from Pouillet’s estimate of 17.6 to that
of Forbes’s 28.2 calorics, the difference
arising mainly from the different allow
ance made for absorption by the atmo
sphere. Langley’s observations at a high
altitude increased the figure, and more
recent observations have raised it to
about 40 calorics.
From this it is easy to calculate the
amount of heat received by the earth
from the sun in a given time. Herschell
puts it in this striking way. The amount
of heat received on the earth’s surface,
with the sun in the zenith, would melt an
inch thickness of ice in two hours and
thirteen minutes. But, if it be assumed
that the sun radiates heat equally in all
directions, the earth intercepts only an
almost infinitesimally small amount of
this heat—in fact, only the proportion
which the earth’s surface bears to the
surface of a sphere whose centre is in the
sun, and its radius the distance of the
earth from the sun, or about ninety-three
millions of miles. This proportion is
a.To'o.o^o.ooo- . But even this minute frac
tion is sufficient to melt yearly, at the
earth’s equator, a layer of ice of more than
one hundred and ten feet thick. So, as
Lord Kelvin puts it, if the sun were a
mass of solid coal, and produced its heat
by combustion, it would burn out in less
than six thousand years. In the light of
the most recent calculations, it is said
that “the sun’s heat reaching the out
skirts of our atmosphere is capable of
doing, without cessation, the work of an
engine of four horse-power for each
square yard of the earth’s surface,” Of
course, this calculation depends on the
assumption that the sun radiates heat
equally in all directions into space. It is
difficult to conceive how this can be other
wise, for, as far as we know, all heated
bodies at the earth’s surface do so,
and all impulses which cause waves in
an elastic medium, such as we know to
be the case with heat and light, propa
gate these waves in all directions.
Assuming, therefore, that the sun gives
out this enormous amount of heat, where
does it come from, and how is the supply
kept up, uniformly, or nearly so, for
millions of years ? The law of the con
servation of energy says, in effect, that
something cannot be made out of
nothing, and that all special forms of
energy, such as heat, light, electricity, and
mechanical power, are convertible into
one another, and are simply transforma
tions of one original fund of energy. If
so, the sun’s heat must be kept up by
energy transformed into heat from some
other form.
It cannot be from com
bustion, which is a chemical action, for
we have seen that a sun of solid coal
would be burned out in six thousand
years. It must be from mechanical force,
which we know as a fact to be* con
vertible into heat in a definite and
ascertained proportion.
Now, what are the sources of mechani
cal power known in the case of the sun ?
Two—the impact of aerolites, and the
shrinkage of the sun as it contracts,
which latter resolves itself into ap effect
of gravity.
Both are real causes. Aerolites fall on
the earth and generate heat, the smaller
ones, or shooting stars, being set on
fire and burnt up by the friction
of the atmosphere; the larger ones
reaching the earth in masses of stone,
singularly like those ejected from
deep-seated volcanoes, and with their
surfaces glazed by intense heat. If such
meteors fall on the earth, it is reasonable
to suppose that far more must fall on the
sun, with its vastly greater surface and
attracting power. And it is to be noted
that comparatively small masses might
generate large amounts of heat, for the
amount of mechanical force, and there
fore of heat generated by arrested
motion, increases with the square of
the velocity. A body weighing 8.339
�SOLAR HEAT
kilogrammes, falling from a height which
gave it a velocity of one metre per second,
would generate one caloric of heat, or
enough to raise the temperature of one
kilogramme of water by i° Centigrade.
But the same body moving with the
velocity of a cannon-ball, or 500 metres
per second, would generate 250,000
times as much heat; and if moving
with a velocity of 700,000 metres per
second, which is about the velocity
with wffiich a body would fall into the
sun from the distance of the earth,
the heat produced would be nearly two
million times as great.
Lord Kelvin has calculated that a
quantity of matter equal to about onehundredth of the mass of the earth falling
annually with this velocity on the sun’s
surface would maintain its present radia
tion indefinitely. It is clear, therefore,
that, if this amount of meteoric matter
really falls on the sun, its heat might be
maintained. But many objections have
been raised to such a supposition.
To explain the sun’s helt we must
have a cause that is not only sufficient
to generate its total amount, but also one
which generates it uniformly. If the sun
were a target kept at an intense white
heat by showers of meteoric small shot
peppering into it, how is it that this
stream of small shot is incessant and
uniform ?
Only small portions of the total
meteoric mass revolving round the sun
can be captured by it gradually, as their
orbits are contracted. An extra supply,
as some solid body or enormous comet
with its attendant meteoric train falling
into the sun, would raise its temperature
above, while a deficient supply would
depress it below the average, and a com
paratively slight variation in the sun’s
temperature would destroy existing con
ditions of life on the earth.
Another objection to the meteoric
theory is that it would require such a
large mass of meteoric matter revolving
in space as might be expected to exercise
a perceptible effect on the motions of
the planets, both by the law of gravity
11
and by the retardation due to a resisting
medium. And this is specially true of'
the orbits of comets which approach the
sun very closely. As meteors do not fall
from a state of rest straight into the sun,
but revolve round it with planetary velo
cities, they can only fall into it by being
drawn inwards in gradually contracting
spirals, until they reach a point where
they impinge on the sun or its atmo
sphere. Hence a vastly greater amount
of meteoric matter must be revolving
round the sun in the space near it than
can be captured and generate heat in
any single year. But several comets are
known to have almost grazed the sun’s
atmosphere, and emerged from it to
continue to describe their elliptic orbits
and return true to time, as predicted by
calculations based on the known laws of
gravity acting on them from the sun and
planets alone, in a non-resisting medium.
Consider what this means. Comets
are bodies of such immense volume and
extreme rarity that one of them got
entangled among Jupiter’s satellites and
thrown out of its course, without affecting
in the slightest perceptible degree the
motions of those satellites. How could
such comets, rushing closely round the
sun with enormous velocities, avoid
showing perturbations, if they encoun
tered any considerable mass of meteoric
matter ?
The theory of meteorites, to which
reference will be made in a future chap
ter, meets many of these difficulties, and
strengthens the case for a meteoric origin
of a large part of solar heat, but it hardly
accounts for the uniformity of the supply,
and is hardly yet so generally accepted
as to supersede the older theory that the
main source of the sun’s heat is to be
sought in the transformation of the
mechanical energy of gravity, as its
volume contracts.
Assuming this theory, the principle on
which the supply of solar heat is calcu
lated is the following. We know the
amount of heat given out by each square
metre of the sun’s surface, and we know
the height from which a given weight
�12
SOLAR HEA T
must fall to generate this heat when its
motion is arrested. We know also that
this heat will be the same whether the
motion is suddenly or gradually arrested.
Now, in this case, the given weight is that
of a long narrow cone of matter, whose
base is one square metre at the sun’s
surface, and its apex a point at the sun’s
centre. Knowing the sun’s diameter and
mean density, it is easy to calculate the
weight of such a cone if we suppose it to
be solid. Its weight is equivalent to that
of 244,000,000 tons of solar heaviness at
the sun’s surface. To reduce this to
terrestrial tons, and their equivalent in
horse-power, we must allow for the differ
ence of weight or gravity at the respec
tive surfaces of the sun and earth.
Reduced to terrestrial figures, in which
one horse-power is 270 metre-tons per
hour—i.e., a ton lifted 270 metres in an
hour—the horse-power at the sun’s sur
face is ten metre-tons. But the radiation
from each square metre of the solar sur
face in heat per hour is equivalent to
78,000 horse-power in energy, or to that
of 780,000 metre-tons. An easy calcu
lation shows that, to supply energy at this
rate for a year, our supposed cone of
244,000,000 tons must fall one metre in
313 hours, or about thirty-five metres in
a year. Refined mathematical calcula
tions are requisite to show how this result
is effected, if we suppose, as is probable,
that the mass of matter forming the sun,
instead of being solid, existed first in the
nebulous or gaseous state, and gradually
contracted into a fluid mass in which
convection currents are constantly carry
ing down surface layers which have
become cooler by radiation, and replacing
them by ascending currents from the
hotter and denser interior. These cal
culations have been made by mathema
ticians of undoubted competence, with
the result that the dynamical equivalent
of the heat radiated from the sun in a
given time is practically the same as if it
were solid.
This result shows that if the sun has
contracted to its present size, from a
volume extending far beyond the orbit
of the remotest planet, Neptune, it has
furnished about eighteen million times
as much heat as it now supplies in a year ;
and that with its present dimensions it
must contract at the rate of thirty-five
metres per year, or one per cent, of its
radius in 200,000 years. Recent astro
nomers give a contraction of a mile in
twenty-five years.
Allowing for the increasing density of
the sun as shrinkage proceeds, the
problem works out that, if the sun’s
radiation of heat has been uniform for
the last fifteen millions of years, the solar
radius must then have been four times
greater than it is now; and that, if the
present supply were maintained by
shrinkage alone, for the next twenty
millions of years, the sun must have
shrunk to half its present size. But
these figures must be greatly reduced by
several considerations. They are based
on Herschell’s and Pouillet’s figures for
the total activity of solar radiation; but
Forbes and Langley have shown that the
allowance made for absorption of solar
heat by the earth’s atmosphere was
insufficient, and that the real amount of
heat radiated by the sun is greater than
was supposed by Pouillet in the ratio of
1.7 to 1 ; and Angstrom has more
recently fixed the amount higher still.
This diminishes the past and future
periods of solar radiation in the same
proportion. Moreover, when the sun’s
surface was four times larger, it must
have given out more heat than at present,
and more than existing conditions of life
in geological times could support. If,
therefore, the sun’s shrinkage from gravity
has been the sole or principal source of
its supply of heat, it is difficult to see
how life and the existing order of things
on the earth can have lasted for more
than eighteen millions of years at the
outside.
So far the mathematicians seem to
have it all their own way, and, as often
happens when the plaintiff’s case only
has been heard, it seems to be conclusive.
But what say the defendants—the geolo
gists ? They also base their case on an
�SOLAR HEAT
undoubted principle, and on undeniable
facts. The principle is that of the
uniformity of existing causes ; the facts,
those of actual experiment and observa
tion.
Geology, in the pre-Lyellite days,
passed through two stages, the theological
and the theologico-scientific. The theo
logical, which prevailed universally until
the present century, was based on the
belief that the book of Genesis, instead
of being a sort of poetical prelude to a
collection of ancient writings of religious
and moral import, was a strictly literal
and scientific narration of what actually
took place, every word of which was
imparted by a Divine revelation, which
it was impious to explain away or to dis
pute. Geology was therefore confined
very much to searching for facts in
Nature confirming this narrative. Thus,
when fossil-shells were observed on
mountain-tops, they were adduced as
incontrovertible proofs of Noah’s deluge;
and even a sceptical and encyclopaedic
mind like that of Voltaire could only
attempt to palliate this proof by suggest
ing that the shells were dropped from
pilgrims’ hats while crossing the Alps on
their way to Rome. The period when
such a ridiculous suggestion could be
made by an accomplished scholar seems
thousands of years from us, and yet it
occurred in the 18th century. The naive
and infantile narrative of the Noachian
deluge is now taken no more seriously
than are the little wooden arks, with
their contents of pigmy animals, which
with other toys amuse the nursery.
The next stage was what may be called
the theologico-scientific, when the facts
and laws of Nature began to be recog
nised; but the old dogmatic faith was
still so prevalent that these facts and
laws were viewed through a theological
medium, and attempts were made to
reconcile the Bible and science by dis
torting the conclusions of science, and
giving the statements of Genesis a general
and allegorical, rather than a literal,
meaning. This was the era when days
were expanded into periods, universal
13
deluges contracted into local floods, and
when miraculous catastrophes and crea
tions were invoked ad libitum,. to bring
geological and zoological facts into some
sort of possible accordance with the
non-natural versions of plain words into
which Scriptural texts were evaporated.
This school included, in its time, some
eminent men, such as Buckland and
Hugh Miller, and it lingered long on the
outskirts of science, as may be seen by
Mr. Gladstone’s essay on the Proem to
Genesis. But with all the leaders of
science it is quite extinct, and the pre
vailing tone of thought has become
Darwinian, as universally as a century
ago it was theological. Differences may
exist as to the details of Darwin’s theory,
and the extent of its application in some
of the more recondite causes of variation ;
but no one of any authority in science
doubts that evolution, under fixed laws,
is the key to the secrets of the universe,
and that one original impress, and not per
petual miracle, or secondary interference,
has been the real course of Nature.
In geology this conviction has been
embodied in what is known as Lyell’s
Law of Uniformity. If anyone wants to
get a clear idea of what this means, let
him go to the British Museum and look
at a slab of sandstone from the Silurian
formation. He will see precisely what
he may see to-day on the sands of South
end or Margate.
Ripple marks of a
gently flowing or ebbing tide, worm
castings, or even little pits showing
where rain-drops had fallen on the wet
sand, and these pits higher on one side
than the other, showing the size of the
drops, the force of the wind, and the
direction from which it was blowing.
The inference is irresistible that at this
immensely remote period the winds blew,
the rain fell, the tides ebbed and flowed,
sand-banks were formed, and worms or
sand-eels burrowed in them, as they do
at the present day. Or look at a piece
of chalk through a microscope, and you
will find it mainly composed of the
microscopic shells of a minute form of
animal life, the Globigerina, which,
�14
SOLAR HEA T
gradually falling to the bottom of a deep
ocean like the finest dust, have accumu
lated strata more than a thousand feet in
thickness. Precisely the same thing is
going on in the Atlantic to-day, where
deep-sea dredgings bring up a Globigerina ooze, which affords a safe bed
for the submarine telegraph. Or take
another instance. A shell called the
Lingula, about the size of a small mussel,
is found abundantly in the Silurian, and
even in the earlier Cambrian, formations;
and another shell, theTerebratula, in the
Devonian. Both are found living at the
present day, not only of the same genus,
but identically of the same species. It
is evident that no great change can have
taken place in the conditions of oceanic
life since these mollusks lived and
flourished in Silurian and Devonian seas.
Nor can the condition of the atmo
sphere have greatly changed since the
time of the air-breathing
Silurian
scorpion, whose fossil remains show him
to be scarcely distinguishable from the
present scorpion.
In fact, the atmosphere affords one of
the most conclusive proofs of the un
interrupted maintenance of existing con
ditions during an enormous period.
When we say enormous time, the term
is used with reference to any recent or
historical standard as applicable to the
period when geology practically com
mences ; that is, with the first dawn of
life disclosed by fossils in the Cambrian
era, or beyond that with formations like
the Laurentian, which can be clearly
proved to be sedimentary and meta
morphic. But no geologist ventures to
extend this doctrine of uniformity beyond
the date when fossils appear, or to deny
that, though the laws of Nature are the
same, the conditions must have been
totally different in the earlier stages of
the planet, when it was cooling and
condensing into its present form. • Nor
could he deny that, even within this
comparatively recent period, there may
have been changes of existing conditions,
as we know indeed from the alternations
between the Glacial period and those of
higher and more uniform temperature.
But his position is that such changes
have been of the same order, and owing
to similar causes as those which now
prevail; and that when a known cause,
given a sufficient time, will produce an
effect, it is unphilosophical to assume
miracles, catastrophes, or a totally dif
ferent order of things, in order to reduce
the time to some procrustean standard
of theoretical prepossession.
To Sir C. Lyell belongs the credit of
having established this doctrine of uni
formity on an unassailable basis, and
made it the fundamental axiom of
geological science. By an exhaustive
survey of the whole field of geology,
from the earliest formations in which
life appears down to the present day,
he has shown conclusively that while
causes identical with, or of the same
order as, existing causes, will, if given
sufficient time, account for all the facts
hitherto observed, there is not a single
fact which proves the occurrence of a
totally different order of causes. This,
of course, applies only to the geological
record commencing with the commence
ment of organic life on the earth, and
not to the earlier astronomical period
when the planet was condensing from
nebulous matter, and slowly cooling and
contracting. Nor does it imply absolute
uniformity with existing conditions, for
changes in climate, temperature, distri
bution of sea and land, and otherwise,
have doubtless occurred from the slow
operation of existing causes.
But it
excludes all fanciful theories of cata
clysms, annihilating each successive era
with its life, and introducing a new one ;
earthquakes throwing up mountain chains
at a shock; deluges sweeping over the
face of the earth, and so forth, in which
even eminent geologists used to indulge
thirty or forty years ago. While no
competent geologist of the present day
would like to affirm positively that there
may not have been, in past ages, explo
sions more violent than that of Krakatoa,
lava streams more extensive than that
of Skaptar-Jokul, and earthquakes mors
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powerful than that which uplifted five or
six hundred miles of the Pacific coast of
South America six or seven feet, it may
be doubtful if he could point out a single
instance since the Silurian epoch where
such was demonstrably the case..
Assuming the principle of uniformity,
the time requisite to explain the facts of
geology becomes a matter for approxi
mate calculation. Not readily in years
or centuries, for our historical measuring
yard does not extend beyond seven
thousand years, when we find a dense
population and high civilisation already
existing in Egypt; but in periods of
which we can form some approximate
idea.
To understand the full force of the
evidence, it is necessary to study care
fully the works of Lyell, Croll, Geikie,
and other authorities on geology; but
some idea of the sort of periods which
are required for gauging Time back to
the commencement of life may be arrived
at from a few instances.
The tests of geological time are derived
mainly from two sources—denudation
and deposition. The present rate of
denudation of a continent is known with
considerable accuracy, from careful
measurements of the quantity of solid
matter carried down by rivers. The
Mississippi affords the best test, both
because the measurements have been
made with the greatest accuracy, and
because the conditions of the vast area
drained by it and its tributary rivers
afford a better average of the rate of
continental denudation, including as it
does a great variety of climates and
geological formations, and being singu
larly free from exceptional influences.
The rate thus deduced is one foot from
the general surface of the basin in six
thousand years. Now, the measured
thickness of the known sedimentary
strata is about 177,000 feet.
The
proportion of sea to land is three
to one, and the bulk of the deposi
tion of the waste of land must have
been laid down within a compara
tively narrow margin of the sea nearest
15
to land. On these data Wallace calcu
lates that the time required to deposit
this 177,000 feet would be 28,000,000
years, taking the rate of denudation at
one foot in 3,000 years, or 56,000,000
years, taking the rate deduced from the
Mississippi. But it must have been
much more than this, for the stratified
rocks are to a great extent composed of
the debris of older strata, which have
been deposited, upheaved, and again
denuded. Most of the known stratified
rocks must have been in this way denu
ded and deposited many times over.
Nor is there any good reason for suppo
sing that the rate of denudation was
materially greater in former than in
recent geological eras. On the contrary,
the recent Glacial period, by grinding
down solid rock into loose materials,
and, as the ice and snow melted, causing
more torrential inundations of rivers,
must have tended to accelerate denuda
tion.
Another proof of the enormous amount
of solid rock which has been removed
by denudation is afforded by the faults
or cracks in the earth’s crust, which have
in many cases displaced strata by
thousands of feet, all traces of which
displacement have been subsequently
planed down to one uniform surface.
Thus the great fault which separates the
Silurian of the south of Scotland from
the Devonian and Carboniferous region
to the north of it is estimated by the
Geological Survey at 15,000 feet. A
mountain mass of this height, termi
nating in a steep cliff at the fault, must
have existed to the south of it, composed
mainly of the Devonian strata which
now stop abruptly at the north edge of
the fault. At present there is no in
equality of the surface at the fault, and
therefore 15,000 feet or nearly three
miles of rock must have been removed
by denudation.
And, what is most
important, the time in which this denu
dation was effected is fixed as having
occurred in the interval between the
Devonian and Carboniferous periods,
for, while no trace of the former
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formation is found south of the fault,
the limestones and coal-measures of the
latter lie directly on the Silurian rocks.
At the rate of denudation deduced from
the Mississippi observations of one foot
in 6,000 years, the removal of those
three miles of rock would have required
90,000,000 years for the interval between
two of the geological formations.
Croll, in his work on Stellar Evolution,
gives a number of similar instances, one
in the Appalachian Mountains, in which
the vertical displacement is not less than
20,000 feet, bringing the upper Devonian
strata on one side opposite to the lowest
Cambrian on the other. Of course, we
cannot assume these enormous intervals
of time to have actually occurred; but
they are quite sufficient to show the
absolute impossibility of reconciling
geological facts with any estimate of the
duration of solar heat derived from the
theory of contraction by gravitation.
Take another instance from a more
recent period. There is a dried-up
Eocene lake in North America, which
once occupied an extensive area in the
States of Wyoming and Nebraska,
formed by streams running down from
the Wahsatch, Uintah, and other moun
tain ranges, which are gastern outliers
of the great backbone of the continent—
the Rocky Mountains. It was gradually
silted up by a deposit of more than 5,000
feet, or a mile thick of clays and sands,
a portion of which has since been carved
by the rain and weather into the singular
formation of isolated castle-like bluffs
and pyramids, known as the “ bad lands.”
It is full of remains of Eocene animals,
often of huge size and of a peculiar type.
How long must it have taken to silt up
a lake larger than Lake Superior, with
tranquil deposits of fine mud and sand ?
The nearest approximation towards such
a calculation is afforded by the silting
up of the Lake of Geneva. Swiss geo
logists have calculated, from the rate of
advance of the delta in historical times,
that it may have taken 90,000 or 100,000
years since the silting process began,
which could only be after the first Rhone
glacier, which once extended to the
Juras, had shrunk back to the head of
the lake. This calculation may be right
or wrong, but certainly a vastly longer
time must have been required to silt up
a vastly larger lake to a depth of 5,000
feet. And, if anything, one would expect
the process of silting up to have been
slower, for in the Eocene period there
were no glaciers, or melting snow-fields,
to accelerate the denudation which must
have gone on pari passu with the deposit.
If we consider the geological evidence
more in detail, we find it all pointing
to the same conclusion of immense
antiquity.
Thus, let us take the coal-measures
which form only a part of one formation
—the Carboniferous. Each seam of
coal consists of the consolidated debris
of a forest. With every seam there is
an under-clay in which the trees and ferns
grow; and a roof of shale or sandstone
deposited on it when this floor was sub
merged. The bulk of the coal is fre
quently composed of the microscopic
spores of the ferns and club-mosses
which formed the principal vegetation of
these forests. The time required is,
therefore, that for the accumulation of
vegetable matter, consisting mainly of
fine spore-dust, to a depth sufficient,
under great compression, to give the
seam of solid coal. In Nova Scotia and
other localities the coal-measures have a
thickness of 12,000 feet, made up of
seam upon seam of coal, each with its
under-clay and roof, implying a separate
growth, submergence, and elevation.
Sir J. Dawson and Professor Huxley,
who have studied the subject minutely,
calculate that the time represented by
the coal-measures alone would be six
millions of years. In other words, the
time required for this one subordinate
member of one geological formation
would be half the total time assigned by
Kelvin and Helmholtz for the total
possible past duration of the present
supply of solar heat.
Those who fully consider and appre
ciate any one of these instances will not
�SOLAR HEAT
be astonished to hear that Sir C. Lyell,
after carefully going over and summing
up the various lines of evidence afforded
by the 100,000 feet of stratified and
fossiliferous formations above the Cam
brian, came to the conclusion that two
hundred millions of years was the pro
bable, and one hundred millions the
minimum possible, duration of the exist
ing order of things that would explain
the facts. And all subsequent discoveries,
and the best geological opinions, go to
confirm this estimate. Thus, when Lyell
made his estimate, the great Laurentian
system of gneissic and other rocks which
underlie the Cambrian was scarcely
known, or assumed to be a primitive
portion of the earth’s crust of Plutonic
origin. But it is now clearly proved to
be bedded, and therefore an aqueous
deposit from the denudation of older
rocks, though the minor signs of strati
fication have disappeared, owing to
metamorphism under heat and pressure.
This at once adds 30,000 feet to the
known thickness of deposited strata. It
is not positively known to have contained
life, for, with the doubtful exception of
the Eozoon Canadiense, the fossils, if
any, have disappeared during this pro
cess of metamorphism; but it contains
indirect evidence of life on the most
extensive scale. Thus great quantities
of graphite or plumbago are found in it,
and, as ordinary coal can be traced first
into anthracite and then into graphite,
the inference is strong that the Lauren
tian graphite must, like coal, have origi
nated from masses of vegetable matter.
It contains also great beds of limestone,
similar to those which, in later forma
tions, are known to have originated from
the remains of corals and other hard
parts of marine animals, which derived
their skeletons from calcareous matter
dissolved in sea-water. Large beds of
iron ore are also found, which, in later
formations, owe their origin to the solu
tion of peroxide of iron and its deoxida
tion by organic agency. There is thus,
therefore, evidence of the existence of
life on a vast scale in this lowest of all
17
formations, which of itself adds more
than a fourth to the thickness of the
whole of the previously known deposited
strata of the earth’s crust, and therefore
to the time presumably required for their
deposit.
And yet, as we have seen, mathema
ticians affirm with equal confidence that
Lyell’s figures must be divided by at least
ten, or probably by twenty, to arrive at
the ten millions of years, which is their
estimate of the time for which the sun has
given out its present life - sustaining
amount of light and heat; and this short
period has to provide not only for geo
logical time, but for the far larger time
during which the earth was passing
through its earlier stages, and condensing
from a gaseous vapour.
It is evident that there must be some
fundamental error on one side or the
other, which some day will be detected,
for the laws of Nature are uniform, and
there cannot be one code for astronomers
and another for geologists. I am inclined
to think that the error will be found in
some of the assumptions of the physicists.
The data of geology seem more certain
and more capable of verification by an
appeal to facts. Thus, the rate at which
rocks waste away, and lakes silt up ; the
amount of solid matter carried down by
rivers, and the number of feet or inches
per square mile thus denuded in a given
time, are all matters of approximate and
tolerably accurate observation and calcu
lation. But of the nature and constitu
tion of the sun we really know very little,
and are only beginning to get some
glimpses of them during the past ten or
twenty years by the aid of the spectro
scope. The sun, as we see it, is not
fluid, for if it were its rotation must make
it protuberant at the equator, which it is
not. It is not solid, for if it were its
equatorial region could not rotate, as it
does, more rapidly than that nearer the
pole. We know its apparent volume
and its mean density; but we do not
know how this density is distributed.
The conditions of matter under such
extreme temperature and pressure are
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quite conjectural. For aught we know
to the contrary, the sun may have a
nucleus much smaller and much heavier
than we are in the habit of assuming.
Above all, what makes me distrust
these mathematical calculations respect
ing the sun’s heat is that they do not
really solve the problem, but only remove
it one step further back. Heat, they say,
can be nothing but transformed mechani
cal power; but where does the mechani
cal power come from ? From gravity.
And where does the gravity come from ?
They cannot tell. It is the old Hindoo
cosmogony over again. The world rests
on aft elephant; the elephant on a
tortoise. But what does the tortoise rest
on ?
We are accustomed to speak of gravity
as the one well-known and established
fact of the universe. And so it is as
regards the various motions which result
from it, and the fact of its being an
attribute of all matter from atoms to
stars. But of its real essence and modus
operandi we know nothing; less even
than in the case of some of the other
forms of energy into which it can be
transformed. In the case of light, for
instance, we know that it is caused by
waves or vibrations of an exceedingly
elastic and imponderable medium or
ether diffused through space. We can
measure and count these vibrations, and
know the velocity with which the light
wave travels, and trace its effects from
impact on the eye, through the retina and
optic nerve up to the cells of the brain.
But in the case of gravity we know
none of these things, and cannot even
form a conception of how one mass of
matter can act upon another, without
connection and apparently without re
quiring time for the transmission of the
impulse. Is it a pulling or a pushing
force ? We do not even know this, and
are not one whit advanced beyond the
saying of Newton that he could not con
ceive how one body could act on another
without some physical connection be
tween them.
It seems to me that Lord Kelvin starts
from the assumption that gravity is the
one fundamental form of energy from
which all other forms, such as light and
heat, are derived by transformation. But
what a mere drop in the ocean is the
energy of gravity compared with the
atomic and molecular energies, which
now in a latent and now in an active form
build up the universe of matter • How
incalculably small must the gravity of the
sun be, compared with the sum of the
energies of the atoms of which its mass
is composed.
If it were permissible to hazard a con
jecture where there is no proof, it would
be that gravity may turn out to be one,
and that by no means the most impor
tant, manifestation of the primitive fund
of energy, which underlies the atoms of
which all matter is composed.
Various ingenious attempts have been
made to explain the cause of gravity, as
that of strain or stress of some inter
vening medium, or space-filling, incom
pressible fluid; or by Le Sage’s theory
of infinite impacts of ultramundane cor
puscles, partially screened in the direction
in which gravity acts by the bodies which
attract one another. But Clark Maxwell
and other accomplished mathematicians
have shown serious objections to all these
theories, and Tait, in his Properties op
Matter, sums up the latest results almost
in the identical words used by Newton
in his letter to Bentley: “ In fact, the
cause of gravitation remains undis
covered.”
Again, who can tell what is the con
stitution of the infinite space through
which our solar system and the universe
of visible stars are travelling, with a
velocity which has been estimated in
some cases as high as 200 or even 300
miles per second ?
These facts of the proper motions of
the stars, and especially of what are
known as the “ runaway stars,” seem
conclusive against the assumption that
gravity is the sole and primitive form of
energy, from which all other forms, such
as heat and light, are derived by trans
formation. These star-motions are
�SOLAR HEAT
apparently in straight lines in a variety
of directions, and the velocities are such
that it is impossible to account for them
by any conceivable action of the force
of gravity. Professor Newcomb has
shown by mathematical calculation that
the gravitation of the whole universe,
assuming it to contain 100,000,000 of
stars, each on the average five times
larger than the sun, would require to be
sixty-four times greater than it really is,
to have given one star (1830 Groom
bridge) the velocity of 200 miles per
second which it actually possesses, or to
be able to arrest its flight through space.
Of course, this applies with greater force
to a star like Arcturus, moving with a
velocity of 300 miles per second. The
amount of energy of a star like this,
whose volume has been computed to be
eleven times greater than that of the sun,
moving with a velocity of 300 miles per
second, must be enormously greater
than any energy exerted by it in the
form of gravitation; and, if its motion
were arrested, the heat engendered must
be in an even larger proportion, seeing
that it depends on the square of the
velocity, than any heat which could be
supplied by its gradual contraction, on
the theory applied by Kelvin and Helm
holtz to solar heat.
After all, what do we really know of
the contents of space except this, that
it contains a vast number of stars which
are suns like ours, scattered at enormous
distances from one another, and in
numerable meteorites? And also this,
that the phenomena of light and heat
prove the existence of waves of known
dimensions, vibrating with known veloci
ties, and transmitted at a known rate;
which waves compel us to assume a
medium or ether with certain calculable
qualities. But these qualities are so
extraordinary that it may almost be
doubted whether such an ether has a
real material existence, and is anything
more than a sort of mathematical entity.
Its elasticity must be a million million
times that of air, which, as we know, is
equal to a pressure of about fifteen
19
pounds to the square inch; the number
of its oscillations must be at least
700,000,000,000,000 in one second of
time; and it must be destitute of any
perceptible amount of the ordinary
qualities of matter, for it exerts no
gravitating or retarding force, even on
the attentuated matter of comets moving
through it with immense velocities.
Beyond this we are now aware
that space contains a number . of
larger meteors or dark suns, rushing
through it in all directions, and possibly
in the state of dissociated atoms the
elements of substances such as carbon
and oxygen, which are locked up in the
earth’s crust through the medium of life
and vegetation, in vastly greater quan
tities than could be afforded by any con
ceivable supply derived from the atmos
phere. And it may be conjectured also
that variations of temperature may exist
in different regions of space, helping to
account for the secular variations of
temperature at the earth’s surface, such
as are shown by the Glacial period or
periods.
Even if we confine ourselves to the
sun itself, leaving these cosmic specula
tions to be discussed in a subsequent
chapter, we find the greatest uncertainty
prevailing as to the conditions under
which it exerts and generates heat.
Thus, Professor Young says: “ The sun’s
mass, dimensions, and motions are, as a
whole, pretty well determined and under
stood ; but when we come to questions
relating to its constitution, the cause and
nature of the appearances presented
upon its surface, the periodicity of its
spots, its temperature, and the mainte
nance of its heat, the extent of its atmos
phere, and the nature of the corona, we
find the most radical differences of
opinion.”
Take the case of the spots. These
were originally attributed by Herschell
to cyclones in the sun’s atmosphere,
showing us glimpses, as through a
funnel, of a cool and dark solid body
below; by others they have been
thought to be splashes caused by the
�20
SOLAE HEAT
downfall of large masses of meteoric
matter; by some to be volcanic erup. tions throwing up vast scoriae; and
finally, as the most probable solution, to
be great whirlwinds, or cyclonic convec
tion currents, by which the cooler gases
of the sun’s atmosphere are sucked down
and replaced by hotter gases from the
interior. But none of these theories
gives an explanation of the observed fact
that these sun-spots have a regular
maximum and minimum period of about
eleven years. Nor do they give the
slightest clue to the other remarkable
fact that the outburst of large sun-spots
often produces an apparently instanta
neous effect on the earth’s magnetism,
causing electric telegraphs to write with
a tongue of fire, magnets to oscillate
violently, the Aurora Borealis to appear,
and otherwise indicating what is known
as a magnetic storm.
It is pretty clearly established that the
spots are cooler than the sun’s general
surface, but not sufficiently so as to
affect its general temperature, or the
course of the seasons upon the earth;
but the far more inexplicable effect upon
terrestrial magnetism is attested by too
many observations to be at all doubtful.
This opens up a new’ and quite unex
plained field of speculation as to the
sun’s electric energy. The physicists,
who treat the attractive form of gravity
as the sole cause of the sun’s energy,
and convert it all into heat, take no
account of the energy which manifests
itself as a repulsive force, and takes the
form of electricity. And yet electricity
is one of the transformable manifesta
tions of energy as much as heat or
mechanical power, and the phenomena
of comets’ tails are sufficient to show
that, under certain conditions, the sun
can exercise an enormous repulsive
force. The question also may be
raised whether, after all, it is certain that
heat is radiated out in all directions, so
that out of 1,000,000 units of the life
giving energy of the sun 999,999 are
absolutely wasted in space, and one only
is utilised. Electricity, so far as we
know, cannot exist without two opposite
poles, implying reciprocal action. Do
the sun-spots, which affect the earth’s
magnetism, radiate out an equal amount
of magnetic energy in all directions into
space ? If not, how can we be sure that
heat, into and out of which electricity
and magnetism can be transformed,
does so ?
As Professor Young observes, “per
haps we assume with a little too much
confidence that in free space radiation
does take place equally in all directions,”
and he asks “ whether the constitution
of things may not be such that radiation
and transfer of energy can take place
only between ponderable masses; and
that, too, without the expenditure of
energy upon the transmitting agent (if
such exist) along the line of transmis
sion, even in transitu? If this were the
case, then the sun would send out its
energy only to planets, meteors, and
sister-stars, wasting none in empty space;
and so its loss of heat would be enor
mously diminished, and the time-scale of
the planetary system would be corres
pondingly extended.”
The same difficulty applies in the
case of gravity. We only know it as
an attractive force reciprocally exerted
between two bodies in the proportion of
their masses and inverse squares of dis
tances. Is it radiated out in all direc
tions into empty space, where it meets
with no reciprocally attracting body?
This affects not only the permanent
maintenance of the supply of gravity,
but goes even deeper to the fundamental
axiom of all modern conceptions,
whether scientific or philosophical, of
the universe—viz., the Conservation of
Energy. You cannot make something
out of nothing; you cannot create
energy or matter, but only transform
them. Good; but how about that
which is one of the principal manifesta
tions of energy in the universe—that of
gravity ? You can catch limited portions
of it, transform them into mechanical
power, and then backwards and forwards
as you like into heat, light, chemical
�WHAT THE UNIVERSE IS MADE OF
action, electricity, and magnetism, neither
losing nor gaining a particle of the original
energy by any of these transformations.
A water-wheel may turn a dynamo, which
generates electricity that may be stored
in accumulators, and turn a wheel a
hundred miles off; and, if you could
eliminate waste and friction, the second
wheel would give out exactly what the
weight of the falling water put into the
first one. But whence came the gravity
which made the waterfall and the wheel
turn ? Was it itself a transformation of
heat or electricity ? If not, what was it,
and how came it there? If Kelvin
and Helmholtz assume an infinite fund
of energy in the form of gravity to
account for heat, why do they not as
well assume an infinite fund of heat to
account for gravity? And if heat is
dissipated by use until it is exhausted,
or reduced to one stationary average of
temperature, and worlds and suns die,
why should gravity be gifted with per
petual youth, and escape the general law
of birth, maturity, and death ?
These are problems which the present
cannot answer. Possibly the future may;
but in the meantime we shall do well to
keep a firm footing on solid earth, and
rely on conclusions based on ascertained
facts and undoubted deductions from
them, rather than on abstract and
21
doubtful theories, even if they are pre
sented to us in the apparently accurate
form of mathematical calculation. Or,
to bring this chapter to a practical
result, we shall be more likely to arrive
at just views respecting the constitution
of the earth and its inhabitants by
following Darwin and Lyell as our
guides, than by accepting astronomical
theories which would so reduce geo
logical time as to negative the idea of
uniformity of law and evolution, and
introduce once more the chaos of catas
trophes and supernatural interferences.
As a matter of fact, the most recent
and revolutionary discoveries in the
domain of physics itself seem to be
cutting the ground from under the feet
of the opponents of the geologists.
The phenomena of radium have opened
out a new source of energy which
scientists have not hesitated to apply to
this problem of the sun’s heat. It has
been proved that, if we assume the
matter 'of the sun to be radio-active, its
vast expenditure of heat could be sus
tained for an enormous period beyond
that hitherto allowed by physicists. It
remains to be seen if the solution of the
problem lies here. Meantime the mere
suggestion of this new energy bids us
put our trust rather in the solid calcula
tions of the geologist.
Chapter
II.
WHAT THE UNIVERSE IS MADE OF
Shooting Stars: their number, velocity,. size—
Connection with Comets—Composition—
Spectra—Meteorite Theory—Genesis of Stars
and Nebulae—Further stage of Theory—
Impact Theory—Dark Suns in Space—Tem
perature of Visible Stars—Their proper
Motions—New Stars—Variable Stars—Facts
better explained by Impact Theory—Laplace’s
Theory— Based solely on Gravity—N ot incon
sistent but insufficient—Even Impact Theory
not last step—Stony Masses made of Atoms
—What are Atoms ?—Chemical Elements—
Attempts to reduce them to one—Hydrogen—
Helium—Mendelejeff’s Law—Atoms Manu
factured Articles—All of one PatternVortex Theory—Theory of Electrons—What
behind Atoms?—The Unknowable.
What is the universe made of? Such
is the question which has been asked in
many ages and countries by earnest men
�22
WHAT THE UNIVERSE IS MADE OF
looking u’p at the starry vault of heaven
and down into the recesses of their own
minds. One of the latest replies of
science is that it is made of shooting
stars. The idea may seem paradoxical
to those whose only knowledge of shoot
ing stars is derived from an occasional
glimpse on a clear night when they have
seen something like a small rocket flash
across the sky, apparently close to the
earth, out of darkness into darkness,
reminding them of some human life—
“ Qui file, qui file et disparait.”
And yet it is now presented to us
by eminent authorities, and supported
by a long array of serious scientific argu
ments.
What do we know as certain facts with
regard to shooting stars ?
i. They are vastly more numerous
than any one has an idea of who has
not watched them continuously for many
nights. Astronomers who have kept a
record for many years assure us that the
average number seen by one observer at
one place on a clear moonless night is
fourteen per hour, which is shown by
calculation to be equivalent to twenty
millions daily for the whole earth. But
the number of meteorites met with by
the earth can only be the minutest
fraction of those circulating in space.
The orbits of those we see do not'
coincide with the ecliptic, but lie in
planes inclined to it at all sorts of angles,
and apparently having no relation to the
plane in which the earth travels round
the sun, or to the solar system. The
chances are almost infinite against our
minute speck of a planet encountering
any single meteor, or stream of meteors,
thus traversing space in all directions;
and, as we do encounter some seven
thousand millions of these small bodies
in the course of each year, their total
number must be an almost infinite
multiple of this large figure. Moreover,
the pun, with its attendant system, is
rushing through space with a velocity of
some twenty miles per second, and there
fore carrying us into new regions of the
universe at the rate of some six hundred
millions of miles per annum; and yet
meteorites are met with everywhere.
Granting, therefore, that each separate
meteorite may be very small, not exceed
ing on the average a fraction of an ounce
in weight, and that even in meteor
streams they may be, as some astronomers
have calculated, 200 miles apart, the
aggregate amount of this meteoric matter
in space must be practically almost
infinite.
2. They are not terrestrial phenomena
moving in the lower atmosphere, but
celestial bodies moving in orbits and
y^ith velocities comparable to those of
planets and comets. Their velocities
are seldom under ten miles a second or
over fifty, and average about thirty, the
velocity of the earth in its orbit round
the sun being eighteen.
3. They are of various composition,
comprising both a large majority of
smaller particles which are set on fire by
the resistance of the earth’s atmosphere,
and entirely burned up and resolved
into vapour long before they reach its
surface; and a few larger ones, known
as meteors, which are only partially
fused or glazed by heat, and reach the
earth in the form of stony or metallic
masses.
4. They are not uniformly distributed
through space, but collect in meteoric
swarms or' streams, two at least of which
revolve round the sun in closed rings
which are intersected by the earth’s
orbit, causing the magnificent displays
of shooting stars which are seen in
August and November.
5. They are connected with comets,
it having been demonstrated by Schia
parelli that the orbit of the comet of
1866 is identical with that of the
August swarm of meteors known as the
Perseids, and connections between
comets and meteor streams have been
found in at least three other cases.
The fact is generally believed that
comets are nothing but a condensation
of meteorites rendered incandescent by
the heat generated by their mutual
�WHAT THE UNIVERSE IS MADE OF
collision when brought into close proxi
mity.
6. Their composition, as inferred from
that of the larger meteors which reach
the. earth, is identical, or nearly so, with
that of matter brought up from great
depths by volcanic eruptions. In each
case they consist of two classes : one,
composed mainly of native iron alloyed
with nickel, the other of stony matter
consisting mainly of compounds of silicon
and magnesium. Most meteorites con
sist of compounds of the two classes, in
which the stony parts seem to have
broken into fragments by violent collision,
and become embedded in iron which
has been fused by heat into a plastic or
pasty condition.
At this point our positive knowledge
of meteorites from direct observation
ceases, and we have to be guided by the
spectroscope in further researches. This
marvellous instrument enables us, by
analysing the light transmitted to us by
all luminous objects, however composed
and however distant, to ascertain their
composition as accurately as if portions
of them had been brought down to earth
and could be analysed in our laboratories.
We can tell whether they are gaseous,
liquid, or solid; whether they shine by
intrinsic or reflected light; and, by com
paring the lines in their spectra with
those of known terrestrial elements,
whether they contain those elements, or
are made up of matter in a state unknown
to us. The first result of spectroscopic
discoveries was to establish the fact that
the sun, stars, nebulse, comets, . and
meteorites all show such an identity in
their spectra with some one or more of
those of terrestrial elements as to leave
no doubt that the composition of matter
is uniform throughout the universe.
Further experiments, of which Sir
Norman Lockyer’s paper, read to the
Royal Society, affords the most complete
summary, carry this knowledge farther.
They show that spectra are not fixed and
invariable, but change according to the
conditions of heat, pressure, and other
wise, affecting the bodies from which the
23
spectra are given out. Thus the spec
trum of a comet in perihelion, when its
component parts are crowded together
and intensely heated by the sun, is very
different from that of the same comet
when it is at a great distance from the
sun, either in advancing towards it or
receding from it. Thus the spectrum of
the great comet of 1882, when nearest
the sun, exhibited many of the lines
obtained in the laboratory from the
vapours of sodium, iron, and magnesium
at the temperature of the Bunsen
burner. As it receded the lines gradually
died out until a very few were left; and
in the'comet of 1886-7, when last seen,
all had died out except one line . of
magnesium. Thus carbon also, which
is such an important ingredient in
organic life, appears and disappears in
cometary spectra according to the con
ditions of pressure and temperature.
What Sir N. Lockyer has done is to
show that all the varied spectra and
classes of spectra, given out by suns,
stars, nebulae, comets, and shooting
stars, can be reproduced from actual
meteorites which have fallen to the
earth, by experiments in the laboratory,
with the exception only of those of
stars which, like Sirius, are glowing at a
transcendental temperature far exceed
ing that of our sun, and which cannot
be approached by the electric arc in any
form of intense heat which can be
obtained in our present earth. Thus
the “ spectrum of the sun can be very
fairly reproduced (in some parts almost
line for line) by taking a composite
photograph of the arc spectrum of
several stony meteorites between iron
meteoric poles.”
We are now in a position to under
stand the meteorite theory of the uni
verse.
Granted that the. number . of
meteorites in space is practically infinite,
and that they tend to coalesce into
streams, their collisions supply an
equally unlimited fund of heat upon
which we can draw at pleasure. The
amount of heat developed by each
collision is the transformed energy of the
�24
WHAT THE UNIVERSE IS MADE OF
mechanical force. This force, and con
sequently this heat, increases with the
square of the velocity. Thus, if a tropical
hurricane, moving at the rate of ioo
miles an hour, uproots trees and levels
houses, the same mass of air, moving
with the mean meteoric velocity of
33% miles per second, would exert a
force of 144,000,000 times greater. We
know from the explosion of dynamite
that, when a gas expands very much
quicker than the air can get out of its
way, the effect is as if the blow of a
tremendous steam-hammer were inflicted
on an unyielding anvil; arid we can
readily conceive, therefore, how meteo
rites are almost invariably burnt up and
dissipated, even in the rare air of the
upper atmosphere, and how their re
peated collisions in space might generate
any required amount of heat.
Suppose, therefore, in the beginning
of things, space filled by an innumer
able multitude of these little stony
masses, composed of the one, or pos
sibly two or three, primitive elements of
matter, moving in all directions, with
immense though different velocities,
coalescing into streams and colliding;
we have a basis out of which suns, stars,
planets, satellites, nebulae, and comets
might be formed. The looser aggrega
tions, giving fewer collisions and less
heat, form comets and nebulae, and the
clash of two mighty streams gives us
suns like Sirius in a state of intense
luminosity and temperature. As these
cool and contract by radiating out their
heat, they pass into the second stage of
stars of which our sun is one, still
glowing with heat and light, but cooled
down to a point at which the primitive
elements can combine and form secon
dary ones, which can be detected by
the spectroscope, and identified with
those with which we are familiar as
chemical elements upon earth. As
cooling proceeds, they pass from the
white-hot into the red-hot stage, and,
finally, into the cold and lifeless nonluminous stage of burnt-out suns. Not,
however, necessarily to die, for in the
chances of infinite time these dead and
invisible masses may collide together,
and at a blow regain their youth, and
commence the cycle anew as suns of the
first order.
There is grandeur in the idea which,
to a certain extent, reproduces what the
kinetic theory of gases teaches as to the
clash of innumerable atoms darting
about in all directions, producing the
temperature and pressure of a gas in a
confined space. Only here, instead of
atoms—so small that one of them is of
the size of a rifle bullet, compared to
the earth—we have stony masses for
atoms, stars and nebulae for molecules,
and, instead of glass jars or bladders, the
whole universe.
This, however, is only the first stage
of the theory. What are these little
stony bodies, and how did they come
there ? The only answer we can give
is derived from the constitution of those
larger meteor-stones which actually fall
on the earth and can be examined.
They have invariably the appearance of
fragments torn from larger bodies by
collisions or explosions, and there is
no reason for doubting that what they
appear to be they are.
This carries us back to the impact
theory of which a full account is given
in the work published by Dr. Croll on
Stellar Evolution. It supposes that, for
an almost infinite time, an almost infinite
number of dark stars, or cold and nonluminous solid bodies of stellar magni
tude, have been rushing about in an
unlimited space in all directions, and
with enormous velocities. Occasionally
they collide, and, as mechanical prin
ciples show, generate an intense heat,
more than sufficient to convert their
whole mass into glowing gas, at a tem
perature which may possibly dissociate
its atoms, with the exception of some
fragments from the shattered surfaces
which are thrown off into space by the
sudden generation of explosive gas.
That there really are such dark suns
rushing through space is certain from
what we know respecting the constitution
�WHAT THE UNIVERSE IS MADE OF
of the visible stars. We find them
exhibiting all ranges of temperature,
from the intense heat of the white stars
like Sirius to that of the duller red stars
like Aldebaran, our own sun occupying
an intermediate position; while our
moon affords an example of a dead
world, which from its smaller size has
cooled more rapidly. As the moon is,
so must the red stars inevitably become
in a sufficient number of millions of
years, if the laws of nature continue
uninterrupted. And their proper motions,
rushing through space in different direc
tions with velocities ranging up to 400
miles per second, must continue after
they have become dark, as long as the
first law of motion holds good, that
bodies in motion cannot generate
changes of motion of themselves, but
must continue to move forward in their
orbits (the majority following a circular
direction under the control of their
neighbours) or, in a few cases, in a straight
line.
Among bodies thus rushing in different
directions collisions must occasionally
occur, and it is a matter of simple calcu
lation that the mechanical force converted
into heat by such collisions is amply
sufficient to produce any temperature
that may be required to create new suns
and nebulre, and to account for all the
phenomena which are actually observed.
Moreover, the existence of such dark
bodies is established by direct observa
tion. That fragmentary masses, weigh
ing several hundredweights, come in from
space and fall upon the earth is a fact.
So also is it a fact that bright stars, some
of them like the famous new star in
Cassiopsea, brighter than stars of the first
magnitude, suddenly blaze out and
gradually disappear. The impact theory
accounts for this, while the nebular
theory, or any hypothesis based solely on
the contraction of a mass of nebulous
vapour under the law of gravity, entirely
fails to do so. Again, the phenomena of
variable stars can best be explained by
assuming that in some cases such stars
pass periodically through dense streams
25
of meteoric matter, increasing their light,
and that in others large dark bodies are
periodically interposed between us and
the stars, and thus diminish it. Modern
astronomers are, in fact, disposed to think
that the dark stars are more numerous
than the light ones. In some cases,
indeed, we have become so far acquainted
with these dark stars as to weigh and
measure them. The constitution also of
comets, and of many nebulae, as disclosed
by the spectroscope, is far better explained
by the impact than by the nebular theory.
In fact, it is inconsistent with the latter
theory in its narrow form, since this can
give no account of comets, meteorites,
or other phenomena, which imply small
dissociated portions of matter, moving in
streams or aggregating in nebulas, and
rushing with immense velocities in paths
inclined to each other at different angles,
and which have no relation to the rotating
plane of the solar or any other system.
Even within the limits of the planetary
system there are many facts which are
better explained by the theory of impact
than by that of contraction—for instance,
the great differences in the inclination of
the axes of rotation of many planets and
satellites to the plane in which they
revolve about the sun and their primaries.
But, after all, there is no real inconsistency
between the impact theory and that of
Laplace. The former takes up the history
of the universe at an earlier stage, and
supplies a mass of gas or cosmic matter
at a higher temperature, and with that
temperature longer maintained by re
peated collisions and indraught of
meteorites than is assigned to it by the
nebular hypothesis; but ultimately a great
deal of this gas must resolve itself into
such a medium as Laplace supposes,
contracting and forming whirls under the
operation of gravity. The triumphs of
mathematical science deduced from
Newton’s law of gravity were so signal
that it is not surprising that it should
have been assumed that gravity, and
gravity alone, was the fundamental law
which would explain everything. But,
as often happens, increasing knowledge
�26
WHAT THE UNIVERSE IS MADE OF
has rendered many things uncertain
which appeared to be certain. Problems
which seemed simple have grown com
plex, and it has become apparent that
the universe contains many forms of
motion and many manifestations of
energy which cannot be explained by
the laws of gravity—for instance, the
runaway stars, the world of meteorites,
the proper motions of molecules and
atoms, and the requisite duration of solar
heat to account for the undoubted facts
of geology. The law of gravity and the
nebular theory made a great step towards
reducing the phenomena of the universe
to one great uniform law; but the theory
of impact takes up the history at an
earlier stage, and carries us one step
further towards infinity and eternity. If
the whole stellar universe is not, so to
speak, the crop of a single season, but
an indefinite succession of crops, stars
being born and dying, dying and being
renewed, without appearance of a
beginning or an end, the vista of exist
ence is vastly enlarged.
But even this is not the last step
towards the unknowable. Granted that
these dark suns are facts, they are not
ultimate facts. They are matter, and
matter is made up of molecules, and
molecules of atoms. Judging from the
fragments which reach the earth, and the
teachings of the spectroscope, meteoric
matter is composed of a few atoms iden
tical with those which are the most
common elementsof terrestrial chemistry.
Hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur, iron, nickel,
calcium, silicon, and aluminium are the
principal, if not the sole, constituents of
meteoric stones; and the lines of one or
more of these appear in the spectra of
stars, nebulas, meteors, and comets,
according to their conditions of tempera
ture and pressure. What, then, are
these atoms ? There are some seventy
eight of them known to chemists as
ultimate elements—that is to say, which
are not further resolvable by any means
available in our laboratories. But no
one can suppose that this is really the
ultimate fact, and that original matter
consists of seventy-eight indivisible units,
ranging in weight from the one of
hydrogen to the 240 of uranium, and
more than half of them consisting of
exceedingly rare elements, which play no
appreciable part in the construction of
any form of matter. The mind refuses
to accept the conclusion that such little
mole-hills as yttrium, zirconium, and
gallium, only known as minute products
of a few of the rarest minerals, really
present insurmountable obstacles to the
science which has scaled Alps, measured
light-waves, and weighed stars.
Accordingly, constant attempts are
being made to reduce atoms to one
simple element, and to one comprehen
sive law. The problem is not yet
solved; but it is being attacked on
various sides, and . almost every day
brings us nearer to a solution. Hydrogen
first put in a claim to be the primitive
element, as being the lightest, and it is
remarkable that the weight of a very
large proportion of the other elementary
atoms is an exact multiple of that of the
hydrogen atom. The spectral lines of
hydrogen are also the last seen in those
of the hottest stars, where all secondary
combinations may be supposed to be
dissociated.
This hydrogen theory,
which was first proposed by Prout,
proved to be only a provisional step.
Later researches seemed to show that
by halving the hydrogen atom—that is,
supposing this atom to be composed of
two-linked atoms—the deviations from
the law might be reduced within limits
which could be fairly attributable to
errors in the delicate operations requisite
for fixing atomic weights. Sir W.
Crookes suggested that helium, which
seemed to be lighter than hydrogen,
might be this half-hydrogen-atom, and
thus be the ultimate element out of
which all other atoms are manufactured.
It was, in fact, certain that some rela
tion existed among them, for the Russian
chemist Mendelejeff had shown that, if
the atomic weights of the known elements
are arranged in a consecutive order,
they show what is called a periodical
�WHAT THE UNIVERSE IS MADE OF
law. That is, the other qualities _ of
atoms, such as specific heat, . affinity,
atomicity, etc., rise with the weights up
to a certain point, then fall, then rise
again, and so describe a sort of zig-zag
line like those we see of the readings of
the barometer on a weather chart. Only
this atomic zig-zag seems to follow a
certain law, so that groups of elements
which have similar qualities recur at
nearly fixed intervals. The meaning of
this law is not yet clear, but it _ is so
certain that it enabled Mendelejeff to
predict the discovery of three new
elements, which have since been found,
filling up gaps in the series which his
law required.
The nearest approach to a mathe
matical explanation of this law is afforded
by the discovery that if the cube roots of
the atomic weights were used as ordinates
instead of the weights themselves, which
is equivalent to taking volumes instead
of lines to represent the atomic weights,
the zig-zag line resolves itself into a
regular curve, which is identical with, or
very closely resembles, the logarithmic
curve well known to mathematicians.
All these facts pointed towards the
conclusion that the atoms which we call
elementary are all really manufactured
out of some one atom or sub-atom,
which is the primary element of matter.
Where are they manufactured ? Crookes
said, on the outside of the universe,
wherever that might be, and that they
were destroyed or dissociated when they
reached the position of the lowest
potential energy, which is in the centres
of the largest stars. Whatever sort of
manufactured articles the atoms may be,
they are manufactured to the same
pattern, like the nuts and screws of a
large locomotive or gun factory. The
hydrogen-atom gives the same spectral
lines, which means that it vibrates and
starts or absorbs ether-waves precisely
in the same manner whether it exists in
Sirius, in the nebula of Orion, or in a jar
of gas in a laboratory.
Until recently the most generally
received theory of the formation of the
27
atom was the vortex theory of Helm
holtz and Kelvin, which assumed
atoms to be revolving rings of a perfect
fluid pervading space. The general idea
is given by the rings of smoke which
occasionally escape from the lips of
smokers. These rings persist for a long
time, glide before the knife so as to be
indivisible, and when two of them collide
they rebound and vibrate. In a word,
they behave in many respects very like
atoms ; and refined mathematical calcu
lations show that if we could suppose
them formed and rotating, not in air,
but in what is called a perfect fluid, in
compressible, possessing inertia, and yet
offering no resistance whatever to motion
through it in any direction, such vortex
rings would be indeed indivisible and
indestructible, and might well be what
we call atoms.
Another important
theory, that of Dr. Larmor, conceived
the atom, or the component of the
atom, to be a sort of strain-centre in
ether. But the latest researches of
physicists and chemists have opened out
a line of inquiry which marks a consider
able advance in attacking the problem.
We have now actual proof that small
particles are chipped off the atom in
certain electrical experiments. More
over, when radium was discovered, and
the same kind of radio-action was
detected in a less striking degree in
other forms of matter, it was clear that
we had before us actual instances of
the breakdown, or disintegration, of the
atom. The small particles emitted from
the atom were then identified with the
particles of electricity called electrons,
and the theory has gained ground that
the atoms of all ponderable substances
are built up of these electrons. It is
calculated that one thousand of these
tiny sub-atoms go to the making of a
single atom of hydrogen. They are
infinitesimally small—hardly one-hun
dred-thousandth of the diameter of the
atom—and are believed to form a
whirling system of forces, occasionally
breaking loose from the control of the
cluster and being shot forth, as in the
�28
WHAT THE UNIVERSE IS MADE OF
emanations of radium. The conclusion
is almost irresistible that these are the
real atoms—the ultimate particles—of
the whole solid fabric of the universe.
As yet, however, speculation is pre
carious, and is apt to run in advance of
the known facts. It remains for the
future to tell us more of the nature of
these wonderful electrons, their relation
to ether, and the way in which they are
drawn together to form the great variety
of the chemical elements. Recently a
distinguished Swedish chemist has put
forward a theory that the meteors, which
we have taken to be, as it were, the
bricks of the universe, are themselves
formed by the electrons poured out into
space from the stars. If that were so,
we should be approaching some explana
tion of the “perpetual motion” of the
universe. But it is premature to pro
nounce on these matters.
Thus it will be seen that the problem
of atoms, involving that of the ulti
mate constitution of matter, is fast
advancing towards some definite solu
tion ; but it is not yet solved, and is
a problem of the future. Seeing, how
ever, the wonderful advances which have
been made in the last half-century, and
especially in the last few years, it is im
possible to doubt that, as in the case of
gravity, some future Newton will sum
up in a comprehensive law all the
scattered facts which point in the same
direction towards the unity of the
universe, and the persistence of evolu
tion from the simplest to the most
complex.
But even when this triumph of science
has been attained, the question remains
as insoluble as ever—Whence came
this primeval ' matter and primeval
energy ?
I recollect as a boy looking up at the
stars, and asking myself what does all
this mean ? Where did it come from,
and what is beyond it ? The only answer
was a sort of painful ache, as of straining
the eyes to see in the darkness. And
now that, thanks to the discoveries of
modern science, I can see so much
beyond the visible stars, far off into the
.infinitely great, far down into the
infinitely small, far back into infinite
Time—at the end of all I am not one
whit advanced beyond that feeling of
boyhood. I gaze with straining eyes
into the Unknowable, and gaze in vain.
Others may see, or fancy they see, some
thing behind the knowable phenomena
of the universe, linked together by in
variable laws. Some a personal God,
others a design like human design, a
living whole, ideas in a Universal Mind,
illusion, Maya Nirvana, what not. For
my own part, if I candidly confess the
truth to myself, I can only say with
Tennyson,
“ Behold ! I know not anything,”
and content myself with the only creed
which seems to me certain—that of trying
to do some little good in my generation,
and leave the world a little better rather
than a little worse for my individual unit
of existence.
�CLIMA TE
29
Chapter III,
CLIMATE
Ichthyosauri have been met with in
Greenland and Spitzbergen.
Lyell,
Dana, and all modern geologists agree
that in primordial times there were “ no
zones of climate,” “ no marked difference
between life in warm and cold latitudes
“warm Arctic seas all the year round.” _
This continued until what is, geologi
cally speaking, quite the other day, the
close of the Tertiary period. In Spitz
bergen, latitude 78°. 56', are found the
remains of a luxuriant Miocene flora,
comprising species like the common
cypress, which now grow in the Southern
United States and California. Magnolias
and zamias are found in Miocene strata
Geology and astronomy are in conflict in Greenland in latitude 70 .
These species, it must be observed,
on other questions as well as that of the
time during which a sufficient supply of require not only a warm but an equable
solar heat has rendered the earth habit climate. They would be killed by a
able. The conditions of that supply are single severe night’s frost, and yet they*
as important as the -total quantity, and grew and flourished where the winter
these conditions depend mainly on night now lasts for four months, and
climate. Geology seems to show that, where the thermometer has registered
during the vast lapse of time embraced more than ioo° below freezing-point.
by fossil records from the Cambrian to The difference between summer and
the close of the Tertiary period, there winter temperature in high Arctic lati
were no well-marked zones of climate, tudes exceeds 100° Fahrenheit, and, what
and the conditions of life were uniform, ever may have been the initial tempera
or nearly so, throughout the whole earth. ture, this difference of heat, due to solar
On the other hand, the astronomical radiation, must have been added and
theory of precession asserts that the subtracted every year, as long as the
vicissitudes of the seasons, with their earth’s axis of rotation preserved its
corresponding zones of climate, must present obliquity to the plane of the
have existed from the beginning as they ecliptic in which the earth revolves round
now are. Geology relies on undoubted the sun. If the temperature of Spitz
facts. Coral formations, which require bergen was from ■ any cause high enough
both a warm and an equable climate, to prevent the thermometer from falling
and cannot live in a temperature below below zero in winter, it must have risen
66° Fahrenheit, were found by Captain in summer far above the extremest
Nares in Greenland, in latitude 8i° 40'. tropical temperature at which life and
Ammonites of the same genera and even vegetation are possible.
Nor is it a question of temperature
of the same species are found alike in
Melville’s Island and in India; and only, but of light and the actinic rays of
Conflict between Geology and Astronomy— |
Geology asserts Uniformity of Climate until 1
Recent Times—-Astronomy asserts Inclination
of Earth’s Axis to be invariable, and therefore
Climates necessary—Evidence for Warm and
Uniform Climates—Greenland—-Spitsbergen
—Impossible under Existing Conditions Heat, Light, and Actinism—-Invariability of
Earth’s Axis—Causes of Higher and more
Uniform Temperature—Cooling of the Earth
—More Heat from the Sun—Warmer regions
of Space—More Carbonic-dioxide—Would
not explain Uniformity of Temperature
Excess of Oxygen—-Modification of SpeciesConfiguration of Sea and Land—- .Crolls
Theory—-Displacement of Earth’s Axis—In
clination of Axis of Planets and Moon—Un
solved Problems of the Future.
�30
CLIMATE
the solar beam, which are Equally essen
tial for vegetation. A luxuriant forest
vegetation, including such forms as the
magnolia and cypress, could no more
flourish under any conditions now known
to us in Spitzbergen than they could if
shut up for four months in a dark cellar.
And yet, with the present obliquity of the
axis, the sun must have been below the
horizon in those latitudes from November
till March.
At present, as we go north from the
equator towards the Arctic circle, we
find species changing to accommodate
themselves to the change of environment.
Palms are succeeded by oaks and
beeches; these again by pines and
birches, and these by dwarf willows and
lichens, until all vegetation, except of
the very humblest forms, dies out as we
approach the pole. But in the geological
records of earlier periods no such changes
are discernible. The Miocene magnolia
of Spitzbergen is not even a greatly
modified magnolia, but of the same
species as the magnolia of the present
day. The Miocene cypress is the common
cypress. If there were no such science
as astronomy, geology would point to
the conclusion that until after the
Miocene period climate was uniform;
there were no distinct zones or seasons,
and therefore no obliquity of the earth’s
axis, or at any rate nothing like the
present amount. With these conditions
there would have been perpetual spring,
and all we should require would be a
higher average temperature for the whole
earth. But to this conclusion astronomy
opposes an inflexible non possumus. If
there is one thing more certain than
another, it is that mathematical calcula
tions, based on Newton’s law of gravity,
explain all the movements of the solar
system. They do so 'with a certainty
that enables us to predict the places of
the earth, moon, and planets years before
hand with absolute accuracy. And if
there is one thing more certain than
another in these calculations, it is that no
permanent change is possible in the
inclination of the earth’s axis. The earth j
now spins, in twenty-four hours, round
an axis inclined at an angle of 66}4° to
the plane on which it revolves round the
sun in a year. It must always have so
spun, for there is no cause known to
science by which, when this rotation
was once established, the inclination of
the axis could have been permanently
altered. The plane of the equator shifts
its position slowly on that of the ecliptic,
owing to various minor actions of the
force of gravity, the principal one being
the precession of the equinoxes, due to
the protuberant matter at the earth’s
equator; and thus in 22,000 years it
makes a complete circuit, returning to
its original position. But during this
circuit its inclination to the plane of the
ecliptic remains practically constant, and
the effect on the seasons is unchanged,
except that they come at different posi
tions of the earth in its orbit round the
sun, so that summer and winter alter
nately come when we are farthest from
the sun or nearest to it. At present we
are nearer the sun in winter than in
summer, and the winter half of the year
is shorter than the summer half in the
Northern hemisphere. In 11,000 years
this position will be reversed, and the
winter will be shorter than summer in
the Southern hemisphere; but there is
nothing in these slight changes to affect
the general course of the seasons, and
as we happen to be now nearer the sun
in winter the effect of any slight change
due to precession would rather be to
increase the difference between summer
and winter heat in high northern lati
tudes, and so aggravate the difficulty of
reconciling the conclusions of the two
conflicting sciences. And yet there must
be some way of reconciling them. Truth
cannot speak with two voices, and the
laws of Nature cannot give contradictory
results.
Let us consider first what the un
doubted facts of geology require us to
assume. Two things—firstly, that the
general temperature of the earth was
higher in former times than now;
secondly, that it was more uniform. As
�CLIMA TE
regards the first condition, astronomy
interposes no obstacle, but affords no
aid, and it must be admitted that we
are still in the region of conjecture
rather than of certainty. The first
obvious guess is that the earth was
formerly hotter, and has been gradually
cooling. But this guess is contradicted
by mathematical calculations as to the
cooling of heated bodies, which show
that after the earth had cooled down to
the point of forming a solid crust, many
miles in thickness, of non-conducting
rock, internal heat could have had little
or no effect on surface temperature.
This is confirmed by what we know of
the climates of areas where large reser
voirs of internal heat lie comparatively
near the surface, as in Iceland and other
volcanic districts. In the celebrated
Comstock lode the heat of the earth
increases so rapidly that it becomes im
possible to work the mines below a very
moderate depth. Yet in all these cases
the temperature at the surface remains
the same as that of other regions on the
same isotherm, and is determined by the
same circumstances of latitude, elevation,
aerial and ocean currents, and other
known conditions. Nor, if the internal
temperature of the earth was a factor in
the problem, would it be easy to account
for our recovery from the cold of the
Glacial period, in the face of a con
tinued and progressive diminution of the
planet’s heat.
A more important conjecture is that
there may have been variations in the
amount of heat given out by the sun.
Generally considered, theory points to
the paradoxical conclusion that, as the
sun has cooled, it has got hotter—that
is, that a volume of gas, in cooling,
developes rather more heat by contract
ing than it loses by radiating. But
recent research is held by some scientific
writers to have shown that “ compara
tively small changes in solar activity
produce rather important meteorological
e-ffects,” and it is claimed that there are
indications of such changes having taken
place. Dr. Sven Hedin discovered proof
31
that important changes of climate have
occurred in Central Asia during the
Christian era. It is for future investiga
tion to follow up this clue, and determine
its value in the estimation of changes of
climate.
Thepassageof the solar system through
warmer and colder regions of space is
another explanation which has been
invoked. But this—though by no
means improbable—is as yet a mere
possibility, and based on nothing ap
proaching to actual knowledge.
Of existing known causes there is one
which seems, as far as it goes, to be a
vera causa which might have given the
earth’s surface a warmer temperature in
early ages. Its reality may be proved by
the very simple experiment of sleeping
on a cold night without a blanket.
Evidently, other circumstances being the
same, such as the reading of the thermo
meter and blood heat of the body, the
question of blanket or no blanket makes
an immense difference in the resulting
temperature. Why is this the case ?
Because the blanket keeps the heat in,
or, in other words, radiates ■ it back to
the body instead of letting it radiate out
into space. There are other things
which do this even more effectually than
a woollen blanket, for they let the heat
of the sun’s rays in, and, having let it in,
catch it as in a trap, and do not let it
out again. Glass, for instance, in a con
servatory, is such a trap, and, as we all
know, will keep the temperature inside
much warmer than it is outside, even
without the aid of artificial heat. Many
other substances have the same property,
and among them two which are essential
elements of the earth’s atmosphere,
water in the form of vapour, and carbonicdioxide. Tyndall, in his Heat Con
sidered as a Mode of Motion, has shown
clearly what an immense part these
gases have in maintaining the tempera
ture of the earth’s surface. If the cold
is more intense, especially at night, on
high mountains, it is not because less
heat is received from the sun’s rays
during the twenty-four hours, but
�32
CLIMATE
because half the atmosphere is left below,
and so the heat-retaining blanket is thin
and threadbare. So in deserts where the
air is dry and there is little aqueous
vapour, the heat by day may be exces
sive and yet the cold by night well-nigh in
tolerable. “The removal,” says Tyndall,
“ for a single summer’s night of the
aqueous vapour which covers England
would be attended by the destruction of
every plant which a freezing temperature
could kill.” And such a removal on a
winter’s night would send the thermo
meter down far below zero.
This property of retaining heat is not
confined to water in the form of vapour ;
it is common to other gases, and often
in a higher degree. Among these is
one which is always present in the
atmosphere—carbonic-dioxide, a gas
formed by the combination of two
atoms of oxygen with one of carbon.
The percentage of this gas in the air
is very small, only a fraction of one per
cent., and yet it constitutes the sole
source of supply of the carbon required,
directly for vegetable and indirectly for
animal life. At present the balance
between the two sorts of life seems to
be kept up, as in an aquarium, by
animals restoring to the air, in the form
of carbonic-dioxide, the carbon which
has been abstracted from it by plants.
But when we look at the enormous
amount of carbon which has been
locked up in coal, limestone, and other
carboniferous formations of the earth’s
crust, it is evident that it must be vastly
greater than could be derived from such
a small percentage of carbonic-dioxide
as now exists in the atmosphere. It has
been estimated by experienced geologists
at many hundred times greater. Where
all this carbon could have come from is
a question not yet solved. Some have
thought that it may have been supplied
from the interior of the earth by volcanoes;
but, although it is certain that some
volcanic vents do emit carbonic-dioxide,
as in the case of Lake Avernus, and the
Grotto-del-cane, near Naples, the quan
tity is small, and the better opinion
seems to be that it is only given out
when subterranean fires come in con
tact with limestone, or some other form
of previously deposited carbon. Did
the carbon, then, come from the air?
If so, there must have been more than
one hundred times as much carbonicdioxide in it in early geological times as
there is at present.
This would go some way towards
explaining the difficulty of the higher
temperature prevailing in past ages, for
more carbonic-dioxide would undoubtedly
be equivalent to an additional blanket to
protect the earth from cold; and the
higher temperature thus caused would
enable the air to hold more aqueous
vapour in solution, and thus increase
the thickness of the water-blanket.
It is conceivable that under such con
ditions a warm and humid climate may
have prevailed over a great part of the
earth’s surface, though this would hardly
meet the difficulty of the uniform exist
ence of such a climate in latitudes where
the supply of heat from the sun must
have been so very different in winter
and summer. Nor would this difficulty
be removed even if we were to suppose
that the earth’s axis might have been
nearly vertical to the plane of the ecliptic.
This might meet the difficulty as to
light and actinic rays, for there would
be everywhere twelve hours of day
throughout the year; but it would not
meet the difficulty as to temperature, for
if the air-blanket was sufficient to retain
heat enough in the Arctic Circle to
prevent frosts, from a sun which never
rose much above the horizon, it must
have retained far too much heat for
existing life and vegetation in latitudes
nearer to the equator.
There are, however, many grave
objections to considering this to be the
sole or even the principal cause of the
warmer climates of early ages. It is by
no means certain that either animal or
vegetable life, in anything like known
forms, could exist in an atmosphere so
surcharged with carbon. Nor is carbon
all; we must account also for oxygen.
�33
CLIMA TE
If the whole of the carbon now fixed
in the different strata of the earth’s
crust was derived from carbonic-dioxide
originally present in the atmosphere,, so
also must have been the oxygen, which
in various form of oxides now forms
an even larger constituent of that crust.
Oxygen is a very active element, which,
under moderate conditions of heat , and
moisture, combines readily with iron,
silicon, calcium, aluminium, and all. the
metallic bases. Many hundred times
more oxygen must have been withdrawn
from the air than now exists in it. to
form the rocks which are the principal
part of the earth’s crust. But an excess
of oxygen is as fatal to life as an excess
of carbonic-dioxide. Terrestrial life, as
known to us, depends on a very delicate
adjustment of the quantities of oxygen
and nitrogen in the air. A very little
excess or deficit of either would, destroy
all air-breathing animals. With too
much oxygen we should be burned up
even more rapidly than the drunkard is
by too much alcohol; with too little, the
fire of life would be choked by ashes
and refuse. If there was formerly a
hundred, or even ten, times more oxygen
in the atmosphere than there is now,
there must have been a corresponding
excess of nitrogen to neutralise it, and,
if so, what has become of the nitrogen ?
Nitrogen is an inert element which enters
sparingly into combinations, and does
not, like oxygen and carbon, get locked
up in great masses of the earth’s solid
crust. Once in the atmosphere, it would
seem that it must have remained there;
and, if so, as oxygen was withdrawn in
continually increasing quantities, how
could the life-sustaining proportion of
the two gases have been maintained and
continued down to the present day ?
It has been said that life may have
been so differently organised in past
geological ages as to have existed under
very different conditions ; the mammoth
is appealed to as an instance of an
elephant modified so as to resist Arctic
cold; and the result of deep-sea dredg
ings shows that molluscs, crustaceans,
and other low forms of life may exist in
ice-cold water and without light. But
we can hardly suppose such profound
modifications of existing genera and
species of highly-organised plants and
animals as would enable them to breathe
air of a very different composition.
For we must remember that the evi
dence for an elevated and uniform tem
perature is not confined to remote geo
logical ages, but comes down to the
close of the Tertiary period, when
existing forms, both of animal, and
vegetable life, were firmly established,
and several species have survived to the
present day without perceptible change.
Thus, when the magnolia was growing in
Spitzbergen, the dryopithecus was living
in Southern France. Can it be supposed
that this anthropoid ape breathed a
different air from his congeners, the
chimpanzee and gorilla; and yet, if his
lungs required the same air, how could
excess of carbonic-dioxide have supplied
the extra warm blanket to protect the
Spitzbergen magnolia ?
A different configuration of sea and
land is the explanation which many geo
logists, following Lyell, have advanced
for different conditions of climate. And
no doubt aerial and oceanic currents,
such as now cause the trade-winds and
Gulf Stream, are responsible for great
variations of climate, while low lands in
low and high lands in high latitudes
must always have had a considerable
influence in raising or depressing tem
perature. But changes of this descrip
tion can more readily account for the
cold of the Glacial than for the heat of
the Tertiary and preceding periods. We
have now got the trade-winds and the
Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic, and
although the diversion of the latter might
bring the ice-cap back to London and
New York, and make the climate of Scan
dinavia and Scotland the same as that of
Greenland and Labrador, its presence
takes us a very short way towards enabling
magnolias to flourish in Spitzbergen.
In like manner, even if Croll’s theory
were established, which it is far from
B
�34
CLIMATE
being, and the effect of the obliquity of
the earth’s axis combined with preces
sion, though imperceptible while the
earth’s orbit was nearly circular, became
great in the two hemispheres alternately,
when the orbit was approaching its maxi
mum eccentricity, this would not explain
the high and uniform temperature of past
geological ages. If this theory were true,
what we should look for would be two or
three Glacial periods in the course of
each geological epoch; for the least time
required for any of the great geological
formations must have been long enough
to include two or three secular variations
of the earth’s orbit, from minimum to
maximum eccentricity. And each of
these Glacial periods must have included
several changes, alternating, at intervals
of 11,000 years, between severe cold and
genial heat, owing to the effect of the
precession of the equinoxes combined
with great eccentricity.
Instead of uniform warmth there must
have been more than one hundred
Glacial periods during the immense
lapse of time between the dawn of life
in the Cambrian and the last of such
periods in the Quaternary. It is a moot
point with geologists whether traces of a
single one of such periods, prior to the
last one, have been found. There are a
few conglomerates which look very like
consolidated boulder-clays, and every
now and then we hear of some formation,
supposed to be glaciated, being found in
the Permian and in other formations in
India, South Africa, and Australia; but
there is no evidence hitherto which com
mands the general assent of geologists
for a single Glacial period prior to the
recent one which closed the Tertiary
period. And there is abundant evidence
that during many formations, such as the
Carboniferous and Coal-measures, which
must have taken millions of years to
accumulate, there were no vicissitudes of
climate such as must have inevitably
occurred if any astronomical cause, such
as precession or eccentricity, had been
sufficient to bring about great vicissitudes
of heat and cold. And what is still more
conclusive, the evolution of vegetable
and animal life, as shown by fossils,
affords no trace of the repeated modifica
tions which must have taken place within
the limits of the same geological forma
tion if there had been such vicissitudes of
heat and cold as the theory requires.
It remains to be considered whether
any change in the direction of the earth’s
axis may have been possible. Clearly
no such change can have taken place
within the earth itself, for its shape is
that of an oblate spheroid, revolving
round its present axis. Any displace
ment of the poles must displace the
present equator, and tend to establish a
new one on a different plane. But the
equatorial diameter of the earth is twentysix miles longer than the polar diameter,
so that any displacement of the poles
must have tended to displace this
enormous mass of protuberant matter,
and send such portion of it as was fluid
in a diluvian wave, miles in height,
towards the new position of equilibrium;
while the solid portion remained in a
plane no longer coincident with that of
the earth’s rotation. There is no trace
of anything of the sort having ever
occurred, and, if the axis has shifted, the
whole earth has shifted with it, which is
just what astronomers declare to be
impossible by any known laws.
But are the whole of the laws really
known ? There is nothing more difficult
than to account for the varying inclina
tions of the axes of rotation of the diffe
rent bodies of the solar system. On the
older conception of the nebular hypo
thesis, which traced the sun, planets,
and satellites back to the condensation
of a revolving disc-like mass of nebulous
matter, one might have expected to find
the planes of rotation and revolution of
planets and satellites, not only in the
same general direction from west to east,
but nearly coincident.1 Jupiter, however,
* The tendency in astronomy now is to con
ceive the primitive nebula in a rough spiral form,
instead of the disk-shape which was earlier
imagined.
�THE GLACIAL PERIOD
is the only one of the planets which
fulfils this condition. Its axis of rotation
is inclined at an angle of 87°, or very
nearly at right angles, to the plane of its
revolution round the sun. But there is
no certain rule. That of Saturn, which
comes next in order on the outside of
Jupiter, has an inclination of 64°, while
that of the next planet on the inside,
Mars, is 6i° 18'. The earth’s axis is
inclined at 66° 33', while we find its
satellite, the moon, rotating like Jupiter
in a plane inclined only i° 30'; and the
axis of Venus, on the other hand, is so
oblique that in its winter the Arctic
Circle almost extends to the equator.
The case of the moon is most difficult
to understand, for on any theory of its
origin, whether as a condensed ring left
behind as the nebulous matter of the
earth contracted, or whether it was
ejected from the earth in some eruption
of its fiery stages, it might have been
expected to retain nearly the same rota
tory motion as its parent orb. But, if
so, clearly some unknown force must
have intervened, either to make the
earth’s axis more, or that of the moon
less, oblique than they were originally.
No such force is known, nor has any
plausible guess been made as to what
might have occasioned it; but the same
observation applies to many of the phe
nomena of the solar system. How has
35
the supply of solar heat been kept up for
the time required by geology ? How
does the energy we call gravitation act
across space from atom to atom, and
from star to star, and how is its supply
maintained? Why is the axis of the
earth inclined at an angle of 66° 30' to
the ecliptic, while that of Jupiter is
almost perpendicular to it, and that of
Venus oblique to the extent of nearly
two-thirds of a right angle ?
These are all problems which depend
on natural laws, and must lie within the
limits of human reason; but they are
pebbles which have not yet been picked
up on the shore of the ocean of truth.
It may bring home to us the force of
Newton’s saying that we are but as
children picking up such pebbles, when
we see what a multitude of the deepest
problems, as to the constitution of the
earth and of the universe, are raised by
the simple fact that Captain Nares
brought back a specimen of coral from
latitude 81° 40' in Greenland, and that
luxuriant forests, of a sub-tropical or
warm temperate vegetation, flourished in
Spitzbergen as lately as the period when
an anthropoid ape of the stature of man
was living in the south of France, and
when man himself, or his savage progeni
tors, were possibly, or even probably,
already chipping flints into rude imple
ments.
Chapter IV.
THE GLACIAL PERIOD
Importance of Date of Glacial Period Its
Bearing on Origin of Man—Short Date
Theories—Prestwich says 20,000, Lyell
200,000, years—Groll’s Theory—Prestwich’s
Arguments—Solar Heat—Human ProgressShown by Palaeolithic Remains—Geological
Evidence—Advance of Greenland Glaciers—
Denudation—Erosion of Cliffs and Valleys—
Deposition—Loess—Elevation and Depres
sion of Land—All Show Immense Antiquity—
Post-Glacial Period—Prestwich says 8,000 to
10,000 years—Mellard Reade 60,000—His
Reasons — Inconsistent with Short - Date
Theories—Causes of Glacial Period—Cooling
�36
THE GLACIAL PERIOD
of Earth—Cold Regions of Space—Change of
Earth’s Axis—More Vapour in Atmosphere—
Lyell’s Theory—Different Configuration of
Sea and Land—Conditions of Glaciation—
Problems Pressing for Solution.
The date and duration of the Glacial
period present a problem which is in
many respects of the highest interest.
It comes nearest to us as inaugurating
the recent period in which we live, and
for which we have historical data. It
affords the best chance of obtaining an
approximate standard by which to
measure geological times in years or
centuries. And it touches directly on
the great question of the Origin of Man.
For man is like the mammoth and
cave bear—an essential part of the
Quaternary fauna; and, whatever doubts
may.be entertained as to his existence in
Tertiary times, there can be none as to
the fact that his remains are found in
great numbers, and widely scattered over
the four quarters of the globe, in con
junction with those of the mammoth and
other characteristic Quaternary mammals,
in deposits which date, probably, from
the earlier, and certainly from the inter
mediate and later, stages of the Glacial
period. A short date, therefore, for that
period shortens that for which we have
positive proof of the existence of man,
and a very short date reduces it to a
length during which it is simply impos
sible that such a state of things as is
found existing in Egypt 7,000 years ago
could have grown up by natural laws and
evolution, and therefore brings us back
to the old theories of repeated and
recent acts of supernatural interference,
which, since the works of Lyell and of
Darwin, have been generally considered
to be completely exploded.
. The question, therefore, is one of the
highest theological as well as scientific
importance, and as such it has too often
been approached with theological pre
possessions. An extreme instance of
this is afforded by Sir J. Dawson, who,
in his work on Fossil Man, assigns 7,000
years as the probable date for the first
appearance of man upon earth, ignoring
the fact that at this date a dense and
civilised. population already existed in
Egypt with a highly-developed language
and system of writing and religion, and
that the types of the various races of
mankind, such as the Negro, the Copt,
the Semitic, and the Arian, are as clearly
distinguished in the paintings in Egyp
tian tombs 5,000 years ago as they are at
the present day.
Sir J. Dawson, however, though an
excellent geologist as long as the older
formations are concerned, is so domi
nated by the desire to square facts with
the account of creation in Genesis that
he becomes totally unreliable when the
human era is approached.
More recently, a very different autho
rity, Professor Prestwich, reasoning on
strictly scientific grounds, concludes
“ that the Glacial period, or epoch of
extreme cold, may not have lasted longer
than from 15,000 to 25,000 years, and
the Post-Glacial period of the melting
away of the ice-sheet to from 8,000 to
10,000 years or less ; giving to palaeo
lithic man no greater antiquity than,
perhaps, about 20,000 to 30,000 years,
while, should he be restricted to the socalled Post-Glacial period, his antiquity
need not go farther back than from
10,000 to 15,000 years before the time
of neolithic man.”
Prestwich cannot be accused of theo
logical bias, and, in fact, this estimate is
as inconsistent with theological theories
of Adam and Noah as if the figures
were multiplied tenfold. But he was
influenced by the wish to make geological
time accord with the short-date estimates
of Lord Kelvin, as to the possible
duration of solar heat. Be this as it
may, the fact that an authority like
Prestwich reduces to 20,000 years a
period to which Lyell and modern
geologists generally have assigned a
duration of more like 200,000, shows in
what a state of uncertainty we are as
to this vitally important problem. For
even the longest period for man’s anti
quity assigned by Prestwich would be
clearly insufficient to allow for the
�THE GLACIAL PERIOD
37
development of Egyptian civilisation as earth’s orbit was nearly circular as at
it existed 7,000 years ago, from savage present, they might become very powerful
and semi-animal ancestors, and still less when they coincided with one of the
for the evolution of the human race long periods at which the earth’s orbit
from earlier types, as is proved to have became flattened out into an ellipse of
been the case with the horse, stag, maximum eccentricity. He showed by
elephant, ape, and other mammals, with calculation that one such period began
whom man is so intimately connected, 240,000 years ago, attained its maximum
both in physical structure and in geo in 80,000 years, and passed away about
80,000 years before the present era.
logical association.
It is highly important, therefore, to These figures fitted in so well with those
consider the grounds on which the deduced by Lyell and other eminent
various theories are based of the pro geologists from geological data that
bable cause and duration of the Glacial Croll’s theory received very general
period. The first natural guess was to acceptance. But it is open to the same
attribute it to the precession of the objection, though in a less degree, that
equinoxes. Owing to this cause, the it requires us to assume a periodical
North Pole is alternately turned towards succession of Glacial epochs. The oscil
the sun every summer and away from it lations of the eccentricity of the earth’s
every winter, the reverse being the case orbit, about its maximum and minimum
in the Southern hemisphere. But, owing limits, though slow as measured by cen
to the eccentricity of the earth’s orbit, turies, are not so slow according to the
the duration of the seasons is not exactly standards of geological time. Croll’s
equal, and summer and winter may occur calculations have shown that another
either when the earth is nearest to or position, such as is assumed to have
farthest away from the sun. At present caused the latest Glacial period, must
winter occurs in the Northern hemi have occurred 500,000 years earlier.
sphere when the earth is nearest the sun The calculations have not been carried
and moving with the greatest velocity, further back ; but it is tolerably certain
so that it is shorter by some days, and that, if Croll’s theory be correct, at least
summer longer, than in the Southern two or three Glacial periods must have
hemisphere. Now, it is a fact that what occurred during each of the great geo
This is opposed to
may be called a Glacial period prevails logical epochs.
at present in the Southern hemisphere, geological evidence. The Permian is
while corresponding latitudes in the the only formation in which what look
Northern hemisphere enjoy a temperate like traces of glacial action have been
climate. It might be thought that this unmistakeably found, and even these are
fact afforded an explanation of the considered doubtful by many geologists.
Glacial period; but this conjecture is Still more doubtful are the proofs of
negatived when it is considered that this older Glacial epochs deduced, from
revolution of the earth’s axis is periodical, isolated cases of boulders, as in the
and completed in about 22,000 years, Miocene conglomerate of Monte Superga,
so that, if it were the sole or principal near Turin, the Flysch of Switzerland,
cause of Glacial epochs, they must have and in some of the conglomerates of the
“Not proven” is the
recurred from the beginning of geological old Devonian.
time at this short interval, which is verdict which most geologists would
altogether inconsistent with the evidence return on the few alleged instances of
earlier Glacial periods; while, if Croll’s
of facts.
Croll expanded this crude theory into theory were true, we might expect to
one which had vastly more plausibility— find them frequently. Above all, it is
viz., that, although the effects of preces difficult to conceive how two or three
sion might be imperceptible while the great changes of temperature could have
�38
THE GLACIAL PERIOD
occurred during each geological forma advance of the glaciers of Greenland is
tion without showing unmistakeable traces found to be much more rapid than that
in the fauna, and still more distinctly in of the Swiss glaciers upon which previous
the flora, of the epoch. Ferns must theories had been based of the time
have died out and been succeeded by required for the advance of the Scandi
mosses j and these in their turn given navian and Laurentian ice-fields over
place to ferns two or three times over or Northern Europe and America.
more, during the growth of the coal. The two considerations may be briefly
measures, if any changes of climate had discussed. The first, as I have already
occurred at all resembling those of the shown, is based on a theory as to solar
recent Glacial period.
heat which is in the highest degree
The confidence, therefore, with which uncertain, which is being shaken by the
Croll’s theory was at first received has latest discoveries in physics, and which
been a good deal shaken, and, although requires rather to be tested by the posi
many geologists still believe that it may tive facts of geology than accepted as
have been one among other causes of an admitted conclusion to which those
the last great refrigeration, it can no facts must be squared. To allow it to
longer be considered as affording a distort those facts, or even to influence
reliable standard by which to measure us in interpreting them, is a preposses
the time in historical years, either of the sion only one degree less mischievous
Quaternary or still less of any previous than the theological prepossession which
geological epoch.
so long retarded the progress of true
We have to fall back, therefore, on science.
the geological evidence of deposition
The second consideration, as to the
and denudation, of the rise and fall of rate of human progress, is a mere ques
continents, of the erosion of rivers, tion of what each individual inquirer
valleys, and so forth, in any attempt to may think probable estimates, which will
decide between the 200,000 years of depend very much on his habit of mind
Lyell and the 20,000 years of Prestwich. and previous bias. There are positively
The former period, based on the minute no facts on which to base a conclusion
and careful investigations of Lyell, Geikie, as to the rate of progress of isolated
Croll, and other eminent geologists, held salvage tribes living in the hunter stage,
the field until the recent attempts of without contact with more civilised races.
Prestwich and others to reconcile geo The Australian savages, the South African
logy with Lord Kelvin’s theory of bushmen, the Negritos of the Andaman
solar heat, by reducing geological time Islands, may have lived as they were first
to about one-tenth of the accepted found by Europeans any time you like
amounts.
from 1,000 to 100,000 years, for aught
Prestwich, in his recently-published we know to the contrary. There is, in
works on geology, states that he has fact, no record of any such savage race
been influenced mainly by two con emerging into comparative civilisation
siderations :—
by any effort or natural progress of its
1. The wish to bridge over the wide own. Even much more advanced races
chasm between geologists and physicists trace back their knowledge of the higher
as to the possible duration of the supply arts and civilisation to some divine
of solar heat.
stranger, like the Peruvian Manco-Capac,
2. The difficulty of conceiving that or Chaldasan Oannes, who lands on their
man could have existed for a period of shores; or else, like the Egyptians,
80,000 or 100,000 years without change assign these inventions to gods, which
and without progress.
means that they are lost in the mists of
And the principal, or rather the sole, antiquity. The neolithic men of Europe
fact on which he relies is that the were clearly invaders, who brought a
�THE GLACIAL PERIOD
39
higher civilisation with them from Asia, decided change has taken place in the
and the knowledge of polished stone fauna, which in the Neolithic age corre
sponds closely with that of recent times
and metals was diffused by commerce.
It is incorrect, however, to say that in the same locality.
It is impossible, therefore, to deny
palaeolithic man shows no signs of change
or progress. On the contrary, the evi that both change and progress have
dence of palaeolithic deposits shows existed from the first appearance of man,
everywhere a progress which, although and there are absolutely no data to
it may have been extremely slow, is enable us to say what may have been
uniformly in the same direction—viz., the intervals of time required for the
upwards; There is no exception in the successive stages of this progress. All
hundreds, or rather thousands, ofinstances we can say is that, the more nearly
in which palaeolithic implements have primitive man approximated to a state
been found, to the law that the rudest of semi-animal existence, the slower
implements are found in the lowest must have been the steps by which he
deposits, and that improvements are emerged from it into comparative civili
traced in an ascending scale with sation.
We must fall back, therefore, on
ascending strata. This is most markedly
the case in caves, where, as in Kent’s geology for anything like reliable data on
Cavern, deposits of different ages have which to base any estimate of the time
been kept distinct and securely sealed required for the Quaternary or any
under separate sheets of stalagmite. In preceding geological epoch. Here, at
the rock-shelters, also, and river gravels, any rate, we are on comparatively certain
in which the relative antiquity is proved ground. So many feet of deposition, so
by their higher or lower levels, the same many of erosion, so many of elevation or
law prevails. In the oldest, where the depression; these are measurable facts
cave bear and mammoth are the cha which have been ascertained by compe
racteristic fossils, the stone axes, knives, tent observers. How much time is re
and scrapers are of the rudest description. quired to account for them ? This can
The celts or hatchets are mere lumps of only be an approximation, based on our
stone, roughly chipped, and with a blunt knowledge of the time in which similar
butt-end, evidently intended to be held results, on a smaller scale, have been
in the hand. In the next stage we find produced by existing natural laws within
finer chipping, and celts adapted for the Historical period. Still, if we argue
hafting; while arrow and javelin heads from natural causes, and ignore imaginary
appear, at first rude, but gradually cataclysms and supernatural interferences,
becoming barbed and finely wrought. we may arrive at some sort of maximum
Still later, with the advent of the reindeer and minimum limits of time within which
in large herds, affording in their horns a the observed results must lie.
This was the process by which Lyell
softer material than stone, a remarkable
improvement takes place, and eyed and his school of geologists arrived at
needles, barbed harpoons, and in some their estimates of geological time, and
cases engraved and sculptured portraits it is only by a careful study of their
of animals of the chase, testify to a works that it is possible to see how
decided advance in the arts of civilisa closely the chain is woven, and what a
tion. Above all these come the weapons mass of minute investigations support
and implements of the Neolithic age, their conclusions. The one solid fact
which, as already stated, are separated which Prestwich opposes to them is the
by a sharp line from the earlier records rapid advance of the glaciers of Green
of palaeolithic man. No polished stone land. Recent observations by Rink and
has ever been found in deposits belonging other explorers have shown that the
clearly to the Palaeolithic period, and a fronts of these glaciers advance much
�40
THE GLACIAL PERIOD
more rapidly than the rate which had
been assumed from the advance of the
Swiss glaciers.
The average rate of advance of the
great glaciers which discharge themselves
into Baffin’s Bay is about thirty-five feet
daily, or two and three-quarter miles
yearly. Calculating from these data,
Prestwich arrives at the conclusion that
the old ice-sheets which radiated from
the Scandinavian and Canadian moun
tains to a distance of about 500 miles
might have been formed in from 4,000 to
6,000 years. The great changes which
have taken place since the retreat of the
ice-sheets he accounts for by supposing
that, with a greater rainfall, these changes
went on much more rapidly than they
have done during the Historical period.
These views, however, did not command
the assent of other eminent geologists
who were present when Professor Prestwich’s paper was read, and they are open
to very obvious objections.
The rate of advance of a glacier thrust
outwards by such an immense mass of
ice as caps Greenland, through a narrow
fiord, on a steep descending gradient,
into a deep sea which floats off its front
in icebergs, affords little test of the
advance of an ice-sheet spread out with
a front of 1,000 miles over a whole con
tinent, unaided by gravity, and obstructed
by ranges of mountains 2,000 or 3,000
feet high, which it has to surmount.
Nor does the rate of advance of such a
sheet afford any clue to the time during
which it may have remained stationary
or been receding. The two latter condi
tions evidently depend on the climate at
the extremity of the ice-sheet, when the
ice pushed forward by it is melted by the
summer heat. As long-as the climate of
Switzerland remains the same, the Swiss
glaciers will remain at their present level
with slight local and temporary varia
tions ; and this must have been equally
true of the great Scandinavian and Cana
dian glaciers. They may have advanced
in 5,000 years, remained stationary for
50,000 years, and taken 100,000 years to
retreat, for anything we know to the con- |
trary, from the Greenland glaciers. Nor
is it a question of one advance and retreat
only, for there is distinct evidence of
several advances and retreats, and of
prolonged Inter-Glacial periods.
In the cliffs of the east of England
four boulder-clays are found, separated
by sands and gravels deposited as each
ice-sheet successively receded and melted;
and in France there is evidence of at
least one Inter-Glacial period, sufficiently
warm and prolonged to allow the Canary
laurel and fig--tree to supplant the lichen
and Arctic willow. The only real test of
time is from the amount of geological
work that has been done in the way of
denudation, deposition, elevation, and
depression since Northern Europe and
Northern America were covered by such
an ice-cap as now covers Greenland.
Tried by these tests, the conclusions
point uniformly to a longer rather than
a shorter duration of the Quaternary,
including the Glacial, period. If we take
denudation, we may refer to the fact that,
since palaeolithic man left his implements
on the banks of the old Solent river
above Bournemouth, the level of its
valley and of the adjacent land has been
denuded by that small stream to a depth
of 150 feet, and the erosion of the sea
now going on at the Needles has eaten
away a wide range of chalk downs which
were then continuous from the Isle of
Wight to Dorsetshire. The same action
of waves and tides as is now eroding
Shakespeare’s Cliff has removed the
chalk ridge between that cliff and Cape
Grisnez, and made England an island.
The valleys of the Thames, the Somme,
and other rivers of the south of England
and north of France have been excavated
to a depth of more than one hundred
feet and a width of miles by streams
which have produced no perceptible
change since the Roman period. And
a still more striking proof of the immense
time which has elapsed since the Glacial
period is afforded by the fact, stated in
Prestwich’s Geology, that the great basaltic
plateau of the Cascade Range in British
Columbia, which is cut through by the
�THE GLACIAL PERIOD
4i
argument from the disappearance of
Columbia river to the depth of 2,000 to e
the downs between the Isle of Wight and
3,000 feet, is underlain by the Northern t
Boulder-drift. Consider what a lapse of Dorsetshire, and between France and
time this requires. Since the Boulder- England, would remain the same. . Lord
1
Avebury estimates the rate of erosion of
drift, and therefore since the Glacial .
period, vast sheets of basalt must have a perpendicular cliff of solid chalk. at
<
only a few inches per century, at which
been poured out by volcanoes now <
extinct, and those sheets of hard rock rate it must have taken an enormous
1
time to wear away the chalk ridge
cut down by river action to the levels at 1
between the Needlesand Ballard downs;
which the relics of the old ice-cap now
but even if we read yards instead of
appear.
As regards the erosion of valleys, it is inches it must have taken a far longer
said that there may have been a much time than Prestwich assigns for the
whole Glacial period. There is nothing
greater rainfall formerly than in historical
times, and therefore erosion may have upon which reliable data are more
wanted than as to the rate of erosion of
gone on much more rapidly. Doubtless
there may have been more extensive inun solid cliffs by the action of the sea, for
dations while great masses of ice and here the hypothesis of a larger rainfall
and greater floods could not be invoked
snow were melting under the summer
to accelerate the rate, as in the case of
heat of an improving climate; but there
seems no adequate reason to account the erosion of valleys.
If from denudation we turn to deposi
for a much greater rainfall. The maxim
ex nihilo nihil fit applies to rain as to the tion, we find equally conclusive evidence
of the immense duration of the Glacial
other operations of nature, and more
rainfall
implies
more evaporation, period. The deposit known as loess
brought by warm winds blowing over is universally admitted to be one of fine
warm oceans, and deposited when it glacial mud, deposited tranquilly from
comes in contact with land at a lower sheets of inundation water, which have
overflowed wide tracts during the melt
temperature. We already have these
conditions in Western Europe, and the ing of the ice and snow, as the climate
improved and glaciers retreated. It is,
Gulf Stream and prevalent westerly
winds make the climate more moist and in fact, just such a loam as the Arve
genial than is due to the latitude. To deposits every summer on the meadows
have had it still more moist these condi of Chamouni, when the turbid river
tions must have been intensified, and issues in a swollen stream from the
there is no reason to suppose that in bottom of the mer-de-glace^ and overflows
recent times, and with the present con its banks. Now, this loess covers, as
with a mantle, the valley systems of all
figuration of sea and land, the Gulf
the great rivers of the Northern hemi
Stream could have been much warmer
than it now is. If the land had extended sphere, whose upper courses lie within
farther to the westward, the effect must the area which was covered by ice and
have been to diminish rather than snow during the Glacial period. The
increase the rainfall in the districts Rhone, the Rhine, the Danube, the
where the Somme and the Thames were Mississippi, the Yang-tse-kiang, all run
excavating their valleys ; and with more through cliffs of loess, which also fills
extensive forests and morasses rain-water their tributary valleys and spreads to a
would be absorbed as in a sponge, and considerable height up the slopes of the
descend more gradually and less in hills and over the adjoining plateaux.
It lies thickest in the valleys, dying off as
tumultuous floods.
But, even if a greater rainfall were; it ascends the slopes, though it can often
l
granted, it would not affect the erosion be traced to a height of 2,000 or 3,000
>
of solid chalk cliffs by the sea, and the feet. The thin beds of loess at these
,
�42
THE GLACIAL PERIOD
heights and on the plateaux are probably There is distinct evidence that since the
the result of the melting of frozen snow; first epoch of intense cold a great part of
but the great masses in the valleys are Britain has been submerged, until only a
evidently the accumulations of mud from, few of the highest mountains stood out
the overflows of the existing rivers as from the Arctic Sea as an archipelago of
they gradually cut their valley-systems frozen islands, and has been since
down from higher to lower levels.
elevated, with several minor fluctuations,
These accumulations invariably corres to its present height. Marine shells of
pond to the configuration of the existing an Arctic character have been found on
valleys, and overlie coarser sands and Moel-Tryfane, a hill in North Wales, in
gravels, showing that they have been glacial drift 1,392 feet above the level of
made since the rivers lost the transport the sea; and similar drift is traced con
ing power which they possessed when tinuously, both in Wales and Scotland,
they ran with a more rapid current to a height of over 2,000 feet. It rests
during the earlier stages of the retreat on rocks which had been already
of the glaciers. The thickness of this rounded and polished by glaciers.
accumulation of fine mud is stated by
It is evident, therefore, that sufficient
Lyell to be 800 feet or more above the time must have elapsed during an inter
existing alluvial plain of the Rhine, and mediate phase of the Glacial period for a
in other rivers it is even greater. It is depression of more than 2,000 feet,
impossible that such a thickness could followed by a re-elevation of an equal
have been accumulated in anything like amount. Consider what this means.
the shorter time assumed by some geolo All we know of these secular movements
gists for the duration of the whole of large masses of land shows them to be
Glacial period.
And yet it represents excessively slow. Even the small local
only one phase of its concluding period ; elevations and depressions, like those of
and it not only contains human remains, the temple of Serapis at Pozzuoli, which
but is itself clearly posterior to many of have taken place principally in volcanic
the sands and gravels in which remains districts, have not exceeded a few feet in
of man and his associated Quaternary historical times.
fauna have been undoubtedly found.
The deltas of rivers have increased,
It is difficult to suppose that the loess and the sea has sometimes eroded and
can have accumulated much more sometimes added to the outline of coasts;
rapidly than the alluvium of the Nile, but there has been no change for more
which has been proved to raise the soil than 2,000 years in the general level of
of Egypt at the rate of about three inches sea and land in any of the districts known
in a century. At this rate it would to the ancient world. The spit of shingle
require 320,000 years to accumulate the which connects St. Michael’s Mount with
800 feet assigned by Lyell to the loess Cornwall is still covered at flood and dry
of the Rhine valley. Making every at ebb tide, as when the ancient Britons
allowance for a quicker rate of deposition, carted their tin across it to barter with
it seems impossible that this deposit, Tyrian merchants. Marseilles is a sea
which is only an interlude in one of the port, as it was when the Phenician galleys
later stages of the Glacial period, can entered its harbour. In Egypt it is
have been accumulated in anything like evident that no considerable change of
the time assigned by Prestwich for the level, either of the land or of the Medi
whole of that period.
terranean, can have occurred since
If we consider the elevations and Menes embanked the Nile 7,000 years
depressions of land which have taken ago.
place since the commencement of the
The only authentic records we have of
Glacial period, the evidence all points to the rise or fall of masses of land as ascer
the same conclusion of immense antiquity. tained by actual measurement are those
�THE GLACIAL PERIOD
43
of Scandinavia and South America. The and Post-Glacial periods, of which this
Pacific shore of the latter was upheaved was only one of the intermediate phases,
five or six feet for a distance of 500 or within anything like the limits of from
600 miles by the shock of a single earth 25,000 to 35,000 years assigned to them
quake, and remains of human art, such by Professor Prestwich. On the con
as plaited rushes and string, have been trary, all the evidence from existing
found in a bed of marine shells near known facts points rather to an exten
Callao, showing that this part of the sion than to a contraction of the times
continent had been elevated eighty-five assigned by Lyell and Croll; and, if the
feet since it was inhabited by man. This, theory of the latter is correct, it would
however, gives no clue to the rate of almost seem as if his first period of
elevation, since we know nothing of the maximum refrigeration, 700,000 years
date of man’s appearance in Peru, and ago, was that of the formation of the first
the whole area is one of volcanic dis great ice-cap. And, whatever the time
turbance, which has been raised by may be, it is clear that in its earlier
successive earthquake shocks, and not stages man was already widely distri
buted over the earth, while there is the
by gradual elevation.
In the case- of Scandinavia, however, strongest probability that his origin must
where raised beaches up to the height of have taken place very much further back
600 feet above the sea level afford proof in the Pliocene, or even in the Miocene,
of much recent elevation, and where period.
It must always be remembered that,
there are no signs of volcanic action,
attempts have been made to measure the while the date of human origins in years
rate accurately by marks cut on rocks. or centuries is a question of great
The results, carefully considered by Sir scientific interest, it makes little difference,
C. Lyell, show a slow, uniform rate of as regards the religious and philosophical
elevation of two or three feet in a century, aspects of the question, whether it
where the rate is at its maximum at extends over 50,000 or 500,000 years.
Gefle, ninety miles north of Stockholm, In any case, the fact is beyond question
which dies out towards the North Cape that it is one of immense antiquity, far
and is converted into a slow depression transcending any period recorded by
in the south of Sweden. At this rate of history or tradition, and that during
three feet per century, the depression this immense period the course of
which carried the hills of Wales and humanity has been upward, and not
Man has not fallen, but
Scotland 2,000 feet down would have downward.
required 66,666 years, and its elevation risen, and arts, morals, societies, and
an equal period, so that, without any civilisation have been slowly developed
allowance for the time the sea-bottom from an animal-like condition of the
may have remained stationary, this inter lowest savagery.
Perhaps the issue between the long
lude of the Glacial period would have
required 133,333 years. Of course, it is and short dates of the Glacial period can
not implied that this was the real time, be most closely joined if we take that
or that the rate both of elevation and portion of it which comes nearest to
depression may not have been faster; historical times, and is known as the
but all the evidence points to its having Post-Glacial. Prestwich assigns to this
been gradual and not paroxysmal, as period a duration of “ 8,000 to 10,000
there are no traces of any contempora years or less ”—that is, a duration of not
neous earthquakes or volcanoes in Wales more than 2,000 or 3,000 years before
or Scotland. And, whatever the rate may the time when we know for certain that
have been, it is scarcely possible to sup a dense population and high civilisation
pose that it can have been such as to already existed in Egypt and Chaldaea.
enable us to compress the whole Glacial I I am not aware that he assigns any
�44
THE GLACIAL PERIOD
reason for this highly improbable date,
except the conjecture that the erosion of
river valleys may have gone on more
rapidly, owing to a greater rainfall.
Now, the duration of this Post-Glacial
period is a question, not of conjecture
or theory, but of a vast number of
definite and measurable facts. In the
British Islands these facts have been
carefully examined and ascertained with
great accuracy, mainly by the labours of
the Geological Survey. An eminent
officer of this Survey, Mr. T. Mellard
Reade, who has worked for many years
at these beds in Lancashire and Cheshire,
and is one of the best authorities
on the subject, read, in February,
1888, a paper before the Geological
Society, in which he gave a minute des
cription of the successive changes in
Post-Glacial times, by which the Mersey
valley and estuary were brought into
their present condition, with an estimate
of the time they may have required.
His estimate is “ that in round figures
60,000 years for Post-Glacial time is a
reasonable one, and, as represented by
these changes, well within the mark.”
This is not a random estimate, but
based on a careful calculation of the
different changes which are shown by
sections and borings to have actually
taken place. At the close of the Glacial
period the district was submerged, and
the valleys of the old Pre-Glacial rivers
were levelled up to a height of at least
200 feet by marine boulder-clay. The
land then rose until its surface became
an undulating upland plain, through
which the present rivers began to cut the
existing valleys. A mass of boulder
clay 200 feet in depth, and several miles
in width, must thus have been removed
by sub-aerial denudation before the next
stage, which consisted of a general
depression of the area, as is proved by
the fact that borings show a series of
estuarine deposits with marine shells in
places fifty feet thick, overlying the
boulder - clay, and levelling up the
inequalities of its surface due to sub
aerial erosion.
Above these silts and
clays is a peat-bed, containing stumps of
trees with their roots running down into
the clays below. This is a remarkable
deposit, for a similar submerged forest
bed is to be traced all round the shores
of the British Islands, from Devonshire
to the Orkneys. Evidently at a recent
period, geologically speaking, there has
been an age of forests which flourished,
and in their decay formed great beds of
peat, in localities where no trees have
grown within the Historical period.
Before these forests could have grown,
the marine silts and clays must have
been elevated above the sea to a suffi
cient height to become dry land and
covered with trees, and the climate must
have been very different from that at
present prevailing. It must have been
more of a continental and less of an
insular climate, and in all probability
the German Ocean was then dry land,
and the British Islands were connected
with an Europe which extended west
ward up to the ioo-fathom line. In no
other way can the existence of submerged
forests, and vast masses of peat with
remains of trees, be accounted for in
such isolated islands as those of Orkney
and Shetland, now swept by ocean blasts,
where no vestige of a tree has grown
for at least 2,000 years, when a Roman
author described them as “ carentes
sylva.”
But, at whatever height the land may
have stood during this Forest period, it
is evident that it must have subsided, at
any rate to the extent necessary to bring
the submerged forests to their present
level of some feet below low-water mark.
Or, indeed, some twenty-four feet more,
for there is evidence that a rise to this
extent has taken place, quite recently,
along a considerable portion of the
British coast, as shown by raised beaches.
When I say recently, I mean in geological
time, for in historical time there has
been no appreciable change of level
since the occupation of Britain by the
Romans, or for nearly 2,000 years.
In other regions, however, we have
still more conclusive evidence of the
�THE GLACIAL PERIOD
45
like the hippopotamus—which is found
great length of time which has elapsed
as far north as Yorkshire—-could by no
since any appreciable change has taken
possibility have lived in a country where
place in the physical geography of Europe,
the lakes and rivers were bound m ice
and in the present relative levels of sea
for a great part of the year. And still
and land. The localities described by
more conclusively by the presence in the
Homer in the Odyssey can be identified,
and the very cave and beach pointed south of France of a vegetation compris
ing the fig-tree and delicate Canary
out in Ithaca, on which Ulysses was
laurel in the region over which, at
landed by the Phoenician mariners. The
another period of the Glacial age,, herds
annals of Egypt carry us back . still
of reindeer roamed, feeding on lichens
farther, and show that no appreciable
and Arctic-willows, and accompanied, by
change can have taken place in the
the musk-ox, the glutton, the lemming,
levels of sea and land in the Eastern
and other exclusively Arctic animals.
Mediterranean for at least 7>oo° Years’
But, although the evidence for the
and probably for much longer.
great antiquity of the Glacial period
With these facts, even if we had no
other evidence than that of the sub seems to be conclusive, it must be con
merged forests, Professor Prestwich’s fessed that we are as far as ever from
estimate of 8,000 to 10,000 years for being able to assign any reliable explana
tion of the causes which produced it.
the whole Post-Glacial period down to
It came on suddenly, for the interval
the present time seems totally inadequate,
between the temperate Pliocene and the
and Mr. Mellard Reade’s of 60,000 years
extreme rigour of the first great ice-sheet
much more probable. In fact, it seems
is, geologically speaking, very short.
impossible that changes, such as. those
demonstrated to have occurred in the Only a few feet of clay and sand separate
the Cromer forest, in which the great
Mersey valley, can have been accom
southern elephant, the Elephas Meriplished within a period shorter than that
dionalis, and other Southern mammalia
which is shown by historical records to
roamed, from the boulder-clay of the
have elapsed in Egypt without perceptible
Scandinavian ice-sheet, which carried
change.
.
But, whether the duration of the Post- rocks from Lapland and Norway across
the North Sea and over hills and valleys
Glacial period be more or less, it is
almost to the centre of Europe. This
evidently a small fraction of the time
first period was the coldest, and after
which is required to account for the
several oscillations of heat and cold, each
work done during the preceding Glacial
period, or rather periods, for there is apparently less intense than its pre
decessor, the climate of the Northern
distinct evidence that there were several
advances and retreats of the ice-sheets, hemisphere finally settled down to its
_
and alternations of climates, during some present conditions.
These facts seem to negative most, ot
of which the winter temperature of
the theories, or rather guesses, which
Western Europe must have been higher
have been hazarded to account for this
than it is at present. The succession of
great and sudden refrigeration. It could
ice-sheets is clearly shown . by the
not be due to any cooling of the earth,
sections afforded by the coast cliffs of the
east of England, where four successive for this must have been gradual and pro
gressive, and the great cold of the first
boulder-clays are shown, separated, by
masses of sand and gravel deposited period, instead of decreasing, and dis
during the melting and retreat of each appearing, must have gone on increasing.
ice-sheet.
The alternation. of mild It has been supposed that the solar
Inter-Glacial with severe Glacial periods system on its journey through space may
is shown by the frequent presence, in have entered into, and emerged from,
regions very much colder than those of
caves of a Southern fauna, some of which,
�46
THE GLACIAL PERIOD
former ages or at present; but such a
When we inquire under what con
cause is at present little more than a con ditions great glaciers are now formed,
jecture. Nor is it possible that any we find them to be mainly heavy snow
alteration in the position of the earth’s falls combined with low temperature.
axis can have occurred within the earth, Thus the snow-fall is very heavy on the
for this would have disarranged its Pacific slope of the Sierra Nevada and
equatorial protuberance, which is pre coast range of Northern California and
cisely that of a fluid mass, rotating about British Columbia; but it does not, as
the present axis, and could not be formerly, produce glaciers, because the
altered without producing a complete temperature is not low enough to convert
cataclysm. No one can suppose that an the winter snow into the frozen “neve”
equatorial protuberance of more than which is the source of glaciers, and to
twenty miles can have been shifted produce the conditions under which the
through many degrees of latitude during accumulation finds its way to lower
the short interval between the close of levels by solid rather than by fluid rivers.
the Pliocene and the commencement of Again, extreme cold does not of itself
the Glacial period.
produce glaciers, as is seen in Northern
Neither can the theories which have Russia and Siberia. The influence of
been applied to earlier geological epochs ocean-currents is also apparent from the
of a warmer blanket of watery vapour effects of the Gulf Stream, which gives
and carbonic-dioxide in the atmosphere open winters to the coasts and islands
account for such a sudden refrigeration of Western Europe, in a latitude as high
and its gradual disappearance. The as that of the southern extremity of
conditions under which the Pre-Glacial Greenland.
Cromer forest flourished and those at
Here, then, are real causes which may
present existing in the same locality account for such a Glacial period as
cannot have been so different as to has been experienced, without invoking
imply a new order of cosmic or telluric utterly unknown and conjectural theories.
causes.
But there are considerable difficulties in
There remain only two at all plausible the way of accepting Lyell’s' theory as
theories—the astronomical one of Croll, the sole and sufficient explanation. The
and that of I,yell, who explains every suddenness with which the intense cold
thing by a different configuration of sea came on is one of them. It is difficult
and land. Croll’s theory explains many to suppose that such a great elevation
of the facts admirably, but, as we have of land in the North Atlantic as
seen, it cannot be accepted with con would be required took place, almost at
fidence, in the absence of proof that a once, in the short interval in which the
succession of Glacial periods has occurred Pliocene passed almost continuously
in previous geological epochs. Nor is it into the Quaternary. We are tolerably
very consistent with the fact that the certain, from the similarity of the fauna
cold period came on suddenly, and was and flora, that America was connected
greatest at first; while, if due to the with the Old Continent during the
eccentricity of the earth’s orbit, it ought Miocene period by a land passage across
to have come on gradually, and only . the North Atlantic, and yet there are
attained its maximum simultaneously no traces of a rigorous climate. On the
with that of the eccentricity. Lyell’s contrary, a climate almost sub-tropical
theory is, on the whole, most generally prevailed then in Greenland and Spitzaccepted, as actual experience shows bergen, far within the Arctic Circle.
that high land in high latitudes is a
Again, the Gulf Stream must always
cause of glacial conditions, and also have been an important factor in deter
that oceanic currents are a main factor mining the climate; but recent theories
in producing climate.
I as to the great geological antiquity of
�tertiary man
the Atlantic Ocean make it difficult to
conceive how this Stream can have een
greatly diverted from its present course,
in recent geological times. And t e
fact that the ice-cap extended much
farther to the south in North America
than in Europe makes it almost certain
that the influence of the warm Gulf and
cold Polar streams must have been felt
during the Glacial period, as they are
now. How otherwise can we account
for the fact that the difference of tem
perature between Europe and America
seems to have been almost the same
during the period of extreme cold m
both as it is now under temperate con
ditions? And the diversion of the
Gulf Stream would certainly tend to
produce less evaporation in the North
47
Atlantic, and therefore less fall of rain
or snow on Northern lands, whereas the
contrary is required to account for the
ice-caDS. We must conclude, therefore,
that, while Lyell’s theory affords the most
probable explanation, we are still in a
state of great uncertainty as to.the causes
which may have co-operated in bringing
about the last and greatest vicissitude of
climate, the Glacial period, which is so
interesting to us from its close connec
tion with the origin of man. The causes
and duration of the last Glacial period,
and whether there have been several,
and, if so, how many, of such periods
in former geological ages, are among the
problems of the future which are pressing
for solution.
Chapter V.
TERTIARY MAN
Antiquity of Man—Man part of Qu.atfna7
Fauna—What this Implies—Historical and
Neolithic Periods—Palaeolithic—Caves and
River Gravels—Glacial and Inter-Glacial
Deposits—Wide Distribution of Paleolithic
Implements in Early Quaternary Deposits—
Origin of Species—Evolution and Migration
—Diversity of Human Types—Objections o
Tertiary Man—Specialisation of type
Survival through Vicissitudes of Climate
Positive Evidence for—St. Prest—Thenay
Tagus Valley—Monte Aperto—Cuts in Bones
of Baleonotus—Elephas Meridionalis and
Halitherium—Auvergne Worked Flints; 1
Pliocene Tuffs-Castelnedolo-Human bones
in Pliocene—Olmo—Evidence from America
—Californian Auriferous Gravels—Tuolumne
and Calaveras Skulls—Age of GrayelsSkertchley’s Stone Implements—The Nampa
Image—Brazilian Caves—Pampiean Strata
Summary of Evidence.
geology, which only indirectly affect the
unscientific mass of mankind. It shatters
at a blow what had been for centuries
the axioms of the whole Christian world
respecting the origin of man,.his place
in creation, and the course of his develop
ment. A literal acceptance of the dates
and narrative of Genesis was assumed
to be the sole basis of knowledge on the
subject, and to question what was told
bv a Divine revelation was universally
considered to be alike ridiculous and
As far as science had a word to say it
was thought to confirm theology, for did
not Cuvier himself lay down as an axiom
that no human remains had been found
in a fossil state, or in conjunction with
the remains of any of the extinct animals
Of all the discoveries of modern science, And although a few scientific men here
that of the antiquity of man has been
and there, basing their ideas mainly on
the most startling. It is not like the
the dates of Egyptian monuments,
abstract discoveries of astronomy and
�48
TERTIARY MAN
pleaded for a somewhat longer period
than the date assigned by Archbishop
Usher, there may fairly be said to have
been a universal consensus of opinion
among all men, learned or unlearned,
that the existence of the human race on
our planet had not lasted longer than
some 6,000 or 7,000 years before the
present period. This was the universal
opinion only forty years ago, when in
1859 Mr. Prestwich read his memorable
paper to the Royal Society, confirming
the discoveries of M. Boucher de
Perthes, and proving beyond a possi
bility of doubt that flint implements,
fashioned by human hands, were found
in Quaternary gravels and brick-earths of
the valley of the Somme in juxtaposition
with remains of the mammoth and other
extinct animals, which must have been
deposited when the river ran at more
than one hundred feet above its present
level. The careful exploration of the
Devonshire caves of Brixham and Kent’s
Hole by committees of competent geolo
gists removed the last doubts on the
subject, and since then evidence has
accumulated so rapidly from all quarters
of the world that the existence of
Quaternary man has become as certain
a fact as that the earth revolves round
its axis.
Consider what this implies.
The
Tertiary epoch, in which mammalian life
for the first time appears prominently
and an approximation is made to existing
conditions, is itself but a small fraction
of the succession of geological ages since
our planet became the abode of animal
and vegetable life. At the outside, its four
divisions of Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene,
and Pliocene may together represent onetwentieth part of the thickness of fossiliferous strata from the Cambrian to the
Cretaceous. The Quaternary period
again is but a fraction of the Tertiary;
and the recent or existing epoch, includ
ing the Historic and Pre-Historic, is but
a fraction of the Quaternary. The recent
or Historical epoch, characterised by the
existing fauna, and, in the main, by the
existing climate and disposition of sea
and land, is certainly not less than 7,000
years old, when Egyptian records and
monuments show us a populous and
highly civilised nation already existing
in the valley of the Nile and civilised
empires of almost as early a date in
Chaldaea and China. The Pre-Historic
period, characterised by the existing
fauna and by neolithic man, must have
lasted much longer before such empires
could have been developed from the
rude and primitive civilisation shown by
the Scandinavian Kjokken-middens, the
Swiss Lake-dwellings, and other early
records of the Neolithic period. Borings
in the Nile valley have everywhere
brought up rude pottery and other
neolithic remains from depths below
the foundations of the oldest historical
monuments, which, at the present rate
of silting up by the annual inundations
of the river, imply an antiquity of about
26,000 years. This may not be quite
accurate as a chronological standard in
years, but undoubtedly this, and other
similar calculations from physical changes
during the Neolithic period, all point to
the conclusion that 15,000 or 20,000
years is the shortest time that can have
elapsed since its commencement.
Then comes a long break.
The
climate, geographical and physical con
ditions, and fauna have undergone great
changes when we next meet with traces
of man, and the Quaternary period
stretches back into the Pliocene, through
an immense though unknown duration
of time. This much, however, is known,
that it embraces two, if not more, great
Glacial periods, during the first and most
severe of which the northern halves of
Europe and America were buried under
an ice-cap, in places 5,000 or 6,000 feet
thick, resembling that of modern Green
land, and driving all terrestrial life before
it into more southern regions. These
Glacial periods alternated with long
Inter-Glacial ages, when the ice retreated,
and vegetation and animal life again
returned to their old abodes, and again
advanced and retreated, finally occupy
ing their present stations when the
�TER T1A R Y MA N
49
glaciers had shrunk into the valleys of and flint flakes and scrapers, are almost
identically of the same type.
the loftier mountains.
These facts have such an important
It is certain, also, that vast changes in
the physical geography and configuration bearing on the origin of the human race
of sea, land, and rivers. occurred during that it is desirable to consider them in
this period. The British Islands, or a some detail.
The discoveries, both of implements
large portion of them, were at one time
submerged to a depth of certainly i,5oo> and of human skulls and skeletons, have
and probably 2,000 or 2,500, feet beneath now been so numerous, especially in the
an Arctic sea, presenting nothing above caves of France, England, Germany, and
it but an archipelago of what are now Belgium, that it has enabled_ geologists
mountain peaks while at another time not only to prove the existence of
they were part of an European continent, Quaternary man, but to a considerable
then connected with Africa, and across extent to analyse and classify the succes
which huge extinct lions, tigers, bears, sive stages of his progress.
The earliest is that known as the Cave
elephants, and rhinoceroses roamed, and
left their remains in the caves of lime bear epoch, which occupies the lowest
stone districts and the sands and gravels position in the oldest caves, and in
of rivers when they flowed 100 feet which the rudest human implements are
or more above their present level. found associated with a preponderance
During part of this period a southern of bones belonging to this formidable
fauna, and even the hippopotamus, found animal. Thus, in Kent’s Cavern, in
their way as far north as Yorkshire, Devonshire, we have in descending
testifying to the existence of great rivers order:—
1. A layer of black mould, near the
flowing from the south across this
entrance, from three to twelve inches
Quaternary continent.
Now, three facts have come out clearly thick, containing successively relics of
the Historical and Neolithic periods,
from the latest research.
1. That man is a characteristic mem and bones of existing species of animals.
2. A bed of granular stalagmite from
ber of this Quaternary fauna just as
much as any of these extinct animals ; one to three feet thick, securely sealing
or, in other words, that, wherever you all below it.
3. Red cave earth, in places five to six
find the mammoth, cave bear, or woolly
rhinoceros, you may expect to find man j feet thick.
4. A bed of older crystalline stalagmite,
and where you find man in old deposits
you may expect to find the mammoth, in places twelve feet thick.
5. Breccia of angular stones; red-clay
cave bear, and rhinoceros.
2. That the man whom you thus find and bones to the rock floor of the cave.
In the lower deposits (4 and 5) the
is “ Palaeolithic man ”—that is,' man in
such a rude and savage state that he has bones are numerous, but almost exclu
not yet attained the art of polishing sively those of the cave-bear, and a few
stones, and uses implements roughly human implements have been found,
fashioned by chipping from flints or other including a flint hache or celt in the
breccia, which is the oldest deposit of
hard stones of the district.
3. That these rude implements are all. In the upper stalagmite, and cave
found in the caves and gravels of the earth beneath it, were found numerous
Quaternary period in Europe, Asia, human implements of various sorts,
Africa, and America—in fact, throughout including a bone needle and barbed
the whole world, so far as it has been harpoon, associated with remains of lion,
hitherto explored; and, wherever they cave-bear, mammoth, rhinoceros, hyena,
are found, the rudest and earliest imple reindeer, Irish elk, and other usual
ments, such as stone hatchets or celts, animals of the Quaternary fauna,
�5o
TERTIARY MAN
including one tooth of the Machairodus
or sabre-toothed tiger, which is charac
teristic of the Pliocene fauna.
Similar facts have been recorded in
such a multitude of caves in France,
Belgium, and Germany, especially in
those of the South of France, that it is
a perfectly well-established fact that the
Palaeolithic period may be divided
roughly into three, groups—an upper
one, in which the reindeer was very
abundant, and
human implements
showed a considerable advance in
civilisation; a middle stage, in which
the reindeer was scarcer and the
mammoth more abundant, with ruder
human implements, though still showing
considerable design; and the lowest of
all, with fewer remains of the mammoth
and more of the cave-bear, and with
fewer implements, and those exclusively
of stone of a very rude type.
This is exactly what might be expected
if the theory of evolution applies to the
human race. The first dawn of intelli
gence when primitive man emerged
from the animal state would show itself
by picking up natural stones to use as
tools or weapons of offence. He would
naturally select stones of the type of the
hache, with a sharp point for crushing in
the skull, and a blunt butt-end to give
weight to the blow and a firm grasp for
the hand. This would hardly require
more intelligence than that of the
gorilla, who, living in forests, uses
branches of trees as clubs; or of apes,
who throw stones at enemies. The next
stage would be to improve natural
stones, or supply them if deficient, by
chipping, so as to give a sharper and
more solid point or edge, and a similar
process would apply to flint chips used
as knives or scrapers.
After a while, some genius would dis
cover that, by hafting the hache and
attaching it as a lance to a long handle,
he could kill without coming to such
dangerous close quarters as was neces
sary when striking with the hand. This
would lead to finer chipping, both to
ensure penetration at the point, and to
fit the butt-end for attachment. And
finally the invention of the bow would
lead to diminished size and still finer
chipping for the arrow-head. From this
point the progress can be readily traced
to the invention of barbs for arrows and
harpoons, and the occasional substitution
of bone for stone as being more easily
scraped into the desired form; and from
these the evolution is uninterrupted up
to the beautifully finished weapons of
the Neolithic and Bronze periods. But
the starting-point is the rude stone
hache, such as is universally found in
the oldest deposits of caves and river
gravels.
There has been a good deal of discus
sion as to the purposes for which these
implements were employed; but there
can be little doubt that their primary
use was for killing large game and
human enemies.
The bushmen of
South Africa, who represent most nearly
this primitive savage state, use for this
purpose implements so closely resem
bling those of the river drifts that some
of those exhibited at the Colonial Exhi
bition, and labelled “pourle gros gibier,”
might have been specimens from Amiens
or St. Acheul.
A good deal of discussion has also
taken place among British geologists as
to the exact place, with reference to the
great Glacial periods, occupied by the
earliest drift and cave implements which
have been found in this country. Most
of them are Post-Glacial—that is, later
than the retreat of the last of the two or
more great ice-caps which extended over
all except a few of the southern counties
of England, during the Quaternary
period.
Some, however, are clearly
proved to be either Inter-Glacial or
Pre-Glacial, being overlaid by boulder
clay, as at Brandon, and in the caves of
Cae Gwyn in North Wales ; while as to
the lowest deposits of many caves, as,
for instance, the lower stalagmite and
bone breccia of Kent’s Cavern, there is
no distinct evidence except of extreme
antiquity, though the presumption is
strong that they are either Pre-Glacial or
�TER T1A R Y MA N
Inter-Glacial. Mr. Pengelley, who has
devoted years of research to Kent’s
Cavern, expresses an unhesitating opinion
that the lowest deposits are Pre-Glacial.
As fresh evidence accumulates, it all
points towards the existence of man on
British soil in Pre-Glacial, or very early
Glacial, times, and therefore seems, to
carry it back far beyond the period
assigned to it by Post-Glacial geologists.
Thus, quite recently, rude palseolithic
implements of unmistakeable human
design have been found near Wye, in
Kent, at an elevation of upwards of 300
feet, in a gravel which does not corres
pond with the existing valleys, but which
overspreads the chalk plateau of the
North Downs, and was drained by rivers
running southwards in a directly oppo
site course to that of the present streams.
Professor Prestwich, whose bias, as we
have seen, is towards shortening the
period of man’s antiquity, after a per
sonal examination of the locality, came
to the conclusion that this drift was
immensely older than the ordinary highlevel gravels of existing rivers, and in all
probability was Pre-Glacial.
Since Professor Prestwich’s paper was
read, similar palseolithic implements have
been found by Mr. Worthington Smith,
on the Chalk downs near Dunstable, up
to a height of 759 feet above Ordnance
datum, and some of them embedded in
the brown clay which, with gravel, covers
the chalk. But the question of the evi
dence afforded by England is compara
tively unimportant, for the wider induc
tion of continental experience settles
conclusively the general relations of
palseolithic man to the Quaternary
period. It is absolutely certain that in
the later stages of the Palaeolithic record,
when man had already made consider
able progress, and was able to draw and
carve figures of the contemporary animals
with a good deal of artistic skill, vast
herds of reindeer roamed over the plains
of Southern France and Germany, accom
panied by a group of Arctic animals,
such as the musk-ox and the lemming,
which are found even on the Italian side
gi
of the Alps. When this was the case in
Southern Europe, it is evident that all
its northern portion and higher, moun
tains must have been covered by ice and
frozen snow, and one of the great Glacial
periods must have been in full force.
All earlier deposits, therefore, in which
ruder implements and a more temperate
or even African fauna are found must of
necessity have been either Inter-Glacial
or Pre-Glacial, and there is no reason
able doubt that the earliest of such
deposits date back at least to the earlier
stages of the Quaternary period. We
must recollect that, when we talk of
geological periods, there was no real
break in the succession of time. We
merely use a convenient expression to
distinguish those formations between
which the evidence of the regular pro
gression of development has been lost
for such a long period, that when we
find it again the characteristic fauna and
flora have undergone a marked change.
But the idea of cataclysms and of re
peated destructions and miraculous
renovations of the whole vegetable and
animal worlds is completely exploded,
and every day affords fresh evidence of
the gradual process of transition from
one so-called epoch or formation to the
succeeding one. Thus types and even
species appear sparingly in one forma
tion, become abundant in another, and
finally die out and disappear, or persist
with slight modifications, as we see. in
the first appearance of fish in the Silurian
and of reptiles in the Carboniferous eras,
in each case in one or two geological
periods before they became the pre
dominant type. This applies specially
to the relation of the Quaternary to the
Pliocene and Miocene periods. It is
difficult to say definitely where one
begins and the other ends. Thus not
only do most of the great Mammalian
genera persist from the Miocene, through
the Pliocene and Quaternary, down to
the recent periods, but some specific
forms, such as the tapir, have continued
unchanged; while the ox, bear, horse,
wild boar, and other species first found
�52
TERTIARY MAN
in the Pliocene survive through the
Quaternary to the present day.
The gravels and sands of St. Prest,
the forest bed of Cromer and other Pre
Glacial formations, contain such a mix
ture of characteristic mammals that
some geologists have considered them
to be Pliocene, while others have pro
nounced them to be Quaternary.
What we really can affirm with certainty
is that as soon as we find a Quaternary
fauna firmly established we find man
forming an essential and characteristic
part of it. Can he be traced further
back into the Tertiary? The question
involves points of the highest interest,
for, as in the issue between short-time
and long-time geologists as to the dura
tion of the Glacial period, the issue really
is between evolution and miracle.
Even if the Glacial or Quaternary
periods were extended to the 200,000
years assigned to them by Lyell, Croll,
Geikie, and other leading geologists, the
difficulty as to man being a product of
evolution would be only postponed, and
not removed. By no possibility could
such conditions of the human race as
are found at the commencement of the
Quaternary period have been produced
by the natural laws applicable to the rest
of the animal creation, unless man can
be carried back into the Tertiaries.
For under what circumstances do we
find undoubted traces of the existence of
man upon the earth early in the Quater
nary period? Not in small numbers, or
in some limited locality, in which we
may suppose the human species to have
originated, and from which we can trace
the different races slowly developing and
radiating out to more distant regions.
No; when we find them lowest in the
Quaternary, we find them in large num
bers and practically all over the world,
from China to Peru, and from Northern
Europe to South Africa. This is so
important that I proceed to state the
facts in some detail, and specify the
localities in which stone hatchets and
knives of the rude type of the oldest
river drifts and lowest cave deposits have
been found in Europe, Asia, Africa, and
America.
The list is doubtless incomplete, and
every day is adding to it, but it is already
amply sufficient to prove the general
proposition.
In England they have been found in
the river drifts and deposits of the
Thames, the old Solent river, and all
the existing and Quaternary valley
systems south of a line drawn across it,
a little to the north of the Bedford Ouse;
and in the caves of all the limestone
districts of Yorkshire, Derbyshire, North
and South Wales, Somersetshire, and
Devonshire; and they are absent only
in those northern districts which were
covered with ice during the successive
phases of the Glacial period. In France
and Belgium they are met with in the
oldest drifts of the valleys of the Seine,
Somme, Meuse, Loire, Rhone, Garonne,
and other rivers, and in almost innumer
able caves and rock-shelters in all the
limestone districts, from Liege and
Maestricht to the Pyrenees, and on the
Mediterranean coast at Mentone. In
Spain and Portugal they appear in the
drifts of the Tagus and Ebro, and in
Italy in those of the Tiber and Arno.
In Central and Southern Germany and
Switzerland they are found in numerous
caves and river drifts, often deeply buried
under thick beds of the loess, or fine
glacial mud, which was deposited during
the melting of the great ice-fields.
In Asia these palaeolithic implements
associated with extinct animals have
been found almost everywhere where
search has been made for them. They
have been found in Asia Minor and
Syria, in the Caucasus, in Mongolia,
China, and Japan. India, which has
been examined by competent geologists,
affords the most authentic and complete
record. Here they have been found in
large numbers, both in the river drifts of
the Nerbudda, Godavery, and other
rivers, and in the laterite of Madras and
other places, which is a loamy land
deposit similar to that of the loess of
Europe and China. Implements almost
�TERTIARY MAN
53
exactly of the type of those of St. Acheul, twenty feet deep, in an old bed of gravel,
1
though made of quartzite, as. flints were with large boulders, which is exposed in
wanting, have been found, in Bengal, 1the cliffs of the river’s banks. A portion
Orissa, the Deccan, Scinde, Assam, and of a human lower jaw was found at a
<
other provinces; and some of them in depth of sixteen feet in the gravel, and
■
deposits which, from the extinct animals also a human skull of a peculiar type,
associated with them, experienced.geolo being small, long, and very thick.
We are able, therefore, to affirm as an
gists are doubtful whether to consider as
upper Pliocene or as the lowest Quater undoubted fact that, at the earliest stage
of the Quaternary period, the human
nary.
In Africa well-characterised palaeolithic species not only existed, but was already
implements have been found in Algeria widely diffused over four continents, and
and in the valley of the Nile; and at the occupied nearly the whole surface of the
other extremity of the continent, in habitable globe. How did man get
there ? Evidently by the same process
Natal and at places in Cape Colony.
America furnishes some of the most by which other fauna become distributed
conclusive proofs, both of the extreme over wide distances and extensive zoo
antiquity and of the wide diffusion of logical provinces—that is, by migration
man. Human implements, human skulls from one or more centres, where the
and bones, have been found associated different species were first developed in
with the mastodon and other extinct the course of evolution. In the case of
animals over nearly the whole area of land mammals this implies that there
the United States; in Mexico, Brazil, has been an uninterrupted land connec
and in the pampas of Buenos Ayres and tion within recent geological periods.
There is no fact better established by
Patagonia; associated in South America
geological and zoological research than
with the Glyptodon and other extinct
mammals of its peculiar fauna. In one that the existing fauna are not uniformly
instance, in Buenos Ayres, a human alike throughout the world, but are
skull was found under a huge carapace located in separate provinces, bounded
of this extinct armadillo, which it was by some barrier of sea, mountain, or
conjectured might have been used as a desert, insurmountable by the ordinary
roof for a hut. In these South American animal species. The most signal instance
cases, however, as well as in those which of this is that of the absolute separation
will presently be referred to from Cali of the two totally dissimilar faunas of
fornia, the geological age is uncertain, Southern Asia and Australia, by the
and they are considered by some to be narrow strait of Lombok, not above
evidences of Pliocene, by others of early twenty miles wide, which is a deep sea
Quaternary, man; while in other instances fissure or channel, dating back to very
they are probably Post-Glacial, or, at remote geological times. On the other
latest, Inter-Glacial. In one typical hand, in the north temperate zone of
case, that of the discoveries of Mr. Europe and Asia one may travel from
Abbott in the drift of the Delaware the Atlantic coast of Western Europe to
valley at Trenton, in New Jersey, there the Eastern coast of China without
can be little hesitation in referring them observing any marked change in the
to the same early Quaternary period as familiar fauna and flora, the extension of
the corresponding finds in the oldest which to the British Islands and Japan
river drifts of Europe and Asia, though leaves no doubt that they recently formed
it is not yet fully admitted. The Trenton part of the same continent; while the
implements are of a granular argillite,, existence of so many of the same forms
closely resembling in size and form the: in North America makes it certain that
flint implements of the valley of the: there was a land connection, at no
Somme; and they are found sometimes> distant geological date, between the Old
l
�TERTIARY MAN
and New Worlds, by what is now the the exception of the Esquimaux and
North Atlantic, and probably also by Fuegians, there is little doubt that they
Behring’s Straits. The familiar instance would creep onwards along the sea-coast,
of the absence of snakes in Ireland accumulating their Kjokken-middens as
shows clearly how this extension of a they went, until they had occupied the
fauna was accomplished by gradual whole continent. But the process must
migration. Ireland was connected with necessarily have been a very slow one,
England and with continental Europe and there must have been already a con
long enough to enable most forms of the siderable population and pressure on
European fauna to occupy it. Herds of the means of subsistence, before these
Irish elk, deer, oxen, wolves, and other Quaternary men could have spread over
animals roamed over it; but some of the nearly the whole habitable globe, and
slower-moving reptiles had not had time left their remains where we now find
to reach it before it became finally them. . The fact that they are so found
separated from England by St. George’s makes it certain that they must have had
Channel.
a long series of ancestors, and that the
The only alternative to migration is first origins of the human race must be
the special miraculous creation of every sought in a vastly more remote antiquity.
separate species which has ever existed The immense time required for such
throughout the vast range of geological migrations will be apparent when we
time, and this idea is as thoroughly consider that it is not only a question of
exploded as that of the absence of traversing such great distances, but much
snakes in Ireland being due to the prayers more of becoming gradually acclimatised
of St. Patrick in the seventh or eighth during the passage from Arctic, or tem
century. It breaks down under the perate, through tropical regions. Evi
weight of the innumerable instances of dently the existing Esquimaux or Lap
special miracles, which must be invoked landers could not reach Patagonia or
on the most trivial occasions. Thus it South Africa without passing through a
has been shown that more than 160 wide extentof hot andpestilential country,
miraculous creations must have taken in which the northern immigrants could
place to account for the separate species only live by the gradual survival of new
of land-shells alone which are peculiar types adapted to the altered conditions.
to the little group of the Madeira Islands.
Another well-established fact points
Admitting, then, evolution to be the to the great antiquity of the human race
cause of the origin of species, and when those early palaeolithic implements
migration for their diffusion, it must be were so widely distributed. A sufficient
observed that the human species is number of skulls and skeletons have
specially organised for extensive migra been found associated with these imple
tion. . The structure of man, and his ments to enable ethnologists to classify
intelligence, even in the most rudi them as belonging to essentially different
mentary form, enable him to overcome races. Thus the skulls found in America
obstacles and resist changes of climate all present distinctive characters of the
and environment, which would be fatal high and narrow type now existing among
to most of the brute creation. And, as the various native races of that continent.
a matter of fact, in historical times we In Europe those of the Canstadt type,
know that New Zealand and the Pacific which is considered to be the oldest,
Islands have been peopled by migration; and of which the celebrated Neander
and that races like the Bushmen, thal skull is an extreme instance, are
Esquimaux, and Australians, which come very dolicocephalic, or long-headed, with
nearest to the state of primitive men, markedly projecting brows, differing
are essentially migratory. If the popu essentially from those of the Cro-Magnon
lation of America were annihilated, with type, which represent an exceptionally
�TERTIARY MAN
tall race with a good cranial development,
equal to that of many modern European
races j while the Furfooz type, again, is
that of a dwarfish race, with small round
heads, resembling the modern Lap
landers. This diversity of race argues
for a long departure from the original
type, involving development through a
long series of ages. We know from the
Egyptian monuments that a period of
5,000 years has been insufficient to pro
duce any perceptible change in the type
of the Negro, the Copt, the Semite, and
other races of Africa and Western Asia.
It is remarkable, however, that, while
this diversity of race type is thus early
found, there is almost perfect identity
among the early palaeolithic implements
found in regions the most distant from
one another. Rude stone hatchets,
knives, and scrapers are of the same
form and fabricated in the same way
whether they come from the gravels of
the Delaware, the Thames, the lagus,
the Godavery, or the Yang-tse-Kiang;
from the caves of Devonshire, the deserts
of Mongolia, or the plains of Patagonia
and South Africa. The only apparent
exception is afforded by the stone imple
ments found in the auriferous gravels of
California, which consist mainly of rude
stone mortars and pestles, resembling
those used for pounding acorns by
modern tribes of Digger Indians,
inhabiting the same districts. This
uniformity of industrial type over such
wide spaces shows that the peopling of
the earth by migration must have been
effected while the human race was still
in that uniform state of rudimentary
intelligence which had not got beyond
the first stage of supplementing natural
stones by rude chipping.
Thus far we have been going on
ascertained facts, admitted by all com
petent geologists ; but in taking the next
step, and carrying man back into the
Tertiary period, we enter on new ground,
where positive evidence is scanty and
disputed, and where probabilities and
theoretical preconceptions are, to a great
extent, invoked to supply its want.
55
Among English geologists especially
there still remains a strong desire to
abridge as much as possible the time of
man’s existence upon earth. The evi
dence furnished by England, which has
been almost entirely covered during
recent geological times by two or more
successive ice-sheets, is comparatively
weak to carry back the evidence for
palaeolithic man, even into Pre-Glacial
times, and some good authorities still
contend for all such remains in this
countrybeingPost-Glacial. Others, again,
of less weight, and the general public who
have a smattering of science, have a
vague fear that every extension of man’s
antiquity carries them further away from
the old theological standpoint, and
brings them nearer to the proof that
man is the product of evolution from
an animal ancestry. The evidence of
facts has, however, become too strong
to maintain this ground, and, the Qua
ternary line of defence being broken
through, the defenders of old ideas
have fallen back on their next entrench
ment, and insist that man, if not I ostDiluvian or Post-Glacial, is, at any rate,
Post-Tertiary.
We pass here from the region of facts
universally admitted into that of proba
bilities, and statements of facts which,
although probable in themselves, and
apparently well authenticated, . are still
disputed by competent authorities. Let
us first deal with the probabilities. for
and against the existence of Tertiary
man. It is objected that an animal so
highly organised and specialised as man
can hardly have come into existence in
geological periods characterised by a
fauna, so much nearer the primitive and
generalised type of Mammals, as those
of the Pliocene, and still more of the
Miocene and Eocene eras. The answer
to this is that such a highly specialised
specimen of the anthropoid type as the
Pliopithecus undoubtedly did exist in
the Middle-Miocene. This, which was
an anthropoid ape, as highly organised
as the chimpanzee or gorilla, and of a
stature equal to that of man, has been
�56
TERTIARY MAN
found in that formation in the South of man in the Quaternary period, sprung
France and in Germany. A slightly suddenly into life along with him by
lower form, the Dryopithecus, has also some act of miraculous creation, in the
been discovered. Now, looking at man teeth of all the accumulated and irre
simply as an animal, the anthropoid ape sistible evidence which shows them
is just as much a specialised develop existing in the upper Tertiary, and traces
ment of the primitive quadrumanous their ancestry and lines of progressive
type, as man. Monkeys and apes are development through the Miocene into
specialised for life in forests and climbing the earliest Eocene period.
trees, as man is for life on the earth and
Having thus cleared the ground of
walking; but in their anatomical struc probabilities, I proceed to state the
ture they correspond bone for bone and positive evidence for discoveries of
muscle for muscle. If there is any human remains in Tertiary formations,
truth in evolution, they must have premising that it is nearly all the result
descended, not necessarily one from the of the last few years, and is rapidly
other, but both from a common ancestor. accumulating; and that there is no
Again, it is said that man could not reason to expect that it will ever be
have survived for such a succession of abundant, as the more nearly we approach
geological periods during which so many to the time and place of man’s origin,
other species have died out and dis the narrower must be the area, and the
appeared. But here, again, the answer fewer the stations, at which we can hope
is that many of the animals which are to find his traces, and the greater the
associated with man as part of the effect of denudation in obliterating those
Quaternary fauna have, in fact, survived traces.
unchanged from the Pliocene, and with
The first well-authenticated instance
slight modifications from the Miocene is that of St. Prest, near Chartres, on
periods, and that man’s larger brain, and the Eure, one of the tributaries of the
consequently greater intelligence, must Seine. Here the lowest gravels of the
have given him a better chance of present river rest on gravels of what
survival than in the case of elephants, Lyell, after personal examination, con
rhinoceroses, oxen, and horses. If man sidered to be an earlier Pliocene river,
could survive, as we know he did, the and which are characterised by the
severe and extreme fluctuations of the older forms of elephant and rhinoceros—
different Glacial, Inter-Glacial, and Post- the Elephas Meridionalis and Rhinoceros
Glacial periods, what was there in the Leptorhinus, instead of by the Quater
milder and more equable conditions of nary Mammoth and Rhinoceros Tichothe Pliocene and Miocene to have pre rinus. In these older gravels have been
vented his existence ?
found stone implements, and bones of
The theoretical objections, therefore, the Elephas Meridionalis with incisions
to Tertiary man seem to be of the evidently made by a flint knife worked
weakest and vaguest character, while, on by a human hand. This was disputed
the other hand, the probabilities in its as long as possible, but Quatrefages, a
favour are so cogent as almost to amount very cautious and competent authority,
to demonstration. How could man, states in his latest work, published in
early in the Quaternary period, have 1887, that it is now established beyond
already found his way to the remotest the possibility of doubt. It is con
regions of the globe, and developed a tended, however, by some geologists,
varie.ty of types and races, if his first that this formation, though always con
appearance on earth lay within the sidered to be Pliocene until human
limits of that period? One might as remains were found in it, is in reality
well suppose that elephants, horses, and a very low stage of the Quaternary, or
all the other mammals associated with a transition bed between it and the
�TERTIARY MAN
57
Pliocene. The instance, therefore, been deceived by workmen, and mis
cannot be accepted as absolutely con taken in supposing that flints, which
clusive for anything more than tne really came from overlying Quaternary
existence of man at the earliest com strata, were found in the Miocene
mencement of the Quaternary period, deposit. This hardly seems probable in
though the evidence all points to the the case of such an experienced observer,
gravels being really Pliocene. The and, had it been so, the implements
same uncertainty applies to the cele might have been expected to show, the
brated discovery by the Abbe Bourgeois, usual Quaternary types of celts, knives,
of flint knives and scrapers in the and arrow-heads fashioned by percussion,
Miocene strata of Thenay, near Blois. whereas the specimens found all bear a
When these were first produced, the distinct type, being scrapers and borers
opinion of the best authorities was very of small size, and partly fashioned by
equally divided as to their being the fire. The other supposition is based on
work of human hands; but subsequent no evidence, and contrary to all we
discoveries have produced specimens as know of the limited intelligence of
to which it is impossible to entertain any any anthropoid ape. If it were, true,
doubt, especially the flint knife and two we might at once say that the missing
small scrapers figured by M. Quatre- link had been discovered, as a Dryo
fages' at p. 92 of his work on Races pithecus, able to do what the Mincopics
humaines. They present all the charac are now doing, might well have been the
teristic features by which human design ancestor of man. On the whole, the
is inferred in other cases—viz.,. the bulb evidence for these Miocene implements
of percussion and repeated chipping, by seems to be very conclusive, and the
small blows all in the same direction, objections to have hardly any other
round the edge which was intended for ground than the reluctance to admit the
great antiquity of man, which so long
use.
The human origin of these implements opposed itself to the recognition of the
has been greatly confirmed by the dis discoveries of M. Boucher de Perthes.
covery that the Mincopics of the A similar later discovery of flints at. Puy
Andaman Islands manufacture whet Courny strongly confirms this position.
The same class of objection applies to
stones or scrapers almost identical with
those of Thenay, and by the same the palaeolithic hatchets found by M.
process of using fire to split the stones Ribiero in beds of the valley, of the
into the requisite size and shape. Tagus, at Oita, in Portugal, which have
These Mincopics are not acquainted always been considered as being of the
with the art of chipping stone into celts Upper Miocene. It is thought possible
or arrow heads, but use fragments of that they may have fallen at some distant
large shells, of which they have a great period from overlying Quaternary gravels,
abundance, or of bone or hard wood; and and become mixed up with the upper
the scrapers are employed in bringing bed of the Miocene. The congress of
these to a sharper point or finer edge. geologists, therefore, who met at Lisbon
The main objection, therefore, at first a few years ago, thought it wise, to
raised to the authenticity of these relics suspend their opinion as to the Tertiary
of Miocene man, that they did not afford age of M. Ribiero’s implements.
Other discoveries, however, of the
conclusive proof of design, may be con
sidered as removed, and the objectors same nature .seem to be absolutely
have to fall back on the assumption conclusive for man’s existence, at least
either that the implements were fabri as far back as into the Pliocene era. An
cated by some exceptionally intelligent Italian geologist, M. Capellini, has found
Dryopithecus, or that, as Prestwich in the Pliocene strata of Monte Aperto,
supposed, the Abbe Bourgeois may have near Sienna, bones of the Balaeonotus, a
�58
TERTIARY MAN
well-known species of a sort of Pliocene had found in a Miocene deposit a* Billy.
whale, which are scored by incisions
The only incisions on bones from very
obviously made by a sharp-cutting instru early strata which these experts have
ment, such as a flint knife, guided by admitted as undoubtedly made by sharp
design and by a human hand. At first cutting instruments held by a human
it . was contended that these incisions hand are those above mentioned—viz.,
might have been made by the teeth of on the Elephas Meridionalis of St. Prest,
fishes, but as specimens multiplied, and and the Pliocene Bateeonotus of Monte
were carefully examined, it became evi Aperto, and in the humerus of a Halident that no such explanation was therium from the Upper Miocene of
possible. The cuts are in regular curves, Pouance (Maine et Loire). This shows
and sometimes almost semi-circular, such with what caution and scrupulous good
as a sweep of the hand could alone have faith the experts have worked who bear
caused, and they invariably show a clean- testimony to facts which, if admitted,
cut surface on the outer or convex side, are a conclusive demonstration of the
to which the pressure of a sharp edge existence of Tertiary man.
was applied with a rough or abraded
But, in addition to these instances
surface on the inner side of the cut. from cut bones, there are others equally
Microscopic examination of the cuts certain and well-authenticated. In the
confirms this conclusion, and leaves no region of the extinct volcanoes of
doubt that they must have been made Auvergne, in which the celebrated fossil
by such an instrument as a flint knife, man of Denise was discovered under a
held obliquely and pressed against the stream of lava, embedded in a volcanic
bone while in a fresh state with con tuff, which, however, was considered to
siderable force, just as a savage would be probably Quaternary, there are older
do in hacking the flesh off a stranded lava streams overlaying tuffs and gravels,
whale. Cuts exactly similar can now be which, from the fossils contained in them,
made on fresh bone by such flint knives, are undoubtedly Tertiary. From one of
and in no other known or conceivable these Tertiary gravels at Puy Courny, M.
way. It seems, therefore, more like Rames, a competent geologist, assisted
obstinate prepossession than scientific by MM. Badoche, Chibret, and Grandscepticism to deny the existence of vaux, obtained at three different points a
Tertiary man if it rested only on this considerable number of flint implements,
single instance.
which, if found in any Quaternary deposit,
As regards the evidence from cut would have been accepted without hesi
bones, it is very conclusive, for expe tation as of human origin. They com
rienced observers, with the aid of the prise small and rude specimens of the
microscope, have no difficulty in distin types found in the lowest Quaternary
guishing between cuts which may have gravels, such as celts, knives, and scrapers,
been made accidentally or by the teeth and present all the characters by which
of fishes and those which can only have artificial are distinguished from natural
been made in fresh bone by a sharp flints in those formations—viz., bulbs of
cutting instrument such as a flint knife. percussion, and chippings in a deter
In fact, the best authorities on the minate direction on the sides and points
subject, such as M. Mortillet, the intended for use; while no such chip
Curator of the Museum at St. Germain, pings appear on other parts of the flint,
M. Hamy, and M. Quatrefages, while as must have been the case if they had
admitting the authenticity of the cuts been the result of casual blows on natural
submitted to them in a few cases, have flints.
rejected it in numerous others, as in the
M. Quatrefages, by whom the subject
well-known instance of the grooves on is fully discussed, and the objects
the bones of a rhinoceros which Delaunay figured in his recent work, lays great
�TERTIARY MAN
stress on the fact that, while the beds
contain five different sorts of flints, those
which present traces of design are con
fined exclusively to one description of
flint, which is most easily manufactured,
and best adapted for human use. He
observes with much force that a torrent
capable of tearing flints from their bed
and rolling them on, with collisions
violent enough to imitate artificial chip
ping, could not have exercised a selec
tion and confined its operations to one
only out of five different descriptions of
flints. He shows also that the worked
edges exhibit, when closely examined,
both intentional chipping and fine
parallel striae, as from repeated use in
cutting or scraping, while nothing of the
sort is to be seen on the sides left in the
natural state, though they are often as
sharp, or even sharper.
It only remains to add that these
specimens were submitted by M. Rames
to two Congresses of French geologists—
the first at Blois, when doubts were
expressed in some quarters ; the second
one at Grenoble, when the Congress
decided that the existence of Tertiary
man was in this case fully established.
Italy supplies the next instance, and
it is a very remarkable one, for here
competent geologists have found, not
merely implements or cut bones showing
human design, but man himself, includ
ing skeletons of several individuals. The
discovery was made on the flank of the
hill of Castelnedolo, near Brescia, in a
bed which is identified by its fossils as
belonging to the Lower Pliocene. The
excavations were made with the utmost
care, in undisturbed strata, by M.
Ragazzoni, a scientific man of good
reputation, assisted by M. Germani, and
the results confirmed by M. Sergi, a
well-known geologist, who visited the
spot and inquired minutely into all
the circumstances. According to their
united statement, some human bones
were found in this deposit by M. Ragaz
zoni as far back as i860. This led to
further excavations, made at different
times, and with all the precautions
59
pointed out by experience. The deposit
was removed in successive horizontal
layers, and nowhere was the least trace
found of the beds having been mixed or
disturbed. At a considerable depth in
it were found the bones of four indivi
duals—a man, a woman, and two chil
dren, which presented the same appear
ance of fossilisation as the bones of
extinct animals found in the same
deposit. The female skeleton was almost
entire, and the fragments of the skull
were sufficiently perfect to admit of their
being pieced together so as to show
almost its whole form.
This preservation of the entire skeleton
might lead to the conjecture that it had
come there as the result of a subsequent
burial; but this supposition is negatived
by the undisturbed nature of the beds,
and by the fact that the other bones
were found scattered in the same stratum,
at considerable distances from the per
fect skeleton. M. Quatrefages sums up
the evidence by saying, “that there exists
no serious reason for doubting the dis
covery of M. Ragazzoni, and that, if made
in a Quaternary deposit, no one would
have thought of contesting its accuracy.
Nothing, therefore, can be opposed to it
but theoretical a priori objections, similar
to those which so long repelled the exist
ence of Quaternary man; objections which
have long since been refuted, and shown
to be absolutely inconsistent with a
multitude of established facts.”
If we accept this conclusion, this
remarkable consequence follows: that
man, so far back as the Early Pliocene
period, was perfectly human, for the
skull and bones present no marked
peculiarity, or approximation to an
animal type. The skull is of fair capa
city, and very much what might be
expected of a female of the Canstadt
race. But, if this be so, it necessarily
puts back the origin of the human species
to a vastly more remote antiquity, which
can hardly be less than that of the Early
or Middle Miocene, in which the remains
of the great anthropoid Dryopithecus
have been found.
�6o
TERTIARY MAN
A skull very similar to the above has
also been found in Italy, in a lacustrine
deposit at Olmo, near Arezzo, on the
flank of the Apennines; but, although it
was found at a depth of nearly fifty feet
from the surface, and some feet lower
than a layer of clay containing a tooth of
the Elephas Meridionalis, a species which
in Northern Europe scarcely survived
the Pliocene period, the whole forma
tion is considered, from other remains
found in it, as probably belonging to an
early Quaternary age, and therefore not
affording satisfactory evidence of Ter
tiary man. It can only be quoted as
affording some corroboration of the dis
coveries of Capellini and Ragazzoni, by
showing that man has existed in Italy
for an immense period, and is found
in deposits between which and the
Pliocene there is no abrupt line of de
marcation.
This completes the evidence from the
Old World. Turning to the New World,
we find, both in North and South
America, numerous proofs of the exist
ence of man from a very remote anti
quity; but there is some difficulty in
arriving at definite conclusions as to
their Tertiary date, from the fact that the
succession of geological periods does not
exactly correspond on the two sides of the
Atlantic. America has been said to be,
in some respects, a whole period behind
Europe and Asia in this succession.
Thus the mastodon, which in the Old
World is a characteristic Miocene and
Pliocene species, and did not survive
into the Quaternary, is found in America
in the latest drifts, and even in peat
mosses associated with neolithic flint
arrows, and not impossibly survived into
the Historical period. The bear family,
on the other hand, which is so conspic
uous in the old formations of Europe,
is not found in America until the Quater
nary. The extinct fauna also of South
America is, like the present, that of a
distinct zoological province from either
North America or Europe, so that we
cannot assume that the Zenglodon and
other huge ancestral types of armadillos
and ant-eaters were necessarily of an
age corresponding to our Tertiary.
With this reservation, I proceed to
state some of the leading instances which
have been referred to by American geo
logists as establishing the existence of
Tertiary man on that continent.
The most important case is that of the
skulls and stone implements which have
been found in the auriferous gravels of
California, the evidence for which, and
for other ancient remains in North
America, has been very carefully summed
up by the distinguished naturalist, Mr.
Alfred Wallace, in an article in the
Nineteenth Century of November, 1887.
These gravels are the result of an enor
mous denudation of the Sierra Nevada,
which has filled up all the great valleys
on its Pacific slope with thick deposits
of debris, forming in some cases detached
hills, and even mountains, of consider*
able height. While this was going on
there were repeated volcanic eruptions
in the higher range, giving rise to beds
of lava, tuff, and ashes, which are fre
quently inter-stratified with the gravels;
and, finally, the close of the volcanic
period was marked by a great flow of
basaltic lava, which spread in a nearly
level capping over the whole surface of
the country. This, and the subjacent
beds of gravels and tuffs, has since been
cut down by the action of the present
rivers, to a depth of sometimes 1,500 or
2,000 feet, leaving a series of isolated,
tabular hills composed, on the upper
part, of a horizontal layer of basalt,
varying from 50 to 200 feet in thickness,
and, in the lower part, of 800 to 1,500
feet of gravels, lava-beds, and tuffs.
Thus what was once a single lava stream,
or succession of lava streams, is now a
series of detached hills, the tops of
which form parts of one gently-inclined
plane, sloping from the mountains
towards the plains, and now, in some
cases, 1,000 feet or more above the
adjacent valleys.
The present rivers have in some places
cut down the lavas and gravels to the
beds of ancient rivers, which flowed in,
�TERTIARY MAN
different courses from the existing ones ;
and it is in the beds of these ancient
rivers that the principal accumulations
of gold are found. Hence an enormous
amount of the oldest gravels has been
excavated in working for gold, and . in
some of these workings human remains
have been found, associated with animal
remains, which are all of extinct species,
entirely distinct from those that now
inhabit any part of the North American
continent. Some of the genera, such as
Hipparion, Auchenia, and Elotherium,
would, if found elsewhere, undoubtedly
be taken to denote a Pliocene, if not a
Miocene, formation.
The vegetable
remains also indicate a totally different
flora from that now prevailing in Cali
fornia, and which Professors Lesqueraux
and Whitney—the latter the geologist of
the State, and well-known from his
Report on the Auriferous Gravels of the
Sierra Nevada—consider to be of Plio
cene age, with some affinities to Miocene.
Numerous stone implements have been
found associated with this extinct fauna
and flora in nine different counties, and
human bones in five widely-separated
localities. The two most remarkable
instances of the latter are :—
1. The Tuolumne skull. A fragment
brought up from a shaft in Table Moun
tain, at a depth of 180 feet below the
surface, beneath a bed of three feet of
consolidated volcanic tuff, with fossil
leaves and branches, over which is a
deposit of seventy feet of clay and
gravel.
2. The Calaveras skull. This was
found in 1866, under four beds of lava,
and in the fourth bed of gravel from the
surface, embedded in a rounded mass
of earthy and stony matter containing
bones.
The cemented gravel was
removed with great difficulty, and dis
closed a human skull, nearly entire, with
several bones of the human foot and
other parts wedged into the cavity of the
skull, the whole being in a fossilised
condition, like that of the animal bones
in similar formations. Human bones
have been found in two other instances
61
—one by an educated observer, under a
bed eight feet thick of lava; and more
recently a discovery has been announced
ofy rude stone implements in Tertiary
gravels of Stone Creek, Colorado, asso
ciated with shells which are considered
by conchologists to be not later than of
the older Pliocene.
The Calaveras case is, however, the
typical one, owing to its having been
extracted from the matrix by Professor
Wyman, and all the circumstances of the
find thoroughly investigated by Professor
Whitney. When the discovery was first
announced, it was objected that the skull
was possibly taken by the miners from
some Indian grave. But this objection
disappears before the fact that it was
fossilised, and embedded in a matrix
which no forger could have counterfeited,
and even more conclusively from the
great number of instances in which
human bones and implements have been
discovered at different localities . in
similar formations. Even the polemical
imagination of the Duke of Argyll could
hardly invent a conspiracy of so many
groups of Californian miners, at different
times, and in different localities, to hoax
scientists, or to supply proofs for or
against the Darwinian theory of the
descent of man. Nor would men intent
on such a fraud have buried fragments
instead of whole skulls, and stone imple
ments of a type different from that which,
if they had known enough on these sub
jects to conceive the fraud, they must
have been aware would have been
expected.
For the nature of these
implements is an exception to the general
rule, that the oldest type found through
out the world, from South Africa . to
China, is everywhere the same, consist
ing of rudely-chipped celts, knives, and
scrapers, the Californian implements
consisting of stone plates or mortars, and
pestles or pounding stones, very like
those used by some living tribes of
Indians for crushing acorns.
Quatrefages, assuming that these im
plements were used for pounding corn,
justly considers it highly improbable that.
�62
TERTIARY MAN
agriculture could have been known at
such an early period, and that Pliocene
man in California could have been so far
in advance of his Quaternary brother on
the Atlantic side of the continent, as
shown by the rude celts and knives of
the Trenton gravels. But if they were
used for crushing acorns, the argument
is not so clear, for a tribe of primitive
savages, living among oak forests, might
use flat stones and pounders for the pur
pose, while hunting tribes might-use rude
celts, as the bushmen do at the present
day. Either form seems equally within
the range of the early dawn of human
intelligence, and not much in advance of
that of the gorilla or chimpanzee.
Equally futile is Sir J. Dawson’s sur
mise that the skull may have been
dropped into some old mining shaft.
There is no evidence for any prehistoric
mining for gold in California, such as is
found in the copper region of Lake
Superior; and it is certain that, if any
such had existed, it must have been con
fined to the superficial deposits. Noth
ing but an intrepid determination to
ignore facts could have led to such a
supposition. The Calaveras skull is not
a solitary instance, but one of several
human bones, and hundreds of human
implements, which have been found, at
wide distances apart, in these auriferous
gravels, and often underneath beds of
dense basalt, which could by no pos
sibility have been pierced without the
aid of metal tools and blasting powder.
Objections like these prove nothing
except that the objector is in the theologico-scientific frame of mind, which
sees everything relating to the origin of
man through the medium of the first
chapter of Genesis.
The only serious objection to assum
ing these Californian discoveries to be a
conclusive proof of the existence of
Tertiary man arises from the fact that
several good American geologists dispute
Professor Whitney’s conclusion that these
auriferous gravels are of Tertiary origin.
They consider that such an enormous
accumulation could only have been
formed during a Glacial period, when
frost and ice were grinding down the
mountains, and swollen rivers, from
melting snow and glaciers, sweeping the
debris down the valleys into the plains.
This leaves doubt as to their origin in
the comparatively mild and equable
climate of the Pliocene period, but as
regards the question of the great anti
quity of man it does not much signify
to which period we assign them. Any
time subtracted from the Pliocene has to
be added to the Quaternary, for the fact
remains _ unquestioned that, since man
existed in California, valleys have been
filled up by drifts from the waste of moun
tains toadepth in some casesof 1,500 feet;
these covered by a succession of tuffs^
ashes, and lava streams, from volcanoes
long since extinct, and finally cut down
by the present rivers through beds of
solid basalt, and through this accumula
tion of lavas and gravels. Such an
operation corresponds in time with that
by which the great river systems of the
Old World were sculptured out from a
table-land, standing, in some cases, many
hundred feet higher than at present, as
shown by the deposit of the loess, which
is universally recognised to be an
accumulation of fine glacial mud.
A later contribution towards the anti
quity of human remains in California is
contained in a paper read to the Anthro
pological Society by Mr. Skertchley, the
well-known geologist, to whom we are
indebted for the discovery of palaeolithic
implements beneath the chalky boulder
clay at Thetford, in Norfolk.
During a visit to the Spring Valley
gold-mine, in one of the tributary valleys
of the Sacramento River, he ascertained
the following facts: This mine is worked
by hydraulic jets directed on the sands
and gravels of an old river which once
flowed in an impetuous course down a
steep gradient from the Sierra Nevada.
It has long since ceased to flow, and the
bed of the old river is now buried under
500 feet of its own deposits, capped in
places by 100 feet of basalt, which has
flowed in wide sheets from long-since
�TERTIARY MAN
63
variety of other sources as to the frequent
discovery of human implements, and
even, in a few instances, of human
1. Basalt cap
...
... 25 to 100 feet.
skulls, from similar auriferous . gravels
2. White sands and gravels
45° >>
over a wide range of country in Cali
3. Blue gravel, with boulders 2 to 15 >>
fornia. Whether Tertiary or not, it is
4. Blue gravel, with large
evident that they must carry back the
boulders
...
•••
5° »
5. Bed rock —metamorphoid
date of man’s existence in the north
cretaceous slates.
west of America to a period vastly older
Stone mortars, rudely chipped, occur than that of 25,000 or 30,000 years
abundantly in the white sand (No. 2), assigned to him by the latest guess of
about 300 having been found; and one Professor Prestwich.
is said to have occurred in No. 3. ' Another recent discovery in connec
There can be no question of their occur tion with the great basalt cap of Northring in situ, as they are washed out of Western America presents a similar
the gravel by powerful hydraulic jets, difficulty to that of M. Ragazzoni. In
from the working face of the mine, which boring for an artesian well at Nampa, in
forms an artificial cliff of 400 to 600 feet Ada County, Idaho, a small clay image
of a human figure was brought up from
in height.
Nor can there be any doubt as to their a depth of 215 feet. The borer had
human origin, for the specimen produced cut through a lava-cap fifteen feet thick,
by Mr. Skertchley to the Anthropological and then penetrated through some 200
Society was universally admitted to have feet of sand and clay. Mr. Emmons, of
been artificially wrought. Their use was the State Geological Society, gave the
probably for pounding acorns, which opinion that the stratum from which the
then afforded a great part of the food of Nampa image was taken is older by far
the savages who inhabited the district, than any others from which human
as they did recently of the Digger remains have been taken. The little
statuette, however, evinces a relatively
Indians.
The question, therefore, is entirely one high degree of artistic skill in modelling,
of the age of the gravels, as to which and thus seems to indicate a fairly
American geologists differ, some assign developed brain in the man of this most
ing the upper or white gravels to the distant period. We await, however, a
Pliocene, others to the early Quaternary closer determination of the age of the
period. As Mr. Skertchley says : “ If the American formations.
The other instances from America are
human remains had not been found in
them, geologists would never have open to the same doubt as to their
doubted their Tertiary age. At any geological age. The cavern of Semirate, they must be of immense antiquity. douro, in the plateau of Lagoa-Santo, in
Since they were deposited the present Brazil, has yielded sixteen human skulls,
river system of the Sacramento, Joaquim, associated with bones of extinct species,
and other large rivers has been estab such as Glyptodon, Machserodus, Hydrolished ; canons 2,000 feet deep have chserus, Scalidotherium, and others,
been excavated by these later rivers which, if found in Europe, would un
through lava, gravels, and into the bed doubtedly be taken to imply a Tertiary
rock; and the gravels, once the bed of fauna. But there remains the doubt
a large river, now cap hills 6,000 feet as to the real succession of geological
periods in America; and if the Mastodon
high.”
This definite information, conveyed lived on there until recent times, for
by an experienced geologist like Mr. which there is a good deal of evidence,
Skertchley, gives confirmation and preci there is no conclusive reason why the
sion to what has been stated from a Machserodus and other Tertiary forms
extinct volcanoes. The section given by
Mr. Skertchley is :—
�64
TERTIARY MAN
might not have survived from the Plio human remains in the presumably
cene or Miocene into the Quaternary. Pliocene auriferous gravels of California;
The human implements also found in and in South America, in the pampean
these Brazilian caves seem, in many remains of Buenos Ayres. Of these,
cases, of too advanced a type to be the discoveries at Puy-Courny, Monte
readily accepted as of such extreme Aperto, St. Olmo, and Castelnedolo
antiquity.
seem to be undoubted, both as regards
The same doubt also applies to the the human nature of the remains and
numerous human remains found by two the Tertiary character of the deposits.
competent observers, M. Ameghino and Those of St. Prest and of the Californian
M. Burmeister, at different points in the gravels are doubtful only as regards the
pampas of Buenos Ayres. They both question whether the deposits may not
recognise two distinct beds in this be of the earliest Glacial or Quaternary
pampean formation—an upper one, in period, rather than Tertiary, the evidence
which these remains have been found, from the associated fossil remains being
and a lower one, in which nothing of strongly in favour of their Tertiary origin.
human origin has yet been discovered. There remain three cases of alleged
Ameghino, relying on the fossil remains discoveries in the Miocene—viz., at
of extinct animals, considers the upper Thenay, Pouance, and in Portugal—the
bed to be Tertiary; while Burmeister evidence for which, especially for the
considers the lower one only to be Pre two former, is extremely strong and
Glacial and the upper one to be Quater almost conclusive, while the objections
nary. While these doubts continue we to them are obviously based on a reluc
must hold our judgment in suspense as tance to admit such an extension of
to the evidence from America, though human origins, rather than on scientific
undoubtedly it tends as far as it goes to evidence.
confirm the rapidly accumulating evi
In none of these cases, as further
dence from the Old World of the evidence has accumulated, has it tended
existence of Tertiary man; and the to shake the conclusions of the first
discovery of his traces at so many discoverers as to the human character of
widely-separated places, at such a remote the implements and the Miocene age of
antiquity, adds to the irresistible force of the formations. On the contrary, the
the conclusion that his first origin, and most cautious authorities, such as M.
subsequent diffusion by migration, must Quatrefages, who held their judgment in
be sought in one of the geological forma suspense when the first implements were
tions preceding the Quaternary,
produced, have been converted by sub
To sum up the evidence, there are at sequent discoveries, and expressed their
least ten instances of the alleged dis conviction that doubt is no longer pos
covery of human remains in Tertiary sible. . And a recent Congress of French
strata, of each of which it may be safely geologists has expressed the decided
said that, if the remains had been those opinion that the existence of Tertiary
of any other Mammalian species, no man is fully proved. In the next
doubt would have been entertained of chapter we shall learn of a remarkable
their Tertiary origin by any geologist. discovery of a semi-human form which
Four of these are in France, those of St. adds great force to all these earlier
Prest and of Puy-Courny in the Pliocene, evidences.
and of Thenay and Pouance in the
On the whole, we may say with con*
Miocene; three in Italy, in the Pliocene fidence of the problem of Tertiary man
of Monte Aperto, St. Olmo, and Castel- that, if not completely solved, it is
nedolo; one in Portugal, in the Miocene very near solution, and that there is
of the Tagus; in North America, the little doubt what the solution will be.
skull of Calaveras and other numerous
The next generation will probably
�THE MISSING LINK
accept it as an obvious fact, and wonder
at the doubts now entertained, very
much as we wonder at the incredulity
with which the discovery of palaeolithic
65
implements in the Quaternary gravels of
the Somme by M. Boucher de Perthes
was received by the scientific world
when it was first announced.
Chapter VI.
THE MISSING LINK
Human Origins—Evolution or Miracle First
Theories Miraculous—Conception of Natural
Law—Law Proved to be Universal in Inor
ganic World—Application to Life and Man—
Darwin and Evolution—Struggle for Life and
Survival of the Fittest—Confirmed by Dis
covery of Missing Links—Professor Cope’s
Summary—M. Gaudry—Instances of Missing
Links—Bears and Dogs—Horse—Pedigree of
the Horse from Palseotherium and Eohippus—
Appearance and Disappearance of Species—
Specialisation from Primitive Types—Condylarthra—Reptiles and Birds—Links between
other Genera and Orders—Marsupials and
Mammals — Monotremata — Ascidians and
Fish—Evolution of Individuals and Species
from Primitive Cell—Question of Missing
Links Applied to Man—Man and Ape—
Resemblances and Differences—Specialisation
of Human Type—For Erect Posture—How
Man Differs from Animals—Mental and Moral
Faculties — Language — Tools— Progress—
Mental Development—Lines of Research for
Missing Links — Inferior Races —Fossil
Remains—The Pithecanthropus—Point in
Direction of Tertiary Origin.
Of all the problems which have been
raised, but not solved, the most impor
tant is that of the origin of man. It is
important not only as a question of the
highest scientific interest, but from its
bearings on the deepest mysteries of
philosophy and religion. Is man, like
the rest of the animal creation, a product
of evolution acting by natural laws, or is
he an exception to the general rule, and
the product of some act of secondary
supernatural interference? Or, to put
it in theological language, is man a con
sequence of that “ original impress ”
which Dr. Temple considered to be more
in accordance with the idea of an
omniscient and omnipotent Creator, to
whom “a day is as a thousand years, and
a thousand years as a day,” than the
tiaditional theory of a Creator con
stantly interposing to supplement and
amend his original creation by miracles?
Or is he an exceptional supplement and
amendment to such original creation,
miraculously introduced at one of its later
stages ? It is a question which has to
be solved by facts, and not by theories
or prepossessions.
As regards the physical universe, and
the whole of the world of lii$ with the
possible exception of man, it may be
taken as already solved in the sense of
evolution and original impress. But in
the case of man there are still a few men
of science who question whether the
human mind, at least, has been formed
by natural evolution. The problem is
of such importance that it may be well
to state its conditions in some detail.
When I say that evolution has become
the accepted law of the whole animate
and inanimate universe, with the possible
exception of man, why do I say this?
The old theory of special miraculous
interpositions to account for all unex
plained phenomena was the most natural
and the most obvious. It was, in fact,
the inevitable result of the first attempts
of the human mind to connect effects
with causes, or, in other words, to
reason. Take the case of thunder.
What could the first savage who reasoned
c
�66
THE MISSING LINK
on the subject infer except that the noise,
being like the roar of an angry wild
beast or enemy, and the flash like that
of the darting of an arrow or javelin,
there was probably a sort of magnified
man like himself in the clouds full of
wrath and very capable of doing him an
injury ? The savage who reasoned thus,
and the early priests and astronomers
who, whenever they saw motion in the
sun and planets, inferred life, were
natural philosophers, who reasoned
correctly from their premises, only their
premises were wrong. In the course of
time it came to be demonstrated that
phenomena formerly supposed to be
isolated miraculous acts of an anthropo
morphic power were linked together by
that invariable sequence which we call
law, and that their real first cause or origin
must be pushed vastly further back in
space and time, and relegated more and
more from the known to the unknown.
The establishment of Newton’s law of
gravity as the pervading principle of all
celestial movements gave the first great
blow to the old miraculous theory, and
introduced the conception of Natural Law.
Geology did for time what astronomy
had . done for space; and since the
publication of Lyell’s .Principles no
serious thinker has doubted that the
successive stages by which the earth
was brought to its present state were
due to evolution, acting by natural
laws over immense periods of time. The
discoveries of modern chemistry have
confirmed the impression of the uni
formity and invariability of Law by show
ing it extending from the infinitely great
to the infinitely small, from stars to atoms;
while the spectroscope shows the identity
of matter and energy throughout this
extreme range. Above all, the establish
ment of the laws of the indestructibility
of matter and energy, and their mutual
transformation into new forms and new
modes of action, have placed special
causes altogether out of court, and
reduced all the phenomena of the inor
ganic universe to one law of universal
simplicity and generality. Instead of
speculating with ancient sages who may
be the . God who flashes lightnings from
the skies, or drives the chariot of the
sun, or even as late as Kepler, assigning
a spirit to each planet to direct its
harmonious movement, the question for
modern science is reduced to the
ultimate stage of—What mean these
atoms and energies into which everything
can be resolved? Whence came they,
and how did they become endowed with
those laws which have enabled them to
build up the universe by an irresistible
evolution ?
But the miraculous theory died hard.
Based as it wras on popular apprehension
and on theological prepossession, when
driven from the outwork of the inorganic
universe, it held out stoutly in the
inner citadel of life. Were not species
distinct, and, if so, how could they have
come into existence unless by a series of
special acts of miraculous creation ?
Above all, was not man a miracle, with
his high faculties, “only a little lower
than the angels
and did not all records
and traditions describe him as a recent
creation, who had fallen from a high
state of perfection by an act of original
sin ? Nay, more. Did not science itself
confirm this view, and had not Cuvier
laid down the axiom that no human
remains had been found in connection
with any extinct animals, or in any but
the most superficial deposits ? The dis
covery of innumerable human imple
ments and remains in all quarters of the
globe, in caves and river drifts of
immense antiquity, and associated with
extinct animals, has shattered this theory
into fragments, and it is now as impos
sible to believe in man’s recent origin
and fall as it is in the sun’s daily journey
round the earth, or the notion that it
might be as big as the Peloponnesus.
Still, the difficulty as to the creation
of distinct species remained, and until
the publication of Darwin’s celebrated
work on The Origin of Species the
miraculous theory, though driven back,
could hardly be said to be routed. But
evolution was in the air, and Darwin’s
�THE MISSING LINK
book produced the effect of a fragment
of crystal dropped into a saturated
solution. In an incredibly short time
all the floating elements crystallised
about it, and the speculations of science
took a definite form, the evidence for
which has gone on strengthening and
increasing from that day to this, until, as
I have said, with the solitary exception
of human origins, evolution or original
impress has become the axiom of science,
and is admitted by every one who has
the slightest pretensions to be considered
a competent authority.
This predisposition to accept Darwin’s
views arose from various causes. The
establishment of evolution as a fact in
the material universe had familiarised
men’s minds with the idea of Natural
Law, and the discoveries of astronomy
and geology had proved to demonstra
tion that the accounts of creation, for
merly taken to be inspired truths which
it was impious to question, could only be
considered as vague poetical versions of
the ideas which were current among
Eastern nations in the infancy of Science.
The last remnant of respect for these
narratives as literal records of actual
events vanished when the discoveries of
M. Boucher de Perthes were confirmed,
and it became apparent that man was
not a recent creation who had fallen
from a high estate, but the descendant
of palaeolithic savages, who had struggled
slowly up to civilisation through immense
periods of time. As a knowledge of
natural history increased, it became
apparent that the earth had not been
peopled recently from a single centre,
but that it was divided into numerous
vegetable and zoological provinces, each
with its own separate flora and fauna;
and a better acquaintance with the
zoological record showed that this had
been the case for millions of years, and
through the vast succession of strata of
which the earth’s crust is composed.
Finally, the multiplication of species,
both now existing and in past geological
ages, reached a point which, on any
theory of separate supernatural creations,
67
required an amount of miracle which
was plainly absurd and impossible.
When it came to this, that 160 separate
miracles were required to account for
the 160 species of land shells found, to
exist in the one small island of Madeira,
and that 1,400 distinct species of a single
shell, the Cerithium, had been described
by conchologists, the miraculous theory
had evidently broken down under its
own weight and ceased to be credible.
In this state of things Darwin not
only supplied a vast number of instances,
drawn from his own observation, of
graduation of species into one another,
and the wide range of varieties produced
and rendered permanent by artificial
selection, but, what was more important,
he showed the existence of a vera causa
operating in nature, which could not
fail to produce similar effects. If a
pigeon fancier could, by pairing .birds
which showed a tendency to variation in
a particular direction, produce in a few
generations races as distinct from the
original blue-rock as the fantail or the
pouter, it is evident that nature could do
the same in a longer period. Nay, not
only that nature could., but that nature
must, do this, for in the struggle, for
existence variations, however slight,
which gave an advantage to individuals,
must tend to survive and become extended
and fixed by the operation of heredity.
This was the famous theory of “ Natural
Selection ” and “ Survival of the Fittest,”
which at once converted the chaos of
life into a cosmos, and extended the
domain of harmonious law to the organic
as well as the inorganic universe. At
tractive, however, as the theory was from
the first to thinking men, its universal
acceptance at the present day is due
mainly to the immense amount of con
firmation which it has since received.
This confirmation has come from two
independent sources—the discovery of
Missing Links and Embryology.
When Darwin’s theory was first pro
pounded the objection was raised that,
if species were not created. distinct, but
gradually evolved from one another by
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THE MISSING LINK
slight variations, geology ought to show
radius, femurs, feet, etc., of the one,
us the intermediate forms which must
side by side with those of the other, the
have existed before the permanent types
sum of the likenesses will appear so
were established. The objection was much greater than that of the differences
reasonable, and Darwin was the first to that, the idea of family relationship
admit it j but he pleaded the imperfec
will impose itself on the mind. In vain
tion of the geological record, and pre
would sceptics try to throw doubts on
dicted that with fuller knowledge of it
this relationship by pointing out some
the gaps would be filled up and the slight shades of difference. We see
missing links discovered. The truth or
too many points of resemblance to
falsehood of his theory was thus staked
admit that they can be all fallacious.”
on the discovery of missing links. The And, again, he says: “ Where our pre
case was almost similar to that of the decessors. saw ten or one hundred dis
truth of Halley’s calculations as to the tinct beings, we see only one; and
orbit of his comet being staked on its
instead of creations thrown, as it were,
return at the predicted period. The into the world at haphazard, without
comet did return, and the missing links law and without connection, we follow
have been discovered, or so many of
the trace of a few types whose essential
them that no doubt remains in the
characters are so similar as to enable us
minds of scientific men that evolution
to comprehend them in still simpler
has been the real law of the animal and
types, and thus hope to arrive some day
vegetable kingdoms.
at understanding the plan which God
In fact, the discovery of missing links
has followed in producing and developing
has gone so far that Professor Cope, one
life in the world.”
of the latest and highest authorities on
This is almost identical with Dr.
the subject, who has done so much for
Temple’s profession of faith, “that it
it by hisWdiscoveries of the wonderfully
seems something more majestic, more
rich fossil fauna of the Tertiary forma
befitting of Him to whom a thousand
tions of the Rocky Mountains and
years are as one day, thus to impress His
California,. says: “We have attained
will once for all on His creation, and
the long-since extinct ancestor of the
provide for all its countless varieties by
lowest vertebrates. We have the ancestor
this one original impress than by special
of all the reptiles, of the birds, and of
acts of creation to be perpetually modi
the mammals. If we consider the
fying what He had previously made.”
mammals separately, we have traced up
A clear, popular conception of this
a great many lines to their points of question of “ missing links ” is so impor
departure from very primitive types.
tant for all who desire to understand the
Thus we have obtained the genealogical
latest, conclusions of modern science
trees of the deer, the camel, the musk, that it may be well to illustrate it by a
the horse, the tapir, and the rhinoceros;
homely example. Fifty years ago the
of the cats and dogs, of the lemurs and
popular belief respecting the animal
monkeys, and have important evidence creation was summed up in the simple
as to the origin of man.”
words of Dr. Watts’s hymn :—
M. Gaudry, the celebrated discoverer
“ Let dogs, delight to bark and bite,
of the fossil treasures of the Upper
For ’tis their nature to ;
Miocene of Pikermi, repeats the same
And bears and lions growl and fight,
thing. He says : “ If we take a skeleton
For God has made them so.”
of a fossil mammalian species, and com Science could only shrug its shoulders
pare it with one of an analogous living and say: “ So it seems; I have no better
species ” as, for instance, a Mammoth explanation to give.”
or Mastodon with a modern elephant—
How different are the terms in which
“ placing the heads, vertebrae, humerus, science would now reply: “Made, if
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69
you like, but how made? As individuals, and masticating grass were better than
each from a cell not distinguishable from the more millstone-like tubercular teeth
any other microscopic cell of the lowest adapted for grinding down shrubs and
animal and vegetable organisms, but branches of trees. Accordingly, we find
endowed with such an impress of evolu the evolution of the horse constantly
tion that it developes through the stages following this line. In Europe, the
of fish, reptile, and mammal into the Hipparion, who is the immediate ancestor
special mammalian form of its parents. of the horse, whom it closely resembles,
As species, traceable through a similar has already the two lateral toes so rudiprogression backwards from the living mental as to have become wholly useless;
form, through intermediate ancestral in the Anchitherium the tips of the outer
forms graduating by slight distinctions toes just touch the ground, while the
into one another up to the generalised Palseotherium is a distinctly three-toed
Eocene type of the Placental mammal, animal, though the middle toe is larger
and thence backwards by less definite than the two side toes. We have thus a
but still traceable variations to the types complete progression from a slow, heavy
of the marsupial, the reptilian, the fish, animal, adapted for living on marshy
the vertebrate, and so up to the primitive ground, like the tapir, to the courser of
cell in which the individual living animal the plains, whose latest development,
under artificial selection, is seen in a
originated.”
Thus the dog and bear, now so dis Ladas or a Sceptre.
In America, the links in the pedigree
tinct, can be traced up to Amphicyon
and Hysenarctus, which combined the of the fossil horse are still more numerous,
qualities of both; the former being rather and the transitions closer. The line
more dog than bear, the latter rather begins in the Early Eocene with the
more bear than dog; and these again, Eohippus, an animal of the size of a
either through the Creodonta to the fox, which, in addition to four wellBunodonta of the early Eocene, or developed toes of the forefoot, had the
through the Ictitherium to the Cyno- remnants of the hoofed fifth toe. In
dictis, or weasel-like dog of the same the Upper Eocene, the Eohippus was
formation, which is clearly a descendant replaced by the Orohippus, in which the
of the insectivorous Marsupials of the rudimentary first digit had disappeared,
and the fifth was reduced to a splint.
Secondary age.
The horse affords the best example of In the Lower Miocene the Mesohippus,
this progressive evolution, the specialisa which was about as large as a sheep, had
tion from the generalised Eocene type only three toes with a rudimentary splint
of a five-toed and tubercular-toothed on the foreleg, and in its teeth and other
mammal being clearly traced, step by particulars approached more closely to
step, down to the present one-toed horse. the horse. In the Upper Miocene,
The evolution took the course of adapt Mesohippus is replaced by Miohippus,
ing the original form to the requirements which approaches closely to the Anchi
of an animal which had to live on wide therium of Europe ; while in the Lower
prairies or desert plains, where a bulky Pliocene this gives way to the Proto
body had to be transported at high hippus, which approached the horse
speed, by leaps and bounds, over great very closely, and was about the size of
distances, both to find food and to escape an ass. Like the Hipparion of Europe,
from enemies by flight. For this purpose, which in many respects it resembles, it
evidently, one solid toe, protected by a had three toes, of which only the middle
single enlarged nail or hoof, was prefer one reached the ground. In the Middle
able to five or three weak toes terminating Pliocene we have the Pliohippus, which
each in a separate nail or claw; and in has lost the small hooflets on the rudi
like manner teeth adapted for cutting mentary toes, and is in all respects very
�7°
THE MISSING LINK
like a horse; and, finally, in the Upper accidental variations in this direction, or
Pliocene we have the true horse. This partly by this and partly by heredity
progression gives rise to two important fixing variations induced by use and
remarks. First, that size cannot be disuse of organs in stretching to reach
accepted as of much importance in the branches of palms, in no way affects
tracing lines of descent, as might, the question whether the animal is a
indeed, have been anticipated from the product of evolution or a miraculous
wide variations in the size of dogs and creation.
other domestic animals introduced by
To return to the pedigree of the
artificial selection. Secondly, that the horse, which may be taken as the typical
extinction of widespread and apparently instance of descent traced by progressive
unexhausted races of animals is a fact specialisation. What is a horse ? It is
which has to be reckoned with. The essentially an animal specialised for a
total disappearance of the horse in particular object—that of the rapid pro
America, where it and its ancestors had gression of a bulky body over open
existed in such numbers from the Early plains or deserts. When mammalian
Eocene down to quite recent times, is a life first appears abundantly in the lower
most perplexing problem. There is no Tertiaries,it is in the primitive generalised
appearance of any great change of type, in which nature seems always to
environment since the horse roamed in make its first essays, as if it were trying
countless numbers over the continent of its ’prentice hand on a simple sketch, to
America; and we know, from the experi be gradually developed into a series of
ence of Europe, that it was a hardy finished pictures. The primitive sketch
animal, capable of resisting both the in this instance took the form of what
torrid heat of Arabia and the intense Professor Cope calls a “ pentadactyle,
cold of the Glacial period. And so plantigrade, bunodont,” by which for
many other species survived in America, midable collocation of words we are to
from the Pliocene to the Quaternary understand an animal which had five
and recent periods, as to show that the toes at the extremities of each of its
extinction of the horse was an isolated limbs; which walked on the flat of its
phenomenon. And as of extinction, so feet, and whose molar teeth presented a
of creation. We do not fully under flat surface, with four, or in the very
stand the exact process by which types earliest form three, little cones or
and species have either appeared or dis tubercles, to assist in grinding its food.
appeared, and this affords the only It may give some idea of the precision
ground left to those who, from theo and certainty to which such researches
logical or other prepossessions, are have attained to say that this primitive
hostile to Darwinism. They say his form was predicted by Professor Cope
theory of natural selection from spon in 1874, from the progress towards it
taneous variations does not account for traced in following backwards various
everything, and does not explain fully lines of later descent; and that seven
all the laws of these variations. This years later, in 1881, the prophecy was
may be partly true; but it in no way fulfilled by the discovery that such a
affects the truth of evolution, which is a type of mammals, now known as the
fact and not a theory, and is quite inde Condylarthra, actually existed in large
pendent of the subsidiary question numbers in North America in the early
whether natural selection can account Eocene period.
for all or only for a principal part of
Consider now what the specialisation
the facts which, in some way or other, from this original type to the horse
have to be accounted for. Thus, whether implied. The first step was to walking
the long neck of the giraffe was developed on the toes instead of on the flat of the
by natural selection taking advantage of foot—a change which, whether owing
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or not to the lady Condylarthra having
adopted the modern fashion of wearing
high-heeled boots, became general in
most lines of their descendants. . For
galloping on hard ground it is evident
that one strong and long toe, protected
by a solid hoof, was more serviceable
than four short and weak toes, protected
by separate nails. Accordingly, coales
cence of the toes is the fundamental
fact in the progress of structural changes
through successive species, by which the
primitive Bunodont was converted into
the modern horse. Corresponding with
this are other progressive changes in the
articulation of the joints, especially those
of the bones corresponding to the ankle
and wrist joints, which are modified from
a contact of plane surfaces into a system
of tongues and grooves, which give
freedom of action in direct progression,
but secure them against the dislocations
from shocks and strains to which they
would be exposed in galloping or jumping.
So in other types the specialisation takes
different forms, but always towards the
sharper distinction of species formerly
more united and generalised. Thus the
half-bear, half-dog, and half-cat original
type of the Eocene becomes differen
tiated into the three distinct types of the
wholly bear, dog, and cat of later forma
tions.
Nor is this tracing back of existing
mammalian species to ancestral forms in
the Early Tertiary all that recent science
has accomplished.
The course of
palaeontological discovery for the last
twenty, and specially for the last ten,
years may almost be summed up as
that of the discovery of “ missing links,”
until gap after gap, which seemed to
separate not only species, but genera
and orders, by insurmountable barriers,
has been bridged over by intermediate
forms. Thus, to take one of the most
striking instances, what can, at first
sight, appear more unlike than reptile
and bird, and who would have ventured
to predict that any relationship could be
traced between a tortoise and a swallow?
And yet nothing is more certain than
71
that the Reptilia pass over into the Aves
by successive gradations which make it
difficult to pronounce where one ends
and the other begins. The pterodactyl,
or flying dragon of the lias, approaches
in structure and habits towards the bird
type; the ostrich retains some resem
blance to the pterodactyl, but the com
plete transitional type, or “ missing link,”
has been found in those feathered
reptiles, or birds with reptilian heads
and teeth, whose remains have fortunately
been preserved in a fossil state. The
Archaeopteryx, from the CEningen slate
of the Upper Oolite, in the museum of
South Kensington, is a beautiful specimen
of such a missing link, and would cer
tainly be taken for a bird by any casual
observer, though comparative anatomists
find many of its essential features to be
reptilian.
The Archaeopteryx and other transi
tional types, which have been discovered
in Europe and America between birds
and reptiles, afford perhaps the most
obvious and universally intelligible in
stances of what recent palaeontology has
done in the way of the discovery of
“missing links,” between genera and
orders now widely separated ; but similar
discoveries have gone a long way towards
establishing the continuity of life from
the earliest periods in which it appears
down to the present day, and showing
the kind and progress of the changes in
structure which in the course of evolu
tion have linked the various orders and
species of living forms together. Thus
the higher form of Placental mammals
which became predominant in the Early
Tertiary differs from the Marsupials,
which extend into the trias of the
Secondary period, by the greater exten
sion of the allantois or membrane which
surrounds the foetus. In the Placentals
this completely surrounds it, so that the
foetus remains part of the mother until
birth; while in the Marsupial the young
are born incomplete, and take refuge for
a time in a pouch which is attached to
the mother’s stomach. But there are
fossil animals in the Eocene which
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THE MISSING LINK
combine the two characters, showing a
Marsupial brain and dentition, with a
Placental development. They are, in
effect, Marsupials in which the allantois,
instead of being arrested at an early
stage, has continued to grow.
Again, the Marsupials are linked on to
still lower forms of animal life through
the Monotremata, of which a few speci
mens survive in Australia, typified by
the Ornithorynchus, or water-mole, which
has the bill of a duck, and lays eggs.
This order has only one opening, called
the cloaca, for the purposes which, in
higher orders,' are performed by separate
organs; and it is remarkable that this
stage is passed through by man and the
higher mammals in the course of their
embryonic development.
Going still further back, the lines of
demarcation between orders are, as in
the case of birds and reptiles, more and
more broken down every day by the dis
covery of intermediate forms, and we
can almost trace the evolution from the
Ascidian or lowest vertebrate type into the
fish, the amphibia, the reptile, and so
upwards. And it is remarkable that this
course of evolution invariably corresponds
with the general progressive evolution
of types through geological ages, and
with the embryonic evolution of indi
vidual life from the primitive cell. It
is not too much, therefore, to assume
evolution to be the demonstrated law of
the world of life as well as of that of
matter, and to confine ourselves to the
question whether man is or is not a
solitary exception to this law.
We are now in a position to examine
more closely the bearing of this question
of “ missing links ” on that of human
origins. Geologically speaking, man is
one of the order of Primates, which
includes also the catarrhine apes and
monkeys of the Old World, the platyrhine
apes and monkeys of America, and the
lemurs or half-monkeys which are found
principally in Madagascar and a few
districts of continental and insular Asia
and Africa. Of these, the anthropoid
apes—the chimpanzee, gorilla, and orang
—approach most closely to man in their
structure.
In fact, considered as mere machines,
the resemblance between them and man
is something wonderful. It is much
closer than is suggested by a mere com
parison of outward forms. One must
have read the results arrived at by the
most distinguished comparative anato
mists. to understand how close is the
identity. Not merely does every bone,
every muscle, and every nerve in the
one find its analogue more or less
developed in the other, but even in such
minute particulars as the direction of the
hairs on the forearm converging towards
the elbow there is an absolute corre
spondence.
It is in the brain, however, which is
the most important organ, as being that
on .which the specially human faculty
of intelligence depends, that the close
- physical resemblance between man and
the other quadrumana is most striking.
The brain of all quadrumanous animals is
distinguished from that of quadrupeds by
certain well-defined characters. Those
of lemurs, monkeys, baboons, and apes
show a progression of these characters
from the lemurs, whose brain differs little
from that of rodents, up to the anthro
poid apes, the chimpanzee, the gorilla,
and the orang, who have a brain which
in its most essential particulars closely
resembles that of man. In fact, the
brain of these apes bridges over much
more than half the interval between the
simplest quadrumanous form of the
lemur and the most advanced—that of
man; while, in like manner, the brains of
some of the inferior races of mankind,
and of idiots, where the development of
the brain has been arrested, bridge over
the interval between man and ape, and,
in some extreme cases, approach more
nearly to the latter than to the former
type both in size and structure.
Attempt after attempt has been made
to find some fundamental characters in
the human brain on which to base a
generic distinction between man and the
brute creation; but such attempts have
�THE MISSING LINK
invariably broken down under a close
investigation. Thus, in the celebrated
controversy between Owen and Huxley,
the former distinguished anatomist
thought that he had found such a
distinction in the hinder part of the
human brain, but it turned out that he
had been misled by relying on the plates
in the work of the Dutch anatomists,
Camper and Vrolik; and Huxley, con
firmed by them, proved by actual dis
section that all the characters on which
Owen relied were to be found equally in
the brain of the chimpanzee and other
higher quadrumana.
The distinction also on which the
very term “ quadrumana ” is founded is
proved to be fallacious, for Huxley has
shown that the termination of the hinder
limbs of the anthropoids is really a foot
with a prehensile great toe, and not a
hand; and there are many instances,
both of human individuals and races,, in
which this toe has considerable flexibility,
and is used in climbing trees or picking
up small objects. And so in innumerable
other cases in which anatomical observa
tions, supposed to be specifically human,
have either been found wanting in some
individual men, and present in some
individual quadrumana, or have been
traced in both in some undeveloped or
foetal condition.
And yet with this close identity of
anatomical conditions there is, as Huxley
emphatically asserts, a wide gap between
man and the highest ape, which has
never been bridged over, and which pre
cludes the idea of direct lineal descent
from one to the other, though it implies
close relationship. The differences are
partly physical and partly intellectual.
Of the former, it may be said that they
may be all summed up in the fact that
man is specialised for erect posture.
Speaking broadly, it may be said that
man is a member of the order of Primates,
specialised for erect posture; while mon
keys are specialised for climbing trees;
and anthropoid apes are a sort of inter
mediate link, specialised mainly for
forest life, but with a certain amount of
73
capability for walking erect and on the
ground.
Thus, to begin at the foundation of
the human structure, the foot, with its
solid heel bone, arch of the instep, and
short toes, is obviously better adapted
for walking and worse for climbing than
that of monkeys. The upright basis of
the foot corresponds with longer, stronger,
and straighter bones of the leg, and a
greater development of muscles to move
them. The erect posture determines
the shape of the pelvis and haunch
bones, which have to support the weight
of the vertebral column and intestines
in a vertical direction. The vertebral
column, again, is arranged with a slight
double curvature, so as to enable the
body to maintain an upright posture, and
to afford a vertical support for the head.
And, finally, the larger brain is rendered
possible by its weight being nicely
balanced on a vertical column, instead
of hanging down and being supported
by powerful muscles requiring strong
processes for lateral attachment in the
vertebrse of the neck.
Again, the fore-limbs being entirely
relieved from the necessity of being used
as supports, acquire the marvellous
flexibility and adaptability of the human
arm and hand; a specialisation which
has doubtless a good deal to do with
man’s superior intelligence, for, as we
see in the case of the elephant, the
intelligence of an animal depends not
merely on the mass of the brain, but
very much on the nature of the organs
by which it is placed in relation with
the surrounding environment.1 In this
respect there is no animal organ com
parable to the human hand, and we may
probably trace its influence in other
divergencies of the human from the
bestial type. Thus, the greater develop
ment of the jaws and bones of the face
in animals, giving rise to a projecting
1 At a recent Congress of the British Associa
tion the theory was put forward, on high autho
rity, that this setting free of the arms may have
reacted on the brain and occasioned man’s great
mental progress.
�THE MISSING LINK
muzzle, is no longer requisite when the
arm and hand afford so much better an
instrument than the mouth for seizing
objects, and for attack or defence; while
from the same cause the canine teeth
tend to diminish. In fact, the specialisa
tion of improved types from the early
generalised type takes very often the
form of a reduction of the number of
teeth to that required for the relations of
the new types to their environment.
Thus, in the pure carnivora, like the
cats, the molars disappear and the
canines and sectorial premolars assume
a great development. In the herbivora,
on the other hand, the molars are
developed at the expense of the flesh
cutting teeth ; and in civilised man there
is a progressive diminution in the size of
the jaws, which hardly leaves room for
the normal number of teeth, some of
which are probably destined to dis
appear, as the so-called wisdom-teeth
have already almost done.
Thus, from the single point of view of
specialisation for erect posture, we arrive
at all the physical characteristics which
distinguish man from the monkeys and
anthropoid apes. At the same time, it
is a difference only of adaptation, and
not of essence. The machine man
differs from the machine ape, much as
the modern railway locomotive differs
from the old-fashioned pumping steamengine. The essential parts—boiler,
pistons, cylinders, valves—are the same,
but differently modified; those of the
locomotive being vastly better adapted
for condensed energy and rapid motion
in a smaller compass. Still, no one can
doubt their affinity and common origin,
or suppose that, while the Newcomen
engine owed its existence to human
invention, the Wild Irishman or Flying
Scotchman could only be accounted
for by invoking supernatural agency.
This is precisely the case as regards
man in his physical aspect. It is diffi
cult to imagine that the combination of
bones, muscles, and nerves, which make
a man, originated in any different manner
than did the combination of the same I
identical bones, muscles, and nerves
which make a chimpanzee or gorilla. If
one originated by evolution, the other
must have done so also; and conversely,
if. one came into being by special
miraculous creation, so also must the
other, and not only the other, but all
the innumerable varieties of distinct
species, now, and in past geological
times, existing upon earth.
It is only when we come to the higher
intellectual and moral faculties that the
wide gulf appears between man and the
animal creation, which it is so difficult
to bridge over. It is true that all or
nearly all of these faculties appear in a
rudimentary state in animals, and that
not only apes and monkeys, but dogs,
elephants, and others of the higher
species, show a certain amount of
memory, reasoning power, affection, and
other human qualities; while, on the
other hand, some of the inferior races of
mankind show very little of them. The
chimpanzee Sally, in the Zoological
Gardens, and Lord Avebury’s dog
Van, can count up to five; while it is
said that three is the limit of the count
ing power of some of the Australian
tribes. The gorilla, in his native forests,
according to the accounts of travellers,
lives respectably with a single wife and
family, and is a better husband and
parent than many of our upper ten who
figure in Divorce Courts. Still, there is
this wide distinction—that even in the
highest animals these faculties remain
rudimentary, and seem incapable of
progress, while even in the lowest races
of man they have reached a much higher
level, and seem capable of almost un
limited development. No human race
has yet been discovered which, however
savage, is entirely destitute of speech,
and of the faculty of tool-making in the
widest sense of adapting natural objects
and forces to human purposes.
As
regards speech, no animal has advanced
beyond the first rudimentary stage of
uttering a few simple sounds, which by
their modulations and accent give ex
pression to their emotions. They are in
�THE MISSING LINK
the first stage of what Max Muller calls
the “ bow-wow and pooh-pooh theory,”
and even in this they have advanced but
a little way. They have a very few root
sounds, and those are all emotional. A
dog or an ape can express love, hatred,
alarm, pain, or pleasure, but has. not
risen even to the height of coining
roots imitating sounds of nature, such as
“crack” and “splash,” and still less to
that which all human races have attained,
of multiplying these primitive roots
indefinitely, by extending them by some
sort of mental analogy to more abstract
ideas ; and connecting ' them by some
sort of grammar, by which they are
made to express a variety of shades of
meaning and modifications of human
thought. Animals understand their own
simple language perfectly well, and to a
certain extent some of the higher orders,
such as dogs and monkeys, can be
taught to understand human language;
but no animal has ever learned to speak
in the sense of using a series of articulate
sounds to convey meaning, though, as
in the case of the parrot, the vocal organ
may be there, capable of uttering imita
tion words and sentences.
As regards tool-making, no human
race is known which has not shown some
faculty in this direction. The rudest
existing tribes, such as Bushmen or
Mincopies, chip stones, and are acquain
ted with fire and with the bow and arrow,
spear, or some corresponding weapon
for offence and defence. The highest
apes have not got beyond the stage of
using objects actually provided for them
by nature for definite purposes. Thus
monkeys enjoy the warmth of a fire and
sit over it, but have never got the length
of putting on coals or sticks to keep it
up, much less of kindling it when extin
guished. Sally and Mafuca perfectly
understood the use of the keeper’s key,
and would steal and hide it, and use it
to let themselves out of their cage; but
no chimpanzee or gorilla has ever been
known to fashion any implement, or do
more than use the sticks and stones
provided by nature, for throwing at
75
enemies or cracking nuts. Their nearest
approach to invention is shown in con
structing rude huts or nests from branches
and leaves, for shelter and protection ;
an art in which both apes and savages
are very inferior to most species of birds,
to say nothing of insects. The difference
is a very fundamental one, for in the
case of man we can trace a constant
progression, from the rudest form of
palaeolithic chipped stones up to the
steam-engine and electric telegraph; but
in the ape we can discern no signs of
progress, or of a capacity for progress.
It is conceivable that by taking a certain
number of Bushmen or Australians when
young, placing them in a favourable
environment, and breeding selectively
for intelligence, as we breed race-horses
for speed or short-horns for fat, we might,
in a few generations, produce a race far
advanced in culture ; but it is not readily
conceivable that we could do the same
with orangs or chimpanzees. It would
be a most interesting experiment, to try
how far we could go with them in this
direction, but unfortunately it cannot be
tried, as we have no sufficient number
of specimens to begin with, and the race
cannot be kept alive, much less per
petuated, in our climate. Even if it
could, there is no reason to expect that
it would succeed up to the point of
making a race of apes or monkeys who
could speak a primitive language or
make primitive tools. For the funda
mental difference between them and
man may be summed up in the words,
“arrested development.”
At an early age the difference between
a young chimpanzee and a young negro
is not very great. The form and capa
city of the skull, the convolutions of the
brain, and the intellectual and moral
characters are within a measurable dis
tance of one another; but as age
advances the brain of the negro child
continues to grow, and its intelligence
to increase up to manhood; while in the
case of the ape the sutures of the skull
close, the growth of the brain is arrested,
and development takes the direction of
�76
THE MISSING LINK
bony structure, giving rise to a projecting
muzzle, protuberant crests and ridges,
and generally a more bestial appearance;
while the character undergoes a corre
sponding change and becomes less
human-like.
It is evident, therefore, that these two
branches of the Primates, man and ape,
follow diverging lines of development,
and can never be transformed into one
another, and that the “missing links”
to connect the human species with the
common law of evolution of the animal
kingdom are to be sought in other direc
tions than that of direct descent from
any existing form of ape or monkey.
There are three lines of research
which may be followed in looking for
traces of such missing links.
1. We may compare the higher with
the lower varieties of the existing human
species, and see if we can discover any
tendency towards a lower form of ances
tral development.
2. We may observe the results in the
cases of arrested development which
occur in those unfortunate beings who
are born idiots or microcephali—that is,
with deficient brains.
3. We may explore the records of the
past, of which we have now numerous
remains preserved in the fossil state.
. The first and second of these lines
give us a certain amount of clear and
positive result.
Comparing civilised
man with the Negro, Australian, Bush
man, and other inferior races, we invari
ably find differences which all tend in
the direction of the primitive “pentadactyle, plantigrade, bunodont.” The
brain is of less volume, its convolutions
less clearly marked, the bony develop
ment of the skull, face, and muzzle more
pronounced, the legs shorter and frailer,
the arms longer, the stature less. The
most primitive savage races known to us
are apparently those Pygmies who, like
the Akkas and Bushmen of Africa, the
Negrillos of Asiatic islands, some of the
hill tribes of India, and the Digger
Indians of North America, have been
driven everywhere into the most inacces
sible forests and mountains by the inva
sion of superior races.
The average
stature of many of these does not exceed
four feet, and in some instances falls as
low as three feet six inches; and in
structure, as well as in appearance and
intelligence, there is no doubt that they
approximate towards the type of monkeys.
In the case of idiots the resemblance
to an animal type is carried much further,
so far, indeed, that they may be almost
described as furnishing one of the missing
links. As Vogt says, “we need only
place the skulls of the negro, chimpanzee,
and idiot side by side to show that the
idiot holds, in every respect, an inter
mediate place between them.”
Thus the average weight of the brain
of Europeans is about 49 oz., while that
of Negroes is 44^oz.; and in some of
the inferior races it is still lower, descend
ing to about 35 oz. in the case of some
skulls of Bushwomen. This approaches
very closely to the limit of 32 oz. which
Gratiolet and Broca assign as the lowest
weight of brain at which human intelli
gence begins to be possible; but in many
cases of small-headed idiots the weight
descends much lower, and has even been
observed as low as 10 oz. The average
weight of the brain of the large anthro
poid apes is estimated at about 20 oz.,
and in some cases is even higher, so that
the brains of some of the inferior human
races stand about half-way between those
of the superior races and of the anthro
poids, which latter again differ more
from those of the lemurs and inferior
monkeys than they do from those of
man.
The approximation towards primitive
conditions shown by a comparison of
superior with inferior races, and of nor
mally developed men with idiots and
apes, might have been expected to derive
further confirmation from tracing back
to the third line of inquiry, that of fossil
remains.
And yet it is just here, where we might
expect to find conclusive evidence, that
we meet with least success. The number
of skulls and skeletons dating back to
�THE MISSING LINK
77
early Quaternary times, distant from us the muscle of the tongue is attached, and
1
certainly not less than 50,000 years, and is said to be necessary for the movements
i
probably much more, is now so great as 1of the tongue which render speech pos
to enable us to speak confidently as to sible. It is absent in the monkey and
1
their character, and even to classify their .all non-speaking animals ; and Mortillet
different types. The oldest is that known asserts that in the Naulette skull the
as the Canstadt type, the next oldest bone is absent, and its place shows a
that of Cro-Magnon. Now, the Cro- hollow. He argues that the primitive
Magnon type is not only not a degraded men of the Neanderthal or Canstadt
one, but, physically speaking, that of a type were incapable of speech, and his
fine race—tall in stature, with large and conclusion is thought probable by several
symmetrical brain-structure, and, on the good authorities. But the induction
whole, on a par with some of the best seems too wide to be drawn from a single
instance, and, as far as I am aware, it
modern races.
The Canstadt type is somewhat more has not been confirmed by any other
rude, and in extreme cases, like that of undoubted specimen of early palaeolithic
the celebrated Neanderthal skull, so man.
But a far greater advance was made
simious in the low forehead and massive
by the discovery of a few fragments of
bony ridges that at first sight it was
thought that one of the missing links what is now known as the pithecanthro
had really been discovered. But further pus erectus. In 1894 a Dutch military
inquiry showed that this was only an physician, Dr. Eugene Dubois, found in
■ extreme instance of a type which is Java the skull-cap, a femur, and two
presented by numerous other skulls of a teeth of some man-like animal. They
character entirely human, certainly not were submitted to the International
inferior to that of existing savages, and Zoological Congress at Leyden; and,
which may be traced as surviving among although they naturally gave rise to a
many of the best European races. Even heated discussion at first, they are now
in the extreme case of the Neanderthal generally recognised to be relics of some
skull, the brain was of fair capacity; and ancestral form, almost midway between
a modern skull, that of Lykke, a Dane man and his Simian progenitors. The
of distinguished intellectual capacity, is form to which they belonged is computed
preserved in the museum at Copenhagen, to have stood, when erect, five feet six
which closely resembles it in all its inches high, and to have had a skull
with a cranial capacity little more than
principal peculiarities.
If the Tertiary skulls of Olmo, Cas- half that of the native Australian or
telnedolo, and Calaveras are accepted Veddah woman. The bones rested upon
as genuine, they carry us back much a conglomerate which lies upon a bed of
further in the same direction. Every marine marl and sand of Pliocene age.
thing about these remains is entirely Professor Haeckel claims that we have
human, and in the female skull of Castel- in these remains “ the long-searched-for
nedolo, M. Quatrefages thinks he can missing link,” or “ a Pliocene remainder
discover a specimen of one of the milder of that famous group of highest Catarrand less savage forms of the Canstadt hines which were the immediate pithe
coid ancestors of man.” And as a writer
type,
. .
d
A nearer approach to positive data (Professor Keabley) in the Popular
seemed to be provided by a human jaw Science Monthly (February, 1902) says :
found in the Cave of La Naulette, inl “These remains have been subjected to
Belgium, in which Mortillet and other• the strictest scientific scrutiny and progood authorities assert that the genal[ nounced genuine.”
No further discoveries of intermediate
tubercle is wanting. This is a small[
bony excrescence on the chin, to whichl forms have yet been reported, but the
�78
THE MISSING LINK
evidence for at least the bodily evolution origins of man are to be sought as far
of man is now no longer seriously dis back as the Miocene, we can hardly
puted, and further investigation can only expect to find many specimens of the
serve the purpose of filling the gap in missing link. If we find such an abun
our galleries of palaeontology. No doubt dance of palaeolithic remains early in the
this gap will be supplied as the search Quaternary period, it must be because
proceeds, but the circumstances forbid the human race had long existed, and
us to hope to find these intermediate been driven by the pressure of increasing
forms in any abundance.
population to diffuse themselves over
From the wide diffusion of mankind nearly the whole of the habitable globe.
over nearly the whole of the habitable But this radiation from the original birth
globe in early Quaternary times, it is place must have been extremely slow,
clear that, if the race originated, like and immense periods must have elapsed
other animal races, from evolution, the before it reached the countries which have
origin must be sought in a much more been the fields of scientific research.
remote antiquity. The existence of the Again, great geological changes have
Dryopithecus and other anthropoid taken place since the Miocene period,
apes in the Middle Miocene shows that and it is quite probable that the earliest
the development of another branch, so scene of man’s development may be now
closely allied to man in physical structure, submerged beneath the Indian or Pacific
had been completed in the first half of Ocean.
the Tertiary period. Unless we assume
In Miocene times, when Greenland
direct descent, and not parallel develop and Spitzbergen supported a luxuriant
ment, for the two species, why should vegetation, such a continent would be
the starting-point of man be later than found to the north, possibly in that sub
that of the Dryopithecus ? The horse, merged northern continent which afforded
whose ancestral pedigree is the best a bridge for the passage of so many forms
established of any of the existing of animal life between the Old and New
mammals, was already in existence in Worlds. In fact, many geologists incline
the Pliocene period; and the Hipparion, to the conclusion that the more recent
which is the first of the links connecting forms of animal and vegetable life have
him with the primitive mammal, is first migrated southwards from this circum
found in the Miocene and not later than polar Miocene land, and not northwards
the Pliocene. Why should the develop from tropical regions.
ment of man have begun later, and
We can, therefore, draw no conclusion
followed a more rapid course than that from this scarcity of the remains of
of the horse ? Man, as M. Quatrefages intermediate forms. Science can only
observes, must, from his superior intelli continue to probe the crust of the earth
gence and knowledge of fire and clothing, wherever it is opened, and trust that
have been more able to resist changes of some lucky chance may again add to
climate and environment than many of our knowledge of them. The problem
the animals which undoubtedly outlived is one of the greatest theoretical interest,
the change from the Tertiary to the though we can now happily state that the
Quaternary period, and even survived admission of the fact of man’s animal
the excessive rigour of the Glacial epoch. descent no longer depends on such dis
If, as seems almost certain, the first coveries.
�ANIMAL MAGNETISM AND SPIRITUALISM
79
Chapter VII.
ANIMAL MAGNETISM AND SPIRITUALISM
Binet and Fere’s Volume—School of Salpetri^re could do just as much as a Mesmer with
his flowing robes and magic wand. This
_ .Dr. Braid—Hypnotism—How Produced
Effects of—Lethargy—Catalepsy—Somnam led to the further conclusion that any
bulism — Hallucination—Dreams—Hypnotic thing that strained the attention, or, in
Suggestion—Instances of—Visible Rendered
Invisible—Emotions Excited—Acts Dictated other words, excited certain sensory
—Magnet—Trance—Alternating Identity- centres of the brain abnormally, threw
Thought - Reading—Clairvoyance—Spiritual it, so to speak, out of gear, an<i caused
ism—Slate-Writing—Scybert _ Commission- both sensory and motor nervous centres
All Gross Imposture—Dancing Chairs and to behave in a very extraordinary and
Tables—Large Field Opened up by French
Investigations—-Point to Materialistic Results. unusual manner.
.
The volume by Messrs. Binet and. Fere,
published in the International Scientific
Series, gives a lucid view of the recent
researches by which the mysterious sub
jects comprised under the cognate heads
of animal magnetism, hypnotism, som
nambulism, catalepsy, hallucination, and
spiritualism have been,. to a consider
able extent, brought within the domain of
experimental science. The existence of
extraordinary phenomena in this misty
region had been known since the time
of Mesmer, and at times professors. of
what seemed to be something very like
the black art had excited a temporary
sensation, which died out as their tricks
were exposed, or as folly changed its
fashion. But there was such an atmos
phere of imposture, delusion, and super
stitious credulity about the whole subject
that rational men, and especially men of
science really competent to make experi
mental inquiries, turned fromit in disgust.
The first step towards a really scientific
inquiry was made by Dr. Braid, a wellknown surgeon in Manchester, about
forty-five years ago. He proved conclu
sively that the state known as mesmerism,
or artificial somnambulism, could be
produced by straining the eyes for a short
time to look at a given object.
A black wafer stuck on a white wall
Thus it produced a state of anaesthesia,
and, if chloroform had not proved a more
generally efficacious and manageable
agent, hypnotism would probably have
been employed to this day in surgical
operations. Healing effects also were
produced, which bordered very closely
on what used to be considered as
miraculous cures; and in several cases
Braid literally made the blind to see and
the lame to walk, by directing a stream
of vital energy to a paralysed nerve.
Still more extraordinary were the
effects produced in exalting the faculties
and paralysing the will. Muscular force
could in certain cases be so increased
that a limb became as rigid as a bar of
iron, and memory so stimulated that
words and scenes scarcely noticed at the
time, and long since forgotten, started
into life with wonderful vividness and
accuracy.
Thus, in one of Dr. Braid’s experi
ments, an ordinary Scotch servant-girl
startled him by repeating in Hebrew a
passage from the Bible.. It turned out
that she had been maid to a Scotch
minister who was learning. Hebrew, and
who used to walk about his study recit
ing passages from the Hebrew text.
Another instance shows the remark
able obliteration of the will in hypnotised
subjects. A puritanical old lady, to
�8°
ANIMAL MAGNETISM AND SPIRITUALISM
whom dancing was an abomination, was process is repeated may be soon brought
sent capering about the room by playing into a state in which the slightest hint or
a reel tune on a piano, and telling her to suggestion is sufficient to produce the
join in the dance.
abnormal condition. Thus a highly
Dr. Braid’s experiments, however, did sensitive patient may be hypnotised if
not carry the subject much farther than led to believe that an operator is making
to make believe that there was really passes in an adjoining room, although
something in it; and the subsequent rise he is not really there; while, on the
of spiritualism, with its vulgar machinery other hand, the weight of evidence is
of table-turning and spirit-rapping, and against any effect being produced by
frequent exposures in police-courts, once real passes if the patient is totally
more repelled rational men and consigned unaware of anything of the sort going on,
the subject to oblivion.
or being expected.
But within the last few years a school
But with the class of patients at the
has arisen of French medical men, con Salpetriere the various effects can, in
nected with the hospital of Salpetriere, many cases, be produced with as much
at Paris, who have taken up the subject precision and certainty as when a bar of
in a thoroughly scientific spirit, and iron is magnetised or de-magnetised by
have arrived at truly wonderfully results. turning on or off an electric current
This hospital, affording as it does a con through a coil of copper wire surround
stant supply of hysterical and epileptic ing it.
patients, presents peculiar facilities for
These effects may be classed under
conducting a series of experiments. In two heads — physical and mental or
cases of individual experiments there is psychical. . Not but that the latter
always danger of error from simulation depend ultimately on mechanical move
on the part of the patient, or delusion ments of nerve-centres of the brain, but
on that of the operator. But here the they are connected with will, conscious
experiments were conducted by a body ness, and other phenomena which we
of scientific and sceptical men, selected are accustomed to consider as mental.
from the flower of French surgeons and The purely physical efforts, again, may
physicians; and the patients were so be classified under three heads—viz.,
varied and numerous that, by proper those of lethargy, catalepsy, and som
precautions, it was possible to eliminate nambulism.
The divisions shade off
the element of conscious imposture. into one another, but the typical states
This supply of a large number of patients, are sufficiently distinct to justify this
suffering from hysteria and other nervous classification, which is due to M. Charcot,
disorders, was an essential element for the Director of the Salpetriere.
success, for it is with this class of patients,
In lethargy the patient appears to be
and especially of female patients, that in the deepest sleep. In fact, all the
the phenomena can be produced with functions of mind and body, except the
most completeness and certainty. It is bare life, seem to be suspended. The
a moot point whether all human organ eyes are closed, the body is perfectly
isms are subject more or less to the helpless; the limbs hang slackly down,
influence of hypnotism; but it is certain and, if they are raised, they drop heavily
that with healthy adults not more than into the same position. The charac
one out of every five or six subjects can teristic feature of this state is that any
be hypnotised at the first attempt, and excitement of the muscles, either direct
a great majority of those who can are or through a stimulus applied to the con
only so in a slight degree.
necting motor nerve, produces what is
The liability, however, to hypnotic called a contracture. Thus, if the ulnar
influence increases rapidly by practice, nerve is pressed, the third and fourth
so that nervous patients on whom the fingers of the corresponding hand are
�ANIMAL MAGNETISM AND SPIRITUALISM
forcibly contracted, and so for every
other nerve and corresponding muscle
of the body. This evidently affords a
perfect security against simulation, for no
one who was not a skilled anatomist
would know what muscles were con
nected with a particular nerve.
One of the most remarkable pheno
mena connected with these contiactures
is that they may be produced by a
magnet not in physical contact with the
nerve or muscle excited, and, still more
wonderful, that it may be transferred by
a magnet from one side of the body to the
other. Thus, if the fingers of the right
hand have been contracted by pressure
on the ulnar nerve of the right arm, and
a magnet is brought close to that nerve,
both hands become agitated with slight
jerking movements, and soon the con
tracture of the right fingers ceases, and
is transferred to the same fingers of the
left hand. We shall see later that in
more advanced stages of hypnotism still
more marvellous effects are produced by
the magnet, even to the extent of transfer
ring moral emotions into their opposites,
as love into hatred, or hatred into love.
In the meantime, it may be sufficient
to observe that these experiments with
the magnet seem to point out the most
likely way of bringing these mysterious
phenomena within the domain of accurate
science, and here the researches of the
Salpetriere school seem to be deficient.
We are merely told that the magnet pro
duces certain effects, but we want to
know at what distance does it produce
these effects. Do the effects and distance
vary with the power of the magnet ? are
they produced differently by the pre
sentation of the positive or negative pole?
are they produced by an electro-magnet
or by electric currents? is there any and
what reaction by the nerve or muscle on
the magnet ? and other similar questions.
When these are certainly known and
can be expressed in terms of weight and
movement, we shall have made the first
solid and secure step in advance towards
a solution of the more complicated
problems.
81
The next stage is that of catalepsy,
into which lethargy may be made to pass
by simply opening the eyelids. But,
although so closely allied to lethargy,
the states are very different. In catalepsy
all power of movement, or of resistance
to movement, is absolutely suspended,
and the body is like a lump of plastic
clay, which may be moulded into, and
will retain, any form given to it by the
operator. In fact, the subject becomes
a lay figure, with this sole difference,
that he remains so only for some ten or
fifteen minutes, after which the con
strained positions give way to natural
ones. But that he is a bona fide lay
figure for the time is proved by registering
the movements of the extended arm and
the regularity of the respiration, by means
of tracing instruments, and comparing
them with those of a healthy man volun
tarily assuming the same position. The
contrast of the tracings is most remark
able. That of the arm extended by
catalepsy is a straight line showing abso
lutely no tremors; while that of the arm
voluntarily extended shows such a series
of abrupt and increasing oscillations as
to make it quite conceivable how
thought-reading may be possible by con
tact between persons of exceptionally
delicate nervous organisation.
Another remarkable feature in cata
lepsy is that the position in which the
body is placed seems to react on the
mind, and call up the emotions, and
their reflex muscular motions, which are
habitually associated with the attitude.
Thus, if the head is depressed, the face
assumes the expression of humility; if
elevated, that of pride.
The most extraordinary phenomena
known are those of somnambulism, and
of the artificial somnambulism which is
produced by animal magnetism or
hypnotism. These are of various stages,
graduating from that of, ordinary waking
dreams to that of profound hypnotism,
in which will, consciousness, _ memory,
and perception are affected in a way
which at first sight appears to be truly
I magical or supernatural. The symptoms
�82
ANIMAL MAGNETISM AND SPIRITUALISM
may be classed for convenience as nation and suggestion that the results
physical or psychical, although the latter are most startling and most opposed to
are really physical, depending ultimately ordinary experience. What is an hallu
on movements of nerve-centres.
cination? It may be described in one
The direct physical effect seems to be word as seeing the invisible and not
the exact opposite of that of lethargy— seeing the visible. And the same of the
viz., that the senses, instead of being other senses. They not only deceive us,
asleep, have their sensibility exalted in but give evidence directly contradictory
an extraordinary degree. Thus, subjects of that of the waking senses. We hear
feel the heat or cold produced by the inaudible, and are deaf to the audible;
breathing from the mouth at a distance we touch the intangible, and lose touch
of several yards. The hearing is so of the tangible; bitter tastes sweet, and
acute that a conversation may be over sweet bitter.
The fundamental fact
heard which is carried on in the floor seems to be that, if certain conditions or
below.
molecular movements of certain sensory
The amount of this exaltation of the nerve-centres of the brain are caused, no
senses can almost be measured. There matter how, the corresponding percep
is a familiar experiment in which the tions, with their train of associated ideas
impression of two points, as of separate and reflex movements, inevitably follow.
pencils near one another, is felt as one ; In. the normal waking state these con
and an instrument has been constructed, ditions are created by real objects con
known as Weber’s compasses, which veyed to the brain through the senses.
measures the amount of deviation neces We see a man, and we conclude him to
sary to produce a two-fold sensation. be a real man because our other senses
This deviation appears to be six times confirm the testimony of sight. If he
greater in the waking than in the som speaks, we hear him; if we touch him, we
nambulistic state, whence it may be in feel him ; and the evidence of all other
ferred that the sensibility of the sense people who see and hear him confirms
of touch has been exalted sixfold.
our experience. But in dreams we have
A similar exaltation is produced in the commencement of a different experi
the faculty of memory, as shown in the ence, for we see and hear distinctly for
instance already quoted, in which an the time, though in a fleeting and imper
ignorant servant-girl recited a long passage fect manner, scenes and persohs which
in Hebrew. As in dreams, perceptions have no real objective existence. In
long since photographed on the brain hallucinations we have the same thing,
and completely forgotten seem to be only in a waking or partially waking
revived with all the vividness of actually state, and the impressions made are
present perceptions when recalled by vastly more vivid and permanent.
some association with the dominant idea
Take the following as instances of
which has taken possession of the mind. positive hypnotic hallucinations, or seeing
This arises doubtless, in a great measure, the invisible, recorded by Messrs. Binet
from the mind being closed against the and Fere from their experience at the
innumerable other impressions which, in Salpetriere. A patient told to look at a
the waking state, wholly or partially butterfly which had just alighted on the
neutralise any one suggested idea, and table before her immediately said, “ Oh,
weaken its impression. Thus, a som what a beautiful butterfly,” and proceeded
nambulist walks securely along a narrow cautiously to catch it and impale the
plank, because no other outward impres imaginary butterfly with a pin on a piece
sions of surrounding objects confuse his of cardboard. Another patient, being
mind with suggestions of danger.
shown a photographic plate with an
It is, however, when we come to the impression of a scene in the Pyrenees,
partly psychical phenomena of halluci and told that it was a portrait of herself
�ANIMAL MAGNETISM AND SPIRITUALISM
83
in a very unbecoming dress, or rather in the waking mind, and produce the
want of dress, immediately saw it so, and effects corresponding to the idea as by
was so enraged that she threw the plate an inevitable piece of machinery. This
on the ground and stamped on it. And brings the subject within the domain
what is remarkable, as showing the of criminal jurisprudence, for there is
intensity and persistency of these hallu abundant evidence that a normally moral
cinations, for nearly two months after person may obey a hypnotic suggestion
wards, when shown in her waking state which had been totally, forgotten, even
photographs of this landscape which had to the extent of committing the greatest
been taken from the plate, she saw her crimes, as attempting to stab or adminis
own portrait and fell into fits of passion. ter poison. Thus M. Fere relates that,
In another case a patient, being told that having ordered a subject in a state of
one of the hospital doctors would be somnambulism on awakening to. stab
present at a ball to be given, next night M. B------ with the pasteboard knife he
among the inmates of Salpetriere, saw, put into her hand, as soon as she awoke
conversed, and walked about with this she rushed on him and struck him in
imaginary doctor, who was not really the region of the heart. M. B-——•
present, and when she saw the real man feigned to fall down. The subject,
the day after could not recognise him being asked why she had killed him,
until she had been again hypnotised and replied with an expression of ferocity,
“He is an old villain, and wished to
the hallucination dispelled.
The negative experiences of making insult me.”
It is evident that, if these phenomena
the visible invisible are even more extra
are real, hypnotism ought to be regulated
ordinary. Take the following case:—
“ We suggested to a hypnotised patient by law as much as the far less dangerous
that when she awoke she would be unable practice of vivisection. The practice of
to see F----- •. She could not see him, it should be confined to licensed medical
and asked what had become of him. . practitioners, and under conditions re
We replied, 1 He has gone out; you may quiring the presence of at least two or
return to your room.’ She rose, said more witnesses, one of whom, especially
good morning, and, going to the door, in the case of females, should be some
knocked up against F------ , who had respectable friend or relative. I prefer,
placed himself before it. We next took however, not to dwell on this branch of
a hat, which she saw quite well, and the question, but to return to its purely
touched it so as to be sure that it was scientific and philosophical aspects.
The purely mechanical origin of these
really there. We placed it on F------’s
head, and words cannot express her hallucinations is shown by a number of
surprise when she saw the hat apparently interesting experiments. An hallucina
suspended in the air. F------ took off tory image can be reflected, refracted, or
the hat and saluted her with it several made to appear double, in precisely the
times, when she saw it, without any same manner as a real one. Thus, in
support, describing curves in the air. in what is known as Brewster’s experi
She declared the hat must be suspended ment, where an image is duplicated by
by a string, and even got on a chair to a slight lateral pressure on one eye
throwing it out of focus with the other,
feel for it.”
Numerous other instances equally the same effect is produced. A case is
remarkable are recorded, and there is a recorded where an hysterical patient, who
whole class of cases in which suggestions had a vision of the Virgin Mary appear
impressed on the subject’s mind in a ing in great glory, saw two Virgins
state of hypnotism may long afterwards, directly this lateral pressure was applied.
and when totally forgotten, be revived at Complementary colours also appear to
predicted periods, with irresistible force, an hallucinatory image of a red or green
�84
ANIMAL MAGNETISM AND SPIRITUALISM
spot on a sheet of white cardboard, just: really displaced by F------ , who had been
as they would in the waking state if the: rendered invisible by suggestion. It is
spot were real. The magnet also, by’ evident that, if there is any real residue
a purely mechanical action, transfers of facts in the phenomena of spiritualistic
unilateral hallucinations which affect one; seances, after deducting what is due to
eye only, from the right to the left eye, legerdemain and imposture, the above
and vice versa, and it may be made to experiments would go a long way to
destroy an hullucination, as when X------ account for them. The preliminaries of
was made invisible to an hypnotic a seance, such as darkened rooms, con
subject; on applying a magnet to the tact of hands, and excited imagination,
back of the head, X------ again became are almost identical with those employed
visible.
by Mesmer, and it would be contrary to
And what is still more wonderful, the experience if they did not frequently
magnet is capable of transferring emo produce, on susceptible subjects, hyp
tions. Thus the idea was impressed on notic effects which made them suscep
a hypnotised subject that on awaking tible to hallucinating suggestions. If so,
she would feel a desire to strike F
—. there is no doubt that they might see
A magnet was placed near her right foot. tables move and Mr. Home float in the
On awaking, she jumped up and tried air, with a full conviction that they were
to give F----- - a slap, saying, “ I do not awake all the time and in possession of
know why, but I feel a desire to strike their ordinary senses.
him.” In another moment her face
This much I would observe, that all
assumed a gentle and endearing ex these attempts to escape from the inexor
pression, and she said, “ I want to able laws of nature invariably fail.
embrace him,” and tried hard to do so. Spiritualism is grasped at by many
Consecutive oscillations between love because it seems to hold out a hope of
and hatred were then observed.
escaping from those laws and proving
Another most remarkable phenomenon the existence of disembodied spirits.
is recorded. It was suggested to a sub But, when analysed by science, spiritual
jected X----- r that she had become M. ism leads straight to materialism. What
F------•. On awaking, she was unable to are we to think of free will if, as in the
see M. F------ , who was present, but she case of Dr. Braid’s old lady, it can be
exactly imitated his gestures, put her annihilated, and the will of another brain
hands in her pockets, and stroked an substituted for it, by the simple mechani
imaginary moustache. When asked if cal expedient of looking at a black wafer
she was acquainted with herself, X------ , stuck on a white wall ? Or what becomes
she replied with a contemptuous shrug, of personal consciousness and identity
“Oh, yes, an hysterical patient. What if, as in the case above quoted, a young
do you think of her? She is not too woman can be brought to refer to herself
wise.”
with contemptuous pity as a strange girl
There are two experiments recorded who “was not over wise ”? These cases
which throw a good deal of light on the of an alternating identity are most per
phenomena of what is known as spiritual plexing. Smith falls into a trance and
ism. In slight hypnotism, the subjects believes himself to be Jones. He really
assert, on awaking, that they have never is Jones, and Smith has become a stranger
for a moment lost consciousness, and to him while the trance lasts; but when
that they have been present as wit he awakes he is himself, Smith, again,
nesses at the phenomena of suggestion ;and forgets all about Jones. He falls
developed by the magnetisers.
In into another trance, and straightway he
another case the furniture of the room 1forgets Smith and takes up his Jones
seemed to the subject to be noisily <existence where he dropped it in the
moved about by invisible hands, being ]previous trance, and so he may go on
�ANIMAL MAGNETISM AND SPIRITUALISM______
ments. These are transmitted, in the
r
case of hearing, by sound-waves of air ;
c
in that of sight by light-waves of ether,
1
to the nerve-endings of B, and along
t
those nerves to his brain, where they
t
originate cell-movements corresponding
Jto the original movements in the brain
t
of A, and which are accompanied by the
(
same train of ideas and perceptions. In
s
the sense of touch, there is no interme
1
diate medium between the nerve-endings
<
of A and B, and the movements of the
<
former are communicated directly to
those of B by contact. The senses of
taste and smell are hardly used by the
human species as means of communicat
ing ideas, though in many animal species,
as in the dog, the latter, sense is greatly
used in placing them in relation with
their environment.
This also may be affirmed respecting
the different senses, that they are capable
of being brought to an exceptional degree
of susceptibility by necessity and practice,
as is well illustrated by the facility with
which the blind substitute the sense of
“We are such stuff as dreams are made of,”
touch for that of sight, and read fluently
he enunciated what has become a scien books printed with raised letters. The
tific fact. The “stuff” is in all cases sense of sight also may be brought to a
the same—vibratory motions of nerve degree of unusual acuteness, enabling
the observer to read indications in the
particles.
The researches of the French school face and expression so slight as to be
of physiologists throw a good deal of invisible to the ordinary sense, and of
light on the mysterious regions of pheno which the person observed is . himself
mena, or alleged phenomena, which unconscious. A remarkable instance
are classed under the general heads of of this is given by Lord Avebury, of a
thought-reading, clairvoyance, and spirit dog who could pick out from a series of
ualism. Those of thought-reading and numbers on cards laid on the floor the
clairvoyance may be summed up in the; correct answer of sums in arithmetic,
question whether or no it is possible for and even extract cube-roots,. doubtless
one brain to communicate with another■ by observing unconscious indications in
otherwise than through the ordinary- his master’s face when he touched the
medium of the senses. It is certain that; correct card.
This, no doubt, goes a long way towards
in the immense majority of cases it is5
not possible. Consider how the ideas5 explaining the phenomena of what is
or perceptions of A are communicated1 called thought-reading. It is quite conto B. Certain movements of the brain- ceivable that, with contact, an exception
cells of A which are, if not the cause,, ally delicate sense of touch, exceptionally
j
the invariable concomitants of those cultivated, may enable a man to read
s
ideas and perceptions, send currents the insensible tremors which are unalong the nerves, which at their extre- consciously transmitted to nerve-ends
mities contract muscles and cause move and superficial muscles, the existence of
alternating between Smith and Jones,
I often ask myself the question—If he
died during one of his trances, which
would he be, Smith or Jones ? and I
confess that it takes some one wiser than
I am to answer it.
Again, what can be said of love and
hate if, under given circumstances, they
can be transformed into one another by
the action of a magnet ? It is evident
that these phenomena all point to the
conclusion that all we call soul, spirit,
consciousness, and personal identity are
indissolubly connected with mechanical
movements of the material elements of
nerve-cells, and that, if we want any
further solution, we must go down deeper
and ask what this matter, and what these
movements, or rather the energy which
causes them, may really mean. Can the
antithesis between soul and body, spirit
and matter, be solved by being both
resolved into one eternal and universal
substratum of existence ? When Shake
speare said,
�86
ANIMAL MAGNETISM AND SPIRITUALISM
which is a necessary consequence of all
different. Here we find ourselves on
brain-motion or thought, and which is
less firm ground, and opinions vary
proved to exist as a matter of fact by the
considerably. Mr. Frank Podmore, who
irregularities in the line traced by a
was for many years the secretary of, and
pencil under suitable conditions. And
an indefatigable and critical worker in,
it is to be remarked that keeping the
the above society, believes that there
mind fixed on the idea—in other words,
making the corresponding brain-motions remain a large number of facts after the
keenest analysis which point to the
and nerve-currents stronger and more
persistent — is the condition usually existence of telepathy and a kind of clair
required for a successful experiment in voyance. He has discussed the matter
fully m his Apparitions and Thoughtthought-reading.
Transference and later works. Professor
Thus far—and Mr. Cumberland, the
Charles Richet has also conducted a
most successful thought-reader of the number of experiments which lead him
day, carries it no farther—there is nothing
to the same conclusion. In their theory
impossible, or even a priori improbable, the active particles in the brain cause
in the assertion that thought may be
waves in the surrounding ether, and
thus read. It is a question of evidence,
these are received and interpreted by a
and here the weight of the negative
sympathetic brain, much as in the pro
evidence is so great that it requires
cess of wireless telegraphy. But other
extremely strong proof to establish ex scientific men consider that coincidence
ceptions. It is a matter of notoriety is not inadequate to explain the few
that persons, even of delicate tempera
phenomena which can be demonstrated
ments, may lie in the closest contact, to be free from fraud or hallucination.
clasped in each other’s arms, without
Consider the enormous number of
either having the remotest idea of what
dreams, 300,000,000 at least, of civilised
is passing. in the mind of the other, human beings dreaming for most nights
unless it is conveyed by the ordinary of the year, and these dreams all made
channels of sight or hearing. On the
up of fragments of actual scenes and
other hand, the evidence for a few rare
persons, which have been photographed
exceptions is strong, especially in the
on the brain. The wonder is not that
case of some of Mr. Cumberland’s ex there should be occasional coincidences
periments, which are all the stronger
between dreams and contemporaneous
because he does not pretend to any
or subsequent occurrences, but that there
supernatural power, and shows none of should be so few of them. How many
the ordinary signs of an impostor. All
anxious brains must have dreamt of
we can say, therefore, is that where there absent friends or relations dying or in
is contact, or where unconscious indi
danger, and in how many millions of
cations may be read by the eye, there is
cases must the dream not have been
nothing in thought-reading inconsistent verified. And how many vivid dreams,
with the known laws of Nature ; but that or dreams in a dozing state, between
the evidence, though strong, is hardly sleeping and waking, must have passed
strong enongh to enable us to accept it into the stage of hallucination, and been
as an established fact.
taken for actual visions. And how weak
Yet when we come to thought-reading is memory, and how strong the myth
at a distance, and to the analogous making propensity of the human mind
alleged phenomena of clairvoyance,
to convert these dreams and visions into
fulfilled dreams and visions, and com waking realities. Of the many cases of
munications across the globe, mostly distant communications collected by the
from the dead and dying, such as are so Psychical Research Society, I do not
plentifully recorded in the annals of the know of one which may not be thus
Psychical Research Society, the case is
accounted for; and in some the proof is
�ANIMAL MAGNETISM AND SPIRITUALISM_________ 87
what the answer was I The “m” of
conclusive, as where visions have been
seen or impressions felt of events before “mother” had been written not very
'
they occurred, owing to the difference of legibly, with the first stroke too long, so
1
that at a hasty glance in a constrained
time due to longitude.
. .
1
In the case of spiritualism it is re- position it might be easily read as
i
And sure enough the
markable that it is only the more vulgar “brother.”
and grotesque forms which there is any answer came, “ Your brother’s spirit not
•
difficulty in explaining. We understand being here, we do not know his Christian
This was my first and last
how spirits are materialised, for the name.”
apparatus has been frequently exposed experience of omniscient spirits, and it
in the police-courts; there is. nothing was perfectly apparent that it was only a
very mysterious in the way in which piece of very simple and very clumsy
No doubt things more
slight hints and clues are followed up by legerdemain.
professional mediums. And there is this marvellous are done by superior legerde
conclusive consideration—that the spirits main, but nothing that I have ever heard
never say or know anything which has of that is beyond the resources of leger
not passed through the mind of the demain, or which is so wonderful as the
medium. If he is illiterate, the spirits mango and other tricks of Indian
would be plucked for their spelling; if jugglers. No one who has not studied
he is weak in his h’s, so are they; if he the art of legerdemain can be aware how
makes a mistake or is entrapped into a great its resources are, and how com
contradiction, they follow suit. In no pletely the senses may be deceived by a
single instance has any communication skilful operator. Nor is it at all difficult
of the slightest use or novelty been made to understand how slight clues may .be
used by an experienced operator, to give
by these visitors from another world.
In short, the whole affair is obviously what are apparently astounding answers.
legerdemain in rapping or writing on Thus, if a medium happens to know that
slates, answers to questions known to the a death has at any time occurred in the
medium, supplemented by any hints or family of the questioner, the answer
clues he may possess, and in the absence wrapped or written out is sure to profess
of these by such commonplaces as “We to come from the spirit of the deceased
are happy,” “ We are with you.” I saw relative.
If any doubt had remained as to the
a conclusive proof of this in the only
experience I ever had with a professional nature of these spiritualistic experiences,
medium, one of great repute.
The it would have been removed by the
question put was, “ What was my report made in 1887 by the Scybert
mother’s Christian name?” This was Commission. In this case Mr. Scybert,
written on a slate out of sight of the an enthusiastic spiritualist in the United
medium, and turned down, and ap States, bequeathed a considerable sum of
parently held by one of his hands under money to the University of Philadelphia,
a table, while the other hand was held by on the condition that it should appoint
the questioner. Nothing occurred for a a Commission to investigate modern
while, but then began a series of groans spiritualism. Ten Commissioners were
and twistings by the medium, which I appointed, including several professors
took to be part of the usual conjurer’s and well-known men of science j some
patter to divert attention; but, looking of whom, including their chairman, Dr.
closely, I distinctly saw a corner of the; Furness, confessed “ to a leaning in
slate reversed under the table, with the: favour of the substantial truth . of
writing on it uppermost, followed by the: spiritualism.” They took . great pains
scratching of a pencil, after which the: with the investigation, which was conanswer was produced, alleged to have; ducted wiih scrupulous fairness, and
been written by the spirits. But mark; examined many of the most famous
�88
ANIMAL MAGNETISM AND SPIRITUALISM
mediums, among whom was the well- are produced. There is a deal of eviknown Dr. Slade.
Their unanimous dence from persons whose good faith
5
report was that the whole thing was based cannot be doubted that they have seen
1
on “gross, intentional fraud.” They1 pieces of furniture move at the end of a
saw distinctly how the tricks were; room, without any contact or apparent
effected, and a professional conjurer,, cause, and that this took place in private
Mr. Kellar, who had been at first baffled houses, where there was no possibility of
by the phenomena of slate - writing,, prepared machinery.
having turned his attention more closely
The mediums say it is done by spirit
to this branch of conjuring, was able not hands. This is obviously absurd, for it
only to repeat the processes of the best is not a case which lies outside of known
mediums, but to do so with far greater laws of Nature, but one which radically
skill, and _ produce effects which they
conflicts with them. As long as the law
could not imitate; while he has given a of motion holds “that action and reaction
challenge to the spiritualistic world that
are equal and opposite,” there can be no
he will reproduce by sleight-of-hand any action without a solid point of resistance.
alleged spiritualistic phenomena which Archirnedes said that he could move the
he has witnessed three times. Slade world if you gave him a irov trra, or
himself was later condemned to prison fulcrum, on which to rest his machinery;
in London for fraud.
and the ghost of Archimedes, if sum
This report is so conclusive to any moned from the Elysian fields at the
reasonable mind that it is scarcely bidding of a seedy professional medium,
necessary to refer to the mass of corro could say no more. Spirit-hands must
borative evidence to the same effect; be attached to a solid spirit body, stand
such, for instance, as the confession of ing on solid feet on a solid floor, to lift a
the Fox family, that the rappings, in weight. And the same thing applies to
which the spiritualistic faith originated, any supposed magnetic or psychic force
were produced by a knack they had of enacted by the medium. If the medium
half-dislocating toe and knee joints, and pulls the chair, the chair must pull the
replacing them with a sudden snap— medium, and it becomes a case of “pull
a knack which, singularly enough, is also devil, pull baker.” If a magnet lifts an
possessed by Professor Huxley; the iron bar, it is because the magnet is fixed
confessions of Home and other exposed to some point of attachment.
mediums; and the experiences of Mr.
The question, therefore, resolves itself
Davy, Mrs. Sedgwick, and others, related into one either of hallucination or
in a volume of the Psychical Research legerdemain. Do the chairs and tables
Society.
really move, or only seem to move?
Those who are not convinced by such There appears to be no trustworthy
proofs as these are impervious to reason, evidence as to this fundamental point,
and it would be a waste of words to argue and yet it is one easily determined.
the matter any farther. It may be Does the housemaid when she comes
assumed as a demonstrated fact that all :into the room next morning, or anyone
the phenomena which profess to be based ■who has not been under the influence
on a communication with a spiritual <of the seance, find the furniture where it
world are, in the words of the Scybert 1was originally, or where it seemed to be
Report, simple instances of vulgar leger- jplaced. If it was really moved, who moved
demain and of human credulity.
jit? Here, also, hallucination might come
It is only when we come to what may i
into play in another form, for if, as
be called the tomfoolery of spiritualism, <
described in the experiment of Binet and
such as unmeaning tricks of dancing ]
Fere, already mentioned, the medium
chairs and tables, that we are left in c
could release his hands without being
doubt how some of the appearances I [
perceived, and render himself invisible
�ANIMAL MAGNETISM AND SPIRITUALISM_________ 89
by suggestion, or perform the trick in a apparent contact. Nor do they seem to
dark room, he could easily move the have thoroughly studied and mastered
chairs himself without being seen. ^his the resources of legerdemain, which are
seems the more probable, as in all the obviously one of the principal causes,
accounts I have read the articles moved and in many cases the sole cause, of the
do not exceed the weight which the so-called spiritualistic manifestations, and
medium might move, either in his natural without a knowledge of which no one
is really competent to form an opinion.
condition, or with his muscular strength
excited by hypnotism. Assuming a state Indeed, it is questionable whether, when
all the more refined tricks of spiritualistic
of hypnotism to be induced in the spec
mediums have been so thoroughly
tators, the explanation would be easy,
and, in fact, identical with many of the exposed, it is worth while to seek for
scientifically-recorded experiments of any other hypothesis than that of ordi
Binet and Fere. And it is remarkable nary conjuring to account for those
that the preliminary conditions of the mere childish and unmeaning manifesta
stance, such as darkened rooms, clasped tions, the modus operandt of which has
hands, and strained attention, are identi not yet been fully explained.
It is evident, however, from the wellcal with those employed, from Mesmer
attested experiments of the French school,
downwards, in producing real hypnotism.
At the same time, it would seem that that there really is opening up a most
the hypnotism (if it be so) introduced at interesting field of inquiry as to the
stances differs from ordinary hypnotism. relations of mind to matter under certain
The subjects retain the fullest convic exceptional conditions, and the extent
tion that they have been wide awake all to which illusions may appear as realities
the time, and in full possession of their under the influence of excited imagi
Hypnotism, somnambulism,
ordinary senses. Can there be a state of nation.
semi-hypnotism in which the brain, while dreams, and hallucinations are becoming
retaining its full consciousness, is rendered exact sciences; and researches pursued
susceptible to suggested hallucinations ? in the same manner into the alleged
If so, the whole matter is explained. If phenomena of spiritualism and thought-’
not, it is very singular that the same reading would end either in exposing
preliminary operations which produce imposture, or in reducing such residuum
hypnotism, where hypnotism is expected, of truth as they may contain to known
should make chairs and tables dance, laws analogous to those which prevail
and bodies float in the air, where that is in other branches of physiological and
what the spectators expect to see. But psychological investigation.
In the meantime, I conclude by saying
the problem could easily be solved, so
that, so far as we have yet gone, the whole
far as the medium is concerned, by
connecting him with an electric current, of what is called “ spiritualism. seems
which would be broken and ring a bell to be quite dreadfully “materialistic.”
if he moved hand or foot, and seeing The one fact which comes out with
whether, under such circumstances, the demonstrated certainty is that definite
ideas are indissolubly connected with
furniture could be moved.
It is singular that the men of really definite vibrations of brain-cells; and
scientific attainments who profess a belief that, however these vibrations are
in spiritualism, such as Sir W. Crookes induced, the corresponding ideas and
and Mr. Wallace, do not seem to have perceptions inevitably follow. In the
proceeded in this way of accurate experi ordinary course of things, these vibrations
ment pursued by the French school of are induced by what are called realities
Salpetriere, even as regards the first acting through the senses, and by the
rudimentary alleged facts of moving normal action of the brain-cells on the
heavy bodies at a distance without perceptions thus received and stored up.
�90
AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY
But this applies only to about twothirds of our existence—viz., the waking
state. In sleep and dreams the vibra
tions set up are from former perceptions,
photographed on the brain, and grouped
together in unreal and often fantastic
pictures.
In somnambulism this is
carried to a further point, and we act
our dreams. In hypnotism it is carried
still farther, and the vibrations are excited
by a foreign will and by foreign sugges
tions. In the ultimate state, madness,
the hallucinations have become per
manent. But what strange questions
does it raise when we find that, in
certain abnormal conditions, all that is
most intimately connected with what we
call soul, individuality, and conscious
ness can be annihilated, or exchanged
for those of another person, by the
mechanical process of exciting their
corresponding brain-motions in another
way. What are love and hate, if a
magnet applied to a hypnotised patient
can transform one into the other? What'
is personal identity if the suggestion of
a. third person can make an hysterical
girl forget it so completely as to make
her talk of herself as a distant acquaint
ance “ who is not over wise ” ? What is
the value of the evidence of the senses
if a similar suggestion can make us see
the hat, but not the man who wears it,
or dance half the night with an imaginary
partner? Am I “I myself, I,” or am I
a barrel-organ, playing “ God save the
Queen, if the stops are set in the normal
fashion, but the “ Marseillaise ” if some
cunning hand has altered them without
my knowledge? These are questions
which I cannot answer. All I can say
is that practically the wisest thing I can
do is to keep myself, as far as possible,
in the sphere of normal conditions, and
assume its conclusions to be real; avoid
ing, except as a matter for strict scientific
investigation, the various abnormal paths
which, in one way or other, all converge
towards the ultimate end of insanity.
Chapter VIII.
THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. AGNOSTICISM
AND CHRISTIANITY
PART I.
Are they Reconcilable ?—Definitions of Agnosti
cism and Christianity—Christian Dogma—
Rests on Intuition, not Reason—Descartes,
Kant, Coleridge—Christian Agnostics—Ten
dency of the Age—Carlyle, George Eliot,
Renan—Anglican Divines, Spurgeon.
we know nothing of what may be beyond
phenomena,” and “ that a man shall not
say he knows or believes that which he
has no scientific grounds for professing
to know or believe.” This is not a
positive or aggressive creed, and is recon
Is Agnosticism reconcilable with Chris cilable with any . form of moral, intel
tianity, orare theyhopelesslyantagonistic? lectual, or religious belief which is not
That depends on the definition we give dogmatic—/.<?., which does not attempt
to the two terms. That of Agnosticism to impose on us some hard-and-fast
is very simple. It is contained in the theory of the universe, based on attempts
sentence of Professor Huxley’s, “ That to define the indefinable and explain
�AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY
the unknowable.
The definition of
Christianity is by no means so simple.
Practical Christianity resolves itself very
much, and more and more every day,
into a sincere love and admiration of the
life and teaching of Jesus, the son of the
carpenter of Nazareth, as depicted in the
narratives which have come down to us
respecting them, mainly in the Synoptic
Gospels. This love and admiration
translates itself into a desire to imitate as
far as possible this life, and to act upon
these precepts; to be good, pure, loving,
charitable, and unselfish even to the
death.
With this form of Christianity the
Agnostic has no quarrel; on the contrary,
if he is not dwarfed and stunted in his
faculties, if he has a heart to feel and
an imagination to conceive, he recognises
as fully as the most devout Christian all
that is good and beautiful in the true spirit
of Christianity and its Author. Nay,
more, he will not quarrel with the mass of
humble and simple-minded Christians
who show their love and admiration by
piling up adjectives until they reach the
supreme one of “ divine,” and who, in
obedience to the ineradicable instinct of
the human mind to personify abstract
ideas and emotions, make Jesus of
Nazareth their Ormuzd, or incarnation
of the good principle, and author of all
that is pure, righteous, and lovely in the
universe.
But there is another definition of
Christianity of a totally different char
acter—the dogmatic or theological defini
tion, which, commencing with St. Paul
and St. John, and culminating in the
Athanasian Creed, has been accepted
from the early ages of Christianity,
almost until the present day, as the
miraculous revelation of the true theory
of the universe. It teaches how a
personal God created the universe, how
he deals with it and sustains it, how
he formed man in his own image, and
what relations he has with him. It pro
fesses to explain mysteries such as the
origin of evil, man’s fall and redemption,
his life beyond the grave, the conditions
9i
of his salvation, and a variety of other
matters which, to ordinary human percep
tion, and human reason, are absolutely
and certainly hidden “ behind the veil.”
With this definition of Christianity
Agnosticism has nothing in common.
It cannot be both true that we know
certain things and that we do not and
cannot know anything about them.
Theology asserts that we are quite
capable of knowing the truth respecting
these mysteries, and that, in point of fact,
we do know it, either by intuition or
by historical evidence.
Philosophy
traverses the assertion that we know it
by intuition; Science shatters into frag
ments the scheme assumed to be taught
historically by a miraculous revelation.
To begin with intuition. It rests on
Cardinal Newman’s celebrated theory of
the “Illative sense,” or a. complete
assent of all the faculties, which gives a
more absolute proof than any that can
be attached to proofs of science, which
are only deductions from certain limited
faculties, such as experience and reason.
This was very clearly put by Father
Dalgairns in the discussion on “The
Uniformity of Laws of Nature ” at the
Metaphysical Society. He said: “I
believe in God in the same sense in
which I believe in pain and pleasure, in
space and time, in right and wrong, in
myself. If I do not know God, then
I know nothing whatever.” That is, the
idea of such a being as the God of
theology, a personal creator of the uni
verse, with faculties like, though trans
cendently like, those of man, appeared
to him a necessary postulate, or rather a
fundamental instinct or mould of thought,
as universal and imperative as those of
space and time. Now, is this so? It is
at once refuted by the fact that it is not
universal and not imperative. The im
mense majority of mankind, both now
and in all past ages, have had no such
intuition. It is the refined product of
an advanced civilisation, confined to a
few exceptional minds of high culture,
acute intellect, and tender conscience.
Even in Christian countries it is an
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AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY
affair of education and authority, rather the attempted definitions are mere
than of necessary intuition; and even juggles with words which convey no real
those who assert most loudly that it meaning. We talk of creation; but when
is a fundamental category of thought it comes to the point we find that we
complain that ninety-nine men out of really mean transformation, and that of
every hundred in modern England live creation, properly speaking, we have no
practically as if there were no God. Not more idea than the babe unborn. We
so with the real categories of thought and talk of immortality; but what we were
perception. No man, past or present, before we were born, or what we shall
in Monotheistic, Pantheistic, or Poly be after we die, what soul, consciousness,
theistic countries, has ever lived practi personal identity really are, how they
cally as if there were no such things as came to be indissolubly connected with
space and time, or as if such primary matter, and what they will be when
perceptions as those of pain and pleasure that union is dissolved, are mysteries as
had no real existence. These have to which we can only make guesses, like
never deceived us ; but the instances are the Brahmins and Buddhists, whose
innumerable in which the “illative guess is transmigration, or the Red
sense,” the complete, earnest, and con Indians, whose guess is a happy hunting
scientious assent of all the faculties, has ground beyond the setting sun.
deceived us, and has led to conclusions
The greatest philosophers have come
which a wider knowledge has shown to to this as the ultimate fact of their meta
be not only erroneous, but, in many physical reasonings.
Descartes says
cases, absurd and noxious.
“ that by natural reason we can make
When closely analysed, the theological many conjectures about the soul, and
idea of God may be clearly seen to be have flattering hopes, but no assurance.”
an attempt to define the indefinable. Kant confesses that reason can never
The primary idea is that of a creator. prove the existence of a God. Even
But what is creation ? Making a thing, great theologians, in the midst of their
in the sense in which alone man makes dogmatic definitions, let drop admissions
anything—that is, transforming existing which show that, at the bottom of their
matter and energy into new forms—we hearts, they feel their ignorance of the
can understand. As we make a watch high mysteries of which they talk so con
or a steam-engine, we can conceive how fidently. The Athanasian Creed, the
a Being, with faculties like our own, but very essence and incarnation of dogma
indefinitely magnified, might make a tism, says “the Father incomprehen
universe out of atoms and energies, and sible” in the midst of a long series of
make it so perfectly that it would go for articles, every one of which is absolutely
ever. But how he could make some devoid of meaning unless on the assump
thing out of nothing, which is what tion that he is comprehensible, and that
creation really implies, altogether passes the writer rightly comprehended him.
our understanding. We have absolutely St. Augustine writes, “ God is unspeak
no faculties which enable us to form even able,” and then proceeds, in a long
the remotest conception of what those treatise on “ Christian Doctrine,” to
atoms and energies really are, how they speak of him as if he knew all about
came there, or what will become of them. his personality, attributes, and ways of
The more closely we examine, the dealing with the world and man. Even
clearer it will appear that these theo St. Paul says, “ O the depths of God 1
logical intuitions are, in effect, nothing how unsearchable are his judgments, and
but aspirations; or reflections, like how inscrutable are his ways !”
Brocken spectres, of our earnest longings,
What more have Huxley and Herbert
fears, and hopes on the back-ground Spencer ever said ? Only they have said
mists of the Unknowable; and that all it deliberately, consistently, and knowing
�AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY
93
things is regulated by a special personal
the reason why; while theologians,
providence, frequently interfering by
admitting the premises, have preferred to
miracles with the course of evolution and
act and argue as if a totally different set
the uniformity of the laws of Nature.
of premises were true. The cause is The cause of miracles may be considered
obvious: Reason failing, they have as out of court when even enlightened
fallen back on Revelation. They had an
advocates who hold a brief for them,
• assured belief that an inspired volume,
like Dr. Temple, an Archbishop of the
attested by miracles, . taught things
Anglican Church, throw it up . and
respecting these mysteries which other
declare “ that all the countless varieties
wise must have remained, unknown.
of the universe were provided for. by an
Thus Coleridge, who occupies a fore
original impress, and not by special acts
most place among those who have
of creation modifying what had pre
attempted to base Christian theology on
abstract reason, arrives at this conclusion, viously been made.”
Dogmatic theology, therefore, having
that “aChristian philosophy or theology
no solid foundation either in abstract
has its own assumptions, resting.on three
ultimate facts—namely, the reality of the reason or in historic facts, and. being in
law of conscience, the existence of a hopeless conflict with science, is bound
responsible will as the subject of that law, to disappear; and even now, in address
ing enlightened and impartial men, it
and, lastly, the existence of God. The
first is a fact of consciousness; the may be taken as “ une quantite negligesecond, of reason necessarily concluded able.” This being the. case, the barrier
which separates Agnosticism from Chris
from the first; the third, a fact of history
tianity is to a great extent removed.
interpreted by both.” He clearly sees
The term “Christian Agnostic” is
that any certain knowledge respecting the
coming more and more to the front in
existence of God, and the various. con
clusions deduced from it by Christian the thoughts and utterances, of en
theology (such as the creation of man, lightened Christian men. I notice these
his fall and redemption, the origin of sin with pleasure, for it is always more
and evil, atonement, grace, and pre profitable to find points of . agreement
destination), if a fact at all, is a fact. of rather than of difference with sincere
A Professor of
history—that is, depends on a conviction and reasonable men.
that these mysteries were . actually Divinity, preaching in the University of
revealed as recorded by the Bible, and Oxford a short time ago, said : “ The field
that the Bible is an inspired, book of speculative theology may be regarded
attested by historical facts; that it con as almost exhausted: we must be. con
tains prophecies which really were ful tent henceforward to be Christian
filled, and describes miracles which Agnostics.” Canon Freemantle, in an
article in the Fortnightly Review, quotes
actually occurred.
This assumption has turned out to be this with approval. In the course of a
a broken reed.
In face of the dis very able argument on the changed con
coveries of recent science, no reasonable ditions of theology, he says that “ theo
man doubts that, beautiful, and admirable logians, in defiance of Aristotle s axiom,
as the Bible, and especially the New that you must not expect demonstration
Testament, may be in many parts,, it is from a rhetorician, have begun with
not a true, and therefore not a Divine, axioms and definitions and proceeded to
They have said or
revelation of the scheme of the universe. demonstrations.
1 proved ’ that God is just or. good, God
It is not true that the world was created
as described by Genesis; that man is a is personal, God is omniscient and
recent creation made in God’s image, omnipotent; and they have used these
who fell from his high estate by an act phrases, not in a literary, but in a quasiof disobedience; or that the course of scientific, manner, and have proceeded to
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AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY
draw strict inferences from them. But,
in doing this, they have not only acted
in the way of unwarrantable assump
tions; they have often produced what
St. Paul termed the vain janglings of a
science falsely so-called; have enslaved
the Divine to their own puny conceptions,
and have provoked violent revolt.”
This is precisely what Agnostics con
tend for. They do not deny that, in the
course of evolution, certain feelings and
aspirations have grown up and come to
be part of the mental furniture of civi
lised nations, which find a poetical
expression in the ideas of God and of
immortality. They simply deny that we
have, or ever can have, any certain,
definite, and scientific knowledge respect
ing these mysteries.
To take an
instance—that of the pre-existence of
the soul before birth; we recognise a
certain poetical truth in Wordsworth’s
noble ode when he asserts this pre
existence, and tells us that in infancy—
“ Trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home.”
But we do not accept it as a known or
knowable fact. We have absolutely no
experience of any consciousness or
personal identity before birth, or as
existing otherwise than in association
with the matter and energy of our cor
poreal body. No more have we of any
continuance of that identity after death.
It is “behind the veil,” in that great
region of the “ Unknowable ” where
nothing is known, and therefore all
things are possible. Here Agnosticism
comes in as a powerful auxiliary to those
emotions and aspirations which consti
tute what is called “religion.” It is the
best of all arguments against Atheism
and Materialism, for, if we cannot prove
an affirmative, still less can we prove a
negative.
No man who understands
what knowledge really means can affirm
that any conception of what may exist in
the great Unknowable which compasses
us about on every side is impossible.
He can only call it impossible when it
conflicts with known facts and laws; but
as long as it remains in the region of
poetical imagination or moral emotion
he cannot disprove it, and may even, if
he finds consolation or guidance from
it, give it a sort of provisional assent.
Thus, no Agnostic can deny that, if he
had faculties to see him, there might be
in the Unknowable a Divine spirit or *
substratum bearing some resemblance
to what enlightened men understand by
the term “God”; that there maybe a
Divine eye watching his every thought
and recording his every action ; and he
will not be. acting unwisely if he endea
vours to mould his life as if this were a
true supposition.
Only he does not
pretend to know this as a dogma or
certain truth, and therefore he does not
quarrel with any brother-man who thinks
differently, or who fancies that he has
more certain assurance.
Christian
morality he recognises fully, not as
taught by the later inventions of Churches
and casuists, but as displayed in the life
and teachings of Jesus, the son of the
carpenter of Nazareth, as they stand out,
when stripped of their mythical and
supernatural attributes, in the narrative
of the Gospels.
He looks on these
moral precepts as the results of a long
process of evolution in the best minds of
the best races, and not as arbitrary rules,
invented for the first time, and imposed
from without by miraculous teaching;
and he sees in Jesus simply the brightest
example and best model of a large class
of the virtues which are most needed to
make practical life pure, lovely, and of
good repute. In this sense may we not
all shake hands in the near future and be
“ Christian Agnostics ” ?
The tide is already running breasthigh in this direction. During the last
half-century how many of the foremost
men of light and leading have drifted
towards orthodox Christianity, and how
many away from it? Darwin, Herbert
Spencer, Huxley, Carlyle, Mill, all the
great thinkers who have influenced the
currents of modern thought, are men
who had renounced all belief in the
traditional theories of miracles and
�AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY
inspiration, and who, a few centuries
earlier, would have been burned as
heretics. The conversions have been
all one way; Romanes expressly stating
that his late acceptance of Theism rested
on non-rational grounds. Darwin, greatest
of all, was an orthodox believer in his
early life, and had even contemplated
taking orders before he embarked on his
mission of naturalist to the expedition
of the Beagle. In his case no violent
impulse or sudden crisis changed his
views; but the theological mists simply
melted away as the sun of Science rose
higher above his horizon. Patiently he
worked out his great book, guided solely
by his unswerving allegiance to truth,
until his conception of the universe as
the product, not of innumerable super
natural interferences, but of evolution by
natural law, became the creed of all men
of all countries who are able to appreciate
scientific facts and evidence.
But Darwin and men of scientific
training are not the only ones who have
exchanged the old for the new stand
point. Conversions have been even
more remarkable among eminent leaders
in literature and philosophy who were
brought up in the strictest traditions of
the old religious beliefs. In another
work1 I have called attention to the fact
that, if ever there were three minds
trained under the strongest influences
binding them to typical though different
forms of faith in Christian theology, they
are Carlyle, George Eliot, and Renan.
Carlyle was a Puritan of the Puritans,
bred in a farmhouse, whose inmates
might have been Covenanters who
fought against Claverhouse at Drumclog;
George Eliot was, in her surroundings
and early life, a typical representative
of middle-class English Evangelicalism ;
Renan of the simple Catholic piety of
Breton peasants, developed in an eccle
siastical seminary. How came they, all
three, to break away, with a painful
wrench, from old ideas and associations,
and become leaders of advanced thought?
1 Modern Science and Modern Thought.
95
How, indeed, except that they were
sincere searchers after truth, and that
truth compelled them ? If the case for
miracles and the inspiration of the Bible
had been convincing or even plausible,
is it conceivable that Carlyle, George
Eliot, and Renan should have all three
rejected it ? Where are the conversions
that can be shown in the opposite direc
tion? Where the leading minds which,
bred in the doctrine of Darwinism, have
abandoned it for the doctrine of St.
Athanasius or of Calvin ? The few
eminent men who literally adhered to
the old theology late in the last century,
such as Cardinal Newman and. Mr.
Gladstone, were of a generation which is
passing away. Where are their succes
sors? Where are the rising naturalists
who are to refute Darwin? where the
young geologists who are to dethrone
Lyell ? where the Biblical critics who are
to answer Strauss ? Such men as Lord
Kelvin and Sir O. Lodge are quoted,
but how slender and unorthodox is the
theology they profess 1.
Perhaps the best proof of the irresist
ible force of the movement is afforded
by the attitude of those who still remain
within the pale of the Church, and are
among its most distinguished members.
Three eminent Bishops of the Anglican
Church preached sermons in Manchester
Cathedral, during the meeting of the
British Association there in 1887, which
were published in a pamphlet, under the
title of The Advance of Science. They
adopt the doctrine of Evolution and the
conclusions of modern science so frankly
that Huxley, reviewing them in the Nine
teenth Century, says that “theology, acting
under the generous impulse of a sudden
conversion, has given up everything to
science, and, indeed, on one point, has
surrendered more than can reasonably
be asked.” Other bishops, it is true,
denounce this as “an effort to get up a
non-miraculous invertebrate Christianity, ”
and assert that “Christianity is essen
tially miraculous, and falls to the ground
if miracles never happened.” Perfectly
true of the old theological Christianity;
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AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY
but, if this is the only Christianity, it is
its sentence of death, for it is becoming
more and more plain every day that it is
as impossible for sincere and educated
men to believe in Scripture miracles as
it is to believe that the sun stood still in
the Valley of Ajalon, or that the world
was peopled from pairs of animals shut
up, a few centuries ago, in Noah’s Ark.
These truths are rapidly passing from
the schools into the streets, and becom
ing the commonplace possessions of the
rank-and-file of thinkers. Thus, in a
lower plane of thought and among the
strictest sect of believers, we find Spur
geon complaining that, whereas “ twenty
years ago there was no question of
fundamental truth (brethren used to
controvert this or that point; but they
were at least agreed that whatever the
Scripture said should be decisive), now,
however, it did not matter what Scripture
said; it was rather a question of their
own inner consciousness.” And, again,
that “the position of sitting on the fence
is the popular one. There are two or
three very learned men who are trying
to get down on both sides of the fence
at once.”
There is something touching in the
spectacle of a man like Spurgeon thus
finding the solid earth giving way and
heaving under his feet, and even the
preachers of his own persuasion lapsing
into views inconsistent with his own
rigid orthodoxy. But did it never occur
to him to ask himself why the landmarks
were thus drifting steadily past him all
in one direction? Is it a question of
inner consciousness and human perver
sity, or is it not rather that a flood-tide
of advancing knowledge and allegiance
to truth is really setting in and running
with increasing velocity ?
Chapter VIII.—fcontinued)
PART II.
Effect on Morals—Evolution of MoralityMoral Instincts—Practical Religion—Herbert
Spencer and Frederic Harrison—Positivism
and the Unknowable—Creeds and Doctrines
—Priests and Churches—Duty of Agnostics
—Prospects of the Future.
Assuming, as I do, that some form of
liberal and reverent Agnosticism is
certain to supersede old theological and
metaphysical creeds in our conceptions
of the universe, it remains to consider
how this will practically affect the
machinery and outward form of religion,
and, what is of more importance, the
interests of morality.
In stating the results of my reflections
on this subject I am far from wishing to
dogmatise, or, like Comte, to build up
any positive religion of the future, which,
like his, might be comprehensively
summed up as “ Catholicism without
Christianity.” I know too well that
religions, like other social institutions,
are evolved and not manufactured, and
that religious rites and institutions only
flourish when they are a spontaneous
growth. Nevertheless, I think the time
has come when the intellectual victory
of Agnosticism is so far assured that it
behoves thinking men to begin to con
sider what practical results are likely to
follow from it.
The first question is as to the effect
on morals. Those who cling to old
creeds make great use of the argument
that religion is the best of policemen,
and that, if faith in a future state of
rewards and punishments, as taught by
�AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY
an inspired Bible, were once shaken, all
security for life and property would be
at an end. This, if it were true, would
be no argument, any more than the fact
that a nurse may occasionally quiet a
naughty child by the threat of a bogey
would prove the existence of a black
man with horns and a tail in the
cupboard. But it is distinctly untiue.
The foundations of morals are fortunately
built on solid rock, and not on shifting
sand; they are based on ideas and
feelings which, in the course of the
evolution of the human race, have
gradually become instinctive in civilised
communities, and passed beyond the
sphere of abstract reasonings or specu
lative criticisms. So far from morality
being a thing altogether apart from
human nature, and which owes its obli
gation solely to its being a revelation of
God’s will, it may be truly said, in a
great many cases that, as individuals
and nations become more sceptical, they
become more moral. Thus, for instance,
an implicit belief in the inspiration of
the Old Testament perverted the moral
sense to such an extent that the. most
monstrous cruelties were inflicted in the
name of religion. Murders, adulteries,
witchcraft, religious wars and persecu
tions, all found their origin and excuse
in texts either expressly enjoining them,
or showing that they formed part of the
character and conduct of men “after
Jehovah’s own heart.” We no longer
burn heretics, torture old women, or
hew captives in pieces before the Lord.
Why? Because we have become scep
tical, and no longer believe in the Bible
as an infallible record of God’s word.
When we find anything in it contrary
either to the facts of science or to the
moral instincts of the age in which we
live, we quietly ignore it; and, instead
of trying science and morality, as our
forefathers did, at the bar of inspiration,
we reverse the process, and bring religion
before the bar of reason.
Is the world better or worse for this
latest phase of its evolution? Is it
more or less tolerant, humane, liberal-
97
minded, charitable, than it was in the
ages of superstitious faith ? The answer
is not doubtful, and it confirms my posi
tion that, as a matter of fact, as we have
become more sceptical we have become
more moral.
If there is one fact more certain than
another in the history of evolution, it is
that morals have been evolved by the
same laws as regulate the development
of species. They were no more created,
or taught supernaturally, than .were the
various successive forms of animal and
vegetable life. Take, for instance, the
simplest case—the abhorrence of murder.
It is not an implanted and universal
instinct, for even at the present day we
find sections of the human race among
whom murder is honourable. The Dyak
maiden scorns a lover who has not taken
a head ; the Indian squaw tests a suitor’s
manhood by the number of scalps in his
wigwam, and the more they were taken
by stratagem and treachery the more
honourable are they esteemed. The
priest and prophet of ancient Israel
considered it an act of duty towards
Jehovah to hew Agag to pieces before
the Lord ; and Jael was famous among
Hebrew women because she drove a
nail into the head of the sleeping refugee
who had sought shelter within her tent. •
David, the man after God’s own heart,
committed the most treacherous and
cold-blooded murder in order to screen
a foul act of adultery. Where in those
cases was either the implanted instinct
or the recognition of a divine precept
commanding “ Thou shalt do no
murder ”? Millions of Brahmins and
Buddhists, who never heard of Moses
or of the Commandment inscribed on
the table of stone at Sinai, have carried
the abhorrence of murder to such an
extreme as to shrink from destroying
even the humblest form of animal life,
while millions of savages have killed and
eaten strangers and captives without
scruple or remorse.
Evidently moral ideas are, like other
products of evolution, the result of the
interaction of the two factors, heredity
D'
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AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY
and environment, determined in the
course of ages by natural selection.
They may be seen in the simplest form
in the instinct of all social animals, from
ants and bees up to man, which makes
them abstain from injuring those of the
same nest or herd, and prompts them to
act together for the common good.
Those who had this instinct strongest
would be most likely to survive in the
struggle for existence, and each succes
sive generation would tend to fix the
instinct more strongly by heredity.
What is instinct ? In the last analysis
it is motion, or tendency to motion, of
certain nerve-cells, which have become
so fixed, by frequent practice or by
heredity, that they become unconscious,
and follow necessarily on impulses from
without, as in the act of breathing or
swallowing. The simpler instincts, as
in the case of animals, are the most
spontaneous and inevitable. The duck
ling swims, to the alarm of the mother
hen, because it is the descendant of
generations of ducks which have taken
to the water as their natural element.
The sight of water sets up certain
motions in the duckling’s brain which,
by reflex action, impel it to swim.
But, in higher organisations and more
complicated instincts, what is inherited
is not so much absolute motion as
tendency to motion. The almost in
finitely complex moleciiles of the higher
brain do not move mechanically, so as
to produce a definite result from a definite
impulse, but they move more readily in
certain directions than in others, those
directions being determined partly by
the ancestral channels in which they
have run for generations, and partly by
the action of the surrounding environ
ment. Thus it may be accepted as
certain that a child born and educated
in England in the nineteenth century
will, as a rule, grow up with an instinctive
abhorrence of murder; but it is not so
certain as that it will breathe and eat.
A very violent outward impulse, such as
greed or revenge, may overcome the
instinct; and if the child had been kid
napped in infancy and brought up among
Dyaks or Indians, its notions would
probably have been the same as theirs as
to the taking of heads or scalps. But,
speaking generally of modern civilised
societies, there is such an enormous pre
ponderance in favour of the fundamental
rules of morality that with each succes
sive generation theresults both of heredity
and environment tend more and more to
make them instinctive. The lines which
Tennyson, the great poet of modern
thought, puts into the lips of his Goddess
of Wisdom—
“ And because right is right, to follow right
Were wisdom in the scorn of consequence ”—
are becoming more and more every day
the instinct, not of higher minds only,
but of the mass of the community.
Such a foundation for morals is clearly
both more certain and more comprehen
sive than one based on doubtful revela
tions. It is more certain, for it does not
depend on evidence which, with the
progress of science, is fast becoming
incredible. The command not to murder
is not weakened by proof that the book
of unknown origin and date which con
tains it gives a totally erroneous account
of the creation, and is therefore not
inspired ; nor does adultery cease to be
a crime because the narrative of Noab’s
deluge is shown to be fabulous. It is
also more comprehensive, for no hardand-fast written code can long conform
to the conditions of an ever-varying
society. It will err both by enjoining
things which have become obsolete, and
by omitting others which have become
imperative.
Thus the Mosaic code
classes sculptors with murderers and
thieves, and makes Canova and Thorwaldsen as great offenders against Divine
commands as the last criminal who was
convicted at the Old Bailey. On the
other hand, there is no injunction against
slavery or polygamy, but, on the contrary,
an implied sanction of them, from the
example of the patriarchs who are held
up as patterns of holiness. The feeling
against slavery is a conspicuous instance
�AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY
of the development of a moral instinct
in quite recent times. It is the result of
advancing civilisation leading to more
humane ideas, and to a clearer recog
nition of the intrinsic sacredness and
dignity of every human soul.
In like manner, a multitude of moral
ideas have come to be part of our mental
furniture which had no place in the early
code of the Jews, or even in the more
advanced period of early Christianity.
The Christian ideal, to a great extent,
ignored courage, hardihood, self-reliance,
foresight, providence, and all the sterner
and harder qualities that make the man,
for the softer and more feminine virtues
of love, patience, and resignation. The
aesthetic side of life also, the recognition
and love of all that is beautiful in art
and nature, was not only ignored, but, to
a great extent, condemned by it, owing to
an exaggerated and one-sided antithesis
between the flesh and the spirit.
Among the modern ideas which are
fast becoming moral instincts is that of
the duty of following truth for its own
sake. Doubt is no longer regarded as a
crime, but as a duty, when there are real
ground's for doubting. We may parody
the words of the poet, and say
“ And because truth is truth, to follow truth
Were wisdom in the scorn of consequence.”
And this allegiance to truth carries with
it the virtue of sincerity. A man must
not palter with his convictions, and pro
fess to hold one set of opinions because
■they are expedient, while he holds others
because they are true. If it be a fact
that the human race has risen by evolu
tion through long ages from palaeolithic
savagery, he has no right to admit the
fact and at the same time profess to
believe that he is a fallen creature
descended from the Biblical Adam.
His duty is to use his reason to ascer
tain which statement is true, and, having
done so, to the best of his ability and
without bias or prejudice, to cleave with
his whole heart to the truth, and not
remain a miserable, half-hearted Mr.
Facing-both-ways.
99
So far, therefore, as morality is con
cerned, we need not much concern our
selves about the future of religion.
Morality can take care of itself, and,
with or without theological creeds, it
will go on strengthening, widening, and
purifying its instinctive hold on the
character and conduct of civilised com
munities. As regards conduct, which
is, after all, the practical test of the
goodness or badness of theoretical
opinions, a system which can produce a
life like that of Darwin is good enough
for anything. Conduct is, fortunately,
not dependent on creeds, and good men
and women can be found plentifully
among all classes of belief, from Ortho
doxy to Agnosticism. But it cannot, I
think, be denied that the leaders of
scientific thought, such as Darwin,
Herbert Spencer, Lyell, Huxley, and
other honoured names, have led, on the
whole, simple, noble lives, and present
characters worthy of imitation. Nor is
there any reason to believe that the vast
and increasing number of the rank-andfile, who have more or less adopted the
views of these great leaders, are in any
respect below the average type, or lead
worse lives than those who walk in the
narrower paths of pre-scientific tradi
tions.
Thus far the religion of the future
has been comparatively plain sailing.
Intellectually, it is clear that evolution
has become the mould of thought, and
that the lines of Agnostic Christianity
and of Agnosticism pure and simple,
but recognising Christianity as one of
the forces of evolution, have converged
so closely that the difference between
them is almost reduced to a name.
What Herbert Spencer calls the infinite,
eternal energy, which underlies all phe
nomena, and of whose existence we feel
certain, though we can never know or
define it, Bishop Temple calls “ God.”
Accurate thinkers may prefer the former
definition, for the term “ God ” has come
to be associated with a number of anthro
pomorphic and other ideas, which imply
knowledge of the Unknowable; but
�IOO
AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY
practically the bishop and the philosopher
mean much the same. thing, and the
converging lines of science and religion
approach so nearly that they may be said
to coincide. Morally, it is equally clear
that there is nothing to fear from such a
view of religion, and that the moral
instincts are based on something much
more permanent and certain than intel
lectual conceptions or antiquated tradi
tions. But when we come to practical
religion there is a great deal comprised
in the word which it is not so easy to
dispose of.
In the recent controversy between
Herbert Spencer and Frederic Harrison
the latter reproached the former with
offering to the world the mere ghost of
a religion. Religion, he says, must be
something positive; it must have a
“ creed, doctrines, temples, priests,
teachers, rites, morality, beauty, hope,
consolation”; and these, he adds, can
be found only in a religion which is
intensely anthropomorphic. “You can
have no religion without kinship, sym
pathy, relation of some human kind
between the believer, worshipper, servants,
and the object of his belief, veneration,
and service.”
As Mr. Harrison not only admits, but
asserts strongly, that science has upset
all existing anthropomorphic creeds and
theories, his logical conclusion apparently
ought to be that there can be no more
any religion. But he escapes from his
dilemma by offering us a new religion—
Positivism, or the religion according to
Comte. For the dethroned Deity of
the Christians, who has been, by the
confession of his own theologians,
“ defecated to a pure transparency,” we
are to substitute “ Humanity,” the symbol
of the new Divinity being a woman of
the age of thirty, with her son in her
arms; and Christian worship is to be
replaced by an elaborate series of rites
and ceremonies, evolved from the inner
consciousness of the French philosopher,
and which, to the apprehension of an
ordinary observer, are for the most part
puerile and ridiculous. Thus among
the Positivist saints, who are to be
canonised in order of merit, Gall, who,
in conjunction with Spurzheim, wrote an
obsolete book on phrenology, gets a
week, while Kepler gets only a day;
Tasso is assumed to be a seven-times
greater poet than Goethe, and Mozart
a seven-times greater musician than
Beethoven; while in politics Louis XI.,
the crafty and sinister French king, de
picted by Walter Scott in Quentin Durward, is to be worshipped as a seven
times greater saint than Washington.
Of the only two new forms of positive
religion which have been started in my
recollection, Positivism and Mormonism,
I may be excused if, barring the plurality
of wives, I give the preference to the
latter, which has, at any rate, proved its
vitality by laying hold, not without a
certain amount of success, of colonisa
tion, temperance, and other problems of
practical life. Herbert Spencer had little
difficulty in answering this attack. He
showed that his definition of the “ Un
knowable” was very different from the
mere negation, or algebraical symbol,
which Harrison assumed it to be, and
that it was distinctly the assertion of
something positive and actually existing,
though beyond our faculties. In fact,
it is very much the same as Words
worth’s—
“ Sense sublime,
Of something far more deeply interfused,
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,
And the round earth, and in the mind of man.”
And if such a feeling can inspire noble
poetry, why not a noble religion ? The
retort was obvious that, if the Unknow
able were too refined an idea on which
to base a religion, at any rate it was
better than humanity; for the first is
based on a fact, while the second has no
foundation but a phrase.
It is an undoubted fact that, when we
trace phenomena back to their source,
we arrive at a substratum, or first cause,
which we cannot understand, or even
form any conception of. But what is
Humanity ? It is but a convenient
expression, like gravity or electricity, by
�AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY
IOI
and sordid asceticism. Hope would, as
which we sum up a number of separate, a
at present, find its field in the possibili
individual facts, which have certain a
ties which lie behind the veil, and time,
attributes in common. The only thing t
real about gravity is, that individual the one great consoler of human sorrows,
t
would still exert its beneficent influence
bodies attract one another directly as v
to assuage the poignancy of recent afflic
the mass and inversely as the. square of t
the distance. Annihilate the individual tions.
t
But what will become of the “creed,
masses, and you cannot anthropomoidoctrines, temples, priests, teachers, and
phise the law of gravity; for instance, c
rites,” which constitute what may be
following the example of Comte, under r
called the machinery or practical side of
the symbol of a woman with a child. (
No more can you individualise and existing religions? Is the creed the key
f
anthropomorphise “ Humanity,’ apart stone of the fabric, and will it crumble
s
from the individual human beings, good, to pieces if this creed ceases to be
1
credible ? In other words, if the creeds
bad, and indifferent, of whom the aggre- <
gate has been, is, and will be composed. of Christian Churches, instead of .being
<
“ Parturiunt monies ”—the mountains definite doctrines, as embodied in the
i
Thirty-nine Articles, or the dicta of
labour to produce a new religion; and
infallible Popes and Councils, are sub
the result of Positivism is to make a
limated into such vague and remote
fetish of a phrase.
.
.
At the same time, it must be admitted conceptions as enable Huxley to say
that the three bishops have conceded
that, while Positivism is no more likely
than Mormonism to become the world’s all he asks, and Mivart to remain so long
a good Catholic while admitting all the
religion of the future, the new creed to
most advanced conclusions of. Darwinian
which we are tending, whether we call
it Agnostic Christianity or Christian science and of Biblical criticisms, can
sincere men become Christian priests and
Agnosticism, places in jeopardy a great
deal of what has hitherto been included officiate in Christian churches ?
I judge no one, and can appreciate
under the word “religion.” Mr. Harrison’s
definition is not an unfair one, that the the reasons which may induce enlight
ened and excellent men to cleave to old
term includes “creed, doctrines, temples,
priests, teachers, rites, morality, beauty, creeds and remain in positions when
hope, consolation.” Of these, the last they feel that they are doing good, as
long as it is possible for them to allegorise
four may be called spiritual, and the first
six practical elements of religion. As or explain away accepted doctrines,
regards the spiritual elements, they will without feeling that they are consciously
remain unaffected, and, in some cases, insincere. But I confess that it is not
will be strengthened. Morality, as we> easy to understand how this can go even
the length it has, and, still more, how it
have seen, depends on rules of conduct,
; can go further and become general, withwhich have, to a great extent, become
instinctive; and it would be strengthened,, out degenerating into hypocrisy and
f
Take, for instance, the
rather than impaired, by getting rid of insincerity.
1
the Calvinistic conceptions of a cruel Apostles’ Creed, which, I suppose, con1
and capricious Deity, condemning untold tains the minimum of doctrine that is
s
millions to eternal punishment for the generally considered consistent with a
y
offence of a remote ancestor, and only profession of Christianity. I can unders
partially appeased by the sacrifice of his stand how, by an allowable latitude, of
y
only son. Beauty, again, would certainly construction, a Broad Church divine
fl
gain by getting rid of the idea that all may adopt the first Article and confess
e
But when we come
pleasant things are of the domain of the a belief in God.
n
flesh and the devil, and substituting an to the subsequent, more precise and
iv
enlightened aestheticism for a narrow definite Articles, which profess a belief
�102
AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY
in the miraculous conception, birth, and a class, much better than they were in
resurrection of Jesus, the carpenter’s1 former ages. . Few exercise an influence
son of Nazareth, I fail to see how actively injurious, many are respectable
anyone can subscribe to them who and harmless, and a considerable number
believes in the permanence of Natural set a good example of virtuous lives, and
Law and the Darwinian theory of devote themselves to the promotion of
Evolution. Even in the form of Dr. works of charity and benevolence. They
Temples theory.of original impress, as have, no doubt, to a considerable extent,,
opposed to special acts of supernatural lost touch with the masses of population
interference, it must be admitted that in large towns and industrial centres;
miracles, if not impossible, are in the and where they have preserved it, chiefly
highest degree improbable, and that it among dissenting congregations, it is
would require an immense amount of too often exerted towards narrowness, of
the clearest possible evidence to admit views and sectarian prejudices. Still, on
occurrences which are so entirely opposed the whole, it is exerted for good; and in
to all we know of the real facts of the many rural parishes and poor districts,
universe, and which, in so many cases, like the East-end of London, the priest
have been shown to be mere delusions is a powerful factor in organising charities,
of the imagination. And the slightest visiting the sick, rescuing the fallen, and
acquaintance with Biblical criticism is giving consolation to the suffering. To
sufficient to show how weak the evidence take an extreme case, what would a poor
really is, and how utterly unfounded are parish, in the West of Ireland be without
the claims of the various books of the its. priest ? He is the sole centre of
Old.and New Testament to anything like civilisation in a district of, perhaps,
Divine inspiration. But, if the creeds twenty square miles ; he is not only the
go, what becomes of the priests? and, spiritual guide of his flock, but, to a
without priests, where are the Churches, great extent, their Education Board and
rites, and ceremonies? And, if these Poor Law Guardian ; he is their friend
disappear, what an immense gap does it and adviser in all their difficulties, and,
make in the whole framework of existing in case of need, their “ Village Hamp
society ! Consider the priests, including den,” who fights their battles with
in the word all ministers of all denomina tyrannical landlords, and negotiates the
tions. It is easy to denounce priestcraft, compromises by which they are enabled
and to show by a thousand examples to retain their humble roofs over their
that wherever priests have had power heads. . He is worth all the magistrates
they have done infinite mischief. They and policemen put together in repressing
have too often been cruel persecutors crime and preventing outrages. It will
and narrow-minded bigots; and, even at be long before a population like that of
the best, have been opposed to freedom rural Ireland can dispense with priests.
of thought and progress. But, for all
Again, priests and Churches go to
this, the question has another side, and gether ; and, although Church services
there is a good deal to be said for the have to a great extent become a repetition
existence of a special class, set aside of formulas, and sermons an anachron
from the ordinary pursuits of life, for ism, still there is a good deal in institu
spiritual instruction and works of mercy tions which bring people together on
and charity.
one day in the week, cleanly in dress
In countries like England, where and. decorous in behaviour, to join in
priests have long since ceased to possess services and listen to discourses which
any temporal power, and where they live .appeal, however faintly and drearily, to
more and more every day—in an higher things than those of ordinary
atmosphere of free and liberal thought, prosaic life. Especially to the female
there can be no doubt that they are, as ;half of the population attendance at
�AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY
IO3
Barnardo,and thousands of other devoted
church or chapel is, in many cases, a men and women who fight in the fore
great pleasure; and, if it were only to see
most ranks against sin and misery.
and be seen and criticise one anothei s
With such as these all men can sym
bonnets, it is a relief from the monotony pathise ; and a more intellectual creed
of life, gives them topics of interest, and ought to be no obstacle in giving aid and
promotes a feeling of decency and
co-operation, but rather an incentive to
respectability. Those, therefore, who
show that a belief in the truths of science
hold larger views, and feel that they
is not inconsistent with active charity
cannot without insincerity subscribe to
creeds which to them have become and benevolence. which Agnostics would
Another point
incredible, would do well to be liberal
do well to attend to is to cultivate a love
and tolerant towards traditional opinions of Nature and Art, so as to keep alive
and traditional practices, and trust with
the imaginative and emotional faculties
cheerful faith to evolution to bring about which might wither in the too exclusive
gradually such changes of form as may atmosphere of pure reason. A prosaic
be required to embody changes of spirit. life is a dwarfed and stunted life, which
In the meantime, the course of those has been more than half a failure ; and,
who worship Truth above all other con as old dogmatic religions fail to supply
siderations is plain. There are abun
the spiritual stimulus, it is the more
dance of duties clear enough for men ot necessary to find it in the wonders o
all creeds : the difficulty is to live up to the universe, the beauties of nature, and
them. But for those who hold the in communion with great minds through
larger views the first duty is to be doubly
music, painting, and books. These are
careful as to conduct. It would be too
now brought, to a great extent, .within t e
great a scandal if the larger creed were
reach of every one, and there is no more
made the excuse for a looser life. Those
hopeful symptom of the times than to
who are Darwinians in theory ought to
find that really good books by great
try to be like Darwin in practice—like
authors, when brought out in cheap
him, high-minded, modest, gentle, patient,
editions, circulate by the millions.
honourable in all relations of life, loving
Shilling and even sixpenny editions ot
and beloved by friends and family. Shakespeare, Scott, Carlyle, and other
This, at least, is within the reach of every
standard authors, are continually brought
one, high or low, rich or poor, if not to out, and must be sold in tens of thousands
attain to, at any rate to aim at, as an to make them a paying, speculation.
ideal. Nor do I think that Freethinkers
Who buys them ? Certainly not the
will be wanting in this passive side of
upper classes, who, in former days, were
conduct. On the contrary, as far as my
the only buyers of books. They must
experience has gone, while more liberal
circulate widely among the masses, and
and large-minded, they lead lives quite
especially among the more thoughtful
as good, on the average, as those which
members of the working-classes, and the
are more directly under the traditional
rising generation of all classes who. are
influences of religion. But what the
earnestly seeking to improve their, minds
Agnostic must beware of is, not to be
and widen their range of sympathies and
content with the passive side of virtue,
culture. To read good books rather
but to cultivate also its active side, and
not let himself be surpassed in works of than silly novels is a practical measure
within the reach of every one, and it is
charity and benevolence by those whose
supplying, more and more every day, a
intellectual creeds are narrower than his
larger and more liberal education than
own. There is no doubt that the evan
was ever afforded by theological con
gelical faith in Jesus has been and. is
a powerful incentive with men like troversies and conventional sermons.
Another hopeful symptom is to see
Lord Shaftesbury, General Gordon, Dr.
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AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY
the growing demand among the working
classes for schools, libraries, museums,
music-halls, excursion trains, and all
manner of clubs and societies for
mutual help, instruction, and amuse
ment. These are the plastic cells multi
plying and forming new combinations,
out of which, in due time, will be evolved
the “ priests and temples, the rites and
ceremonies,” and other institutions requi
site to give life and form to the demon
strated truth of the “Great Unknowable,”
and leave the magnificent conception of
Darwin and Herbert Spencer no longer
the ghost of a religion, but the founda
tion of a rational, lovable, and, on the
whole, happy existence, useful and
honourable while its little span of life
lasts, and looking forward with hope and
manly fortitude to whatever may await
it behind that veil which no mortal hand
has ever lifted.
Chapter VIII. —(continued)
PART III.
Practical Philosophy — Zoroastrian Theory —
Emerson on Compensation—Good and Evil—
Leads to Toleration and Charity—Matthew
Arnold and Philistinism—Salvation Army—
Conflict of Theology and Science—Creed of
Nineteenth Century.
The philosophy which I have found
work best, both in reconciling intel
lectual difficulties and as a guide in prac
tical life, is that which I have described
elsewhere1 at some length as “ Zoroas
trianism,” or “ Polarity.” It amounts to
this—that the infinite, eternal, and incon
ceivable essence of all phenomena, which
theologians call God, and philosophers
the Unknowable, manifests itself to
human apprehension under conditions
or categories which are equally certain
and equally incomprehensible.
We
know that it is so, or so appears to us;
but we do not know why. Thus Space
and Time are fundamental moulds of
thought, or, to use the phraseology of
Kant, imperative categories. Another
of such categories is that of Polarity:
no action without reaction, no positive
without a negative, no good without evil.
1 A Modern Zoroastrian,
In the physical world this is a demon
strated fact. Matter is made of mole
cules j molecules are made of atoms;
atoms are little magnets which link
th^piselves together and form all the
complex creations of an ordered cosmos,
by virtue of the attractive and repulsive
forces which are the results of polarity.
Ordered and regular motion also —
whether it be of planets round suns, of
an oscillating pendulum, or of waves of
water, air, or ether, vibrating in rhythmic
succession—is a result of the conflict
between energy of motion and energy of
position.
As Emerson well says in his essay on
“Compensation”: “Polarity, or action and
reaction, we meet in every part of nature :
in darkness and light; in heat and cold;
in the ebb and flow of waters ; in male
and female; in the inspiration and
expiration of plants and animals ; in the
undulations of fluids and of sound; in
the centrifugal and centripetal gravity;
in electricity, galvanism, and chemical
affinity. Superinduce magnetism at one
end of a needle, the opposite magnetism
takes place at the other end. If the
South attracts, the North repels. To
�AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY
10$
cruel, unjust, and even devilish, in the
empty here you must condense there.
case of a human despot become merci
An inevitable dualism besets nature, so
ful and righteous if done by an Almighty
that each thing is a half, and suggests
Ruler in Heaven. Such a dogma is, to
another to make it whole; as spirit,
all intents and purposes, devil-worship,
matter; man, woman; odd, even; sub
and degrades man into a slave crouching
jective, objective; in, out; upper, under;
under the lash of a harsh master. How
motion, rest; yea, nay.” This principle,
infinitely superior was the ideal of the
applied to the higher problems of religion
old Roman poet of the “justum. el
and philosophy, leads to results singularly
tenacem propositi virum”; the upright
like those which, if we may believe the
and firm-minded man, whom no threats
sacred books of the Parsees, were taught
of a frenzied mob or raging tyrant could
3,000 years ago by the ancient Bactrian
sage, Zoroaster. His religion was one of shake from his purpose, or induce to
palter with his convictions; nay, not
pure reason. He disclaimed all preten
even though the earth and sky fell in
sion to found it on miracles, or to define
ruins about his head, could the convul
the indefinable by dogmas; but, taking
sion of nature daunt his steadfast soul.
natural laws and human knowledge as
his basis, he asserted, in the identical “ Victrix causa Deis placuit sed victa CatoniT
words used by Emerson thirty centuries But, with a Polar theory of existence,
later, that an “ inevitable dualism besets the difficulty is relegated to the realm, of
nature,’’and embodied the two conflicting the unknown, and, instead of sinking
principles under the names of Ormuzd with Cowper into the despairing depths
and Ahriman. To Ormuzd belong all of religious madness, we may hold with
things that are bright, beautiful,, pure, Wordsworth—
lovely, and of good repute, both in the
The cheerful faith that all which we behold
material and moral universe; to Ahriman,
Is full of blessings.”
all that is foul, ugly, and evil.. Apart A serene and cheerful faith is, of itself,
from certain archaisms of expression and
one of the greatest blessings, and. it is
ritual observances which have become
specially needed in an age in which so
obsolete, the Zendavesta might have been
many gospels of pessimism are abroad,
compiled to-day from the writings of
and so many failures in the struggle for
Herbert Spencer and Huxley. This con
existence tell us that society is a sham, civi
ception of the universe has the enormous
lisation an imposture, and life a, mistake.
advantage over all those which rest on
Another advantage. of this Polar
the idea of an anthropomorphic Creator
theory of the universe is that it teaches
that it does not make religion a means
us to take a large and tolerant view of
of perverting the fundamental instincts
men and of events. The true charity
of morality by making an Omnipotent
which “ suffereth long and is kind ” is
Creator the conscious author of evil.
scarcely compatible with a bigoted and
This is a dilemma from which no
one-sided adherence to a particular set
anthropomorphic form of religion can
escape : either its God is not omnipo of opinions. Whether in politics or in
religion, if we believe that all those who
tent or he is not benevolent. Sin and
differ from us have a double dose of
suffering are facts, as much as virtue and
original sin, we can scarcely comprehend
happiness; and, if the good half of crea
tion argues for a good Creator, it is an or love them. Good natures may pity
them, bad natures hate them, conscien
irresistible inference that the bad half
tious natures feel it a duty to stamp
argues for one who is evil.
them out; but we can never really feel
Theologians, in attempting to escape
towards them as brothers and sisters,
from this dilemma, have been only too
apt to confuse the instincts of morality who have gone a ‘c a kenning wrang,
by arguing that actions which would be and been drawn a little too far by the
�io6
AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY
attraction of the opposite polarity to that commoners; if of religion, they are sons
under the influence of which we ourselves of perdition.
To the narrow-minded
live and have our being.
Thus, in Tory all Irish are dynamiters, all Radicals
politics, the cosmos of an ordered rebels, and Gladstone is Antichrist. To
society can only be maintained, as in the narrow-minded Radical all landlords
the orbit of a planet, by a due balance are robbers and all parsons hypocrites.
between the centripetal and centrifugal Socialists seek to regenerate society by
forces. If we were all Conservatives, abolishing capital; capitalists, to save it
society would condense into a sluggish by ignoring that property has duties as
and inert mass ; if all Radicals, it would well as rights. It is all Philistinism, and
be apt to fly off into space. Evolution incapacity to see that there are two sides
will surely bring about in their appro to every question,, and that one thing
priate time the results which are fittest only is certain—that falsehood lies in
to survive.
Why quarrel, then, and extremes. Half the difficulties which
entertain hard and bitter thoughts be perplex us would disappear if we could
cause our own individual atom is acting enlarge our minds, so as, in the words of
in one direction, while that of our Burns,
neighbour is acting in another? Act
“ To see ourselves as others see us”;
strenuously in that direction which, after
conscientious inquiry, seems to be the and to act on the precept of the wise
best; do the duty which lies most nearly old Rabbi Hillel, now 1,900 years old :
and plainly to our hands ; and trust to “ Never to judge another man till you
what religious men call Providence, and have stood in his shoes.”
scientific men Evolution, for the result.
Another advantage of this Polar philo
A large-minded and. large-hearted sophy is that it enables us more readily
creed is the more needful, as the weak to assimilate with those who hold dif
part in the otherwise admirable British ferent forms of belief. What matters it
nature is a tendency to that peculiar whether the Parsee embodies his good
form of narrowness which is commonly principle in an Ormuzd, the Christian in
called Philistinism. Why the Philistine, a Jesus, the Stoic in a Marcus Aurelius,
or dweller in the land of palms on the or the philosopher finds no need for any
border of the Mediterranean, should personification at all?
The essential
have been taken as the type of strait thing is that they are all soldiers fighting
laced and narrow-minded convention together in the cause of goodness and
ality, is hard to see. But the fact is light, against evil and darkness. Practi
there, and the word expresses it; and it cally, a great many modern Christians
is beyond doubt that there is a great are Zoroastrians, with Jesus for their
deal of truth in Matthew Arnold’s in Ormuzd. They care little for dogmas,
dignant diatribes, and that the average except as exalting the character of the
well-meaning and respectable citizen is object of their veneration and giving
apt to be an awful Philistine. It is not expression to their transcendental love
confined to classes; in fact, there is and adoration for his person and char
probably more of it in the upper and acter. Listen to the simple preaching
middle classes than among workmen. of the Salvation Army, and you will find
But whether it be the cut of a coat, or of how exclusively it turns upon the one
a creed, and whether going to a court or element of the love of Jesus.
You
to a chapel, the essence of the thing is would never discover that Christianity
the same—viz., that some class or coterie had been identified with mysterious
fences itself in behind some narrow con dogmas and metaphysical puzzles, and
ventionality, and ignores the great outer that salvation depended on holding the
world. If the pale be one of fashion, Catholic faith as defined by St. Athana
those not within it are outsiders, cads, sius. But sinners are exhorted to give
�AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY
up drink and evil ways for the love of logical theory is based entirely on the
the dear Redeemer who died for them , assumption that the Bible is an inspired
and if this touches simple natures, and record of Divine truth, attested by
if calling themselves soldiers, .marching miracles. The scientific theory rests on
in ranks, and beating drums, aid in the the evidence of a vast and ever-accumu
work, why should anyone object to it ? lating mass of facts, which admit of no
We are nearer to these simple souls than doubt or contradiction. It seems to me
we are to the divines who beat the drum that an unlearned man need not go
ecclesiastic, and tell us from pulpits that, farther than to contrast , the theories of
unless we believe all the articles of the man’s descent. Let him go to the
Catholic faith, without doubt we shall British Museum and look at the imple
ments of flint and bone which have been
perish everlastingly.
To sum up, the duty of a man of the found in conjunction with remains, of
twentieth century is clear. He has to extinct animals, in caves and river
follow truth at all hazards. Questions gravels of immense antiquity. How
of the highest importance have . been can the theological theory hold water,
raised which he cannot shirk without unless it could be proved that these, and
narrowing his whole nature, and shutting the hundreds of thousands of similar
himself up in an ever-contracting circle human remains, including skulls and
of ignorance and prejudice. There aie skeletons, which have been discovered
two theories of the universe, and two of in similar deposits over the four quarters
man, which are in direct conflict. Of of the earth, were placed there by a
the universe, one, the theological, that it conspiracy of scientific men who wished
was created and is upheld by miracles— to discredit the Bible ? Even the Duke
that is, by a succession of secondary of Argyll, who has conspiracy on the
supernatural interferences by a Being brain, would hardly contend for such a
who is a magnified man, acting from conclusion, or maintain that the narrative
motives and with an intelligence which, of Noah’s deluge gives a true. account of
however transcendental, are essentially the manner in which animal life has been
human; the other, the scientific, that it diffused over the different zoological
is the result of original impress, or of provinces in which it is actually divided.
The more he extends his researches
evolution acting by natural laws on a basis
of the Unknowable. In like manner, of and enlarges his knowledge, the more
man, one theory, the theological, is that will every honest and conscientious
he is descended from the Biblical Adam, inquirer find that the scientific theory is
created quite recently in a state of high victorious along the whole line. . If he
moral perfection, from which he fell by is a lover of truth, therefore, he will find*
an act of disobedience, entailing on his himself constrained to adopt the larger
descendants the curse of sin and death, creed. But, in doing so, let. him show
from which a portion were redeemed by that it is not merely a speculative creed or
the sacrifice of the Creator’s own son, an intellectual deduction ; that the larger
incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth; the other, creed leads to a larger life; that it makes
the scientific theory, that man is a him more liberal and tolerant, more pure
product of evolution from palaeolithic and upright, more loving and unselfish,
ancestors, who lived for innumerable more strenuous, as becomes a soldier
ages in a state of savagery, but always fighting in the foremost ranks in the
gradually progressing upwards in arts and campaign against sin and misery; . so
that, when the last day comes which
civilisation.
Both theories cannot be true; they comes to all, it may be recorded of him
are in direct contradiction upon funda that his individual atom of existence left
mental facts, which are a question of the world, on the whole, a little better,
evidence. The evidence for the theo- rather than a little worse, than he found it.
�io8
THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT IN THE GOSPELS
Chapter IX.
THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT IN THE GOSPELS
Huxley and Dr. Wace—Sermon on the Mount,
and Lord’s Prayer—English and German
Biblical Criticism—Papias—His Account of
Origin of the Gospels—Confirmed by Internal
Evidence —• Common-sense Conclusions —
Miracles a Question of Faith — Evidence
Required—The Ascension—Early Christian
and Mediaeval Miracles — St. Thomas it
Becket—F aith—Historical Element—Virgin
Mary — Guiding Principles of Historical
Inquiry—Minimum of Miracles—Admissions
which Tell Against—-Jesus anHistorical Person
—Born at Nazareth—Legends of Nativity—
St. John the Baptist—Kingdom of God—Socialistic Spirit—Pure Morality—Nucleus of
Fact in Miracles—Precepts and Parables—
Disputes with Scribes and Pharisees—Jesus a
Jew—Messiahship—Dying Words—Passion
and Crucifixion —• Improbabilities — Pilate —
Resurrection —- Contradictions — Growth of
Legend—Probable Nucleus of Fact—Riot in
the Temple—Return of Disciples to Galilee—
Conflicting Accounts of Resurrection—Return
of Apostles to Jerusalem and Foundation of
Christian Church.
Professor Huxley, in an article in the
Nineteenth Century, refers to the great
difficulty he has felt in his efforts to
define “the grand figure of Jesus as it
lies in the primary strata of Christian
literature. What did he really say and
do? and how much that is attributed
to him in speech and action is the
embroidery of the various parties into
which his followers tended to split them
selves within twenty years after his death,
when even the threefold tradition was
only nascent ? ”
I have felt the same difficulty myself,
and after reading a mass of critical litera
ture, both English and German, I must
confess to having found myself more
than ever perplexed. In English Biblical
criticism the tone is almost invariably
that of advocates rather than of judges.
The opponents of Orthodoxy insist too
much on finding arguments against
inspiration in every text, while its sup
porters are almost always guilty of
the fallacy which is known to logicians
as the petitio principii, and begin by
assuming the very points which they
profess to prove. Thus Dr. Wace, in
his reply to Huxley, starts with the
assumption that the Sermon on the
Mount and the Lord’s Prayer prove the
divinity of Jesus and the inspiration of
the Gospels; and, this being proved, it
follows that we must believe everything
we find recorded in these Gospels as
true, down even to the miracle of the
Gadarene swine, under pain of making
Jesus out to be a liar. Of course we
must, if we admit the theory of divine
inspiration; but this is the very point
to be proved. How does Dr. Wace
attempt to prove it? By lengthened
arguments to show that the omission
of all mention of the Sermon on the
Mount and Lord’s Prayer by Mark is
not a fatal objection; that the Synoptic
Gospels, or parts of them, were probably
written not later than from 70 to 75 a.d.,
and other doubtful points of really very
little importance. But he totally ignores
what is the real difficulty in the way of
accepting his fundamental axiom that
the Sermon on the Mount and Lord’s
Prayer compel us to admit inspiration.
The difficulty is this—that their precepts,
admirable as they are, are not original.
There is scarcely one which is not to be
found, identical in substance and often
almost in the exact words, in the older
writings of earlier religions and philo
sophies. Thus the cardinal precepts,
such as to “ Love your neighbour as your
self,” to “Do as you would be done by,”
to “ Return good for evil,” etc., are found
�THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT IN THE GOSPELS
io9
in the old Egyptian ritual, the Vedic ordinary men using their reasoning
faculties, and either refuse to reason and
literature, the maxims of Confucius, and
still more conspicuously in the oldest appeal to faith, or battle about minor
;
writings of the Buddhist and Zoroastrian points which hardly touch the real
objections.
_ . .
religions.
When I turned to German criticism,
And what is even more important,
I found it less obscured by theological,
the Talmudic or Rabbinical literature
of the age immediately preceding that but more by theoretical, prepossessions.
of Jesus is full of them; the writings Every professor had his own theory to
of Jesus, the son of Sirach, of Hillel, establish, and that of his predecessors
to demolish, and in doing so applied an
and of Philo, contain many of the same
enormous amount of erudition to points
precepts, almost verbatim, and they were
the common possession of the Jewish which, for the most part, seemed to me
to remain doubtful, or to be of minor
world at the time when the Sermon on
the Mount is supposed to have been importance. The effect produced on
my mind by critics such as Strauss,
preached.
.
. .
These facts are undeniable, and it is Baur, Volckmar, and Reuss was to leave
a sort of blurred and hazy image, as of
equally undeniable that, if so, the bottom
a landscape in which the essential
is knocked out of Dr. Wace s assump
features are lost in the multitude of
tion ; for, if these precepts and this code
of morality could be evolved in other details.
For instance, it seemed to me that
ages and countries by natural means,
why should they require the miracle of the enormous mass of literature which
Divine Inspiration to account for them has been written to assign the precise
in the New Testament ? The Sermon, date of each Gospel, their respective
no doubt, has its value in bringing to a priorities, how many successive editions
focus a number of excellent precepts, they went through, and how far each
and helping to form the ideal of Jesus copied from the others or from older
and his teaching which has become the manuscripts, might have been greatly
fundamental fact of Christianity ; but as abridged if the learned authors had
anything like reasonable proof of miracu been content to take the simple, straight
lous inspiration it is worthless. Nor is forward evidence of the earliest Christian
writer who gives any account of their
there anything in the Lord’s Prayer
which might not have been the prayer origin—viz., Papias.
Papias was Bishop of Hierapolis, one
of any pious Jew of the time, or, for
the matter of that, of any pious Gentile, of the Churches in Asia Minor, which
for “Our Father which art in heaven” was reputed to have been founded by
is a literal translation of Jupiter, or St. John, and who suffered martyrdom
Dyaus-piter, the father of gods and men for his faith when an aged. man, about
identified with the vault of the sky. 160 a.d. He was certainly in a position
And it cannot be reasonably denied to know what was accepted as of authority
that the omission of all mention of it in by the early Christian Church of his
Mark tells strongly against its authen period. He had been in close personal
ticity, for, if really taught by Jesus, it communication with Polycarp and others
would have been the very thing to be of the generation preceding his own, who
committed to memory, and taught to all had been themselves disciples of the
Apostles, and his information was, there
converts by his immediate disciples.
I refer to this argument of Dr. Wace’s fore, only removed by one degree from
to illustrate what I find to be the great being that of a contemporary and eye
fault of English theologians—viz., that witness. His work is unfortunately lost;
they shirk the obvious difficulties which but Eusebius, who was a great collector
present themselves to the minds pf' of information respecting the Gospels
�no
THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT IN THE GOSPELS
in the fourth century, happily preserves
the most important part of it in a long
quotation.
What does Papias say? Practically
this—that he preferred oral tradition to
written documents, of which he expresses a
somewhat contemptuous opinion, assign
ing as a reason that there were only two
written records which possessed any real
authority : one a collection of anecdotes
or reminiscences, taken down without
method or order from the mouth of St.
Peter by.Mark, his interpreter; the other
a collection of logia, or sayings of Jesus,
written by St. Matthew in Hebrew, and
badly translated into Greek by various
writers.
This statement of Papias, if correct,
proves several things :—
1. The Gospel of St. John could not
have been known to Papias, or he, a
bishop of a Church reputed to have
been founded by that Apostle and a
friend of Polycarp and others who had
known him personally, could never have
expressed an almost contemptuous pre
ference for oral tradition over any written
records, and made no mention of what
has been always considered the most
important and spiritual of all the Gospels,
proceeding direct from the Apostle whom
Jesus loved.
2. The same remark applies to the
Gospel and Acts of St. Luke, which
contain by far the most precise details of
the crowning miracles of the Resurrec
tion and Ascension.
3. It is equally clear that he could not
have known the Gospels of Mark and
Matthew as they now exist, for they are
connected biographies of the life and
teachings of Jesus, and not fragmentary
anecdotes and sayings such as Papias
describes.
4. It is evident, however, that two
written records—one attributed to Mark,
and the other to Matthew—were known
in the time of Papias, and received as of
sufficient authority to make him refer
to them in his general depreciation of
written as compared with oral testimony.
Ibis is a perfectly clear and intel
ligible statement, made apparently in
good faith, without any dogmatic or other
prepossession; and it is confirmed by all
the. evidence we possess of this obscure
period — whether it be the external
evidence that the Gospels in their
present form are not quoted or referred
to as an authority by any Christian
writer earlier than the second century,
or the internal evidence derived from the
Gospels themselves. That of Mark has
exactly the appearance of having been
compiled into a biography from a series
of such reminiscences as Papias describes.
It is full of little life-like touches which
have no special significance, but seem to
have come from the recollection of an
eye-witness.
For instance, that the
throng was so great to hear Jesus that
not only the room but the doorway was
crowded, and that the hurry and bustle
were such that they had not time even
to eat.
It is. true that such touches are not
conclusive, and may have been added to
give local colour and a life-like character
to the narrative, a remarkable instance
of which is afforded by the episode of
the woman taken in adultery, in St.
John, which is not found in the oldest
manuscripts, and is doubtless an inter
polation.
This episode has every ap
pearance of being taken from the life :
the abstracted air, the writing with the
finger on the sand, the exact words
spoken, all give it an air of reality; and
yet it must have been interpolated at a
comparatively late date after several
manuscripts of the Gospel were already
in existence.
Such an instance may
make us hesitate in judging of similar
passages from internal evidence, but it
hardly applies to Mark, whose character
istic traits are much shorter and simpler,
and whose level of culture and literary
ability is much lower than that of the
compiler—whoever he may have been—■
of the Gospel according to St. John.
The Gospel of Matthew, again, has
exactly the appearance of having been
compiled from such a collection of logia
as Papias describes, woven into a
�THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT IN THE GOSPELS
biography by the aid of the original Mark
and other early traditions, and embel
lished by the addition of much mythical
matter intended to show the fulfilment
of Messianic prophecies, and to meet
objections.
It has always seemed to me, therefore,
that all theories as to the date and origin
of the Canonical Gospels were com
paratively worthless which did not take
into account the fundamental fact of this
statement of Papias. It is either true or
false. If true, it is worth a hundred
theories evolved, like the ideal camel,
from the inner consciousness of German
professors, and is conclusive of the fact
that the Gospels in their present form
were not known, or not accepted as an
authority, by the early Christian Churches
of the East in the first half of the second
' century, though this is quite consistent
with their containing passages and tradi
tions which may date back to the siege
of Jerusalem, or even to a much earlier
period. If, on the other hand, Papias is
to be rejected, let us know the reason why,
and give us some sort of an intelligible
explanation of how such a passage came
to be quoted from his work by Eusebius.1
ni
I give this as an illustration of the way
in which, the more I studied these pro
fessional works of Biblical criticism, the
more confusion became worse con
founded. At length, after having aban
doned the subject for a time, I resolved,
almost in despair, to see what conclusion
I could form for myself by the applica
tion of common sense and the ordinary
rules of evidence. I succeeded thus in
forming a tolerably clear and consistent
view of what might be the real, historical
element in the origin of Christianity and
the personality of its Founder. I do not
pretend to impose on others my own
origin: and therefore that the silence of Eusebius
is no proof that there may not have been refer
ences to and quotations from these Gospels in
the writings of Papias.
But this, which is in itself a very far-fetched
supposition, is contradicted by the words of
Eusebius himself, who says, “ As my history
proceeds, I will take care. to indicate what
Church writers from time to time have made use
of any of the disputed books, and what has
been said by them concerning the Canonical ana
acknowledged Scriptures.”
2. That when Papias says, I thought I could
not derive so much advantage from books as from
the living and abiding oral tradition, he meant
books which were not Gospels, but commentaries
on Gospels.
.
Here again this far-fetched supposition is con
1 The difference to which I have referred
tradicted by Papias himself, who says books
between the conclusions of common sense and
without any qualification, and refers to written
those of erudite ingenuity acting under the records—viz., the notes of Mark and the logia
influence of theological prepossession is well,
of Matthew, which assuredly were not commen
illustrated by the attempt of Bishop Lightfoot,
taries or interpretations of existing Gospels, but
in his Essays on Supernatural Religion, to
historical records of the sayings and doings oi
answer the obvious inference from this passage the Founder of the religion as much as the
of Papias. Common sense says, if the Canonical Canonical Gospels themselves; or rather they
Gospels, and especially that of St. John, had
were the primary matter and first forms of the
beenextant in their present form.and accepted Synoptic Gospels, and could not have been so
as an authority by the early Christian Church, referred to if the Gospels, in their more complete
Papias must have known them. If he had
and elaborate form, and especially that according
known them, he could not have referred in such
to St. John, had been known to Papias and
contemptuous terms to written records as inferior
to oral tradition, and could not have mentioned received as authorities.
The closer the connection is drawn between
the disconnected anecdotes of Mark and the
Papias and the Apostle John through Polycarp—
Hebrew logia. of Matthew as the only records of
importance. Nor could Eusebius.have quoted and the Bishop insists greatly on this m his
Essays—the more impossible does it become
this passage alone from Papias, which obviously
that, if Papias had known of such a Gospel as is
tells against his own views, without quoting other attributed to John, he could have written such
passages which refer to the Canonical Gospels,
as is quoted from
y
if any such had existed in other portions of the a sentencesaying that he could his lost worprofit
Eusebius,
get “little
work of Papias. The Bishop replies
i. That the design of Eusebius may have been from books,” and have referred, as he does, to
to quote only references to the Apocryphal Matthew and Mark, without saying a word of
John, or of the Gospel which is pre-eminently
writings, and. in the case of the Canonical
Gospels anything which threw light on their the foundation-stone of Christian theology.
�112
THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT IN THE GOSPELS
solution of this extremely difficult and■ life. You wish to establish some five or
obscure question, but I think it may Six exceptions to this rule, or rather one,
perhaps aid some sincere inquirers in for, if the return to life of Jesus cannot
giving clearness and precision to their be proved, few would be disposed to
ideas, and defining the boundaries rest their faith in miracles on any other
between what may be accepted by the of the alleged cases of resurrection.
ordinary rules of reason and that which And the historical truth of the appear
lies outside the province of reason, and ances of a living and tangible Jesus after
can only be accepted as an article of faith. death hinges mainly on the account of
. To begin with, I believe that miracles the Ascension given by St. Luke in the
lie entirely within the domain of faith. Acts of the Apostles. This is the
I mean real miracles, for a large number crowning miracle of all, the appropriate
of those narrated by the Gospels may conclusion of his mission on earth, and
well be natural occurrences described in strongest proof of his Divine nature;
the language of the day. For instance, and it . is described in the fullest detail
casting out devils, faith-healing, or curing as having occurred in the presence of a
paralytic affections of the nerve or will by large.number of witnesses. St. Paul says
a strong impulse; and the effects of reli of this, or of some other appearance not
gious excitement, the sympathy of crowds, recorded in any of the Gospels, that there
dreams, visions, and hallucinations, are were five hundred witnesses, many of
all well-known causes of the present day, whom remained alive till his day, and in
of effects which in former ages would a definite and well-known locality close
undoubtedly have been considered as to . the large city of Jerusalem. If the
miraculous. These may very well have evidence for this miracle fails us, how
actually occurred, and be as historical as can we believe in others more obscure
any other part of the narrative.
and less well authenticated ?
But when we come to such miracles
Surely the evidence for an event which
as raising the dead, or permanently is a solitary exception to i55ooo,ooo,ooo
curing organic diseases, they require a experiences requires to be proved by
special supernatural interference with testimony far stronger than would be
the laws of nature.. Now, what does required to prove an ordinary occur
reason say to such miracles ? It tells us rence.. But how stands the evidence for
that in thousands of such cases of alleged the miracle of the Ascension ? Of the
miracles, alike in Pagan, early Christian, four witnesses called into court, one,
and mediaeval ages, once firmly believed Mark, the. oldest of all, and probably
in and attested by what seems strong deriving his information direct from St.
contemporary evidence, not one now Peter, makes no mention whatever (if we
holds the field and is seriously accepted, omit the last verses, which are an obvious
with the possible exception of some half addendum, and, as the authors of the
dozen which are accepted solely on the revised edition tell us, are not found in
authority of the New Testament.
the oldest manuscripts) of the Ascension,
Take, as an illustration, the statement or of any other supernatural event con
that one who was really dead returned nected with the Resurrection. Matthew
to life.
There are some thousand says distinctly that the message sent by
millions of people living in the world Jesus to his Apostles was to “depart
who are renewed by death and birth at into Galilee,” and that they went there
least three times in every century, and accordingly, where they saw him, but
this has been going on for some fifty cen
some doubted,”and makes no reference
turies. That makes some 15,000,000,000 to. any. Ascension. John describes cer
human beings who have died, and of •tain miracles occurring at Jerusalem, but
whom it may be said with certainty that places the concluding scene of the
;
not one has ever returned in the body to \Resurrection, when Jesus took his final
�THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT IN THE GOSPELS
113
farewell of his disciples, in Galilee, and, comply with the perfectly reasonable
request of the Pharisees to prove his
like Mark and Matthew, makes no men
Messiahship by a sign from heaven—a
tion of any Ascension.
Observe that Luke says distinctly that refusal which, if he possessed the power,
was unfair to men who, if narrow and
Jesus charged the Apostles “not to
depart from Jerusalem,” and that all the fanatical, were doubtless many of them
miraculous appearances, including the sincere and zealous for their country and
Ascension, occurred there. There can religion.
I do not see how it can be doubted
not be a more flagrant contradiction than
that the evidence for many early Christian
that between Matthew and Luke. Con
sider now what would be the chance of and mediaeval miracles, which no one
establishing, not a stupendous miracle, any longer believes, is much stronger
but such a commonplace event as the than for those of the Gospels. St.
signature of a will, if the first witness Augustine, a perfectly historical and
called was a solicitor who said that the leading personage of his day, testifies
testator in his last illness asked him to that in his own time, and in his own
remain in London to draw and attest bishopric of Hippo, upwards of seventy
his will, which he did, while the second miracles had been wrought by the relics
of St. Stephen. The friend and bio
witness was another solicitor, who swore
that the testator told him he was going grapher of St. Ambrose relates numerous
down to his place in Yorkshire, on the miracles, one a resurrection from the dead,
chance that the air of the country might which had been notoriously wrought at
Milan by the saint during his lifetime.
revive him, and asked the witness to
follow him there by the next day’s train, Eginhard, the secretary of Charlemagne,
in order to complete his will, which who was a well-known historical char
instructions he accordingly carried out. acter, relates, as from his own experience,
And let any candid and dispassionate a number of miracles wrought by the
person say how, if tried by the ordinary relics of two Christian martyrs which an
rules of reason, this differs from the emissary of his had purloined from
direct contradiction between Matthew Rome, and which he was transporting to
Heiligenstadt. To come to later times,
and Luke.
With this conclusive proof of the im St. Thomas a Becket was as well known
possibility of establishing the greatest of an historical character as King Henry,
and no miracles were attributed to him
all miracles by the ordinary rules of
evidence, it is almost superfluous to in his lifetime; but after his niurder,
refer to the many other circumstances under circumstances causing universal
which, on the showing of the Gospels horror and excitement, a whole crop of
themselves, lead to the same result. For miracles sprung up about his shrine at
instance, the next greatest miracle to Canterbury. Any one who will consult
those of the Resurrection, the raising of the authorities cited by Freeman will be
Lazarus, is related only in one Gospel, astonished to find how very precise and
and that the latest and least authentic; circumstantial is the evidence for. many
while, if it really occurred, it must have of these miracles. One instance is that
been known to and recorded by the of the attestation of the mayor and
three other evangelists. Or what can be several burgesses of a northern borough
said of the admission that even the to the fact that a fellow-townsman of
minor miracles of casting out devils and theirs, blind from his youth, had gone to
faith-healing depended . on faith, and the shrine and returned with perfect
could not be performed in the sceptical sight. There is nothing in the account
atmosphere of Nazareth, where Jesus of any miracle in the New Testament at
and his family and surroundings were all approaching this in what constitutes
well known j or of the refusal of Jesus to the force of evidence, precision of date,
�114
THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT IN THE GOSPELS
place, persons, and circumstance. And
yet, for millions who believe on the
weaker evidence, there is scarcely one
who retains any belief in such miracles
as those related of St. Thomas a Becket.
The reason is obvious : miracles are
in a totally distinct province—-that of
faith. What is faith ? St. Paul tells us
it is “ the assurance of things hoped for,
the proving of things not seen.” Hardly
of “things not seen,” for, in that case,
mathematicians and chemists who believe
in atoms and molecules would, of all
men, have the largest faith. But say of
“things not proven,” and it is a very
accurate definition. There can be no
doubt that there are men, often of great
piety and excellence, who have, or fancy
they have, a sort of sixth sense, or, as
Cardinal Newman calls it, an “illative
sense,” by which they see by intuition,
and arrive at a fervid conviction of the
truth of things unprovable or disprovable
by ordinary reason. The existence of a
personal God, the divinity of Christ, the
inspiration of the Bible, and consequent
reality of .miracles, appear to them to be
fundamental and necessary truths beyond
the scope of reason. They feel that, if
their belief in these were shaken, their
whole life would be shattered, and they
would lose what Wordsworth says
Nature was to him—
“ The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,
The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul
Of all my moral being.”
With such men I have no quarrel.
Let them hold to their faith, and leave
reason to poor ordinary mortals, who,
like myself, have no such transcendental
intuitions. Only do not let them confound
the two provinces, and try to ride on two
horses at the same time. Faith is either
a delusion or something which is above
and beyond reason. If the latter, they
only weaken it by seeking to prop it up
by weak and sophistical arguments. If,
for instance, a man tells me that he
believes in the miracle of the Ascension
by faith, I have no more to say; but if
he proceeds to back up his assertion by
arguing that there is no contradiction
between Luke’s account of it and that of
the other evangelists, I say : “This man
is either insincere or illogical.” His
motto is, “ Believe if you can; if you
can’t, cant.”
I do not, therefore, so much deny the
truth of the Christian miracles as affirm
that they are altogether outside the
province of reason, and have no place
in such an historical resume as I am
attempting to give in this essay.
Another reservation I have to make is
that, if the historical element in the life
of Jesus may seem to be reduced to very
slender proportions, this does not neces
sarily affect the vital truth of the
Christian religion.
This religion has
always been to a considerable extent,
and is becoming more and more every
day, not so much a question of external
evidence, or of dogma, as of a sincere
love and reverence for the ideal which
has come to be associated with the name
of Jesus. This ideal is a fact, and has
long been, and will continue to be, an
important factor in the progress of human
evolution from lower to higher things.
How the ideal grew up and came to be
established is of far less importance than
what it is. Love, charity, purity, com
passion, self-sacrifice, are not the less
virtues because the Jdeas and emotions
of so many good men and women, for
nineteen centuries, have taken form and
crystallised about a comparatively small
nucleus of historical fact.
My meaning will be best explained by
an illustration. In Catholic countries
there is a figure 'which competes with, if
indeed it does not often supersede, that
of Jesus—-the figure of the Virgin Mary.
Now, here we can trace the historical
nucleus down to a minimum. What do
we really know of the mother of Jesus as
an historical fact?
That she was a
Jewish matron, the wife of a mechanic
in a small provincial town, the mother of
a large family, for four brothers of Jesus
are mentioned as well as sisters. Apart
from the legends of the .Nativity, which
are obviously mythical, nothing else is
�THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT IN THE GOSPELS
ii5
known of her, except that she was pro historical evidence ? I tell you it is a
bably one of the sceptical friends and fact, far more certain and more impor
kindred at Nazareth whose want of faith tant than nine-tenths of the events
prevented the working of miracles there, related in history. If you doubt it, look
and whose impression seems to have at Raffaelle’s Madonna di San Sisto,
been that Jesus was not altogether in his or Murillo’s Immaculate Conception ; or
right mind. Her relations with her Son listen to Mozart’s Ave Maria, or
do not appear to have been very cordial, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, and you will
from his refusal to go out to her when see that this ideal worship of the car
she came to the door asking to see him, penter’s wife of Nazareth has produced
and his emphatic assertion that those works which will remain for ever as highwho believed in him were dearer to him water marks which have been reached in
the evolution of modern art. You will
than his blood-relations.
The only other mention of Mary by say with Byron :—
St. John, who describes her as sitting at
“ Ave Maria, oh, that face so fair,
Those downcast eyes beneath the Almighty
the foot of the Cross, is apocryphal, being
dove.
directly contradicted by the very precise
Ave Maria, may our spirits dare
statement in the three other Gospels, that
Soar up to thee and to thy Son above.”
the Mary who was present on that occa
And so of Jesus; the historical figure,
sion was a different woman, the mother
of Salome. The motive of this intro though a good deal more certain and
duction of Mary, the mother of Jesus, definite than that of his Mother, is but
by the author of the fourth Gospel is a small matter compared with the ideal
obvious—viz., to exalt the character of which has grown up, in the course of
St. John, as is apparent throughout this ages, about it. It is but as the fragment
Gospel, in which the “ Boanerges,” the which, dropping into a saturated solu
violent and narrow-minded John of the tion, attracts molecule after molecule,
other Gospels, is converted into the until it grows into a large and lovely
gentle and amiable Apostle whom Jesus crystal which all eyes admire.
With these reservations, which may
loved.
What is the sort of figure which, if we go some way to mitigate the scruples of
relied on historical evidence only, we orthodox readers, if I should happen to
should draw from these scanty records ? have any—viz., that miracles are a ques
That of a plain, motherly Jewish woman, tion of faith, and that the historical
who did her own scrubbing and washing, element does not materially affect the
and was probably too much oppressed vital truth of Christianity—I fall back
by household cares, and those of a large on my own humble province of reason,
family, to know or care much for the and attempt to show what can be
spiritual aspirations and prophetical gathered by it from the earliest records
as to the personality and teaching of
pretensions of her eldest son.
And yet from this homely figure -what Jesus.
I begin by stating the two principles
a world of beautiful ideas and associa
tions have flowered into life.
The by which I have been mainly guided in
Madonna has become an embodiment the research. The first is what I may
of all female virtues carried to a point call the “Minimum of Miracle.” Of
where they become divine.
Love, different biographies of the same person,
purity, innocence, maternal affection, that which contains the fewest miraculous
human suffering, have all found their legends is almost certain to be the
highest ideal in the “ Mother of God,” earliest and most authentic. It is far
the “ mild and merciful Madonna,” the more likely that such legends should be
“ Blessed Virgin.” Do you tell me this added or invented than that, if they
is not a fact because it is not based on actually occurred, or were generally
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THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT IN THE GOSPELS
accredited, they should be designedly
omitted. As an illustration of what I
mean by this, take the case, already
referred to, of St. Thomas a Becket. If
newspapers had existed in his time which
published a biography of eminent men
on the day after their death, such a
biography would have contained no
miracles; one written a few weeks later
would have doubtless contained some
reference to the miraculous vision of the
monk who watched by his remains, and
some of the miracles said to have
occurred at his shrine; while still later
accounts would have multiplied the
miracles into scores and hundreds.
There can be no doubt here that the
succession in point of time would have
been—No miracles, few miracles, many
miracles. And the same holds good of
all biographies of eminent men, saints,
and martyrs. The outlines of their
historical figures are almost lost in the
accumulation of myths and legends,
which in uncritical times have grown up
about them. Even . in the nineteenth
century we have had a most significant
illustration of this. When the life of
the Bab, a great religious reformer of
modern Persia, was published shortly
after his death, it contained no miracles.
But in thirty years it came to be packed
with miracles.
The second even more important
principle is, that admissions of events
and sayings which tell against the point
of view of the writer are far more likely
to be historical than those which have
the appearance of being introduced to
show the fulfilment of prophecies, to
answer objections, or to support dogmatic
views. Thus, if Jesus is described as
being born and bred at Nazareth, the
son of a carpenter whose family and
surroundings were well known there, the
statement is far more likely to be true
than one which describes him as having
been born at Bethlehem, and attributes
to. him a whole series of marvellous and
miraculous incidents.
Tried by both these tests, the Gospel
of Mark has every appearance of being
the earliest and most authentic record;
and when this is confirmed by the clear
and explicit statement of Papias, I have
no hesitation in assuming it to be the
surest basis of our historical knowledge,
and in all probability mainly derived
from the reminiscences of Peter himself,
or of other contemporary witnesses of
the events described.
Starting from this basis, I assume, as
beyond all doubt, that Jesus was an
historical personage. There is nothing
in Mark which would lead to the sup
position that any considerable portion of
his Gospel was legend or myth. The
time is too modern, and the narrative
too precise, to allow us to suppose that
the whole story had been elaborated by
later theologians from Oriental myths
and Messianic prophecies. The age
was long past when religions could
originate in solar myths and misunder
stood personifications of natural pheno
mena. Every great religious movement
which comes fairly within the historical
period, from Buddha and Zoroaster down
to Mohammed, had some real personality
as its starting-point, about whom myths
and dogmas accumulated, until almost
obscuring the historical nucleus. So
also was doubtless the case with Jesus.1
The next point I consider to be quite
certain is, that he was born of humble
parents at the little town of Nazareth in
Galilee. The legends of the Nativity
and Infancy may all be dismissed as
purely mythical. The two accounts
and genealogies in Matthew and Luke
do not agree, and are each hopelessly
inconsistent with the evidence of the
other Gospels. It is plain that during
his life and afterwards Jesus was supposed
to have been born at Nazareth, that this
was cast in his teeth as being irrecon
cilable with any claim to be the Messiah,
and that neither he nor his Apostles ever
attempted to deny it, or made any claim
J. The reader who desires to study the more
critical position, which calls into question the
historical reality of Jesus, will do well to read
Mr. J. M. Robertson’s Christianity and Mytho
logy and Pagan Christs,
�THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT IN THE GOSPELS
117
to his having been born at Bethlehem. heroes and gods of antiquity, and is
If such a series of startling events as almost certainly derived from a solar
are described by Matthew had really myth of the sun rising in the constella
occurred, the inhabitants of Nazareth tion of Virgo. The story of the massacre
could hardly have ignored his claims as of the innocents is related of Krishna;
a prophet on the ground that he was a and, if we accept the narrative of Matthew,
mere ordinary fellow-townsman, “the we have to suppose that there were two
Son of the carpenter, whose brothers wicked kings, one in India and another
in Judaea, separated by an interval of
and sisters are with us every day.’'
The accounts of the nativity, infancy, many centuries, who both adopted the
arid early manhood of Jesus may be same expedient, of a massacre of all
dismissed as purely legendary. I do male children under two years of age,
not say so merely because they contain to destroy a Divine Incarnation who was
so many miracles, but on the ordinary Lorn in one of their cities. The escape
grounds of historical criticism. In the by flight, owing to a miraculous warning,
first place, the two accounts of Matthew and other particulars, are almost word
and Luke are contradictory. The second for word the same in the two legends;
admits that Nazareth was the abode of and we may fairly assume that both are
Joseph and Mary, and accounts for the alike unhistorical. We know that a
birth of Jesus at Bethlehem by the sup whole crop of such legends grow up in
posed necessity of Joseph’s going there early Christian tradition, for we have
to be taxed, as being of the family of the Gospel of the Infancy, which is full
David; while the first assumes that of the most childish and absurd magical
Bethlehem was the abode of the parents, tricks, supposed to have been performed
and says that they only went to Nazareth during the boyhood of the Messiah.
The first firm historical ground is
some years later from fear of Archelaus,
who had succeeded to his father Herod. afforded by the Gospel of St. Mark, who
Matthew describes the Massacre of the begins with the visit of Jesus to John the
Innocents at Bethlehem, and says that Baptist. This is very likely to be true,
Jesus escaped it by flying into Egypt; for we know from Josephus that the time
while Luke omits all mention of the was one of great religious and political
massacre, the miraculous star, and the excitement, and that there were several
wise men of the East, and says that the such preachers or prophets as John the
parents took the babe straight to Jeru Baptist is described to have been, who
salem. In both cases all the events are went about holding what may be called
described as happening in fulfilment of camp-meetings, and in some cases caus
prophecies. The other two evangelists, ing local insurrections, which had to be
Mark and John, make no mention of repressed by the Roman soldiery. Noth
any such occurrences, and begin their ing is more likely than that a young man
biographies with the visit of Jesus, when of original genius and strong religious
a grown-up man, to John the Baptist. sentiment should go to one of such
It is now recognised by prominent theo meetings, not far from his home, to hear
logians, such as Dr. Loofs, that the a celebrated preacher. That such a
account given in Luke is a late interpola young man was not altogether satisfied
with the narrow and fierce denunciations
tion in the text.
But the most conclusive fact is that of a rude ascetic, and did not enrol him
these legends are identical, both in their self as one of his disciples, was also very
general tenour and in many minute details, probable; but that John really did make
with similar legends of earlier religions. a considerable impression on him is
Thus the miraculous birth from a virgin evident from the fact that he left his
is related of Horus, of Krishna, of home immediately afterwards, assumed
Buddha, and of many of the celebrated the character of a wandering missionary,
�ii8
THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT IN THE GOSPELS
and began to preach identically the same
the New Testament. They supply a
gospel as that of John: “Repent ye, for
motive-power which may explain the
the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
early conversions and the rapid spread
Let us pause for a moment to consider
what was meant by the kingdom of heaven of the new religion. Evidently the hope
eing at hand. It did not mean such a of a large and .immediate reward was
millennium as certain enthusiasts may present in the minds of the Apostles,
now suppose, after nineteen centuries of these humble peasants and fishermen
unfulfilled expectation—thatis, the advent we're to sit on twelve thrones judging
of an era of purer morals and better laws the twelve tribes of Israel,” and “every
—but the literal end of the world and last one who has left houses, or brethren, or
judgment, to take place within the life sisters, or children, or lands, for My
Name’s sake shall receive a hundred
time of some of the existing generation.
fold.” And this not in a remote future,
1 he sun was to be darkened, the moon
but m the lifetime of the existing genera
not to give her light, and the stars fall
tion. It is conceivable also that many
rom heaven. And then they were to
see the “ Son of Man coming in clouds educated Jews, who despaired of an
with great power and glory,” and his armed resistance to the overwhelming
angels to gather all mankind from the power of Rome, might be inclined to
four winds of heaven before the judgment view with favour the idea of a spiritual
Messiah who should bring about the
seat, where the tares are to be separated
advent of an end of the world and last
from the wheat, the goats from the sheep,
judgment, in which the elect children of
the good rewarded and the wicked cast
God should be rewarded and the heathen
into everlasting fire. Nothing can be punished.
more explicit than the assurance that this
Another element which must have
event would come to pass in the lifetime
contributed largely towards the reception
of the present generation. “Verily I say
of the Gospel by the poorer classes is
unto you, This generation shall not pass
the extreme socialistic spirit which is
away until all these things are accom uniformly displayed. For “rich’’write
plished.”
Such was evidently the current opinion “capital,” and for “poor” “wages,” and
the preaching of Jesus is almost identical
among the Apostles and early Christians: with that of modern socialists. The
and even the cultured and educated Paul,
poor are to be rewarded and the rich
some twenty years later, repeats it with punished in the kingdom of God, irre
the fullest conviction, and describes how
the Lord shall descend from heaven spective of any merit or demerit. Thus,
blessed are ye poor,” “woe unto you
with a shout, with the voice of an arch
that are rich.” Even the rich young
angel, and with the trump of God”; and
how “the dead shall rise first; then we man, who had kept all the Command
that are alive, that are left, shall together ments, is told that he cannot be saved
unless he “sells all his possessions and
with them be caught up in the clouds, to gives to the poor”; and the remark of
meet the Lord in the air.”
Jesus is, that it is “ easier for a camel to
It is clear that, according to all rules
go through a needle’s eye than for a rich
of ordinary reason, predictions thus con
man to enter into the kingdom of God.”
fidently made and conclusively refuted For anything that appears to the contrary,
are an irresistible argument against the Lazarus may have been a loafing vaga
possession of any inspiration or special bond, who had brought poverty and dis
foresight on the part of the prophets, and
ease upon himself by his own misconduct;
that prophecies, like miracles, must be and Dives a man who, having inherited
relegated to the province of faith. But,
a large estate, spent it hospitably in
on the other hand, they bring us nearer
entertaining his neighbours; but no moral
to the human and historical element in is inculcated. It is enough that Lazarus
�THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT IN THE GOSPELS
is poor and Dives rich, to place one in
Abraham’s bosom and the other in eternal
fire.
It is evidently neither in these falsified
prophecies, nor in this exaggerated social
ism, that we are to find the fascination
which the ideal of Jesus has exercised
over so many minds for so many centuries.
It is rather in the interpretation which he
gave to the first words of the Baptist’s
formula, “ Repent ye, for the kingdom of
God is at hand.” Repentance, as taught
by Jesus, meant not merely an outward
obedience to formal laws and abstinence
from direct breaches of moral command
ments, but such a spiritual conversion as
embraced the whole sphere of human
life and made the very idea of sin insup
portable. Men were to be good, pure,
merciful, compassionate, and charitable,
because the principle of “loving God and
thy neighbour as thyself” was so wrought
into the soul that it became a second
nature. The law was to be observed, but
in a liberal, tolerant, and comprehensive
spirit, and the intention was to be looked
to rather than the outward act. The
widow’s mite was of more value than the
rich man’s offering, and the publican’s
remorseful prayer was more acceptable
than the formal and lengthened devotions
of the strait-laced Pharisee.
It is remarkable, when we come to
consider it, how much more the ideal of
Jesus, which is the central fact of Chris
tianity, is founded on the precepts and
parables by which this spiritual religion
is taught, and by the human incidents of
his life which illustrate it, than it is on
the alleged miracles. The Sermon on
the Mount, the Parable of the Good
Samaritan, the tenderness to children,
the affectionate and “sweetly reason
able ” intercourse with his humble
followers—these and such as these are
the traits which build up the ideal char
acter that draws all hearts.
The miracles, on the other hand, are
at best but capricious instances of a
supernatural power, healing one and
leaving thousands unhealed, and failing
when most required as evidences, as in
119
the case of the incredulous Nazarenes
and the Pharisees who asked for a sign;
while, at the worst, some of them are
wholly inconsistent with the historical
character of the just and gentle Jesus.
Thus the miracle of the Gadarene swine,
if true, obviously detracts from this char
acter. It is an act of cruelty to animals
(for what had the poor swine done to
deserve death?), and it is a wanton
destruction of property cruel. to the
owners. Doubtless these swine had
owners, perhaps some poor Galilean
peasants, who, like those of Donegal or
Galway, depended on the pig to pay
their rent and save them from eviction.
It was a wanton and a cruel act to send
their humble property to destruction m
order to please a pack of devils. Again,
the miracle of the fig-tree reads rather
like the hasty curse of a passionate fool
than the act of a gentle, long-suffering,
and sweetly reasonable man.
But, to return to the historical narative,
I find no difficulty in believing that the
accounts of the commencement of the
mission of Jesus, of his comings and
goings among the small towns of Galilee,
of his camp-meetings, and of most of
his preachings, parables, and sayings, are
substantially accurate. There is nothing
improbable in them, except in some of
the miracles taken literally, and these
may readily be explained, or indeed
were inevitable, in such a medium of
excited crowds of poor and ignorant
men, where everyone believed in miracles
as events of daily occurrence, and where
many natural acts of faith-healing and
casual coincidences had given a popular
prophet the reputation of being a worker
of mighty works.
Indeed, many of the miracles appear
as if they had a nucleus of historical fact,
which became expanded into legend.
Thus, the legends of Jesus and Peter
walking on the sea appear to be based
on the first simple narrative, how a
sudden squall having overtaken the boat
in which they were crossing at night,
they awoke Jesus, who was asleep, and
the squall passed over.
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THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT IN THE GOSPELS
Those, again, of the “ loaves and fishes ” nent . makes a desperate thrust by a
may have readily arisen from the recol puzzling question; it is parried by an
lection of some occasion when a scanty adroit answer, both leaving the root of
supply of food had lasted out longer than the matter untouched. Thus the cele
was expected, owing very probably to brated answer, “ Render unto Csesar the
many of those who attended the camp things that are Caesar’s, and unto God
meeting having brought their own provi the things that are God’s,” is clever, but
sions—a conjecture which is confirmed no answer to the real question whether a
by the abundance of baskets, in which conscientious servant of Jehovah could
to collect the fragments, and which could voluntarily pay taxes to a heathen power
not have been required to carry seven or which had usurped his place. The posi
five loaves.
tion was precisely that of a conscientious
These, however, are mere conjectures, Dissenter in our own days, who was in
and not to be taken as facts, and I only doubt whether to pay Church rates or
mention them to show that a good many let his chattels be seized. He would
of the miraculous legends need not have got little enlightenment from being
necessarily detract from the general told to pay King Edward VII. the things
historical value of Mark’s simple narra that were his, and render to God what
tive of this early part of the career of was God’s. The question was, what
Jesus in Galilee.
things were Caesar’s and what God’s.
And I think the sayings and parables
Again, the puzzle of the Sadducee,
may generally be taken .as authentic. It whose wife she would be in heaven who
is true that most of both may be found had been married successively to seven
in the literature of the Talmud and of brothers, remains a puzzle to this day.
older religions, but this does not negative It is no question of marrying in the
the probability that Jesus may have used kingdom of heaven, but of marriages
them in his popular addresses, and at which have taken place on earth. Shall
any rate they afford a view of what his we preserve our personal identity after
doctrine and style of preaching really death, so that two souls which have been
were ; and . many of the parables and united by the holiest and closest ties
shorter sayings are just such things as while living shall be united in a future
would be readily retained in the memory life ? Shall we know and recognise those
and transmitted by oral tradition. Many whom we have loved and lost—
of the details also of the incidents and
“ See every face we feared to see no more ” ;
wanderings to and fro of this Galilean
or is Arthur’s last wish, that Guinevere
period are very like what might be
expected from the reminiscences in old should cling to him and not to Launcelot,
age of an Apostle like Peter, who had when they meet before “ the fair father
accompanied Jesus from the first, though Christ,” a vain dream ? If it be not,
we must always recollect that the author who can answer the Sadducee’s question,
who worked up these reminiscences, as or say more than our greatest poet:
“ Behind the veil, behind the veil ”?
described by Papias, into a connected
biography may have added a good deal What Jesus might have said, but did
from other sources.
not, is : The rule is an abominable one;
I am inclined also to accept as it degrades the sanctity of marriage, and
authentic a good many of the contro reduces woman to a mere chattel, who is
versies between Jesus and the Scribes to be handed over like an ox or an ass—
and Pharisees. They are exactly in the they to bear burdens, she to bear chil
style of the verbal conflicts which were dren—for their master, man.
so common in the East, and which sur
Up to this point, therefore, I see no
vived down to the scholastic tourna difficulty in accepting the Synoptic narra
ments of the Middle Ages. An oppo tive, best told in the earliest and simplest
�THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT IN THE GOSPELS
121
Gospel of Mark, as being in the main and Pharisees had introduced in later
historical. And if so, the best picture I times. Thus, he strolled through the
can form of it fs something very like the fields on a Sunday afternoon with his
Salvation Army of the present day. The disciples, plucking ears of corn, and
movement had evidently no political declared that “ the Sabbath was made
significance, and attracted little notice, for man, not man for the Sabbath,” a
or Josephus must have mentioned it; and saying in respect of which our modern
there is no trace of any interference with Pharisees have generally sided with those
it, in the earlier stages, on the part of of old rather than with the liberal-minded
the authorities. In fact, the modern and tolerant Jesus.
What did Jesus believe respecting his
Salvationists have suffered more from
provincial Bumbles and Justice Shallows own Messiahship ? This is a very per
than Jesus and his disciples seemed to plexing question, aggravated by the
have done while they remained in Galilee. tendency, after the doctrine was firmly
But, like the Salvation Army, there was established, to invent or adopt traditions
a loose organisation of a general, twelve showing that he had fulfilled the condi
principal officers, and a body of disciples tions attached to such a character by the
or professed adherents, who went about prophecies of the Old Testament, and by
holding camp-meetings, and preaching the prevailing expectations.
But it is tolerably clear that in the
the advent of the kingdom of God and
a new and better life to excited crowds, early part of his career he advanced no
who listened eagerly, and on the whole such pretension. The Gospels all agree
sympathised with them. The only dif in describing the remarkable persistency
ference was in the superior genius, with which he endeavoured to suppress
eloquence, and attractiveness of the all evidence which tended to support
personality at the head of the movement, such a claim. The evil spirits who
and the purity, spirituality, and general recognise him, the patients whom he
miraculously cures, Peter when he calls
excellence of his doctrine.
There are one or two points in this him the Christ, are all enjoined to “ tell
doctrine which it is interesting to con no man anything.” When the little
sider. Did Jesus regard himself as a damsel is supposed to have been raised
Jewish reformer, or as the founder of a from the dead, his first care is to “ charge
new religion ? Decidedly the former. them much that no man should know
The declarations are quite explicit : this.” In any ordinary case the inference
“Think not that I come to destroy the would be that he did not wish miracles,
law or the prophets, but to fulfil ”; “Till which passed muster with ignorant dis
heaven and earth pass away, one jot or ciples, to be investigated by impartial
one tittle shall in no wise pass away from and educated critics. If this explanation
the law ”; “ I was not sent but unto the be negatived as inconsistent with his
lost sheep of the house of Israel.” He pure and holy character, the only other
was as far as possible from Paul’s doc that can be suggested is that he did not
trine, that he was sent to liberate the wish it to be supposed that he was a
Jews from the bondage of the law,, and supernatural being attested by miracles,
to introduce a new and universal religion believing miracles to be vulgar things
for Jews and Gentiles alike. But in a of which even false prophets might be
few exceptional cases he healed Gentiles capable, but that he preferred to rely on
who had shown extraordinary faith, and the excellence of his doctrine and his
his interpretation of the law was a large own powers of eloquence and persuasion.
It would seem, however, that later in
and liberal one, looking to the spirit
rather than the letter of the Mosaic his career the conviction began to dawn
commandments, and rejecting the trifling on him that he might be the Messiah of
and vexatious rules which the Scribes . the prophecies, and that he stood in
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THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT IN THE GOSPELS
some peculiar relation to God, and would any other record. It is evident that, if
be His vicegerent in inaugurating His Luke s version had represented the words
kingdom and holding the assizes of the really spoken, they could never have been
last judgment.
altered by eye-witnesses or by early tradi
The most distinct assertion of this is tion into words conveying such a totally
found after he had gone to Jerusalem, in different impression as “My God, my
his reputed reply to the adjuration of the God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
high priest to say whether he was “ the
We come now to the concluding scene
Christ, the Son of the Blessed,” to which at Jerusalem, when it becomes more
he replied, according to one version, “ I than ever difficult to distinguish between
am,” and to another, “ Thou sayest.”
fact and legend. The narratives of the
It is evident, however, that he never three Synoptic Gospels are fairly consis
thought of equalling himself to God, or tent up to the Crucifixion, when they
representing himself in the literal sense become hopelessly discordant. That of
as being “of one substance with the John is apparently founded on the same
Father,” and he would probably have torn tradition, though, after the fashion of the
his clothes and shouted “blasphemy ” if author, dealt with in a very freehand
he had heard the articles of the Athana- way, altered, transposed, so as to make it
sian Creed. To the last he uses the the ground-work for several dogmatical
term “ Son of Man ” in speaking of him speeches and visits to Jerusalem, and
self, even in his answer to the high embellished by various amendments and
priest j and he never adopts the language details. But the primitive narrative is
of the evil spirits who address him as clear enough. Jesus and his Apostles go
“Jesus, thou Son of the Most High up to Jerusalem to keep the Passover ;
God,” or as “ the Holy One of God.” they are received there with a triumphal
He never doubts that" “my Father is procession; Jesus clears the Temple of
greater than I,” or that God alone knows the money-changers; the authorities
things which he does not know.
become alarmed, but are afraid to arrest
. The best clue to his conception of him openly, as the people are in his
himself is, to my mind, afforded by the favour ; one of the Apostles betrays his
pathetic dying words, “ Eloi, Eloi, lama hiding-place, and he is arrested at night;
sabachthani ?” These, if any, must be he is tried and condemned by the Sanhe
historical, for they tell against the drim and by the Roman Governor;
orthodox view, and could never have Pilate believes him to be innocent, and
been invented, while they are just the tries to save him, but the Jews clamour
sort of thing which would impress itself, for his blood; Pilate yields, and he is
in the actual words spoken, on the crucified.
memory of his affectionate disciples.
Thus far the story is consistent, and it
But if these words were really spoken, involves nothing that is impossible. But
they show that he really believed himself it is full of the gravest improbabilities.
to be the promised Messiah, and trusted Why should the Jews, who one day are
up to the last in some signal miraculous so much in his favour that the authorities
act of deliverance, such as the advent of are afraid to arrest him, be converted in
the last day, or the descent from heaven a single day into a furious crowd clamour
of “ more than twelve legions of angels.” ing for his execution ? Why should an
It is worthy of remark that the author appeal to Pilate be necessary for a reliof Luke seems to have felt the force of gious offence against the Mosaic law,
this objection, for he transforms the when Stephen, under precisely similar
expression into “My God, into thy circumstances, was publicly stoned to
ha ids I commend my spirit,” and inserts death, and Paul made havoc of Chris
“ Forgive them, for they know not what tians without any Roman mandate ? Why
they do,” which words are not found in • should false witnesses, whose testimony
�THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT IN THE GOSPELS
123
was inconsistent, be required to prove any one written document or from any
an offence which Jesus avowed in open fixed tradition. Thus, Judas’s death is
differently described. Herod is intro
court ?
But the portion of the narrative which duced by Luke, and not mentioned by
relates to Pilate is that which is open to the others. Jesus carried his own cross
the gravest suspicion. It is opposed in one account, while Simon of Cyrene
alike to human nature and to Roman bore it in another. Jesus gave no answer
practice that a high functionary should to Pilate, says Matthew; he explained
first publicly proclaim his belief in the that “his kingdom was not of this world,”
innocence of a prisoner whom he was says John. Mary his mother sat at the
trying, and go through the solemn act of foot of the cross, according to John; it
washing his hands to show that he would was not his mother, but another Mary,
not be guilty of his blood, and immedi the mother of Salome, who “beheld from
ately afterwards condemn him to a cruel afar,” according to Mark and Matthew.
and ignominious death. Nor is it con There was a guard set to watch the tomb,
ceivable that such a Governor, if forced says Matthew; there is no mention of one
to yield by the threat of being reported by the others.
These, however, are minor discrepan
to Csesar for disloyalty, should insist,
against the remonstrances of the Jewish cies which are only important as showing
rulers, in placing an inscription on the that there was no clearly fixed historical
cross, which proclaimed Jesus to be “ the tradition, except of the general outline of
the course of events, when the different
king of the Jews.”
In fact, the whole episode of Pilate Gospels were compiled; and subsequent
has very much the air of being an inter to the Crucifixion there is, as we have
polation of much later date, when the seen, a hopeless discordance.
In some cases it is almost possible to
feeling of hatred between Christians and
Jews had become intense. The object trace, step by step, how the legends grew
evidently is to show that this hatred was with each successive repetition. Thus,
justified by the Jews having imprecated according to Mark, two women went to
the blood of Jesus on their own heads the tomb, found the stone rolled away
and those of their sons, and to represent and the tomb empty, and saw a young
the heathens as having been better than man clothed in white, who gave them a
the Jews, inasmuch as Pilate tried to save message to Peter and the disciples that
Jesus, and to a certain extent believed in Jesus had risen and gone before them to
him. It is difficult to credit that such Galilee, where they would see him—a
a narrative could have come from men message which they never delivered,
like Peter, John, and James, who re being afraid. In Matthew the young
mained devout Jews, zealous for their man has become an angel who rolled the
stone away and sat on it, delivering the
faith and country.
Nor, again, is it easy to see how, if the same message to go to Galilee, where his
events had really assumed the publicity disciples would see him, which they ran
and importance assigned to them, there and delivered. In Luke there are the
should be no mention of them by Jose same two Marys, with another woman
phus, or any contemporary writer, espe named Joanna, and several others, and
cially if there was, as the Gospels say, a they saw not one but two men in dazzling
miraculous darkness over the land, an apparel; “Go to Galilee” is changed
earthquake, the veil of the Temple rent, into “ As he spoke unto you while yet in
and ghosts walked about the streets. Galilee,” which in the Acts is enlarged
The Gospel narratives also, though con into a positive injunction “ Not to depart
sistent in the main outlines, contain a from Jerusalem ”; and Peter is intro
number of discrepancies in details which duced as running to the tomb and finding
show that they were not derived from it empty. In John there are two angels;
�124
THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT IN THE GOSPELS
John runs along with Peter to the tomb;
and Mary Magdalene has a miraculous
vision of Jesus, whom she at first mistakes
for the gardener. No one who reads
these narratives by the ordinary light of
reason can doubt that the simple story
of Mark is nearest to the original fact or
tradition, and that the successive amplifi
cations of one into two, men into angels,
the introduction of Peter, and finally of
Peter and John, and the miraculous
vision of Mary Magdalene, have grown
up about it. If the facts had really
happened as described by Luke and
John, no one could have subsequently
cut them down into the bald statement
of Mark, while the opposite process is
what we know to be historically true in
the case of so many early Christian
martyrs and mediaeval saints. It is the
clearest possible case of the application
of.the principle of the “Minimum of
Miracle.”
I may here remark, however, that, as
I said before, the historical nucleus is of
minor importance compared with the
fact that the belief in the Resurrection
did somehow come to be entertained,
and became the chief agent in the estab
lishment and evolution of the new reli
gion, and that there is no reason to doubt
that it was honestly entertained by sincere
men, who, if they did not see it with their
bodily eyes, saw it with the eyes of faith,
and to whom visions, dreams, hallucina
tions, and subjective impressions were as
much facts as objective realities.
In trying to disentangle the historical
nucleus from these legends, the best ray
of light I can discover is afforded by the
account of the riot in the Temple, and
assault on the traders who changed money
and who sold doves and other objects of
sacrifice. This is found in all the Gospels,
and could hardly be an invention; while,
if true, it must have been followed by
immediate consequences. Prompt and
stern repression must have been exercised
both by the Jewish and the Roman
authorities.
. We must recollect that their point of
view would not be that of later Christians,
when the faith in the Divine character of
Jesus had been established for centuries,
but that of contemporaries who knew
nothing of him but as the provincial
prophet of an obscure sect. To recur to
the simile of the Salvation Army, it
would be as if a body of Salvationists,
who had preached without interruption
in some remote province of Russia, came
to Moscow, and in a fit of religious
enthusiasm invaded the cathedral, and
broke the windows of the shopkeepers
in its vicinity who exhibited ikons and
other sacred objects of the Greek ritual.
Undoubtedly the Metropolitan would
complain to the Governor, and the
leader of the rioters would be summarily
arrested, and, if not crucified, sent to
Siberia.
Supposing this narrative to be true, it
affords a natural explanation of many
of the incidents recorded. A disciple
might well be bribed to disclose the
hiding-place of his Master; the arrest
might be made under the circumstances
described; the disciples might disperse
in alarm, and Peter deny his connection
with them; Jesus might be taken before
the high priest, and by him referred to
the Roman Governor. The incredible
legends about his trial and Pontius
Pilate might resolve themselves into the
fact that Jesus had no defence to make,
and was condemned, not on theological
grounds, or on the charge of having
proclaimed himself as a temporal king of
the Jews, but on the simple charge of
having been the ringleader in a serious
riot. Crucifixion would, as we know
from numerous instances in Josephus,
have been a common Roman method of
dealing with such leaders, and its various
incidents, such as the brutality of the
soldiers and the procession to Golgotha,
are only what might be expected. The
historical part of the narrative can hardly
be carried farther than that Jesus came
up to Jerusalem with a body of his
followers, that a riot took place in the
Temple, and that he was arrested, tried,
and executed by the Roman Governor
at the request of the Jewish authorities.
�THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT IN THE GOSPELS________
125
might well have come from an enemy of
His entombment and the finding of the
tomb empty rest, according to Mark, who the new faith, but hardly from an
Apostle. On the other hand, at a subse
is the best authority, on the testimony of
quent period, when the eye-witnesses
two women, Mary Magdalene and Mary
were dead, and the original records and
the mother of James, who are alone
traditions were obscured by time, and
mentioned as seeing where the body
when the dogmas of the Resurrection
was laid, and as afterwards, with
and Divine nature of Jesus were firmly
Salome, finding the tomb empty, but,
established, nothing is more likely than
being afraid, said nothing at the time to
that the birthplace of the new religion
anv one.
.
.
should be transferred to Jerusalem, and
The next historical question is one of
the vague statements of occurrences in
great importance. Did the Apostles, as
directly asserted by Matthew, and in Galilee should be transformed into, a
series of stupendous miracles occurring
directly by Mark, return immediately to
at the sacred city in the presence of a
Galilee, where the belief in. the Resur
rection took form; or did they, as large number of witnesses.
The probabilities of the case, also, are .
asserted with equal positiveness by Luke,
all in favour of the return to Galilee.
remain at Jerusalem, where a series of
startling miraculous appearances took The disciples had come to Jerusalem on
a special pilgrimage to keep the Passplace ?
.
There can be little doubt in consider over there, which was over j there was
no intimation of any intention to remain,
ing the Galilean tradition to be the true
nor could they well have brought with
one. Independently of the great weight
them any sufficient resources for a long
of authority for considering the narrative
stay. They were in mortal fear of the
of Mark, which is substantially the same
Jews, and several of them had wives and
as that of Matthew, to be the earliest and
families at home, to whom they would
most authentic, it is inconceivable that,
hasten to return. If we could believe
if events had really occurred as described
by Luke, any author or compiler of any John, they not only returned, but
resumed their original occupation as
other Gospel should have ignored them
fishermen ; but I lay little stress on this,
and transferred the scene to Galilee.
as the author of John, whoever he was,
However simple-minded such an author
was evidently a man of considerable
may have been, he could not but have
seen that he was weakening immensely literary attainments and dramatic genius,
which he displayed in writing a Gospel,
the evidence for the cardinal fact of the
great parts of which may be most aptly
Resurrection if, instead of referring to
such precise and definite statements of described as a theological romance.
But it is useless to dwell on details, as
miracles, including the. Ascension, occur
the conclusive argument is that Mark
ring in or near the capital city Jerusalem,
and Matthew could by. no possibility
in the presence of numerous witnesses,
many of whom survived to attest their have written as they did if the course of
events immediately after the death of
truth twenty or more years afterwards,
he either omitted all mention of such Jesus had really been, or even had been
generally supposed to be, as described
occurrences like Mark, or like Matthew
transferred the scene to a remote pro by Luke.
With the return of the disciples to
vince and to a select few of his own
disciples, and whittled down the evi Galilee the curtain falls on what may be
fairly called the historical drama of the
dence to the vague statement that these
went into the “ mountain where Jesus life of Jesus, and we enter on a region
had appointed them,” where “some where all is conjecture and uncertainty.
The belief in the Resurrection evidently
worshipped him and some doubted.”
It probably
Such a perversion of Luke’s narrative grew up in Galilee.
�126
THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT IN THE GOSPELS
originated with the women, for they are
mentioned in all the accounts as the first
to have seen the risen Jesus, or to have
brought a message from him or from
angels, and this is hardly likely to have
been invented.
If at first they were afraid to tell any
one, nothing is more natural than that,
when they found themselves in their
own country, and among friends, their
tongues would have been loosened, and
they would begin to talk of the wonderful
things they had seen, or fancied they
had seen, at Jerusalem. '
The only thing certain is that the
belief in the Resurrection, once started,
grew rapidly, but that the various
accounts of how it grew are so vague
and contradictory that it is hopeless to
attempt to draw any certain conclusion
respecting them. This will be apparent
if we simply place in juxtaposition the
five different records which have come
down to us in the New Testament.
The most certain and authentic record
is that related by St. Paul in his Epistle
to the Corinthians. It is true that Paul
was not an eye-witness, or at all likely to
have examined the evidence critically,
and he places the appearance to himself,
which, whether supernatural or not, was
obviously in the nature of a vision, on
precisely the same footing as the others.
Still, it is good evidence that, some
twenty years after the event, the appear
ances he mentions were currently believed
by the early Christian community at
Jerusalem.
They are six in number, and, presum
ably, though he does not mention the
place, all at Jerusalem, except that to
himself on the road to Damascus.
Viz.
1. To Peter.
2. To the twelve.
3.
4.
56.
To above 500 brethren at once.
To James.
To all the Apostles.
To himself.
Compare this with the other accounts,
beginning with that of Mark, which
probably came direct from St. Peter.
In the genuine Mark of the oldest
manuscripts :—
Miraculous appearances. None.
Only a message from a young man in
white delivered to the two Marys and
Salome.
In the addition to Mark, introduced
later than the date of the oldest manu
scripts :—
/
Three. 1. To Mary Magdalene.
2. To the two walking from Em
maus.
3- T° the eleven.
i and 2 being distinctly stated not to
have been believed by those to whom
they were told, at the time of their
alleged occurrence.
According to Matthew :—
Miraculous appearances. Two.
1. To Mary Magdalene and the other
Mary at Jerusalem.
2. To the eleven on a mountain in Gali
lee, when some worshipped and
“some doubted.”
According to Luke :—
Miraculous appearances. Four — all at
Jerusalem.
1. Messages of tWo men in dazzling
apparel, probably angels, to the two
Marys, Joanna, and other women.
2. To the two disciples walking from
Emmaus, who at first did not recog
nise him.
3. To the eleven, when he eat the broiled
fish.
4. The Ascension, when he was bodily
taken up in a cloud to-heaven in the
presence of the eleven.
According to John :—
Miraculous appearances. Four—first three
at Jerusalem, fourth in Galilee.
1. To Mary Magdalene alone, who at first
took him for the gardener.
2. To the disciples sitting in a room with
closed doors.
3. A second time to the disciples, to re
move Thomas’s doubts.
4. By the sea of Galilee, when Peter and
six other disciples caught the miracu
lous draught of fishes, when at first
none of them recognised him.
And John expressly states that this
last was the third appearance to the dis
ciples after Jesus had risen from the
dead, thus excluding all others except
1, 2, and 3.
�THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT IN THE GOSPELS
It will be remarked that, of the five
miraculous appearances recorded by St.
Paul as being the current belief at Jeru
salem twenty years after the event, three
—those to Peter, James, and above 500
brethren at once—are not even men
tioned in any other account. The latter
can hardly be the same as Luke’s Ascen
sion, which comes in its natural place as
the concluding scene of the great drama
of the life and resurrection of Jesus, and
the spectators are confined to the eleven
Apostles.
Paul’s No. 5, or second appearance to
all the Apostles, may refer either to that
described by John to convince Thomas,
or to Luke’s Ascension; but Paul makes
no mention either of Thomas or of the
Ascension, which would be very strange
if the bodily Ascension to heaven was a
cardinal article of faith when Paul visited
Jerusalem, which it must have been if it
really happened as described by Luke.
There remains, therefore, only the vague
tradition that Jesus had appeared to the
twelve, as to which the enumeration by
Paul of five miraculous appearances
receives not the slightest confirmation
from any of the Gospels.
The Gospel accounts, again, vary so
much that there is not a single case in
which any one is confirmed by any of
the others. The nearest approach to it
is in the appearances to women; but
here John says distinctly it was to Mary
Magdalene alone, while Matthew says
it was to the two Marys ; Luke, that the
vision was to the two Marys, Joanna,
and other women, and was one of angels,
and not of Jesus; Mark, that the message
was given to the two Marys and Salome
by a young man. Evidently the tradi
tion as to the women was very vague.
Again, the Ascension at Jerusalem,
the greatest of all the miracles, rests on
Luke alone, and is negatived by the
testimony of Matthew and John that
the Apostles returned to Galilee, and
that the final scene, whatever it may
have been, took place there; and still
more significantly by their silence, and
that of Mark, respecting an event which,
if it took place as described by Luke,
must have been known and mentioned.
The appearance to the two disciples
returning from Emmaus rests also on
the sole authority of Luke, and that to
convince Thomas on that of John. The
miraculous draught of fishes is mentioned
by John, and by John alone. The appear
ance to the eleven is the only event
mentioned by three of the Evangelists;
but of these, two place it in a room at
Jerusalem, while one places it on a
mountain in Galilee.
It is evident that it would be futile to
attempt to form any historical estimate
from such accounts as these ; they must
be left, with miracles generally, to the
province of faith rather than that of
reason. All we can rationally infer is,
that, as in the case of St. Thomas a
Becket and so many other saints and
martyrs, the growth of miraculous myths
was very rapid, and that probably those
records which contain the fewest of
them must date back very closely to the
original events, and to the actors who
took a principal part in them. I have never
been able to see any explanation of the
silence of the Gospel according to St. Mark
respecting any miraculous appearances
after the Resurrection, and the brief and
vague reference to them in St. Matthew,
except in the supposition that the account
given by Papias is true, and that they are
really based on written notes taken down
by Mark from Peter, whose authority
was sufficient to prevent later compilers
and editors from adding to them legends
and traditions which were floating about
in the early Christian world, unsupported
by any direct Apostolic authority.
Here, then, the curtain falls on any
attempt to realise the historical element
in what Huxley so appropriately terms
“the grand figure of Jesus as it lies
embedded in the primary strata of
Christian literature.” We see him cruci
fied at Jerusalem, his disciples returning
to Galilee, and the faith in his Resurrec
tion growing up there, and soon becom
ing an assured conviction, though with
no agreement as to the facts on which it
�128
SCEPTICISM AND PESSIMISM
was founded, and rapidly becoming
surrounded with an atmosphere of myths
and miracles.
The next stage is even more obscure.
We have no information as to when and
how the Apostles returned from Galilee
to Jerusalem, and became, as we find
them twenty years later, pillars of the
Church there, and leaders of a great
religious movement. The Acts of the
Apostles may contain some authentic
records of their proceedings at a later
period, after they had established them
selves at Jerusalem, and exchanged the
profession of fishermen for that of
missionaries of the new religion; but
Luke’s account is discredited by the
obvious fact that his earlier narrative of
what occurred during the first period of
the Crucifixion is unhistorical. It is
clear that some time must have elapsed,
and considerable changes taken place at
Jerusalem, during the interval between
the departure of the disciples for Galilee,
in mortal fear of the Jews, and their
return to the capital, where they seem
to have preached publicly, and made
numerous converts, without any serious
interference by the populace or the
authorities.
The narrative of this early period in
the Acts, up to the date of Paul’s appear
ance on the scene, is full of improbabili
ties. The miracles attributed to Peter,
his deliverance from prison by angels, the
gift of tongues by the Holy Ghost, which
did not enable Peter to dispense with an
interpreter, these and many other inci
dents have rather the air of legends than
of genuine history.
They stand in
marked contrast with the naive and
natural incidents recorded by Mark—how
the crowd overflowed into the street, how
the bustle was such that they had no time
to eat, how Jesus slept through a night
squall which endangered the boat. I can
find no solid historical ground until Paul
met the pillars of the Church at Jerusalem,
except the general fact that the Apostles
returned there from Galilee, preached
publicly, made numerous converts, and
that Peter probably played a leading part.
But with the death of Jesus and the
flight of his disciples to Galilee the first
chapter ends, and the second opens with
the history of the early Christian Church,
when the preoccupations of the principal
actors were doctrinal rather than his
torical, and we enter on a new and wider
phase of religious controversies and
metaphysical speculations. It requires
all the erudition of the most learned
divines and professors to find any clue
through this labyrinth, and takes us far
from that which is the sole object of this
essay—to endeavour to form some con
ception of what may be the historical
element in the records of the life and
death of the Founder of the religion.
Chapter X.
SCEPTICISM AND PESSIMISM
Carlyl e—Causes of Pessimism—Decay of Faith
—A Prosaic Future—Denial of these Charges
—Definition of Scepticism—Demonology—
Treatment of Lunatics—Witchcraft—-Heresy
—Religious Wars—Nationality has Super
seded Religion—Wars More Humane—Origi
nality ot Modern Events and Characters—
Louis Napoleon — Bismarck — Gladstone —
Abraham Lincoln — Lord Beaconsfield —
Darwin — H uxley —Poetry— Fiction—Paint
ing—A Happier World.
Carlyle was a great genius, but he was
a dreadful croaker. Barren, brainless,
soulless, faithless, were the epithets he
�SCEPTICISM AND PESSIMISM
129
commonly applied to the age in which passing over to the masses. And above
]
he lived; and his favourite simile for his all there are the orthodox divines, and
;
contemporaries was that of apes chatter- good but narrow-minded religious public,
j
ing on the shores of the Dead Sea. In whose one idea of religion is that it
the case of Carlyle, the cause of this consists of adherence to traditional
<
pessimism is not far to seek. He <dogmas and an unbroken belief in the
suffered from chronic dyspepsia. If, truth of every word of the Bible as the
1
with the many other excellent qualities inspired word of God, and the ne plus
:
of his peasant progenitors, he had in- ultra of human knowledge.
;
With prejudices such as these it would
herited some share of the dura messorum
be a waste of time to attempt argument;
ilia, and been able to eat his three
square meals a day and feel all the but there are a certain number of
better for it, his views of the age and earnest and thoughtful men who hold
of his contemporaries would have been what are substantially the same views
materially altered. He would have seen upon different grounds, which deserve
an age which is one of the most marked more careful consideration. They are
chapters in the history of human evolu not confined to social swells, would-be
tion ; an age of great events and marvel superior persons and orthodox theolo
lous progress—progress not material gians, but even a man of light and lead
only, but fully to an equal extent ing like Mr. Frederic Harrison can see
social, political, moral, and intellectual. no salvation except in the exceedingly
The shores of the Dead Sea would have improbable contingency of the world
blossomed with verdure, and, instead of adopting the cult of humanity as evolved
chattering apes, he would have seen by the inner consciousness of M. Auguste
human faces, “ men my brothers, men Comte. What they say is substantially
the workers,” with a great deal of human this: Science is killing faith; scepticism
nature in them, good and bad, weak and and democracy are advancing on old
strong, joyous and sad, healthy and creeds and old institutions, like the lion
suffering, but on the whole working up of the desert, who, in Tennyson’s splendid
to a level which, if not necessarily happier, simile—
“ Drawing nigher,
is at any rate higher.
Glares at one who nods and winks behind a
For such dyspeptic pessimists there is
slowly-dying fire.”
an excuse. Pessimism is probably as
Religion, they say, is becoming extinct,
inevitably their creed as optimism is for
the more fortunate mortals who enjoy not only in the simple, old-fashioned
the mens sana in corpore sano. But sense of belief in creeds and cate
there are a large number of our modern chisms, but in the higher sense of
pessimists for whom no such excuse can doubting the truth of the essential
principles on which the Christian
be pleaded.
There are the would-be superior scheme of theology, and ultimately all
persons, who think their claim to supe spiritual faith and all religions, depend.
riority is best established by affecting a A God who, according to one eminent
lofty air of superfine disdain for the rude Anglican divine, has been “ defecated to
realities of real life; the critics who, as a pure transparency,” and, according to
Lord Beaconsfield wittily says, are the another, removed behind the primaeval
failures; the minor poets, painters, and atoms and energies into an “original
writers, who, in their own opinion, would impress ” acting by unvarying laws, is,
have been shining lights if their tapers; they tell us, practically equivalent to no
■
had burned in a more congenial atmos God at all, and instead of Agnostics we
phere; the prejudiced politicians and1 ought to call ourselves Atheists. Witharistocratic classes who feel that know out a lively faith in such a personal, everledge, and with it political power, is> present Deity, who listens to our prayers,
E
�130
SCEPTICISM AND PESSIMISM
modifies the course of events, records deliveis his verdict, and, if the evidence
our. actions, and finally rewards or is insufficient, makes him return one of
punishes us after death according to our
not proven.” Doubt of doubtful things
deserts, there can be, they say, no real is to such a one as sacred a duty as
religion; and they hold, and I think affirmation of what is true and denial of
rightly hold, that the only support for what is false. His cardinal maxim is
such a religion is to be found in the that of Dr. Johnson, “ Clear your mind
assumed inspiration of the Bible and the of cant.
Don’t say you believe when
divinity of Christ.
you really disbelieve, or only half believe,
Destroy these, and they think the and try to hide your misgivings from
world will become vulgar and materialised, yourself and from the world by loudness
losing not only the surest sanction of of asseveration or bitterness of denuncia
morals, but, what is even more important, tion.
the spiritual aspirations and tendencies
But to this general meaning of the
which lift us above the sordid realities of
word “ scepticism ” a more limited and
daily existence, and give poetry to the precise significance has come to be
prose of life. The Muses will take their attached, and it is commonly used to
flight with their sister Theology to denote disbelief in the inspiration of the
happier spheres ; imagination, idealism, Bible and the dogmas of theological
heroism, and originality will disappear, Christianity. In this sense I accept it,
leaving the world to a barren and prosaic and proceed to join issue with those who
sort of Chinese civilisation. In short, deny my assertion that the world is a better
their forecast of human existence is very place to live in on account of scepticism.
similar to that which astronomers make
I will begin by taking a specific instance
of the planet upon which the human —the treatment of lunatics. Ever since
race live—viz., that, as its inner heat the establishment of Christianity there
radiates away in the course of ages, it has been a controversy between doctors
will become, like its satellite the moon, and theologians. Theologians, and the
a barren and burnt-up cinder.
public generally, relying on texts of Scrip
To these gloomy forebodings I venture ture, held that lunacy, with its kindred
to return a positive and categorical diseases of epilepsy and nervous affec
denial; to assert, on the contrary, that tions, were caused by demons, or evil
scepticism has been the great sweetener and unclean spirits, taking bodily posses
of modern life, has not only given us sion of the unfortunate patients. Doctors,
truer and juster views of the realities of who for a long time alone represented
the universe, but has made us more the cause of science, relying on fact and
liberal-minded, tolerant, merciful, charit experiment, and the teachings of great
able,. than in the hard, cruel days of physicians of pre-Christian times, such
mediceval superstition; and, in a word, as Hippocrates and Galen, held that
that almost in exact proportion as we such diseases were simply cases of
have drifted away from the letter, we pressure on the brain and over-wrought
have approached nearer to the spirit of nervous systems. This was held to be
true Christianity.
so contrary to the truths of revealed
This, I am aware, will appear to many religion that doctors were looked upon
a strong assertion, and I must be pre as infidels of the worst sort, and the
pared to justify it by specific instances, saying became general, “ Ubi tres medici
which I proceed to do. But first let me duo Athei ” ; Atheist being the polite
define what I mean by the term “scepti appellation with which every one was
cism.” In a general way it means alle pelted who dared to appeal from Scrip
giance to truth; the habit of mind which ture to reason and think for himself.
makes a man, like a conscientious
This radical divergence of view respect
juryman, require evidence before he ing the cause of lunacy led naturally to a
�SCEPTICISM AND PESSIMISM
i3i
Here, then, was a distinct issue joined
corresponding difference in the mode of
between the Doctors of Divinity and the
treatment. From the orthodox point of
view the lunatic was a loathsome and Doctors of Medicine, between the
repulsive object, whose body, probably “theologici” and the “athei.” If the
question were to be decided by. texts,
for sins of his own or of his ancestors,
had been taken possession of by an evil the “theologici” had it all their own
way, and the “athei” were nowhere.
spirit. The only hope of cure was, so to
speak, to bully the demon out of him by Nothing can be clearer than that Jesus
portentous exorcisms in ecclesiastical over and over again asserted the theory
of demoniacal possession. The demons
latin, and, worse still, by ill-treatment
knew him, he knew them, they con
amounting often to the most horrible
versed together; and he was so well
torture. Bedlam, with its row of raving
acquainted with their ways that, he could
madmen chained like wild beasts to the
wall, was a type of the usual mode of tell what sort could only be ejected by
prayer and fasting. In the famous
treatment.
instance of the Gadarene swine, a raging
Even such a great and good man as Sir
Thomas More ordered acknowledged madman was cured by evicting a legion
lunatics to be publicly flogged; and of devils, and, instead of leaving them
homeless on the roadside, as if they had
throughout rural England there were
many what were called bowsening-places, been Irish peasants, allowing them to
for curing of madmen, consisting of deep occupy as caretakers the bodies of more
walled cisterns full of water, into which, than two thousand unfortunate pigs.
Nothing can be more.explicit. . Ortho
as Carew describes it in his Survey of
Cornwall, “the lunatic was suddenly dox Christians were quite right in strug
gling to the last against a theory of
plunged by a blow on his breast, tum
bling him headlong into the pond, where lunacy which was in such direct con
tradiction with the express words of
a strong fellow, kept for the purpose,
dragged him about till he was quite Scripture and of Jesus himself. We
cannot wonder at Bossuet preaching his
exhausted”; when he was taken to
two great sermons, “Sur les Demons,”and
church, masses said over him, and, if he
John Wesley insisting that “ most lunatics
did not recover, he was “bowsened
again and again while there remained are really demoniacs,” and that “ to give
up witchcraft is to give up the Bible, and
any hope of life in him.”
to take ground against the fundamental
This simple picture of what was going
on every day in remote country parishes truths of theology.”
There cannot be a clearer illustration
of England enables us to realise the
practical consequences of the theory of of the logical strength of Dr. Wace’.s
demoniacal possession better, perhaps, formula that, if you believe in the inspi
than an enumeration of the Papal bulls ration of the Bible and in the Divine
and sermons of eminent divines, which nature of Jesus, you must believe, these
urged the civil to unite with the eccle things, or make him out to be a liar I
siastical authorities and the Inquisition in may add, a liar of the worst description,
for, if he were Divine and Omniscient,
rooting out the bond-servants of Satan.
The medical men, on the other hand, he must have known not only that he
was fostering a delusion, but that this
of whom two out of every three were
reputed to be Atheists, took the opposite delusion would be in future ages the
view—that madness was nothing but a cause of misery and torture to thousands
form of brain disease, that its. victims of the most helpless of the human race.
were rather objects for compassion than But I reply, not without some little tone
for aversion, and that gentle treatment of indignation : “ It is you, not I, who
was far more likely to effect cures than make J esus out to be a liar ; it. is your
assumption of Divine inspiration and
exorcisms and tortures.
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SCEPTICISM AND PESSIMISM
Divine nature which defaces the pure and, with Galileo, Newton, and the
and noble image of the Man Jesus, and triumphs of modern science, created the
places us in the alternative of either purer sceptical and scientific atmosphere
believing incredible things, or making of the present age, in which the monsters
him out to be an utterer of falsehoods. of mediaeval theology simply die out like
As a man, no taint of falsehood or insin the Saurians of the secondary period,
cerity attaches to him in admitting that leaving a few fossil remains and degenerate
he used the language and shared the descendants.
mistakes of his age and country. But
Witchcraft affords another test-case
as a God, there is; and a God who in which the humanising influence of
teaches theories which are demonstrably scepticism is most apparent. Down to
false, and which lead to barbarous and a comparatively recent period the belief
revolting practices, is an incarnation, not in witchcraft was universal, and whole
of goodness, but of evil.”
hecatombs of miserable victims were
For the theory of demoniacal posses sacrificed to a superstition which is no
sion is demonstrably false. If, instead less barbarous and degrading than that
of appealing to texts, the appeal is made which exists to the present day in
to facts, the verdict is reversed ; it is the Dahomey and among the cannibals of
“athei” who hold the field, and the Central Africa. Why ? Because the
“ theologici ” who are nowhere.
texts of what was supposed to be the
Which cure or alleviate the larger inspired Word of God explicitly asserted
number of cases of lunacy—exorcisms the reality of witchcraft, and contained
and tortures or gentle treatment? Which the command—“Ye shall not suffer a
is most in harmony with the best instincts witch to live.”
of human nature—love, charity, mercy,
The case is the same as that of the
and compassion, Hanwell, with its harm belief in demoniacal possession as the
less and happy inmates; or Bedlam, cause of lunacy, except that the treat
with its row of chained wild beasts ? If ment of witches was even more cruel
a Doctor of Divinity says of a lunatic than that of lunatics, being founded
that he is possessed by a devil, while a more on texts of the Old Testament,
Doctor of Medicine says he is suffering dating back to a barbarous age. It was
from a lesion of the brain; if the lunatic a form of cruelty also for which Pro
dies, and his brain is dissected, which testants were even more responsible than
do you find, the devil or the lesion ? Catholics, its worst excesses occurring in
Nay, has not medical science gone so Protestant countries after the Reforma
far that you can often predict the exact tion. In Germany alone it is estimated
spot where the pressure on the brain is that, in the great age of witch-burning
taking place, and by an operation remove which followed that event, more than
the tumour, and restore the patient to 100,000 persons perished by an excru
reason ?
ciating death in the course of a single
If these things are true, and if the century.
modern treatment of madness is really
On a smaller scale, one of the worst
an improvement on the old one, it is and latest outbreaks of the witch-burning
quite clear that we are indebted for the epidemic occurred in Puritan Massachu
change to scepticism, for it was impos setts at the close of the seventeenth
sible as long as the authority of Scripture century, incited and fanned into a flame
was held to be the supreme tribunal, by the efforts of the Mathers and other
superior to fact and reason, and whose leading Calvinistic divines. Hundreds
dicta it was impious to dispute. Mon of innocent men and women of good
taigne, Hume, Voltaire, and a host of characters were tortured into confessions,
what used to be called infidel writers, or convicted on the testimony of private
were the precursors of Pinet and Tuke; enemies and professional witch-hunters,
�SCEPTICISM AND PESSIMISM
133
remarkable Creed. What right have we
and perished in the flames, as was clearly to rail against Torque mada, or blame
proved when the epidemic subsided, and Calvin for burning Servetus, if we really
reason began to resume its sway thoug 1 believe this to be true? They were
divines like Cotton Mather held out to simply carrying out, conscientiously and
the last, and groaned over the evil spin logically, the principles to which all
of unbelief which had thwarted the orthodox Christians profess to adhere.
glorious work of freeing New England Surely, if it is right to stamp out the
from demons.
.
cattle plague, it must be still more right
Nobody now believes in witchcraft, to stamp out a moral cattle plague, which
and foolish old women and hysterical is eminently contagious, and which beyond
young ones may talk as much nonsense all doubt causes those who contract the
as they like without fear of being burned disease “to perish everlastingly.” There is
alive. Surely the world is the better for no possible answer to this, except that we
this • but how has it been brought about? do not believe the Creeds; that we feel
Not" that the texts have become more the burning of men for differences, of
ambiguous, but that people have ceased opinion to be cruel, and the suppression
practically to believe in them. I say of freedom of thought to be mischievous.
practically. for there are a good many who In short, that our attitude has become
still retain a sort of half-belief, and who
would be shocked either to confess that that of the poet who says
“ There is more truth in honest doubt,,
the Bible is not inspired, or to say, with
Believe me, than in half the creeds.
Tohn Wesley, that “to give up witchcraft
is to give up the Bible”; but as the If this is not “scepticism,” I do not
Ichthyosauri died out, and left harmless know what the meaning of the word is.
lizards as their successors in the purer air
We live, fortunately, in an age when
of the Tertiary era, so this, with other scepticism has so effectually killed . the
barbarous superstitions, has lost all real class of ideas which led to persecutions
hold on the minds and consciences 01 for heresy that we have almost forgotten
those who, happily for themselves, live what the Inquisition and the fires of
in the atmosphere of a scientific and Smithfield really were. From first to last
sceptical age.
.
,
hundreds of thousands of victims perished
If the idolatry of Scriptural texts has in horrible tortures for the crime of think
caused so much human misery in the ing for themselves. There is hardly a
case of lunacy and witchcraft, the same man of light and leading of the present
idolatry, expanded from texts into dogma century who would not have been sent
tical creeds and confessions, has been• to the stake if Spain had conquered
even more destructive in the case ot• England, and the integrity of the Catholic
heresy. Heresy, or the holding of different■ faith had been enforced by the civil
beliefs from those of the Church, is either. power, or if Calvin had ruled in England
a harmless and necessary incident m the as he did in Geneva. Darwin, Huxley,
use of human reason, or it is an act of and Herbert Spencer would certainly
pernicious and contagious wickedness have been burned; Carlyle, George Eliot
' which it is the duty of the State to aid Byron, and Shelley would have shared
the Church in stamping out. This the same fate; and Dean Stanley, Dr.
depends on whether we do or do not Temple, and the whole Broad Church
believe the Creeds. If we believe the would have been in imminent peril.
Athanasian Creed, which contains the Spain, where the Inquisition so long
fullest summary of the articles of the reigned supreme, is an instance, not only
Catholic faith, and which is still retained of the devilish cruelty which a misplaced
in the Anglican ritual, all men will “with religious earnestness can inspire, but
out doubt perish everlastingly ” who do of the inevitable political and social
not believe in every single article of that
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SCEPTICISM AND PESSIMISM
decrepitude which follow from successful mate and exhaustive record written by
attempts to stamp out freedom of God’s finger has vanished, never to return,
thought.
and has quite lost its power as a practical
Religious wars were only an outcome, factor in the life of nations. We retain
on a larger scale, of the ideas which our affection and reverence for it, from
inspired religious persecutions.
At old associations, and as containing many
bottom, it was a firm conviction by those beautiful and excellent things; but we
who held one set of opinions that those no longer make it an idol. We criticise
who held different ones were miscreants, it freely, and find it to be a collection
enemies of the human race, who ought of various writings of various ages,
to be forcibly converted or exterminated. by unknown or doubtful authors,
Given the conviction, the persecutions and containing, with much that is
and wars followed as a matter of course, of the highest truth and highest
or rather of conscience. Destroy it, and interest, much that bears evident traces
the persecutions and wars cease. We no of the ignorance, superstition, ferocity,
longer persecute and go to war in the and immorality of the rude and bar
name of religion. Why ? Because the barous ages over which its traditions
age has become too liberal, enlightened, extend. No one now would think of
tolerant, and humane. And why has it appealing to every single text of Scrip
become so ? Because scepticism has ture as an ultimate tribunal from which
triumphed over orthodoxy. That the there was no appeal, or, like the Caliph
age has become more sceptical, and that Omar, burning all the other books in the
faith in the old hard-and-fast lines of world because, if they agreed with the
orthodox religion has declined, are facts Bible, they were superfluous, and, if they
which all acknowledge, though some disagreed with it, mischievous.
deplore. It is evident, moreover, that
A better proof cannot be afforded of
these two facts are not merely concurrent, the extent to which ecclesiastical religion
but stand to one another in the relation has ceased to be a motive-power in
of cause and effect. It is a case not human affairs than by a reference to the
merely of post hoc, but of propter hoc. great wars of the last half-century. By
Voltaire, who may be taken as the an irony of fate, the first great exhibition
representative of the literary scepticism in Hyde Park, which was thought to
of the last century, was inspired in his have inaugurated an era of peace, has
attacks on orthodoxy by his indignation been, like opening the temple of Janus,
at one of the last autos-da-fe, or acts of the signal for a series of the greatest
faith, in the burning of a heretic. His wars recorded in history—wars great not
shafts of ridicule wounded the monster only in the magnitude of the scale on
to death more effectually, perhaps, than which they were waged, but in the
could have been done by solid argu momentous importance of the issues
ments. The name of Darwin, again, may involved. In all these wars the element
be taken as the representative of the of religion was entirely absent, and its
scientific scepticism which has effected place was supplied by the new element
the greatest revolution of thought in the of Nationality. The net result of these
history of the human race, and substi wars has been the consolidation of a
tuted the idea of original impress, acting great Germany, a great Italy, and a great
by unvarying law, for that of secondary United States. Everywhere people of
supernatural interferences with the course the same race, speaking the same lan
of Nature. No educated man any longer guage, and having a common literature
accepts the Bible in the sense in which and common interests, however broken
our forefathers accepted it, and in which up and divided into fragments by
Mohammedans still believe in the Koran. internal dissensions or foreign foes,
The assured faith in the Bible as an ulti have tended with irresistible force to
�SCEPTICISM AND PESSIMISM
135
ally herself to heretic Prussia. France
consolidate themselves into great nations.
,, | has for more than a century been
Even the weaker races—the Greeks, intensely national, and very httle
Roumanians, Servians, and Bulgarians—- i
Even"?n Spain a dominant
gsgof
and Chili are entering on a career of
A they have emancipated themselves
ideas.
. .
given them a free Press and Parliamen modern this change from religious to
Has
STyctolninc^
I £a^al ™
iTceffain-Jha^wa;
and recognition of their separate nation- | ficial? One thing is certain
among civilised States has become infi
ality, which we hesitate to concede,
nitely more humane. Compare the
because we fear that it would destroy picture by a military correspondent of
the old system of English ascendancy,
and subvert many of the settled prin the advance of the Crown Prince s army
through France with the details of the
ciples of English law. . If we have saved
Thirty Years’ War as given in Schiller’s
our colonial empire, it is only by con history. In the one case you see French
ceding with the freest hand to Canada, peasant girls standing at the doors of
Australia, New Zealand, and South , their cottages to see the brilliant staff
nee conrenueu. ivb
Africa all that we once contended for,
he fullest scope to ride by, and exchanging nods and smiles
and giving them the _ as independent with the German soldiers ; in the other
■ uesuui«
work out their destinies as
communities, attached to interests and you have Tilly’s the points of their pikes
— the mother heretic babies on pappenhei^^^
country oy
uf
country by ties of common
r:CrOnSo?±rer£XS the hard'“d’ at
si^S LtlU perhaps, of
fast linesin all fhese force. movements it the humanising influence"
of superior great
No“
is remarkable that ecclesiastical religion ideas is afforded by the actip
“ on!; not been an appreciable United States after the close of the great
factor but that in many cases they have
rone on in the teeth of whatever influfn?e ff might be supposed to have
remaining In Italy, [he headquarters
of Tcdefiastical authority, the4 Pope,
though still the venerated head of
Sus of Catholics, has been utterly
powerless when opposed to the idea ot
Italian nationality. The Catholics of
South Germany fought as stoutly at
Gravelotte and Sedan, shoulder to
shoulder with the Protestants of the
North, to make a great Germany, as
their ancestors did under Tilly and
Wallenstein against the ancestors of the
same Protestants to secure the ascen
dancy of their respective creeds. Austria
has to forget the traditions of the Thirty
Years’ and the Seven Years’ Wars and
I
Civil War. A
P
magnitude, costing tens of thousands of
lives and millions of money had been
fought out with unexampled determmation. The yanqutshed had begun the
war, and tn the view of the victors were
rebelsbut not a smglehauyrfjhe.r
heads was touched after the contest was
over, not a single political prisoner was
brought to trial. Jeff Davis was not
hanged on a sour-apple tree, and. the
leading generals and politicians on either
side for the most part returned quietly
to civil occupations. I sometimes
wonder what an historian writing a
century hence will think of this record
compared with our English one of
twenty-five members of Parliament
imprisoned as common felons for
�136
SCEPTICISM AND PESSIMISM
political offences. To pursue this
S
further would, however, lead me too far
r
towards the burning region of contem
porary politics, and I content myself byz
drawing this conclusion. If the spiritt
of the age be really sceptical and demo
cratic, as all admit and many deplore,,
then scepticism and democracy must be:
included among those “ingenuas artes”
of which the Roman poet says :—
“ Girt by friends or foes,
A man may speak the thing he will.”
That world-old though newly-named
institution, the “ boycott,” is no longer
applied to differences of opinion, but
confined to conspicuous offenders against
the unwritten laws of a nation’s conscience; to respondents in divorce
courts, exceptionally bad landlords, and
heartless profligates. The poor are
always with us, but we no longer pass
“ Emolht mores nec sinit esse faros.”
them by on the other side like the
Nor is it in war only that milder Pharisee, muttering our ecclesiastical
manners and a more humane and charit texts and economical formulas. We
able spirit have accompanied, if they feel for them; our consciences are
have not been created by, the develop touched; a daily diminishing number
ment of these two great principles of ignore them, and an increasing number
modern society. The air is full of try, in their, respective spheres, to assist
projects, visionary or otherwise, which them by active effort, or sympathise with
are all based on the spirit, if not on the those who do.
letter, of true Christianity, of assisting
The truth is that morals are built on
the poor and suffering, and sweetening a far surer foundation than that of
the conditions of life. Bismarck and creeds, which are here to-day and gone
the German Emperor adopt large to-morrow. They are built on the solid
schemes of State socialism, and aim at rock of experience and of the “sur
a universal insurance of workmen against vival of the fittest,” which, in the long
poverty and old age. Trades Unions, evolution of the human race from
Provident Societies, and Savings Banks primeval savages, have by “natural
do the same on an ever-widening scale selection ” and “ heredity ” become
in English-speaking communities. The almost instinctive. Every day of civi
old harsh principles of English law, lised society, working in an atmosphere
which always sided with the strong of free discussion and free thought,
against the weak, with man against tends to make the primary rules of
woman, with landlord against tenant, morality more and more instinctive, and
with capital against labour, are being to extend and widen their application.
broken down in all directions. The
The other charge against the spirit of
rigid conclusions of political economy the age is still more easily refuted. It
are no longer accepted as axioms. The is said that scepticism has killed spiri
duties of property, so long ignored, are tualism, and stripped life of its poetry
coming into formidable antagonism with and higher aspirations, while democracy
its rights.
has reduced everything to a dead level
So far from impairing the sanctions of of prosaic mediocrity. Those who say
morality, moral considerations are coming so see the reflection of their own souls.
more and more to the front in this age The man must be, indeed, hopelessly
of material progress.. Slavery, long <commonplace and prosaic who fails to
sanctioned by Bible texts and im recognise the grandeur, splendour, and
memorial usage, offends the public con- idramatic interest of the events of the
science and disappears. We began by ;age in which we live, and the striking
burning heretics; then burning softened <originality of its principal characters.
into boycotting; and finally this last 1Was there ever in classic or mediaeval
vestige of intolerance has disappeared, ttimes such a tragic drama of human life
and we live in an England where,
a is afforded by the career of Louis
as
�SCEPTICISM AND PESSIMISM
B7
Napoleon ? See him in his early years, a his power: “ The world will some day
dreamy youth, dabbling in obscure con discover that the man has a better heart
spiracies, and musing over vague ideas and a worse head than it gives him credit
and destinies connected with the name for.”
I have mentioned Bismarck. There
he bore. Then comes the attempt at
Strasburg ; the life in London, half is a man, indeed; a man such as Europe
Bohemian, half on the outskirts of has not produced since Luther and
fashionable society ; the ludicrous fiasco Cromwell. Think of his career from a
at Boulogne; the romantic escape from wild student, a provincial Tory squire,
the prison at Ham. The curtain falls training himself by degrees to be first a
on the first act, and when it rises we diplomatist, and then a statesman;
find the obscure adventurer clearing the startling the starched representatives of
streets of Paris with grape-shot, imprison the German Confederation at Frankfort
ing all that is noblest and most respect by lighting his cigar without the per
able in the public life of France, and, mission of the Austrian Envoy, with the
finally, firmly seated on the Imperial same cool courage and happy audacity
throne. He proclaims the Empne to which led him to Sadowa and Sedan;
be at peace, and he plunges France into and, finally, the founder of the German
four great wars—the Crimean, the Italian, Empire, the great Chancellor, the arbiter
of the peace of Europe. What made
the Mexican, and the Franco-German
all alike senseless in the view of any him what he was ? His solid strength
possible French interest. He inaugurates of character, his sagacious sincerity, his
the system of armed peace and excessive keen insight, glancing through the out
armaments, and for a quarter of a century ward show of things into their, real
is the disturbing element in European essence, and, above all, his indomitable
politics. The attitude of all other courage, which never quailed before hostile
nations is, to use the expression of the parliaments or vacillating emperors, and
witty Frenchman, that of spaniels watch led him to stake his head on the success
ing the eye of their master at the of the Prussian needle-gun and Prussian
Tuileries. Then comes the collapse, discipline against the veteran legions of
and in the closing scene we see a Austria and the showy prestige of imperial
wretched creature driving out in a hack France.
At the opposite pole from Bismarck
carriage from Sedan to give up his
sword to the German Emperor, and was our own “ Grand Old Man.”
sitting on a wooden chair with Bismarck, Opinions may differ as to Mr. Gladstone’s
in front of a little wayside cabaret, to policy, and whether his powerful per
discuss the terms of the surrender as sonality was an element for good or for
prisoners of war of his last army of evil in English history; but no one who
120,000 men. What must have been is not a purblind political partisan can
the emotions on that fatal day, hid deny that, whether for good or evil, he
under the mask of an imperturbable was a grand and striking figure. Where
countenance and an eternal cigar ? And will you find a man of such universal
all the time the man was essentially the attainments, wide sympathies, and per
same. Kind-hearted, easy-going, utterly suasive eloquence ? Where look for an
unprincipled, vague, moony, idealistic; intellect which combined such scholastic
easily influenced by those about him, subtlety with such argumentative power,
and twisted round his finger by a strong such a grasp of details, such juvenile
and practical nature like that of Bismarck. energy, and such a fervid white heat of
As his best counsellor and most intimate passionate conviction. What a rich and
friend, the shrewd, cynical, polished, and complex nature must it have been, which
worldly De Morny once said to me, had in it the evolution from the ecclesias
when the Emperor was in the height of tically-minded Oxford student who was
�SCEPTICISM AND PESSIMISM
the rising hope of the Tories to the great
financier of Free Trade, the disestablisher
of the Irish Church, the statesman at
the head of all Liberal movements, the
man whose eager sympathies side with
liberty and with the masses “of our
own flesh and blood,” from Ireland to
Italy. His mind was like the steam
hammer, which can either crack nuts or
mould masses of stubborn iron.
Again, there is Abraham Lincoln, one
of the greatest, as he was certainly one
of the most original and interesting, of
modern statesmen. Wise, far-seeing,
steadfast, simple, and noble, as Wash
ington, he had a fund of genial humour,
and a touch of the quaintness and eccen
tricity of the old Illinois rail-splitter,
which endears his memory to the affec
tionate respect of all classes of Englishspeaking men, and makes him a bright
example for all time of the height of
heroism to which a self-taught working
man of the new democracy may attain.
If we turn from what may be called
the epic of modern history to its romance,
what figure can be more original and
interesting than that of Lord Beacons
field? What a career, from a secondrate novelist and dandy about town,
seeking notoriety by resplendent small
clothes, to become the minister of a
great country, the favourite of sovereigns,
the superior of dukes, the champion and
hero of a proud aristocracy and of a
great historical party. And yet, as the
novel of his last years shows, essentially
the same man throughout. Brilliant,
audacious, a master of phrases, and
believing in them as stronger than facts.
A sort of glorified Gil Blas, or hero of a
Spanish comedy ; and yet with qualities
which endeared him to friends, captivated
the popular imagination, and enabled
him to play his part to perfection in all
the varied vicissitudes of his extraordinary
career. Infinite cleverness, infinite
courage, infinite self-possession, and at
bottom a genial and artistic tempera
ment, which made him always, whatever
else he might be, a finished gentleman.
No one ever heard of him, whether as
leader of a Government or as leader of
an Opposition, doing a coarse, vulgar,
or ungentleman-like thing. He never
lost his temper ; he fought, like a courtly
duellist of one of Dumas’ romances, with
the keen rapier of polished sarcasm and
pungent epigram; but he fought fairly,
and left the coarser work, the flouts and
jeers, to titled subordinates. His ideas,
if vague and visionary, were always
grandiose, and, according to his lights,
imperial and patriotic. He had no pre
judices, and although the leader of
bucolic squires and favoured guest of
ducal drawing-rooms, he was fully con
vinced that Toryism could only survive
by becoming democratic. Here surely
was a product of the age as piquant and
original as any to be met with in the
romance of history.
I turn gladly to the serener regions of
science and art. Here also, while we
find everywhere the influence of the
spirit of the age, we find everywhere
genius and originality of character. It
is the age of science; its marvellous
triumphs have given man an undreamt
of command over the forces of nature,
and revolutionised his ideas both of the
material and of the spiritual universe.
But what I wish principally to remark
for the present purpose, these triumphs
have been achieved, not by a mechanical
process of second-rate specialists working
each in his separate groove like wheels
and pulleys in the mill of progress, but
by a succession of great men, worthy
leaders of great events. Take Darwin,
the greatest of all. Who, in the school
boy scolded by his master for wasting
the time which should have been devoted
to hexameters in trying rude chemical
experiments and collecting beetles, could
have foreseen the great philosopher who
was to revolutionise the whole course of
modern thought ? At college he was,
like many another careless student,
thinking more of partridge-shooting than
of books, and looking forward to taking
orders, and becoming a college don, or
vicar of a country parish. But his
beetle-hunting saved him; it brought
�SCEPTICISM AND PESSIMISM
him into connection with men of science
at the University like Henslow, and the
merest accident led to his being appointed
as naturalist to accompany Captain Fitzroy in the exploring voyage of the Beagle.
He saw new lands and new races of
men, and his mind, rapidly expanding,
acquired a storehouse of new facts and
ideas which were the germ.of his future
greatness. See him next a martyr to
ill-health in his quiet cottage in a
secluded Kentish village, thinking out
his ideas, trying simple experiments,
clipping out extracts, and patiently col
lecting informaticta, until one day he
woke to find himself famous, and to
have his name associated with the
greatest revolution ever known in man’s
conception of the universe. In less
than forty years “ Darwinism ”—that is,
evolution by unvarying law—-superseded
“ Supernaturalism,” or the theory of a
world created and maintained by a suc
cession of secondary interferences, as
completely as the Copernican theory
superseded that of Ptolemy.
Before he died he could see all edu
cated thought, all men of light and lead
ing in all countries, converts, if not to all
the details, to the leading ideas and factsof his world-wide theory. And what a
simple, noble character he was 1 Patient,
candid, magnanimous, modest, loving,
and beloved in all intercourse with family
and surroundings down even to his little
dog, faithful friend, single-minded wor
shipper of truth; one might say that,
apart from his fame, here was a model
man of the nineteenth century, and, if
scepticism can give us more like him,
we may well be content to take what the
outcome of a sceptical age has in store
for us without much apprehension.
And if Darwin was the Napoleon of
science, what a brilliant array of mar
shals marched under him at the head of
its various divisions—men not of one
idea and cramped intellects, but largeminded men of genius and originality,
men such as Lyell, Huxley, Herbert
Spencer, and a host of others.
Take Huxley as a typical instance.
139
If he had never made a discovery in
science, he would go down to posterity
as the greatest master of style and best
writer of English prose in the whole
range of modern literature. To a wit
keen as that of Voltaire he added a far
greater range of accurate knowledge and
force of pungent logic; his. grave irony
and undercurrent of genuine humour
are delicious, and every sentence goes
straight to the mark like a rifle-bullet.
In controversy he was like a sun-god
shooting his arrows of light through the
thickest cuirass of ignorance and preju
dice. Given something to say on a
theme of science or philosophy, I know
of no writer who could say it as well as
Huxley.
Of all these, and of the hundred other
names which might easily be . added to
the list of generals and captains of the
army of modern science, it may safely
be said that, as a rule, they lived true,
simple, and noble lives, giving no cause
of scandal or offence to the world, and
showing that the high priests of truth
need not fear a comparison as regards
character and conduct with those of any
stereotyped and formalised religious
creed or caste.
The remaining complaint of the pes
simists, that the world is becoming
uninteresting and prosaic, is easily dis
posed of.
I reserve for another time
what I have to say as to the creeds of
the great poets; but, for the present, it
is enough to ask whether Byron and
Shelley were believers or sceptics, and
whether their poems show any falling-off
in the poetic faculty ? Swinburne, what
ever we may think of him otherwise, has
the gift of word-music and of brilliant
imagination in an eminent degree; and
Victor Hugo, though too turgid and
rhetorical for an English taste, strikes a
powerful lyre whose chords resound
loudly in the souls of his sceptical
countrymen. Above all, Tennyson, the
great poet of modern thought, attained
a height of inspiration which has been
seldom if ever equalled. Whatever his
creed may have been, he was thoroughly
�140
SCEPTICISM AND PESSIMISM
the man of his age, imbued with its
science, from which many of his noblest
similes are drawn, and a sharer in its
strength and weakness, its hopes and
fears, its grandest aspirations and its
blankest misgivings. The stanzas in
In Memoriam, which conclude with the
solemn words, “Behind the veil,” are
the profoundest expression of the deepest
thoughts of the most earnest minds of
the nineteenth century.
In fiction we have a hundred writers
and a thousand readers, of works of a
fairly high standard of excellence, for
one of former centuries. Nothing gives
me more hope for the future of that
inevitable democracy which is advancing
on us with such rapid steps than the
multitude of standard works which are
circulated in cheap editions. Shake
speare, Walter Scott, Dickens, Thackeray,
George Eliot, as well as works on history,
philosophy, andart, like thoseof Macaulay,
Carlyle, and Ruskin, are published in
ever-increasing numbers and at ever
lower prices. Who reads them ? They
must be bought by hundreds of thou
sands, or it would not pay to publish
them. They must be read by millions
who never read before, but who now
read with intelligent interest for educa
tion and self-culture.
If we turn to painting, we find the
same phenomenon. It is becoming
more popular and more democratic.
Prints and chromo-lithographs hang on
the walls of every cottage ; illustrations,
often admirable, like those of the modern
school of wood-cut, adorn the pages of
pictorial newspapers and magazines, and
have become almost a necessary accom
paniment of every work of wide circula
tion. And how has this affected the
higher class of painting? Has it be
come more prosaic ? Distinctly the
reverse; it is far more poetical—-that is
to say, it aims far more at expressing the
real essence and typical spirit of the
varying moods, whether of external or
of human nature. The contrast between
the modern French school and that of
conventional classicism affords the best
instance for my present purpose, for
Prance is par excellence the country
whose scepticism and democracy may
be supposed to have killed poetry.
Compare a landscape of Corot’s with a
landscape of Poussin; which is the
more poetical? Or take Millet, who
has caught for all time the type of the
true French peasant, with his simple or
even sordid surroundings, his narrow
horizon as he bends with an almost
ferocious intensity of labour over his
paternal clods, yet illumined by gleams
of humble poetry, as in the Angelas, or
of pure domestic affection, as in Teaching
the Baby to Walk. Surely this is real
poetry, and worth a thousand of the
academic pictures of the school of
David.
In the English school of art the same
tendency is manifest. All the great
modern masters aim at representing
types and ideas rather than traditional
conventionalities or prosaic realities.
Thus Millais’s “North-West Passage”
and “ Boyhood of Raleigh ” give us the
essence of that spirit of maritime adven
ture which has made Britannia rule the
waves ; Faed’s pictures of humble Scot
tish life are as tender and true as if they
were poems of Burns transferred to
canvas; Peter Graham, Brett, and Hook
paint the sea as it never was before
painted, in all its moods of strength,
repose, and of the joyous freshness of
its rising flood. And so of a host of
others. They aim at and often succeed
in painting pictures which are really
poems, true and touching phases of
human characters, types of nature which
speak to the varying emotions of the
human soul, and their masterpieces find
a ready response in the hearts of mil
lions.
All this does not look like the advent
of a drab-coloured age of prosaic medioc
rity ; or as if the fresh bracing breeze of
modern science and free thought, sweep
ing through the confined air of mediaeval
cloisters, were going to do otherwise than
sweeten and purify the atmosphere, and
make the blue of heaven more blue, the
�CREEDS OF GREAT POETS
141
grass greener, and the earth, on the whole, filling the lungs with ozone, bracing the
a better and more genial place for man nerves and brightening the eye.
to live in. Blow, brave North-Wester!
“ Who loves not Knowledge, who shall rail
sweeping over the free and boundless
Against her beauty ? may she mix
ocean of Truth, chilling to _ worn-out
With men and prosper, who shall fix
Her pillars ; may her cause prevail.”
creeds and decrepit superstitions, but
Chapter XI.
CREEDS OF GREAT POETS
What is a Great Poet—Ancient and Modern
Poets—Byron, Shelley, Swinburne, Brown
ing, Pope, Dryden, Coleridge, Spenser—
Chaucer — Wordsworth — Nature-Worship—Ode on Immortality—Byron and Shelley—
Burns—Gospel of Practical Life—Shakespeare
—Self recorded in Hamlet and Prospero—
The Sonnets—Views of Death—Behind the
Veil—Prospero—Views identical with Goethe’s
Faust—And with the Maya or Musair of
Buddhism—-Pantheism—Ignoring of Religion
—Patriotism and Loyalty his Ruling Motives
—Practical Influence of Religion Exaggerated
—Religious Poets—Dante—Milton—Contrast
between Greek Tragedy and Modern Poetry
—Tennyson—Poet of Modern Thought—In
Memoriam—Practical Conclusions.
or even a considerable poet; but to make
,
a great poet something more is required.
To this fine susceptibility and musical
nature must be added a great intellect;
an intellect capable of casting flashes of
insight into the varying phases of human
character, and the deepest problems of
man’s relations to the universe; an in
tellect so imbued with the spirit of the
age and abreast of the knowledge of the
day as to be able to sum them up in a
few glowing lines which embody their
inmost essence. Such poets are ex
tremely rare. Of the ancient world,
Homer, JEschylus, Sophocles, and Eu
What is a poet, and what is a great ripides of the Greeks, Lucretius and
poet ? A poet I take to be one whose Virgil of the Romans, still shine as stars
nature is exceptionally susceptible to of the first magnitude among the “ stars
impressions from the surrounding uni of mortal night,” though dimmed by
verse, especially those of a character distance and seen under greatly altered
which comes within the domain of art, conditions. Of moderns, I hardly know
and who unites with this a certain that the very first class can be assigned
musical faculty and command of lan to othernames than those of Shakespeare,
guage, which enables him to translate Dante, Milton, Goethe, Burns, Words
these impressions into apt and harmo worth, and Tennyson. Many come near
nious verse. The poet’s brain may be it from exceptional excellence in some
compared to a photographic plate which of the qualities which are most essential
is extremely sensitive and retentive of to true poetry. Shelley, for instance, is
images which flash across it; or to a equal to the very greatest in the exquisite
delicate LEolian harp which vibrates susceptibility to all that is beautiful in
responsive to harmonies of nature, un nature, and the faculty of reproducing it
heard, or only half-heard, by the coarser in the loveliest and most musical of lyrics.
His Skylark and Cloud may well stand
fibres of ordinary mortals.
This of itself, where it exists in an as the high-water mark to which lyrical
exceptional degree, may make a pleasing poetry has ever attained. But he was
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CREEDS OF GREAT POETS
cut off at an early age, before his intellect
had got over the stage of youthful effer
vescence, and settled down into the sober
and serene wisdom requisite to reflect
truly the spirit of an age, and guide a
world towards better and higher things.
He and Keats have given us “things of
beauty” which are “joys for ever,” but
scarcely wise counsels and consoling
words, to enable us better to live our
lives and face our destinies. The same
may be said of Byron, the vigour of
whose verse and vividness of feeling and
description are unsurpassed, but whose
ideal of life and character, be it real or
be it affected, is about the last any one
would do well to follow.
Of more recent poets Tennyson alone
comes up to the highest standard. Others
approach it on different sides, but on
special sides only, and fail as conspicu
ously in many of the attributes of the
highest poetry as they excel in others.
Swinburne, for instance, almost equals
Shelley in the exquisite musical suscepti
bility of rhythm and language; but the
ideas behind the words are, for the most
part, rhetorical and exaggerated, like
those of his prototype, Victor Hugo.
Browning, again, has intellect and insight,
but his style is so rugged and obscure
that to read his poetry is almost like
trying to solve chess-problems. He is
to Shelley or Tennyson what Wagner is
to Rossini or Beethoven; caviare to the
multitude, and almost outside the range
of the true art which is based essentially
on the beautiful.
Of other well-known poets, Pope is a
great master of the art of weaving appro
priate words into harmonious verse, and
his ideas are, for the most part, clear
and sensible. . But they are not profound,
and in his chief philosophical work, the
Essay on Man, he rather reflects, with
point and precision, the somewhat con
ventional and commonplace views of the
average intellect of his age than gives
flashes of insight drawn from his own
inward struggles .and experiences. The
same may be said of Dryden, who had
a singular gift of terse and vigorous
expression, which has made so many of
his lines survive in the form of standard
quotations. But he was hardly a deep
and original thinker, and, however much
we may admire his poetry, we learn little
from it.
Coleridge I hardly mention as a poet,
for his principal work, as a religious
philosopher influencing to a certain
extent the spirit of his age, was done in
prose and in conversation. His Aids to
Reflection was long the text-book of the
advanced thinkers of Anglican theology,
but his Christabel, Kubla Khan, and
Ancient Mariner, admirable as they are,
are little more than the dreams of a
gorgeous imagination. . They might be
the visions of an “English Opium-Eater,”
in the earlier stages of the seductive drug
as described by De Quincey.
Of the early English poets, the names
of Chaucer and Spenser stand out pre
eminent. Spenser, indeed, has perhaps
as large a share as any other, even of the
greatest poets, of that which is the sub
stratum or first requisite of all true poetry:
the exquisite susceptibility to all that is
beautiful in the surrounding universe.
But his philosophy does not go much
beyond an allegorical representation of
vices and virtues as they appear in the
abstract, rather than in the concrete form
of living individuals. Compare Una,
who is his most distinct and lovable
character, with Imogen, and you feel at
once that Shakespeare gives you a living
woman, in contact with an actual world;
while Spencer’s embodiment of nearly
the same ideal is shadowy and mystic,
half woman and half allegory, living in a
world of impossible giants and monsters.
Chaucer, on the other hand, stands on
solid earth, and deals with real characters.
In the dramatic faculty of depicting actual
living men and women he has no rival
except Shakespeare, and is inferior to him
rather in the narrower width of his canvas,
and in the complexity and variety of the
characters depicted, than in the truth and
vividness of the portraits themselves.
In his Canterbury Tales we have the real
England of the reign of Edward III.
�CREEDS OF GREAT POETS
U3
brought before us as distinctly as if we His wise Providence, so established its
had been one of the company assembled order that definite pieces and progres
at the Tabard, and had ridden on the sions of things shall not be eternal, but
come into existence and pass away in
Dover road to the shrine of St. Thomas,
with the worthy knight, the dainty and due succession.
“ Thus the oak, which grows so slowly
soft-hearted abbess, the jolly wife of Bath,
and has so long a life, at last wastes
and the other typical representatives of
away and dies. Even the hard rock in
the various classes who made up what
was the framework of English society in time wasteth away; broad rivers run dry;
great cities decay and disappear; and all
the fourteenth century. How like they
things have an end. So also of the
are to us, how completely we feel that
they are our own flesh and blood, and human race. All die; some in youth,
that five centuries have made but little others in old age; kings as well as
change either in human nature itself or commoners; some in their beds, some
in the special form of it which may be in the deep sea, some in battlefields.
“There is no help; all go the same
called English nature.
In reading Chaucer I am also struck way; all die. What causeth this but the
by the wonderful anticipations of the Ruler and First Cause of all things, who
most advanced modern thought, which draws back into His own essence all that
occasionally crop up in the most unlikely was derived from it, against which decree
places, and which only require to be it availeth no living creature to strive.
translated into modern language to be at Therefore it seems to me to be wise to
once recognised. For instance, I came make a virtue of necessity, and make the
across a passage the other day which, if best of that which we cannot prevent;
expressed in the terminology which would and that a man is a fool who grumbles
now be used to convey the same ideas, at that which is the universal fate, and
rebels against the law to which he is
would read as follows :—
“The inscrutable First Cause of the indebted for his own existence.”
If anyone came across this passage
universe knew well what He was about
without knowing its origin, he would be
when He established the fair chain of
love or of mutual attraction. For with apt to attribute it to some writer who was
this chain He bound the elements, fire, conversant with the works of Herbert
air, water, and land, together in definite Spencer, Darwin, and Lyell; and about
forms, so as not to fly asunder into the last guess he would make would be
that it came from the father of English
primeval chaos.
“In like manner He established certain poetry writing in the fourteenth century.
periods and durations for all creation, And yet, if he would turn to the speech
beyond which nothing could pass. This of Duke Theseus in the Knight's Tale,
needs no authority to confirm it, for it he would find that it is a literal though
is proved by universal experience. Men, modernised version of what Chaucer puts
therefore, by this order of the universe, into the mouth of his representative of
may easily discern that the laws of nature perfect manhood and mature wisdom.
are 'fixed and eternal. And anyone who Religions and philosophies have changed,
is not a fool can understand that, as every knowledge has increased; but these lines
part is derived from a whole, nature of Chaucer remain as a summary of the
cannot have originated from any part or best and truest attitude in which a man
parcel of a thing, but from something can face the insoluble mysteries of the
that is perfect and stable, passing by universe.
This passage alone should be sufficient
evolution from the homogeneous into
the heterogeneous, until it becomes to justify Chaucer’s claim to rank among
subject to change and corruption. The the great poets.
My object, however, is not so much to
Creator of the universe has, therefore, in
�144
CREEDS OF GREAT POETS
review poetry generally, or to assign to
each poet his proper place in the hier
archy of Art, as to ascertain what have
been the real creeds or inmost convic
tions of those who, by universal consent,
are ranked among the highest. And
when I talk of creeds, I do not mean
the outward professions, which, with poets
as with other men, may be mainly affairs
of time and circumstance; but the deeper
insight with which they “see into the life
of things,” and find, with Wordsworth,
Wordsworth, in common with Brahmins,
Buddhists, and Platonists, solves this
problem by postulating pre-existence :—
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting;
The soul that rises with us, our life’s star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar.”
. It is remarkable that this Pantheistic
view of the universe is essentially that of
other great modern poets, who, in many
respects, differ most widely from the
calm and self-contained character and
“ The anchor of the purest thoughts, the nurse, serene wisdom of Wordsworth. Byron,
The guide, the guardian of the heart, and soul in his _ moments of best and truest
Of all the moral being. ”
inspiration, expresses, in still more
In Wordsworth’s case the answer is easy: passionate and vigorous language, the
he gives it himself. He finds it in nature.’ same feeling for one great living whole,
Not in a. dead or mechanical nature, or comprising nature, humanity, and him
one limited to seas and skies, mountains self :—
and rivers; but one which includes
All heaven and earth are still—though not in
“ The still sad music of humanity,”
and which lives with
“ A presence which disturbs me with the joy
Of elevated thoughts ; a sense sublime
Of something far more deeply interfuse
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,
And the round ocean and the living air,
And the blue sky, and in the mind of man ;
A motion and a spirit that impels
All thinking things, all objects of all thought,
And rolls through all things.”
This is very nearly pure Pantheism,
and it is remarkable how closely he
approximates in other respects to the
Oriental philosophy which finds its ex
pression in the religions of Brahma and
of Buddha, and which tinged the
speculations of Plato. In the Intima
tions of Immortality he adopts, to a
considerable extent, the doctrine of the
transmigration of souls, or, to express it
in modern language, the “ Conservation
of Energy,” applied to the immaterial
soul as a distinct and indestructible
essence.
The problem of immortality hinges on
two questions : life before birth, life after
death. They hang very much together,
for if from nothing we came —
nothing in the sense of no conscious
personal identity—it is more than pro
bable that to nothing we shall return.
sleep,
But breathless, as we grow when feeling most;
And silent, as we stand in thoughts too deep_
All heaven and earth are still ; from the high
host
Of stars to the lulled lake and mountain-coast,
All is concentred in a life intense,
Where not a beam, nor air, nor leaf is lost,
But hath a part of being, and a sense
Of that which is of all Creator and defence.
Then stirs the feeling infinite, so felt
In solitude when we are least alone.”
And again, in the rush of the midnight
storm, he wishes to be
“ A sharer in thy fierce and far delight,
A portion of the tempest and of thee ! ”
Shelley, again, was essentially the poet
of Pantheism, and derived all his best
inspiration from
“ Earth, ocean, air, beloved brotherhood !”
The song of the skylark, the fleeting
cloud, the forest at noonday, the
“ Waste and solitary places, where we taste
The pleasure of believing what we see
Is boundless, as we wish our souls to be,”'
spoke to him and he to them as living
beings, vibrating in unison with the most
delicate harmonies.
Of Death he speaks as
The boundless realm of unending change,”
where
“ All that we feel, and know, and see
■Shall pass like an unreal mystery.”.
�CREEDS OF GREAT POETS
In other words, his glance of insight
into the mysteries of the universe is
essentially Pantheistic and Agnostic.
In sharp contrast with the ethereal
poetry of Shelley, Burns, while equal to
him or any other poet in the exquisite
delicacy of his lyrics, stands on solid
earth, and teaches what may be called
a gospel of practical life. He may not
always have acted up to it, but his
poetry is pre-eminent in laying down
sound and sensible maxims of conduct,
and investing common things and ordi
nary life with a halo of tenderness and
dignity drawn from the inspiration of
the highest feelings of human nature.
Thus, when he says,
.“To make a happy household clime
For weans and wife
Is the true pathos and sublime
Of human life,”
he presents an ideal universal in its
application, within reach of all, common
to all sorts and conditions of men; and
he presents it in a way which lifts the
fundamental fact of the family tie from
the region of prose into that of poetry.
The poorest man, who lives even approxi
mately up to these lines, may feel that
he has not lived in vain. By industry,
prudence, self-restraint, good temper, and
kindness, he has made his humble home
a shrine of affection and happiness, and
has made good his title to rank as one
of nature’s gentlemen. Goethe means
much the same thing when he says that
“no man carries it farther than to per
petuate the species, beget children, and
nourish them as well as he can.” But
how cold and ironical does this sound
when contrasted with Burns. One is
prose, the other poetry ; one a criticism
on life, the other an incentive to purify
and exalt it.
No one equals Burns in the keenness
of insight with which he looks through
the outer husks and habiliments of
things to their real essence. Carlyle’s
clothes philosophy in Sartor Resartus
is but a sermon on the text—
“ The rank is but the guinea stamp,
The man’s the gold for a’ that.”
145
A manly independence, based on the
qualities which Tennyson attributes to
the Goddess of Wisdom,
“ Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control,”
is to Burns, as it is to everyone, the
solid basis of all the manly virtues.. It
is a basis which is more readily provided
to those who live by work, whether of
the hand or head, than to those who are
born with a silver spoon in their mouths,
and are cradled in comfort and luxury.
A man never knows what is really , in
him until he has measured himself with
his fellows in real honest work. I. have
known many a man who fancied himself
one of the creme de la creme, and looked
down on the rest of the world as “ cads
and “ outsiders,” who was not honestly
worth twenty shillings a week of any
man’s money. He could ride, but not
well enough to be a whipper-in; shoot,
but did not know enough of wood-craft
or rearing pheasants to be a game
keeper ; dance, sing, or draw, perhaps,
but nothing well enough to earn a penny
by it. Strip him of his cotton-wool
wrappings of wealth and rank, and land
him at Sydney or Melbourne without a
sixpence in his pocket, and what could
he do to earn a living ? Possibly drive
a cab, or be a waiter at an eating-house.
How can such a man feel the same
manly independence as one who knows
that, wherever he goes, he has muscles
or brains to sell which are honestly
worth their price in the world’s market.
No one sets forth so forcibly as Burns
the dignity of labour, and the compen
sations which go so far to equalise the
lot of the rich and poor. If I wanted
to convert to sounder views some narrow
minded social democrat, whose one idea
was envy of the rich, I would make him
read Burns’ Twa Dogs, where the rela
tive advantages _ and disadvantages of
different stations of life are set forth
with so much force and humour. Against
the hardships and privations of the
working masses, alternating with the
enjoyments of the evening rest, the
healthy appetite, and the sound sleep,
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CREEDS OF GREAT POETS
he would read of the non-working classes,
how
“ Gentlemen, and ladies worst,
With even-down want of work are curst,”
and learn
“ It’s no in riches or in rank,
' It’s no in wealth like London Bank,
To bring content and rest.
“If happiness has no its seat
And centre in the breast,
We may be rich, or wise, or great,
But never can be blest.”
He may learn also from the Cotter's
Saturday Night how peasant life may
rise to the level of patriarchal dignity;
and from Highland Mary or Bonnie
Jean how the romance of love may be
as true and tender by the “ banks and
braes o’ bonnie Doon ” as in Belgravian
drawing-rooms. Nor will the lesson be
wanting from Willie brewed a peck o'
maut and Auld Lang Syne, that frank
joviality and hearty friendship are not
the exclusive appanage of any class or
condition of mortal men.
From Burns to Shakespeare is a long
stretch, but any attempt to ascertain the
creeds of great poets would be . incom
plete without some analysis of what
seems to be the inmost and truest
attitude of the greatest of all poets
towards the deepest problems of life.
In the case of Shakespeare this is not
easy to discover, for his genius is so
essentially dramatic that his characters
speak and act their own lives, and are
not mere masks behind which the author
discourses to the publiic. Thus Childe
Harold, Conrad, Lara, and Manfred are
only Byron himself posing in different
attitudes, while Othello and Macbeth,
Falstaff and Dogberry, are types of
themselves reflecting nature, and not
Shakespeare. All we can say from them
of Shakespeare’s individuality is, that it
must have been wide enough and rich
enough to realise, with a certain amount
of sympathy, all the varied range of
human passions and emotions, strength
.and weakness, wisdom and folly. Even
the humorous drolleries, and rogueries,
and sheer imbecilities of human nature
are noted and reproduced with a genial
smile.
We cannot say that Shakespeare had
any resemblance to Falstaff, but we may
be sure that he had noted someone like
him; some humorous ton of flesh,
unblushing compound of braggart,
coward, liar, and glutton, yet who half
redeemed these evil qualities by his
ready wit and unfailing good-humour,
and left us almost sorry for him when
he died babbling of green fields in
Mistress Quickly’s hostelry.
It is only in one or two of his
characters that we can discover some
thing of the real Shakespeare himself,
projected from within outwards, and
fashioned in some mood of his own
image. This is the case mainly with
Hamlet and Prospero. Of Hamlet I
think we may say with some certainty
that no one could have conceived such
a character who had not a Hamlet in
him. He must have felt the irresolu
tion, the despondency, the metaphysical
thought sicklying over the “native hue
of resolution,” the burden of life almost
too heavy to be borne, which made a
noble nature and high intelligence drift
the sport of circumstances, rather than
“ take arms against a sea of troubles ”
and incur the pain of coming to a definite
decision.
The Sonnets, in which Shakespeare
speaks in his own person, reveal a good
deal of this frame of mind. The general
tone is that of thought rather than of
action, with an undercurrent of despon
dency and gentle melancholy. Thus, if
the twenty-ninth Sonnet be really Shake
speare’s, what a sermon is it on the vanity
of human things to find the supreme
artist of the world, the man who had
apparently led the most prosperous life,
who had risen from a poor country lad
to be the admired friend of the highest
nobles and best intellects of his day, and
who had in a few years achieved fame
and competence, writing such lines as
these:—
“ When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
�CREEDS OF GREAT POETS
147
by anyone who had not known it by
personal experience. We can hardly
And look upon myself, and curse my fate.”
suppose the high-born and accomplished
Or think of such a man, when recalling heir to the Danish throne to have been
his past life to the “sessions, of sweet a party to a Chancery suit, or to have
trod for years, like Peter Peebles, the
silent thought,” thus summing it up :—
corridors of a Copenhagen Court of
“ I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,.
And with old woes new wail my dear time’s Session. Nor was he likely to have
waste ;
suffered from
And trouble deaf Heaven with my bootless
Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow,
For precious friends hid in death s dateless
night,
And weep afresh love’s long-since cancelled
And moan the expense of many a vanished
sight.
Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,
And heavily from woe to woe tell o’er
The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan.”
No one can mistake the analogy
between these Sonnets and the melan
choly musings of the Prince of Denmark.
Again, the sixty-sixth Sonnet is almost
identical with the enumeration of the ills
of life which make death desirable in
Hamlet’s famous soliloquy :—
“ Tired with all these, for restful death I cry—
As, to behold desert a beggar born.
And needy nothing trimmed in jollity,
And purest faith unhappily foresworn,
And gilded honour shamefully misplaced,
'
And maiden virtue rudely strumpeted,
And right perfection wrongfully disgraced,
And strength by limping sway disabled,
And art made tongue-tied by authority,
And folly, doctor-like, controlling skill,
And simple truth miscalled simplicity,
And captive good attending captain ill:
Tired with all these, from these would I be
gone.”
The evidence of this identity between
Shakespeare and Hamlet is strengthened
if we examine in detail the enumeration
of the “whips and scorns of time” which
might almost compel a man to suicide.
As a general rule, Shakespeare’s charac
ters speak with an admirable dramatic
propriety of place and circumstance.
They say nothing but what such charac
ters in such conditions might have said.
But in this soliloquy there are things
which Hamlet hardly could have said,
and which must be Shakespeare speaking
of his own experiences. Thus, the “law’s
delay ” would hardly be included among
the serious ills of life justifying suicide
“ The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes.”
If, then, Hamlet’s soliloquy expresses
the real sentiments of Shakespeare, we
have his judgment on the great questions
of death and immortality summed up
almost in the identical words of Tenny
son :—
“ Behind the veil, behind the veil.”
To die is “to sleep—to sleep ! perchance
to dream.” Death is “the undiscovered
country from whose bourne no traveller
returns.” There is no assurance, abso
lutely none ! He cannot say, with the
Materialist, we shall certainly perish,, or,
with the Christian, we shall certainly live.
The character of Prospero affords even
a better test than that of Hamlet for
ascertaining what were Shakespeare’s
■ mature views on these subjects. There
can be little doubt that in Prospero
Shakespeare has an eye to himself, retir
ing in the plenitude of his powers from
London and the stage, to spend the
autumn of his days in a round of domestic
duties in his native town. The magic
which Prospero abjures can hardly be
other than the poet’s imagination, and
the staff which he breaks and book which
he drowns,
“ Deeper than did ever plummet sound,”
the poet’s pen, which had bodied forth
so many of these airy nothings, and given
them
“ A local habitation and a name.”
It is well worthy of remark how nearly
this practical solution of the problem of
life coincides with that of another of the
world’s greatest geniuses, Goethe.
The drama of Faust concludes by
showing howr the hero is delivered from
the power of evil, and how the sins and
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CREEDS OF GREAT POETS
miseries of his career while commanding
the powers of magic are condoned, by
devoting himself to the practical work of
real life—reclaiming a waste tract from
the sea, colonising it, and making it the
abode of healthy human industry.
The moral is precisely the same in the
two cases, that man’s true life is in the
natural and not in the supernatural, or,
as Goethe expresses it elsewhere, that
“here is your America’’—not in visionary
continents across unmeasured oceans, but
in doing, as Carlyle phrases it, “the duty
that lies nearest to your hand, as the best
guide to further duties.”
But Shakespeare, speaking through
Prospero, in his farewell address to the
world, goes beyond the sphere of practical
life, and gives us his views of the highest
problems of the universe in the wellknown lines :—
“ And like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
. Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this unsubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made of, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.”
If, in the case of Wordsworth, I had
to remark on the singular approximation
of modern poetry to the Pantheistic views
of Oriental religions and philosophies,
this passage of Shakespeare carries the
comparison still closer. It is the pure
doctrine of Maya or illusion, which plays
such a great part in the systems of
Brahma and Buddha.
There is no
reality but the great unknowable; all the
manifestations of the universe are illu
sive dreams, rising and falling like mists
from the Ocean of the Infinite. Indi
vidual existence is but one of these
illusions, destined to disappear like
others when its “little life is rounded
with a sleep.”
Observe that in this latest utterance
Shakespeare has gone beyond the phase
of thought which dictated the soliloquy
of Hamlet. There, death was a sleep
indeed, but a sleep in which there might
be dreams, an undiscovered bourne
where there might be anything. But I
here there is not merely Agnosticism,
but the positive assertion that sleep is
all, and that the individual life is ab
sorbed, like everything else, in the great
Ocean from which it came, of the
Infinite and Absolute.
_ Goethe’s theory of the universe is very
similar to that of Shakespeare, but he
approximates to the Oriental philosophy
rather on its positive or Pantheistic side
than on the metaphysical side of Illu
sion. Thus, in the famous reply of
Faust to the simple inquiry of Margaret
whether he believes in God, “ Wer darf
ihn nennen ? ” he says :—
“ Who dares to name Him ?
Who to say of Him, I believe?
Who is there ever
With a soul to dare,
To utter, I believe Him not?
The All-encompasser, the All-upholder,
Enfolds, sustains He not
Thee, me, Himself?”
And he goes on to say how the over
arching sky, the solid earth, the ever
lasting stars, the depths of human
emotion, are but manifestations of the
eternal essence, call it what name you
will—
“ Words are but mist and smoke
Obscuring Heaven’s glow.”
This is almost identical with Words
worth’s
“ Sense sublime
Of something far more deeply interfused.”
In a word, it is pure Pantheism. So
also is the hymn of the Earth Spirit, who
sits weaving the varied shows of the
universe,
“ And at Time’s humming loom prepares
The garment which the Eternal Spirit wears.”
It has often been observed to what a
little extent religion—that is, the formal
religion of theological creeds, appears in
Shakespeare’s plays. Love, ambition,
jealousy, all the various motives which
practically influence human conduct and
character, are depicted to the life ; but
religious belief is as completely ignored as
if it had no existence. One would have
thought that in an age which had wit
nessed the martyrdoms of Latimer and
�CREEDS OF GREAT POETS
149
Cranmer, the destruction of the Spanish threat of foreign interference he would
Armada, and the innumerable wars and have been for England, whether under a
conspiracies of the reign of Elizabeth, King, a Protector, or a Parliament.
Perhaps Shakespeare is right, and after
almost every one must have been a keen
all religion plays a less part in the real
partisan either of the Protestant or of the
Catholic persuasion. And yet such is life of individuals and of nations than
Shakespeare’s indifference or impartiality we are apt to assign to it. It becomes
that it is impossible to say to which side important when it happens to coincide
he inclined. The only conjecture that with great currents of feeling or opinion
has been hazarded is that he leant which are setting in the same direction,
towards the old faith, because his friars, but it has little effect when it runs counter
especially Father Lawrence in Romeo to them. Thus at the present day we
and Juliet, are depicted in a favourable see that the feeling of nationality is vastly
light. But this can hardly be carried more powerful than any differences of
I renchmen,
further than to show that he was not one religious denomination.
of those bigoted Protestants to whom Italians, and Germans are for national in
everything connected with Rome was an dependence and greatness alike, whether
abomination. On the other hand, we they are Catholics, Protestants, or Free
find no trace of it, where it might have thinkers, just as English Catholics were
been most expected, in ridicule or abuse Englishmen first and Catholics afterwards
at the time of the Armada. Catholic
of the Puritans.
The Puritans were already a consider Ireland bows the Pope’s rescript respect
able sect, and from their bitter hostility to fully out of Court when it comes in con
the stage must have appeared to Shake flict with national feeling, and follows
speare almost in the light of personal the lead of an “uncrowned king’’who is
enemies. His observant eye could not a Protestant. In private life nothing can
have failed to notice many of the traits be clearer than that the Christian theory
which, as in Butler’s Hudibras, laid them is that it is better to be poor than rich;
open to ridicule. Many of his characters, while the Christian practice is that it is
as for instance that of Malvolio, would better to be rich than poor. The example
have enabled him with perfect dramatic of Lazarus and Dives does not prevent
propriety to sharpen the shafts of his the immense majority of mankind fiom
satire by introducing an element of striving to be better fed, better clothed,
Puritanism. But he entirely abstains better lodged, and more independent;
from doing so by a single word or and the precept to “ take no thought for
insinuation. Malvolio is a prig, but not the morrow ” is nowhere in competition
with Burns’s ideal of life :
a Puritan.
The fact is that patriotism and loyalty
“ To make a happy household clime
For weans and wife ”—•
seem to have been such ruling motives
in Shakespeare’s breast as to have left no
room for political or theological differ an ideal which, under existing conditions,
ences. The dithyrambic and almost is only to be realised by the constant
Jingoist praises of England which he puts exercise of providence and foresight. So
® the mouth of John o’ Gaunt and other also nine-tenths of the very men who
characters are evidently written con amore, preach and who repeat the command,
and express his real sentiments ; and so “ Thou and thy servant shall do no work
also are the glowing eulogiums on the on the Sabbath,” go home to a hot dinner,
“imperial votaress throned in the West.” which compels their cook to do the same
Had he lived a generation later, we may work on the seventh as on the other days
conjecture that he would have been a of the week.
The fact is that these remote and
Cavalier, and charged with Rupert rather
than with Cromwell; but at the first metaphysical speculations, whether of
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CREEDS OF GREAT POETS
theology or philosophy, exert wonder
fully little influence on practical life.
The spiritualist who holds with Berkeley
that matter has no real existence walks
on solid earth exactly as does the
materialist who believes in nothing but
matter. The determinist, who holds
that everything is the result of preestablished harmony or of mechanical
necessity, when it comes to practical
action differs in no perceptible degree
from the believer in free-will, who holds
with Tennyson that
“ Man is man, and master of his fate.”
In either case, the practical incentive is
that
“ Because right is right, to follow right
Were wisdom in the scorn of consequence.”
In other words, that the rules of right
and wrong, which have become almost
instinctive by the operation of heredity,
education, and environment, influence
conduct far more than any theoretical
considerations as to the origin of morals,
and practical life is made up mainly of
the conflict between these instincts and
the lower inducements of selfishness,
sensuality, and passion, which tempt us
to disregard them.
Of great poets who may be considered
to have drawn their inspiration from
theology there are two—Dante and
Milton. In the case of Dante, however,
it is doubtful whether the phantasmagoria
of mediaeval horrors in the Inferno can
be considered as anything more than
the canvas on which he has painted his
immortal pictures. He is a great poet,
from the passionate insight with which
he has described contemporary events
and characters, his knowledge of universal
human nature, his vivid power of descrip
tion, and the occasional gleams of pity
and tenderness which lighten up his
gloomy landscape. His inspiration is,
to a great extent, political and personal
rather than theological. He loves and
hates with the intense vehemence of an
exile whose life has been marred by the
struggles of contending factions, and
who has known the misery of eating the I
bread of charity and mounting the cold
stairs of haughty patrons. He takes the
regions of Tartarus, the tortures of the
damned, and the malignity of devils, as
he finds them ready to his hand in the
popular beliefs of his day, and on this
canvas dashes down the vivid impres
sions and brooding ideas of which his
soul is full; and that soul being a great
one, the picture is great also.
In the case of Milton, on the other
hand, we have an instance of a really
great poet, who, “smit by the love of
sacred song,” derived his inspiration
mainly from the Bible and from theo
logy. And if theology acted thus power
fully on him, he in return reacted no
less powerfully on it, for the conceptions
of Adam and Eve, of paradise, of heaven
and hell, and of the whole hierarchy of
good and bad angels, are derived mainly
from his Paradise Lost. In particular that
of Satan transformed from the grotesque,
Pan-like devil of popular mythology into
an heroic figure, not less than “arch
angel ruined,” is purely Miltonic. The
indomitable resolution with which he
opposes his own personality and free
will to the buffets of adverse fate and
the decrees of Omnipotence elevates
the horned and tailed “auld Clootie”
of vulgar tradition into an heroic figure
akin to the Prometheus of Greek tragedy.
It may easily be seen from the example
of Milton how readily poetry may pass
into mythology in uncritical ages. It
was thought by some Greek philosophers
that the gods of Olympus were a creation
of Homer’s. Had Milton’s Paradise
Lost been written before the invention
of printing and transmitted for centuries
by the chants of itinerant bards, probably
the same thing might have been said of
many of the personifications of popular
Christianity.
In contrasting the spirit of the Greek
tragedians with that of modern poetry,
it strikes me very forcibly how much
more the element of morality enters
into the former. The ground-note of
■/Eschylus and Sophocles, and in a less
degree of Euripides, is that of an
�CREEDS OF GREAT POETS
inexorable and irresistible Fate, based
mainly on a vindication of immutable
moral laws. This all-powerful Fate grinds
gods and mortals alike, regardless of indi
vidual lives, and of individual pains and
sufferings, merits and demerits.
The
essence of tragedy lies in the heroic
struggles of lofty souls to oppose this
inexorable Fate, and either vindicate
against it the more immediate laws
of human justice and mercy, or, if
defeated, to suffer and endure with
unshaken resolution. Thus the Thyestian banquet entails a curse on the
house of Atreus, which is visited from
father to son, to the third and fourth
generation, of those whose ancestor had
violated one of the fundamental laws of
human nature and been guilty of canni
balism. The avenging Furies pursue
Orestes to assert the eternal law against
the unnatural crime of matricide, regard
less of the extenuating circumstances
which might have induced a modern
jury to bring in a verdict of justifiable
homicide. So also (Edipus undergoes
the extreme of human suffering, regard
less of the fact that the homicide of his
father and marriage with his mother
were committed in total ignorance, and
without any taint of what may be
called personal depravity. Antigone and
Electra suffer, not only when they are
free from guilt, but when their lives have
been devoted to acts of natural piety.
They suffer not for their own sins, but
because circumstances have involved
them in the train of events and family
connections, for which the eternal moral
laws require expiation. The spirit of
modern poetry is very different. It is
based less on Fate and more on nature;
on nature as it is seen in the outward
universe, conceived in the Pantheistic
spirit of a living whole, and on nature as
shown by the actual course of events and
real characters and actions of actual
men and women. Virtue is sometimes
^rewarded and vice punished, but not
always ; characters are partly good and
partly bad, just as we see them in the
real world; they do not stalk before us
151
on the stage as heroes or demi-gods, in
heroic mask and buskin, but tell their
tale and act their parts as ordinary
mortals, by the play of words, gesture,
and of the human countenance. From
Chaucer and Shakespeare downwards,
the aim of all first-rate poets, dramatists,
and novelists has been, not to preach
sermons or illustrate views of “fate, free
will, foreknowledge absolute,” but to
hold up a mirror to nature and reflect it
as it really is. Not partially, as in the
modern French realistic school, which
photographs only that which is ugly and
obscene; nor as in society novels, which
find nothing in the world but school-girl
romance and the rose-coloured trivialities
of fashionable circles; but, as Shakespeare
did in a supreme degree, the whole real
world of nature, which lies within the
domain of art—that is, which admits of
being illuminated by genius into some
thing which, in its final impression, is
beautiful and not ugly, pleasing and not
repulsive.
I have reserved for the last Tennyson,
for he was the great poet of modern
thought, who stood nearest to us, and
who wrote with the fullest knowledge of
the discoveries of recent science, and of
the problems which occupied the minds
of the living generation. In writing of
Tennyson I have to bear in mind that
he lived many days, and went through
many phases of thought, and might,
therefore, probably have objected to be
classed in any one category, or repre
sented as consistently holding in his
declining years the views which he ex
pressed in his early youth or mature
manhood. It is a long journey from the
first Locksley Hall, where the poet of
progress hails with exulting spirit the
“ wondrous mother age,” and sees in his
fellow-men—
“ Men my brothers, men the workers ever
working something new,
What they have done but the earnest of the
things that they shall do,”
to the Locksley Hall, Sixty Years After,
of the mournful bard who, being old,
“ thinks gray thoughts,” and walks from
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CREEDS OF GREAT POETS
Dan to Beersheba, finding all things
barren. It is not for us to complain
that the sun is not always at its meridian
splendour, but, after having given us light
and warmth for its appointed season,
sinks, not in the softer glories of a glow
ing sunset, but behind the gray and
clammy mists that obscure the horizon.
_ Let us rather take our great poet at
his best and fullest, in the days when
he poured out his inmost soul in In
Memoriam, and gave the world his views
on the deepest problems, in lines which
dwell for ever in the minds of the fore
most thinkers of his generation. No
poet of any generation struck a deeper
or truer note than Tennyson in those
noble stanzas in In Memoriam in which
he says :—
“ No more ? a monster then, a dream,
A discord. Dragons of the prime,
Who tare each other in their slime,
Were mellow music matched with him.
“ Oh, life as futile, then, as frail '
Oh, for thy voice to soothe and bless !
What hope of answer or redress ?
Behind the veil, behind the veil! ”
I never read those noble lines without
almost a thrill of awe at the intense
truthfulness wfith which they sum up the
latest conclusions of the human intellect.
Here, at last, is the true truth, based on
the inexorable facts and laws of modern
science, and on the ineradicable hopes,
fears, and aspirations of human nature
which underlie them in presence of the
“ unknowable.” Tennyson has read his
Darwin, and understands the facts of
“ Are God and Nature then at strife,
“ Evolution ” and the “ struggle for
That Nature lends such evil dreams ?
existence.” He has read his Lyell, and
So careful of the type she seems,
knows how the facts of geology show
So careless of the single life ;
that what is true of individuals is true
“ That I, considering everywhere
of types, and that all creation lives and
Her secret meaning in her deeds,
dies, comes into existence, and is trans
And finding that of fifty seeds
She often brings but one to bear ;
formed, by immutable laws. He sees
this as clearly as Llerbert Spencer, but,
“ I falter where I firmly trod,
And falling with my weight of cares
like Spencer, he sees that this is not all,
Upon the great world’s altar-stairs
and that underlying these known or
That lead from darkness up to God ;
knowable facts and laws is a great
“ I stretch lame hands of faith, and grope, Unknowable, in presence of which we
And gather dust and chaff, and call
can only veil our faces and bow in
To Him I feel is Lord of all,
reverent silence.
And faintly trust the larger hope.
This much, at any rate, it teaches us
“ ‘ So careful of the type ? ’ but No !
—that the apprehensions are visionary
From scarped cliff and quarried stone
She cries, ‘ A thousand types are gone: which tell us that the progress of science
I care for nothing, all shall go.
and the light of reason will banish all
poetry and all religion from the world,
“ ‘Thou makest thine appeal to me :
and reduce life to an arid and prosaic
I bring to life, I bring to death :
The spirit doth but mean the breath :
desert like that of a burnt-out planet.
I know no more.’—And He, shall He,
His science furnishes him with some of
“ Man, her last work, who looked so fair,
the most magnificently poetical similes
With splendid purpose in his eyes,
ever penned by mortal poet.
The
Who rolled the psalm to wintry skies,
struggle for existence, and apparent
And built him fanes of fruitless prayer ;
cruelty of nature, is embodied as the
“ Who trusted God was love indeed,
wild eagle, dropping gore from beak and
And Love Creation’s final law—
Though Nature, red in tooth and claw talon, and shrieking with ravine against
the creed of love and mercy.
The
With ravine, shrieked against his creed ;
Ichthyosaurus and Plesiosaurus give him
“ Who loved, who suffered countless ills,
the
And battled for the True and Just,
Be blown about the desert dust,
Or sealed within the iron hills ?
“ Dragons of the prime,
Who tare each other in the slime.”
�CREEDS OF GREAT POETS
The decay of the old simple paths, the
slowly-dying creeds, translate themselves
into a deep undertone of the “ still, sad
music Of humanity.” Men “ falter where
they firmly trod,” doubt whether their
churches and cathedrals are not “ fanes
of fruitless prayer,” and their accepted
creeds and solemn services but as the
“ cry of an infant in the night,” and with
“no'language but a cry.”
Tennyson’s practical conclusion is very
similar to that of Shakespeare and Goethe
—viz., to place the centre of gravity of
human life in the natural rather than in
the supernatural. The advice of his
Goddess of Wisdom is to cultivate “ self
reverence, self-knowledge, self-control
and, without investigating too closely the
origin of conscience, to accept it as a fact,
153
“And because right is right, to follow right.”
In his Two Voices, after a deep philo
sophical disquisition on the Zoroastrian
doctrine of polarity, or conflict of two
principles, he finds the best solution of
the problem in the spectacle of a man
walking to the parish church between
his wife and child.
This is apparently the last word of
religions and philosophies. Work while
it is day, for the night cometh when no
man can work. Work well and wisely,
and when your little day is over go to
sleep calmly, accepting with an equal
mind whatever fate, if fate there be, that
may be in store for you
“Behind the veil.”
�.................................................
i
-1
4
�INDEX
Clairvoyance, 85
Bear, evolution of the, 69
Acts of the Apostles, 128
Clergy, the modern, 102
Bethlehem, story of, 117
Advance of Science, 95
Coal-measures, thickness of the,
Aerolites as cause of solar heat, Bible, inspiration of the, 93
16
Bird, evolution of the, 71
10-11
Coleridge as a poet, 142
^Esthetic sense and Christianity, Birth-place of mankind, 78
----- on theological assumptions,
Bismarck, 136, 137
99, 101
93
Africa, prehistoric implements Boucher de Perthes, discoveries
Comets, II
of, 48
in, 53
Comets and meteorites, 32
Agnosticism and morality, 96- Boulder-drift, 40-1.
Comstock, 31
Bourgeois, discoveries of, 57
100
Bow-wow theory of language, 75 Comte, religion of, 96
Agnosticism, definition of, 90
Conduct and creed, 99
Boycotting, 136
Ahriman, 105
Condylarthra, 70
America, prehistoric man in, 53, Braid, Dr., 79
Configuration, Lyell’s theory of,
Brain of man and the ape, 72
60
46
Brain, weight of the, 76 .
Amphicyon, 69
Britain, Ancient, animal life in, 49 Conservation of energy, 29
Ancestors of man, 78
British Islands, once joined to Contraction as source of solar
Anchenia, 61
heat, 12
continent, 49
Angstrom, on solar heat, 12
Contradictions in the Gospels,
Browning, 142
Animals, language of, 75
112, 117
----- non-progressiveness of, 75 Buckland, 13
Buenos Ayres, pre-historic man Conversions, religious and scien
----- tools not used by, 75
tific, 94-5
in, 64
Anthropoid apes, fossil, 55
Cope, Professor, on missing
Anthropomorphism of the savage, Bunodonta, 69
links, 68
Burns, 145
65-6
Bushmen, intelligence of, 74? 75 Corals in Greenland, 29
Ape, man and the, 55-6, 72
Corot, 140
Byron, 139, 142
Apostles, the, 118
Creation an absurdity, 92
Apostles’ Creed, the, 101
Creeds, decay of, 101
Calaveras skull, the, 61
Apparitions of the dying, 86
California, prehistoric man in, Creodonta, 69
Archaeopteryx, the, 71
Groll’s theory of climatic varia
55? 60-3
Architherium, the, 69
tion, 33-4, 37
Arctic regions, former high Canstadt man, 54, 77
Carbonic-dioxide in atmosphere, Cro-Magnon man, 54, 77
temperature of, 29, 30
Cromer forest, the, 45
31, 32
Arcturus, speed of, 19
Carew on the treatment of luna Cromwell, 137
[Argyll, Duke of, 61
Crucifixion of Christ, 122
tics, 131
Arrested development in apes, 75
Crust of the earth, 31
Carlyle, pessimism of, 128-9
Art, beginnings of, 51
Cumberland, the
thought
Cassiopzea, 25
----- need of cult of, 103
reader, 86
Ascension, evidence for the, 112, Castelnedolo discoveries, the, 59
Cures by mesmerism, 79
Catalepsy, 81
127
Cuvier on fossil man, 47
Cerithium, the, 67
Ascidian, the, 72
Asia, prehistoric implements in, Chalk downs, implements of the, Cynodictis, 69
52
51
Dalgairns on the existence of
Atmosphere, the, as a blanket, Chamouni, 41
God, 9^
Chauc'er, 142
31-2
Chimpanzee, mind of the, 74, 75 Dante, 150
Atoms, 26
Dark stars, 19, 24, 25
Christian Agnostics, 93
Athanasian Creed, the, 92
Darwin, life of, 138-9
(Augustine, St., on miracles, 113 Christian morality, 94
----- views of, 95,
Axis, terrestrial, variations in, 34 Churches, future of the, 102
Darwinism, spread of, 67
Civil war in America, 135
Civilisation, rate of progress of, Dawson, Sir J., on fossil man,
Bab, miracles of the, 116
36
Be&consfield, Lord, 138
38
�156
Death of Christ, probable truth
about, 124
Denise, fossil man of, 58
Denudation, rate of, 15, 39
Deposition, rate of, 15, 39
Depressions of earth’s surface, 42
Descartes on the soul, 92
Devils, possession by, 131
Digger Indians, 55
Divinity of Christ, 121-2
Dog, evolution of the, 69
Dogmatic Christianity, 91
Doubt, morality of, 99
Dreams, 86
Dryden, 142
Dryopithecus, the, 56, 59
Dualism in nature, 105
Dual personality, 84
Earth, age of the, 9-17
Eginhard, 113
Egypt, ancient civilisation of, 48
Electricity in the sun, 20
Electrons, 27
Elephas meridionalis, 56
Elevation of earth’s surface, 43
Eliot, George, secession of, 95
Elotherium, 61
Emerson on polarity, 104
Energy, primitive fund of, 18
----- problem of, 20-21
Eohippus, the, 69
Erect posture of man, 73
Erosion, rate of, 39, 41
Esquimaux, migrations of the, 54
Euripides, 150
Eusebius, 109
Evil, problem of, 105
Evolution and creation, 65-9
----- of prehistoric man, 50
----- reception of theory, 67
Exorcisms, 132
Faith, nature of, 114
Fate, 151
Faust, 146
Flint instruments, making of, 50
Fiction, 140
Foot of man and the ape, 73
France, progress in, 135
Freeman on miracles, 113
Freemantle, Canon, on theo
logy, 93
Freethought and conduct, 103
Furfooz type, the, 55
Future life, our ignorance about,
94
Gadarene swine, the, 119
Gaudry on evolution, 68
Genesis, refutation of, 47
Geneva, Lake of, 16
Geological time, duration of, 15
Geology, history of, 13
INDEX
Germany, progress in, 135
Glacial deposits in England, 40
Glacial period, the, 36-47
----- duration of the, 43, 45
Glacial periods, number of, 34,
37
Glaciers, formation of, 46
----- rate of advance of, 38, 39,
40
Gladstone, 137-8
Glyptodon, 63
God, theological idea of, 92
Goethe, 147
Gorilla, morality of the, 74
Gospels, date of the, no
----- miracles of the, 112
Gravitation, nature of, 18
Greenland, glaciers of, 40
Gulf Stream, the, 46-7
Hallucinations, 82-3
Hamlet, 146-7
Harrison, F., on religion, 100
Heat received from sun, IO
Helium, 26
Heresy, nature of, 133
■---- - persecution of, 133
Herschell on solar heat, IO
Higher critics, the, 109
Hipparion, the, 69
Historical epoch, the, 48
Horse, evolution of the, 69-71
Hugo, Victor, 139
Humanism and progress, 97
Humanity, religion of, 100
Huxley, sketch of, 139
Hyrenarctus, 69
Hyde Park exhibition, 134
Hydrochrerus, 63
Hydrogen, 26
Hypersesthesia, 82
Hypnotism, 79-85
----- dangers of, 83
Hysteria and hypnotism, 80
John, Gospel of, no
Jupiter, 34
Kellar and the spiritists, 88
Kent’s cavern, 49, 51
Krakatoa, 14
Krishna, 117
Lakes, drying up of, 16
Language of animals, 75
Laplace, theory of, 25
Larmor’s theory of atoms, 27
Law of Uniformity, the, 13
Lazarus, raising of, 113
Lemurs, the, 72
Lethargy, hypnotic, 80
Leyden, Congress of, 77
Lightfoot on the testimony of
Papias, ill
Lincoln, Abraham, 138
Lingula, 14
Lisbon Congress, 57
Literature, growth of, 103
Loaves and fishes, miracle of the,
120
Loess deposits, 41-2
Lockyer, Sir N., on stellar evo
lution, 23
Lord’s Prayer, the, 108
Luke, Gospel of, no
Lunacy, medieval treatment of,
130
Luther, 137
Lyell on the causes of climatic
variation, 33
----- on the earth’s age, 17
----- on solar heat, 9
----- on uniformity, 13
Lykke, skull of, 77
Machairodus, the, 50
Machine, man as a, 74
Magnet, effect of, in hypnotism,
81, 84
Mammoth, the, 36
Man, antiquity of, 36, 43
Ictitherium, 69
Manco-Capac, 38
Idiots, skulls of, 76
Mark, Gospel of, no
Illative sense, the, 91
Immortality, irrationality of, 92 Marriage, Christ on, 120
Mars, 34
Impact theory, 25
Marseilles, 42
Incisions on bone, 58
Marsupials, the, 71
Inter-glacial periods, 45
Massachusetts, witch-burning in,
Inquiry, duty of, 107
132
Inquisition, the, 133
Massacre of the innocents, II7
Instinct, nature of, 98
Mastodon, 60, 63
Intuition, 91, 92
Ireland, once connected with Mather, Cotton, 133
Matter, nature of, 26
England, 54
Matthew, Gospel of, no
Irish question, the, 135
Medicine and Christianity, 130
Italy, progress in, 135
Mediums, fraud detected in, 87.
Mellard Reade’s geological esti
Jesus, character of, 108-20
mates, 44
----- historicity of, 116
Memory, abnormal feats of, 82
John the Baptist, 117
�INDEX
157
Rabbinical literature and the
New Testament, 109
Races, lower and human, 76
Radiation in space, 20
Radio-action, 27
Radium, 21
Rainfall, variations in, 41
Religion, elements of, 101
Religion of the future, 99
Renan, secession of, 95
Pagan parallels of birth stories, Resurrection, contradictory ac
counts of the, 123
117
Painting, modern standard of, ----- improbability of, 112
•----- - witnesses to the, 112-3
140
Rhinoceros Leptorhinus, 56
Palaeolithic man, 39, 49, 51
Romanes, 94
----- weapons, 39
Rotation of the earth, 30
----- period, stages of, 50
Palaeotherium, the, 69
Salpetriere experiments, the,
Pantheism, 144
80-85
Papias, 109-10
Parables, authenticity of the, Salvation Army, the, 106
Saturn, 34
120
Paul, St., on the Resurrection, Savages, characteristics of, 7b
Scalidotherum, 63
126
Scandinavia, elevation of, 43
Pessimism, 129
Scepticism, consequences of, 130
Pharisees, the, 113
----- nature of, 130
Philistinism, 106
Physical phenomena of spiritism, Scybert Commission, the, 87-8
Seances, hypnotic conditions of,
88
89
Pilate, 123
Pithecanthropus erectus, the, 77 Semidouro skulls, the, 63
Sermon on the Mount, the, 108
Pliocene man, 59
Services, evolution of, 103
Pliohippus, 69
Shakespeare, 146
Pliopithecus, the, 55
Shelley, 139, 144
Poetry, 141
----- not injured by scepticism, Shooting-stars, 22
Sierra Nevada, prehistoric re
139
mains of, 60-1
Polarity, 104
Sirius, 24
Politics, polarity in, 106
Polygamy sanctioned in Old Skaptar-jokal, 14
Skertchley, discoveries by, 62
Testament, 98
Slade, the spiritist-medium, 88
Pope, 142
Slate-writing, 87
Positivism, 100
•*. '
Slavery sanctioned in Old Testa
Post-glacial period, the, 43-4
Nampa image, the, 62
ment, 98
Napoleon, Louis, sketch of, 137 Pouillet on the sun's heat, 12
Snakes, absence of from Ireland,
Poussin, 140
Nationality, 134
Practical Christianity, 90
Nativity, legends of the, 116
Social instincts and morality, 98
Precession, theory of, 30, 37
Natural law and miracles, 66
Social progress, 136
Pre-historic man, 49
Natural selection, 67
Prestwich on the Glacial period, Socialism of Christ and early
Nature, the law of, 103
Christians, 118
36, 38
Naulette, prehistoric remains of,
Solar heat, source of, 9, 10
Priests, future of the, 102
77
----- supply of, 9, IO
Primates, the, 76
Neanderthal man, 77
Primitive man, migrations of, 54 Solar radiation, variations in,
Nebulse, 24
31
Progress in palaeolithic age, 39
Nebular hypothesis, 25, 34
Psychical Research Society, 86 Somnambulism, artificial, 81
Neolithic weapons, 39
Space, cold regions of, 45
Nervous disease and hypnotism, Pterodactyl, the, 71
------constitution of, 18, 19
Puritanism, 149
80
Puy Courny discoveries, the, 58 Spain, progress in, 135
New stars, 25
Species, evolution of, 66
Newcomb on gravitation, 18
Quadrumania, incorrectness of Spectra, classes of, 23
Newman’s idea of faith, 114
Spectroscope, work of the, 23
name, 73
Nile valley, borings in, 48
Speech of animals, 74
Nitregen in the atmosphere, 33 Quaternary epoch, the, 48
Spencer on Positivism, 100
I----- man, distribution of, 51-2
North Pole, the, 37
Mendelejeff’s law, 26
Mersey valley, changes in the,
44
Mesmer, 79
Mesmerism, 79-85
Mesohippus, 69
Messiahship of Jesus, 121
Metamorphism, 17
Meteoric theory, the, II, 23-5
Meteorites, II, 22-3
Meteors, nature of, 26
—— origin of, 26
Millais, 140
Millennium, the, 118
Miller, Hugh, 13
Millet, 140
Milton, 150
Mincopics, implements of the, 57
Mind in man and the lower
animals, 74-5
Minimum of miracle, theory of,
115
Miohippus, 69
Miracle theory, refutation of, 66
Miracles, decay of belief in, 112
----- of Christ, absurdity of, 119
Missing links, 67-69
Mississippi, work of the, 15
Monotremata, the, 72
Monte Aperto discoveries, the,
57
Moon, origin of the, 35
Morality and religion, 96-9
---- » foundations of, 97, 98
---- •» in the Old Testament, 97
----- source of, 98
More, Sir Thomas, on lunatics,
I31
Mormonism, 100
Mosaic code, the, 98
. law and Jesus, 121
Murder, abhorrence of, 97
Oannes, 83
Old Testament, degrading fea
tures of, 97
Olmo skull, the, 60
Oita discoveries, the, 57
Ormuzd, 105
Ornithorhyncus, the, 72
Orohippus, 69
Oxygen in the atmosphere, 33
�158
Spenser, 142
INDEX
Temperature of the earth, 33
Temple, Dr., on evolution, 93
Tennyson, 139, 151-3
Tertiary epoch, the, 48
Tertiary man, question of, 55-65
Thenay discoveries, the, 57
Theologians and science, 129
Theology and science, 107
Thirty Years’ War, 135
Thomas a Becket, miracles of,
116
Thought-reading, 85
Thought-transference, 86
Tolerance, growth of, 105
Tools as a human characteristic,
75
Trenton implements, the, 53
Trial of Christ, 122
Truth, modern reverence for, 99
Talmudic literature and the Tuolumne skull, the, 61
New Testament, 109
Teeth, evolution of the, 74
Universe, nature of the, 19
Telepathy, 86
Unknowable, the, 92
Spiritualism, 84-90, 136
Spitzbergen, tropical plants in,
2?, 3°
Spring Valley remains, the, 62
Spurgeon on liberalism, 96
St. Prest, prehistoric remains of,
56
Stars, motion of the, 18, 25
Stellar evolution, 24-6
Strain theory of matter, the, 27
Sub-atoms, 27
Sun, age of the, 9
------temperature of the, 10
----- nature of the, 19
----- spots, 19
----- - shrinkage of the, 12
Swinburne, 139
Usher, Archbishop, estimate of, 48
Vertebral column in man and
the ape, 73
Vibrations from the brain, 90
Virgin Mary, cult of the, 114
------------ historical account of
the, 115
Voltaire on persecution, 134
Vortex theory of matter, the, 26
Wace, reply of, to Huxley, 108
Wars, religious, 134
Wesley on witchcraft, 133
Whitney, Professor, 61
Witchcraft, 132
Wordsworth, 144
Working-classes, improvement
in the, 104
Zenglodon, 60
Zoroaster, 105
Zoroastrianism, 104
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Problems of the future
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Edition: [Rev.ed.]
Place of publication: London
Collation: 160 p. ; 22 cm.
Series title: R.P.A. Cheap Reprints
Series number: No. 22
Notes: Includes index. Printed in double columns. Issued for the Rationalist Press Association, Limited. First published, London: Chapman and Hall,1902, but without the final three chapters. Front cover has added imprint for Chapman & Hall, Ltd. At head of title on front cover: 'A fascinating work'. Publisher's advertisements p.[159]-160, also inside and on back cover. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
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McCabe, Joseph [1867-1955]
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Agnosticism
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Text
THE DEAN OF CANTERBURY
ON
.
SCIENCE AND REVELATION.
A LETTER
By M.P.
*
PUBLISHED BY THOMAS SCOTT,
MOUNT PLEASANT, RAMSGATE.
Price, Sixpence.
�F
�THE DEAN OE CANTERBURY
ON
SCIENCE AND REVELATION.
Dear Mr Scott,—
"V OU are perhaps aware that there has been a SoJL ciety in existence for some time (I do not know
for how long a time), called the “ Christian Evidence
Society/’ Its object is stated to be “ to meet current
forms of unbelief among the educated classes.” In
the number of its accredited lecturers are to be found
an Archbishop, two Bishops, a Dean, a Canon, and a
Professor of Divinity, and of the remaining lecturers,
five are men of eminence in the Church of England,
and the sixth is, I believe, a distinguished ortho
dox Nonconformist. These twelve gentlemen may,
I suppose, be fairly taken to be the men “ put up ”—
to use House of Commons phraseology, by the intel
lectual part of the so-called religious world, to reply
to infidelity in its various forms.
Nothing can be more proper, or indeed advisable,
than that such a course should be adopted by the or
thodox leaders. And these gentlemen may be sure
that their views will meet with every attention from
their opponents, even although they should fail to
carry conviction. A slight preliminary objection
may indeed be taken to the form of these lectures;
which, however, would apply, with equal force, to
“ Essays and Reviews.” They are twelve in num
ber, they are the productions of men writing inde
pendently of each other, and applying themselves to
difficulties in the way of beliefwhich are of a somewhat
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The Dean of Canterbury
unconnected character, and they appear to be written
with a view to each of them occupying an hour, or
not much more than an hour, in delivery. It is not
easy, within such limits, to do full justice to a subject
such as that chosen by Professor Lightfoot, “ Internal
evidence of the Authenticity of St John’s Gospel,”
or to “ The alleged difficulties of the Old and NewTestament.” A like observation may be applied to
“ Science and Revelation ”, by the Dean of Canterbury,
on which, as being the only one of these lectures
which has as yet fallen into my hands, I propose,
with your permission, to make a few remarks.
Dean Smith professedly founds his argument upon
that of Butler. But I do not intend to discuss Bishop
Butler, and shall confine myself to Dean Smith. The
Dean starts by telling us that the duty imposed upon
him, is to show that a Revelation is not only possible,
“ but a necessary part of the system of the world,”
the word revelation being, of course, here and through
out the lecture, used in the strictly orthodox sense of
a miraculous communication from the Deity to man
kind. And he goes on to say, that as his programme
further joins science and revelation, he feels himself
debarred from offering any but a “ strictly scientific
proof.” This, it must be admitted, is a somewhat
ambitious opening. The Dean is not merely going
to demonstrate to us the antecedent probability of a
miraculous intervention on the part of the Deity in
the affairs of mankind, but its absolute necessity. It
would seem, from this, to be quite inconceivable that
God should have framed intelligent creatures with
faculties such as to enable them to arrive at a con
viction of his existence, and a knowledge of their
duties to each other, except through the medium of
*
miracles.
At any rate, men are not, and cannot be
such creatures. And the total untenableness of any
such view of God’s creation and man’s position on
* The Dean admits afterwards that this is “ conceivable.”
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5
this planet is about to be demonstrated to us by a
strictly scientific proof.
It is true, that a little further on, the lecturer,_ as
if somewhat embarrassed by the task lying before him,
seems to modify his programme. “ My business is
to show that a revelation was to be expected ; that it
was probable, or at all events possible, and, therefore,
that the evidences of Christianity have a claim upon
the consideration of every right thinking man.
And again, “Now the argument which I shall use as
my proof of the probability of a revelation is simply
this.” However, let this pass with the remark, that
if the Dean is arguing that a revelation is possible, I,
at any rate, have no lance to break with him.
*
But
we must take him to mean something more than this,
as proposing to fulfil “ the duty which has been im
posed upon him,” and which duty, as we have seen,
is to show—and that too by strictly scientific proofs
—that a world of men and women, without miracles
to help them, can be after all only a “ pestilential
congregation of vapours,” or, as he himself puts it
further on, that man, without a revelation, is a bungle,
a failure, and a mistake.
How does he proceed to show this ? His argument
is, I think, capable of condensation, and it may be set
forth, with scarcely a deviation from his own words,
in the following terms :—•
“ In the present system of things, we find no being
endowed with any faculties, without there being also
provided a proper field for their exercise, and a ne
cessity imposed upon that being of using those facul
ties. We are in a world in which there is a very
exact correspondence between the endowments and
faculties of every existent being, and the state of
* I am, of course, aware that there are those, who, like
the late Baden Powell, hold that “ no evidence can reach to
the miraculous.” The remark above made would not be ap
plicable to this school of thinkers.
B
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The Dean of Canterbury
things in which it happens to be : a world of apparent
cause and effect, full of infinitely varied forms of life,
fitted in every portion of it to find its own subsistence
and to propagate its species. If a plant is not suited
to its habitat, nature imposes upon it the severe
penalties, first of degradation and then of death.
Upon the animal world she imposes just the same
penalties : whatever she gives must be used, and in
point of fact, animals do use all their powers, and
have to use them all. Every living organization
fully possesses all those faculties which it needs, and
must use all its faculties on the penalty, first of de
gradation, and finally of extinction.
But man is a living organization, and must there
fore come under this law. The fact confirms this
deduction. In all the long line from the Ascidian up
to man, Nature has supplied none but physical wants;
when we come to man, we find these physical neces
sities equally well provided for. Man is provided
with the means of obtaining food, of providing for
his safety, &c., but he attains to these ends by the
use of his reason, which at once makes a strong diffe
rence between him and the animals below him, just
as their instincts are an advance upon the processes
of plants; and with the possession of reason there
also goes the possession of what we call mental
faculties. Not only can man, by the use of his rea
son obtain food, provide for his safety, and continue
his race, but higher ends are made possible for him,
to be attained by the use of this higher endowment.
But man has higher powers than physical and mental
powers. There is another broad distinction between
man and all the other inhabitants of this earth ; he
alone distinguishes between right and wrong. And
as he possesses this faculty, if Nature’s laws are uni
versal, he is bound to use it, will suffer from not
using it, and will have a proper field provided for its
use.
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7
Confessedly there is ample field for using it;
morning, noon, and night the question of right and
wrong perpetually arises, we cannot take a step in
life without conscience intervening. Struggle as we
may, the conclusion cannot be evaded, that we can
distinguish between right and wrong, that we ought
to do so, and that we must do so.”
So far, I suppose that you and I should agree gene
rally * with the lecturer, but without perhaps antici
pating whither our assent to his propositions is about
to lead us. For the Dean continues, “If so, what
follows 1 I answer, the necessity of religion, and
therefore of revelation.”
The chain of reasoning which leads us inevitably to
the conclusion that a revelation is necessary, is virtu
ally as follows:—“ If man is compelled to distinguish
between right and wrong, he is a responsible agent,
subject to penalties for the misuse, &c., of his moral
powers. He must be responsible to some one. That
some one must be omniscient and omnipotent (or little
less) in order to act as Judge of Humanity and to
mete out adequate rewards and punishments. As
these adequate rewards and punishments do not fol
low in this life, there must be a future state. If not,
there would exist in man a whole class of moral facul
ties which seem to find in this present state of things
an appropriate field for their exercise, but which man
is under no necessity of using.”
* I say, “generally,” because there are really one or two
places in which he either begs most important questions, or
else does not exactly express what he means, ex. gr., in the
last paragraph but one, “There is another broad distinction”
(besides reason) “ between man and all the other inhabitants
of this earth; he alone distinguishes between right and
wrong.” A whole school in philosophy would say that it is
reason, and reason alone, which enables a man to distinguish
between what is right and wrong. If the Dean means that
man feels bound to act in accordance with his convictions of
what is right and what is wrong (the moral faculty), and I
think we shall see directly that that is his meaning—he has
not expressed himself quite clearly.
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The Dean of Canterbury
Subject to some reservations, I should personally
be still disposed, so far, to yield a general assent to
the lecturer. It is true that there are some who would
not; but I take it that the majority of “educated
unbelievers,” for whose behoof these lectures are
specially intended, are believers in God and in a
future state. Their difficulty is with regard to a
miraculously communicated revelation on these
points. They admit the possibility of such a revela
tion being made; but they think the evidence, upon
the whole, strong against one ever having been made.
They think, moreover, they can see that man has been
endowed with faculties sufficient to enable him to
arrive, by slow and painful steps, at a conviction of
God—a knowledge of his duty, a belief in a future
state, and a consequent incentive for doing his duty,
and that such a modus operandi on the part of the
Deity is, in reality, far more in accordance with the
“analogy of nature” than the orthodox view of a
violent interference by the Great Artificer in the
orderly evolution of His design. This, at any rate,
is the particular difficulty which the lecturer has got
before him, and he disposes of it in a single page, or
rather in four words.
“ Now it is conceivable that God might have given
us this knowledge by means of the light of nature, as
it is called. But He has not. Confessedly natural
religion is neither clear enough, nor certain enough,
to affect powerfully the masses. Man’s nature is
fraught with the most dangerous passions. Reason
cannot control these passions. To take the lowest
ground: as nature has given us moral qualities, moral
excellence is a thing as necessarily to be attained to,
as physical and mental excellence. But while nature
has provided ample means for attaining to the two
last, she will not, without a revelation, have provided
sufficient means for the attainment of the first. By
the aid of religion about as many men attain to moral
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9
excellence as by other natural means attain to physical
and mental excellence. Without religion [query, Revelation1?] nature will have broken down.”
The rest of the lecture does not add to the argu
ment, and need not be noticed here. The argument
is simply this : Every being on this planet is endowed
with certain faculties, a necessity is imposed upon it
of using those faculties, and it is provided with a
proper field for the exercise of those faculties, by
natural means. The one exception is man. Man is
endowed with certain faculties for the exercise of
which no proper field has been furnished him by
natural means. Therefore, it requires a supernatural
interposition to provide him with one.
Such a statement as this requires, I think, careful
consideration before we shall be disposed to yield our
unfeigned assent to it. The lecturer himself would
allow that supernatural aid is not to be called in, in
the present state of our knowledge, unless an absolute
necessity for it is shown. In this case he undertakes
to show the necessity. Man, he says, would be the
only thing existing on the face of the earth that would
have been a bungle, a failure, and a mistake, if the
Almighty had not stepped in with miracles, and por
tents, and marvels, and every kind of suspension of
the ordinary laws of nature on his behalf. One would
have thought that man would have been a bungle and
a failure, if his introduction into the planet had ren
dered such contrivances unavoidable, if no adequate
field could have been found for his moral faculties
except through the violation, or, if you please, modi
fication on his behalf of laws which we notice, in all
other cases coming under our observation, to be un
changing and universal. And this impression would
not be weakened when we came to remark that all
man’s other faculties, even those which separate him
from the brute (the mental as distinguished from the
moral faculties, in the Dean’s classification), do find
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The Dean of Canterbury
an adequate field for their exercise in this world, and
that by means which are quite natural. Dr Payne
Smith, of course, admits this; indeed, it is part of his
argument. Take the case, he says, of those whose
faculties are most highly cultivated. “ Has nature
supplied a proper field for the exercise of the mental
powers, not merely of Fuegians, but ' of the most
highly developed man? You know that she has.”
And he instances the arts and sciences, music, paint
ing, eloquence, &c. Well, take any example at
random—that of music. We know that man has
been supplied with an ear capable of enjoying sweet
sounds; and it may be said, without exaggeration,
that, with some persons, music is a want, an absolute
necessity. The poet tells us that he who is not
moved by music is fit for treasons, stratagems, and
plots—he is inhuman, in short. Now it may not be
inopportune to our subject to consider how this divine
gift, among a thousand others, has been communicated
to man. Of course, there was a time when it was
supposed to have formed the subject of a revelation
from on high. Mercury comes down with his lyre
and Minerva with her flute, just as Ceres teaches
agriculture and Bacchus shows people how to plant
vines; interpositions from Heaven covering very
much larger ground in those days than they do now,
and not having been driven to their last stronghold
of the moral faculties. But probably no one will now
contend that the science of harmony has been learnt
by man by any other than a natural and a very
gradual process. There must have been a long period
of time during which the human ear, so exquisitely
adapted to take in and to transmit to the brain the
sounds of music, could have heard no such sounds.
Even at this day there are populations in the world
which have nothing worthy of the name of music. We
can picture to ourselves what a succession of ages it
must have taken to wring anything like a common
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11
tune out of an instrument capable of producing it.
Imagination may dwell on the first rude essay, made,
it may be, on the outstretched tendon of some
slaughtered animal, which, being accidentally struck
upon, was found to emit a sound not unpleasant to
the ear; or we may figure to ourselves a savage, blow
ing into a hollow bone with a hole in it, and his glee
at discovering that he could make different sorts of
noises by covering the hole more or less with his
fingers. What a step from this to the performance of
the best military band in Berlin or Vienna ! The
musicians who take part in those bands are the heirs
to all the discoveries and experiments in the way of
harmony of the ages which have preceded them.
Destroy the human race to-morrow and people the
earth with fresh Adams and Eves, and everything
will have to be gone over again; ages will elapse
before such a combination and concord of sweet
sounds will again be heard in this planet.
Well, then, seeing as we do, that all the other
faculties of man (the mental ones included) are pro
vided with an adequate field for their exercise by
natural means; and observing what may be called
the system of development in the case of mental
faculties, such as that just mentioned, I do not think
we shall be altogether satisfied with the Dean’s four
words. We shall not be prepared to summon
miracles to our aid, until we are quite sure that our
moral wants are not to be appeased in the same way
without them. And if it should turn out, on exami
nation, that the manner in which our moral know
ledge has been gradually accumulating, and the
faculties of the race in that direction have been
gradually sharpened, bears an exact resemblance to
what has taken place with regard to the rest of our
knowledge and our remaining faculties, I should
suppose that our disinclination to admit any but
natural causes will increase. Now if it be conceivable
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The Dean of Canterbury
(and Dr Smith admits that it is) that a field for our
moral faculties might be provided naturally, I should
conclude, judging a priori and from the analogy of
nature, that it would be provided, subject to the fol
lowing conditions. These are simply the conditions
which attach to the acquisition and diffusion of all
other kinds of knowledge—the Exact Sciences ex
cepted—which exercise in any serious degree the
reasoning powers of man ■, as, of course, from their
nature, moral questions must do. I should expect—1. That the moral truths to be learned would be
such as could be deduced from observation of the
ordinary phenomena of nature (which is only another
way of expressing “ by natural means ”).
2. That the truths so to be conveyed would not
always be capable of a mathematical demonstration,
being in many cases simply the solution which the
human mind could arrive at as the best possible one
of the moral difficulties by which it was confronted,
and the only solution which partially or completely
accounted for them. That what might be looked for
in such cases was man’s ultimately attaining to such
a reasonable conviction of them, as, if held on other
points, would be likely to influence him in the ordi
nary transactions of life • and that such a conviction
would, in point of fact, have a practical effect in de
termining his actions nearly as strong as a mathe
matical demonstration.
3. That the communication of this knowledge
would be extremely gradual. In other words, that
man being endowed with a capacity for grasping
certain great truths, would, nevertheless, have to
pass through a very long, laborious, and arduous
education before arriving at them ; in the course of
which education, he would commit the most frightful
mistakes, and fall into the most lamentable errors.
4. That these truths, or approximate truths, would
be conveyed, in the course of their gradual develop-
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13
ment, first of all to the highest minds and the most
advanced races, and would thus make their way
through great difficulties and opposition to the lower
minds, where, when once deposited, they would
assume the form of axioms.
.
5. That there would be an immense lapse of time
before they would be accepted by the whole world,
or more than a small portion of the world.
This, I say, is the only way in which moral truths
could be conveyed, if the order of nature is to be
observed. Now, the question is, Have they been so
conveyed ? But, first of all, what are the moral
truths we have to consider ? The Dean has included
them in the following propositions :—
1. Man is endowed with the faculty of distinguish
ing between what is right and what is wrong.
2. Being endowed with this faculty, he is bound
to use it, and will suffer for not using it..
3. A proper field will- be furnished him for using
it, and in order that there should be such a field there
must also be (a) a God (&) a future state.
Now as to (1) man being endowed with the faculty
of distinguishing between right and wrong. No one
disputes this : but the real question is, how does he
distinguish? I answer, unhesitatingly, by experience,
painfully and laboriously acquired; and conscience
is the product of such experience. A savage has not
the-remotest idea that it is wrong to kill his fellow
savage. A child has not the slightest notion that it
is wrong to steal his playmate’s toy, till he has been
whipped for the act; the whipping being an , argumentum ad puerum springing from the parent’s ex
perience. Nothing can, I think, be more clear than
that the ideas of its being wicked to kill your neigh
bour, or to rob him of his property, or set fire to his
house, or make an attempt on his wife, or to lie, or
to cheat, or to get drunk, spring necessarily from the
formation of bodies of men into settled communities.
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The Dean of Canterbury
They express the conditions under which alone such
communities can continue to exist.
*
In short, a
right action is an action such as, if generally practised,
would conduce to the general happiness; a wrong
action, one that would have an opposite result; and
acts were roughly distinguished by this method
before the method was pointed out, just as music
was played before it was understood what chords and
scales were, and buildings were erected before there
was a science of mechanics.f The Utilitarians and
their opponents are agreed in the main on this defi
nition of right and wrong : their fight is on another
point. It is indeed true that there are settled, and
very civilised communities in which deeds, at which
we should shudder, are permitted by law. Thus, the
Chinese kill their children. This is because they do
not perceive that such a course of action is conducive
to the general ill-being. We may be pretty sure that
the time will come when they will see this. The
conviction will, first of all, dawn on the more en
lightened minds among them ; and prohibitive laws
will be passed which will be for a long time fought
against by the vulgar. But at last the vulgar will
give in, and that infanticide is a crime will become a
maxim generally admitted, and not to be openly
violated. It is not necessary to add anything more
on this oft-discussed point of the origin of our notions
of right and wrong; more especially as I am half
inclined to think that so far Dr Smith would go with
me. His real difficulty will be considered further on.
But I would prefer, at present, to take my own order,
and to ask—
(2.) If (man being enabled, as I think, to judge
* I don’t want to cumber this paper with quotations.
Every scholar will recollect the beautiful account given by
the heathen poet of the foundation of human societies.—
Juvenal, Sat. xv., ad. fin.
t “ They builded better than they knew.”—Emerson.
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*5
between what is right and what is wrong, by natural
means), there is any reason for supposing that .he
could not, by the same means, arrive at a conviction
of a God and a future state ? It is necessary here to
be careful in the use of terms. The Dean, in more
places than one, uses the words “knowledge of God.”
And if by this is meant such a knowledge of God as
is capable of mathematical proof, then certainly man
has not got it, nor do I see very clearly how he could
acquire it. But the question arises, is this kind of
mathematical assurance necessary, is it even such as
might be expected from the analogy of natureD And
this really is one of the chief points round which the
controversy between Orthodoxy and Scepticism rages.
Now it is important, in considering this question, to
observe that revelation itself is not capable of any
such proof, nor are any of the great truths or precepts
which are most essential for the use of mankind.
You cannot prove that it is wrong to kill in the same
way that you can show that two and two are four.
You can only point to the bearing of human experi
ence on the subject, or if you please to take it in
another way, to the moral sense of mankind. Well,
then, in respect to this question of a God, the uni
versal human experience is that every effect has a
cause. But you cannot prove that every effect has a
cause. If you and I and a savage were to find a
watch in the middle of a desert (to use an old illus
tration), two of us would be immediately convinced
that the watch was the work of a being resembling
ourselves. The savage would not. He would very
likely take it for an animal. Even when satisfied
that it was not, his ideas of cause and effect are too
* Bishop Butler admits that it is not, and he makes this an
argument in favour of the Christian revelation. It may also
be made an argument for a revelation by natural means. But
I must again repeat, that I am not discussing “Butler’s
Analogy,” but Dr. Smith’s “ Science and Revelation.”
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The Dean of Canterbury
vague and undeveloped to render it apparent to him,
as it is to us, that the watch had a maker, the design
a designer. The world has passed—is in places still
passing—through this mental condition of the savage.
Now, “ that every effect has a cause ” leads inevitably,
but only through a variety of stages, such as Fetishism
and Polytheism, to the belief in one great First Cause,
one great original designer.
*
And it is idle to assert
that such a conviction cannot be arrived at by natural
means, when we know that Xenophanes, Socrates,
Plato, Cicero, Seneca, and a number of other persons
have thus arrived at it. But it will be said, These
were only a few, and the rest of the world was
plunged in idolatry, as a large portion is now. That
is just what I should have expected from the analogy
of nature. The rays of the sun strike, first of all,
upon the mountain tops ; so must truths dawn upon
the most advanced men and the most advanced races.
Bishop Butler has, on this head, unfortunately for his
followers, cut the ground from under their feet. For
it is part of his argument that the circumstance of a
revelation being known only to a very small portion
of mankind is no argument against its having been
made. This, he says, is in accordance with the
“analogy of nature.” And surely the same remark
must apply to the belief in a God acquired by natural
means. We should expect, as I have already inti
mated, that its progress would be slow and uncertain,
that it would pass through numerous phases, and meet
with countless obstacles, before being universally or
even generally accepted.
The conviction which many ancient philosophers
* This, it is true, is open to dispute, and I am afraid that
to maintain the position in the text would require a separate
essay. At present, I must content myself with saying that,
in my opinion, an observation of cause and effect will practi
cally land all but a few minds in the conception of a mysteri
ous First Cause, as being, at any rate, a solution preferable to
any other.
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17
entertained of the existence of a God was based on
reason and observation. Such a being was to them
the only possible solution of the phenomena which
they noticed within and around them. There is no
<£ royal road” to a knowledge of God, any more than
to any other kind of knowledge. The intense crav
ing of certain minds for absolute certainty on this
point—a certainty which is not to be acquired in any
other department of human enquiry—has, from our
point of view, produced revelations. But this craving
is becoming less and less as civilisation advances, and
hence, and from other causes, revelations are becom
ing slowly but surely discredited. It is beginning to
be seen dimly by the masses, that they are not only
out of harmony with everything else that comes
within our range of observation, but unnecessary.
We know that many men have believed in a God
without them. The time when the belief could spread
was not then. The soil was not ripe for the sower.
Wickliffe with his protests against Rome, Montaigne
with his protests against torture, Adam Smith, with his
free trade doctrine, the advocates of universal disarma
ment and international arbitration in the eighteen
hundred and seventy-first year of the Christian era
were not more utterly out of place, as immediate and
successful propagators of their ideas, than Socrates at
Athens, with his one God, and in this I see the
“ analogy of nature ” perfectly carried out. But
whenever the idea has taken hold of any body of
men sufficiently numerous to give them a status in
the world and cohesion among themselves, it has
never been dropped. Their moral sense has been
satisfied by it—a sure proof of its divine origin.
There is no instance of a race which has once held
Monotheism lapsing into any other belief. The fact
that Mahometans, under corrupting and adverse cir
cumstances, have never turned to idolatry, while
Christians have constantly fallen away, is mentioned
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The Dean of Canterbury
by Mr Lecky as among the most startling facts in
history. The reason is that Mahometans are Mono
theists and Christians are not exactly Monotheists.
The same remark applies to the Jews, who, although
in the . early days of their history, and before their
belief in one God was clearly defined, they lapsed
temporarily into the worship of strange Deities, have
now for near two thousand years adhered to one
great universal Divinity. The religions which have
sought to attract them are more or less polytheistic :
Protestantism with its three Gods in one; Catholicism
with its three gods and a goddess for the educated,
and a more extended polytheism, in the form of saints,
for the masses. These latter systems of belief are
altogether too elaborate for rude tribes. When in
stilled, or rather when attempted to be instilled into
them, they soon become, if these tribes be left to
themselves, something hardly to be recognised as
Christianity, as in the case of the Abyssinians.
When the human mind has once conceived the idea
of a God, it is compelled, by its very constitution, to
personify him and to endow him with attributes. You
can as easily conceive matter without substance, or
space without extension, as a God without attributes.
And they must be such as we have experience of.
This is only another way of saying that phenomenally
(i.e., for man) the Deity possesses certain human qua
lities. . When many Deities are believed in, there will
be a kind of division of parts among them, though even
then the tendency of the human mind will be to set up
one supreme God—as, for instance, Zeus. When a
more advanced stage of thought has been reached, man
will invest the one God with all those qualities—infinite
ly multiplied—-which he observes to be the most excel
lent and admirable in humanity, according to the vary
ing estimates of successive periods. He will be, above
all things, a Judge, a rewarder of what is held to be
good and a punisher of evil; and as it is observed that
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19
good actions are not adequately rewarded and bad
actions not adequately punished in this world (or at
least that they do not seem , to be) his judicial func
tions will be conceived as chiefly exercised m another
and a future state of being. And such a God, who
has so revealed himself, will ultimately exercise an
influence on the actions of men quite as powerful as,
nay much more powerful than, the Deity of the
world’s nursery tales.
And this brings me to say a word about a future
state of rewards and punishments. It will scarcely
be contended that a belief in such a state could
not have arisen in the world without a revelation j
for such an assertion would be directly contrary
to history. We know that a large portion, probably
a majority of mankind, have had a strong conviction
on this subject, quite independent of any revelation,
and founded on a natural and well-observed craving
of the human mind. A belief in the immortality of
the soul, in a heaven and a hell, is to be found not
only among the philosophers of antiquity, but, in .a
crude state, among the vulgar. I believe there is
hardly a race on the earth, however low in type, that
has not got it at the present day. And it is certainly
worthy of very special notice that a strong conviction
of a future state had made its way. into the world. by
natural means before any revelation on the subject
can be said to have been made. Greek sages held
the doctrine at a time when the only people on the
face of the earth, who are alleged by Christians to
have received a series of special communications from
the Almighty, were profoundly ignorant on this,
which one would imagine likely to form one of the
most prominent subjects of such communications.
Nay, there is strong reason to suppose that the Jews
(God’s own people) derived it from the heathen.
Of course, as in the case of God, so also in this
one, it will be said that without a revelation there
�20
The Dean of Canterbury
would be no certainty. In other words, we can’t prove
the existence of a future state. The remarks I have
before made will apply here with increased force. It
has been said that a belief in a future state has hardly
an appreciable effect upon a man who is determined
to sin. Without going so far as that, I will make
bold to say that a reasonable conviction that a future
lies before us (or say, apprehension that it may lie
before us), in which our condition will in some way
depend on our conduct here, is likely to have quite as
great an effect upon an individual as a certainty on
the subject. That a conviction of this kind has been,
and is to be found extensively in the world, apart
from miracles, is a matter of notoriety: its genesis is
clear, it is conformable not only to a natural want,
but to all that we can gather of the moral govern
ment of the universe. Stronger assurance than this
is not to be expected. Surely a miraculous revela
tion has no place here, even in the “Analogy of
Miracles,” if there be such a thing. Miracles, I
should suppose, are not usually perpetrated, except
to bring some truth into the minds of men which
could not otherwise have found its way there.
(3.) And now, to turn briefly to the question
of man being bound to exercise his faculty of distin
guishing between right and wrong. The Dean tells
us that unless there be a God and a future state, there
is no field for the exercise of man’s moral faculties.
What he means is, unless there be a knowledge of
God, &c., for God and futurity might conceivably
exist, without our having a suspicion of their exist
ence, in which case there would not be any such
field, or at any rate we should not know of any such
field. Well, he says, it is the knowledge of a God, &c.
which enables us to answer the question, “ Why am
I bound to do that which is right * ” “ Conscience never
?
asks whether a thing is a sin against society; it never
troubles about consequences, knows nothing about
�on Science and Revelation.
21
political economy, or political morality either. It
judges by a higher and absolute rule. . . . When
conscience condemns, it is because the thing is a sin
against God.” This is really a statement of the old
difficulty urged against the Utilitarian school, and
which Mr Lecky in his “European Morals” has
recently gone into at some length. I cannot put it
better than in Mr Mozley’s words. “ Bat supposing
this criterion of rightness in actions themselves to be
adopted, viz., their producing happiness, the .question
still remains, ‘Why must I perform these actions?
What have I to do with the happiness of others?”’
(Bampton Lecture, p. 322.) Several answers might
be made to this question, but in order to adhere
strictly to the Dean’s lines, I will give this one.
“ Because these actions appear to me to be conform
able to the will of God, and also because if I neglect
to do them, I shall very likely be punished in a future
world. I can’t prove these things mathematically,
but I am so convinced of their truth that I feel myself
bound to act upon them.” In short, if you substitute
for the Dean’s word “knowledge” the word “belief”
(and we know that such a belief can be acquired by
perfectly natural means), the man who “ believes” is
' furnished with a “ sufficient field for the exercise of his
moral faculties,” and the whole argument in favour of a
miraculous revelation crumbles immediately to pieces.
*
* The Dean’s reasoning may be put in the form of two
syllogisms: 1. Every being in nature is provided with a field
for the exercise of his faculties. 2. Man is a being. 3. There
fore man is provided with a field, &c. Syllogism two is
this- 1. In order that man should be provided with such a
field, he must have a knowledge (i.e. certain knowledge, or at
any rate a greater knowledge than he can possess by the light
of reason) of God and a future state. 2. Such a knowledge can
only be acquired by a revelation. 3. Therefore there has been
a revelation, Q. E. D. The error is, I think, in the major
premiss of the second syllogism, which begs the whole ques
tion at issue, and in support of which the Dean has only ad
vanced four words of assertion.
�The Dean of Canterbury
I have troubled you at too great length already,
but I cant help adding, m conclusion, that what has
misled the Dean and other amiable and intelligent
reasoners on the orthodox side, is simply this : They
have observed, or think they have observed, that only
a tew men, comparatively speaking, have as yet
arrived, by the light of nature, at such a belief in a
God and m a future state as I have indicated—a
belief strong enough to take the place of a demon
stration, and to influence their actions and their
thoughts. It is shocking to them to see a whole
world left for so many ages in darkness, with light
streaming in" only on the mountain tops,—“ One
Plato, surrounded by the mass leading the most
grossly sensual life,” exclaims the Dean. They
therefore, hail an intervention of the Deity to make
all these things quite sure and certain, failing alto
gether to take, into account the stupendous scale, as
to time, of the workings of the Great First Cause,
the marvellously gradual way in which all truths
burst from their sources, the appalling mental and
physical suffering which has been inflicted broadcast
on myriads of human beings—for purposes which the
*
Dean and you and I believe to be ultimately wise
*
ones.
And yet, with singular inconsistency, they
invoke this identical gradual dissemination of truth
as an argument when defending their own side of the
question, where it figures as a very weak argument
indeed. I have mentioned Bishop Butler in passing:
there is another Bishop, a lecturer in this series, whose
. * To take a familiar example, how many thousands of
innocent human beings have been tortured and killed as
witches, before it came to be known, first to the highest
minds, then to the bulk of the educated, last of all to the
vulgar—if yet indeed to the vulgar, even in England—that
there is not such a thing in the world as witchcraft ? And
yet there have been no miracles to enlighten mankind on this
point. The only recorded miracles have, unfortunately,
tended to keep up the delusion.
�on Science and Revelation.
23
contribution has only this moment met my eye. His
lecture is called “ The gradual development of revela
tion.” At page 22 he writes, “ The conclusions of
science, and even the guesses of scientific men,.. . tend
to make untenable any objections to the revelation of
God contained in Scripture, on the ground of the
gradual manner in which that revelation is alleged to
have been made.” And again, page 18, “ When we
look to nature it is impossible not to be struck by
this fact, namely, that gradualness of development
appears to be a universal law,” &c., &c. This argu
ment has to be pressed, because the awkward fact
has to be met, that probably not one-thpusandth part
of the human beings who have existed on this planet
have ever heard of the Revelation which is supposed
to have been made for the general benefit:—that is
to say, only an infinitesimal portion of mankind have
ever had “ a field furnished for the exercise of their
moral qualities,” ! Hence, revelations are represented
as being likely to follow the analogy of nature, in
being gradual. The answer to this, and td a good deal
of the two Bishops’ reasoning, seems to me to lie on
the surface. Revelations are, from their very charac
ter, outside all ordinary laws, and cannot be expected
to conform to those laws, of which they are, in point of
fact, a seeming violation. If they be part of a “ higher
law,” we, who know nothing of that higher law, cannot
predicate of it that it is gradual in its operations.
On the other hand, this “gradualness,” as the
Bishop calls it, may be made a real weapon in the
hands of the upholders of a natural development of
moral truths and moral knowledge. You would
expect such a development to follow natural laws,
and to be very gradual indeed. Hence the fact, that
as yet very few persons in the world have arrived at
a conviction of a God and a future state by natural
means, if such a fact can be shown, would be no
argument against these truths being capable of being
�24
Science and Revelation.
imparted by such natural means. It could only show
that the rate of progress- has been slo^r which we
admit.
■' •„
In short, I fail to see that the Dean has shown the
'necessity of a revelation—much less that he has shown
it by a “ strictly scientific proof.” And, if he has not
done this, if he has failed in his object, then, although
he has delivered a very interesting lecture, he cannot
be said to have advanced the cause of the Christian
Evidence Society.
'
"■ , ■
I send you this hfirried letter, written under a
press of other engagements, as my protest-against the
Dean’s assumptions. You are quite welcome to make
what use of it you like, if you should think it calcu
lated, in its rough state, to be of any use at alL
Believe me,
s,.
Yours sincerely,
- - ? .
.
M. P.
rd'
House of Commons’ Library,
•-June,, 1871.
>
TURNBULL AND SPEARS, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH
�
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The Dean of Canterbury on science and revelation: a letter
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Lewis, John Delaware [1828-1884]
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Christian Evidence Society
Revelation-Christianity
Robert Payne Smith
Science and Religion
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NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY
o
REVELATION
ARTHUR B. MOSS.
London:
WATTS & Co., 17, JOHNSON’S COURT, E.C.
Price One Penny.
o
��TWO REVELATIONS.
Foremost among the dogmas of the Christian faith is the
one comprised in the declaration that the infinite and intel
ligent Being, who is alleged to rule over the universe, on
one occasion, if not more, revealed himself to man, to
whom he imparted important information which it would
have been impossible for any of the sons of men, by
their own unaided intelligence, to have acquired. To
question this dogma is to plant the “thin end of the
wedge ” under the very foundation-stone of the Christian
religion. To show the gross stupidity of the alleged Divine
revelation, and the truth and potency of the revelations of
science, is a task of no great novelty, but nevertheless is
one which, in these days of constant and numerous acces
sions from the Christian fold to the ranks of Freethought, it
is at once our highest wisdom and duty, from time to time,
to undertake.
To weaken the influence of the Bible, it is only necessary
to expose the monstrous pretensions put forward on its
behalf; and of these none has had, or continues to have, so
strong a hold of the orthodox Christian mind as the doc
trine that the Bible is a revelation direct from the supreme
ruler of the universe. Let it once be admitted that the
Bible is a human production, valuable only in propor
tion to the truth and utility of its contents, and every
thing in regard to it will be changed. It will then be
divested of its supposed “ sacred characterits fictitious
charm will evaporate, and it will be subjected to the
same critical ordeal as any other book. Unhappily, that
time has not yet arrived. It is still pretended that the
Bible differs from all other books in this respect—that,
whereas all other books are the productions of frail human
�4
TWO REVELATIONS.
beings possessing more or less value according to the ability
and skill of the writers, the Bible is an unique work—the
result of a direct and infallible revelation from Deity.
Now, there are many reasons why we should be
sceptical of all alleged revelations of God to man; and
the notion of an infallible revelation is most illogical
and inconsistent. It need not be disputed that, if God
is infinite in power, he could reveal himself if he felt
so disposed. But, suppose God were to reveal himself,
it is questionable whether man, with finite capacities, could
understand an “ infallible revelation
or, even if he under
stood it, that he could infallibly interpret it to others.
For it must be obvious to the dullest mind that, pre
suming God to be an infinite being, and that he revealed
himself to man, it could not have been as an infinite being
that he so revealed himself, man having no capacity for un
derstanding the infinite, except as the antithesis of the finite.
And if God revealed his will to any individual man,
that man could only understand and interpret it up to the
measure of his capacity; so that, if it left Deity as an in
fallible expression of his will, without the operation of a most
stupendous organic change—viz., that of giving infinite
capacity to a finite being—there would be no guarantee that
it was infallibly understood or perfectly interpreted to others.
Moreover, if God has revealed his will to man, he must have
revealed it in some language ; and, even supposing that it
had been perfectly expressed, it would have been a revela
tion only to those who heard it, or, in a limited sense, to
those who understood the tongue in which it was expressed.
On the other hand, if God, instead of personally revealing
himself, had written his will in the heavens, so that all men
might observe it, still he must have written it there in some
language; and, as we have no evidence that the human
race has ever spoken an universal tongue, there would
always be the liability of its being an unknown tongue to
many, or of its being imperfectly translated, and in a mea
sure misunderstood.
With these strong objections to revelation firmly impressed
on our mind, we may go to the consideration of the alleged
revealed record. And what shall we find ? A mass of state
ments that accord with the careful observations of the
wisest among mankind ? Not so; the very reverse of this.
�TWO REVELATIONS.
5
AVe have nothing but statements that are in direct conflict
with the universal experience of mankind, false in regard to
its science, history, and philosophy, hopelessly confused in
its figures, and bad in respect to its morality.
Of the cosmogony of Genesis it need only be remarked
that it is believed only by those who hold faith to be a higher
faculty than reason, and pretend that it is not unreasonable
to maintain that an infinite and omnipotent Deity could
make the universe “out of nothing.” The most thoughtful
even among Christians now admit that there is a great deal
in the objection of scientists, that we know nothing of the
•origination of substance nor of its destruction, but only of
a long series of changes practically infinite.
The Bible astronomy, its geology, and biology are alike
absurd, being diametrically opposed to the ripest knowledge
■of our best scientists, and in conflict with the daily ex
perience of mankind. No schoolboy in the fourth standard
but now knows the falsity of Biblical astronomy, and
could as easily demonstrate that the sun could not have
been created on the “ fourth day ” as that the doctrine of
the “ blessed Trinity ” and the rule of three are not consis
tent with each other. Recently Mr. Gladstone advanced the
ludicrously indefensible theory that the sun was made on
the first day, but that the inspired writers did not mention
it as being in existence until the fourth—or, in other words,
that the sun existed on the first day, but that it was not
turned on, like a modern sun-burner, to give light to the
earth until the fourth day. As, however, the sun is the great
central attractive power round which our earth with several
other planets revolve, this theory will scarcely bear the test
of serious examination. As to revealed geology, the theo
logian finds it necessary, in order to reconcile the Bible
with modern science, to extend a day of twenty-four hours
into a period of indefinite duration, and, in so doing,
without removing a single difficulty, he only renders the
“ revelation ” the more incredible. How the difficulty, that
grass and herbs could not survive an hour without the sun,
is removed by prolonging that sunless period indefinitely, is
past human understanding, and must be relegated to the
region of blind credulity or religious faith.
A serious attempt to reconcile Genesis with the geologi
cal epochs, like Dr. Kinns’s book, may be regarded in the
�6
TWO REVELATIONS.
light of a huge joke—the same in kind as, and differing only
in a very slight degree from, the attempt of Mr. Pickwick
to demonstrate the vast antiquity of the curious inscrip
tion on the stone discovered by the Pickwickians in one
of their famous excursions. Nor is Mr. Gladstone more
successful than Dr. Kinns when he attempts the same im
possible task. A few facts of geology, skilfully marshalled
by Professor Huxley, pulverise the pious opinion of the
great statesman, that the Biblical account of the cosmogony
is in exact accordance with modern science. If any fact
has been brought to light by the researches of geology, it is
that the order of living creatures has been (i) crustacea,
(2) fishes, (3) reptiles and birds, (4) mammals generally,
and (5) man ; but the Mosaic order is threefold—(1) fishes
and birds, (2) mammals and reptiles, and (3) man. We
have millions and billions of fossil shells in the Cambrian
period, long before the existence of fishes ; then the great
fish period of the Devonian period; then the saurian
period; long afterwards come the archaic animals of the
mammoth family; then those still nearer approaching the
types of animals belonging to the history of man; and
finally man, with his contemporaries. Six periods instead
of three.
In the study of geology we find the flora and fauna of
one period differing greatly from that immediately preced
ing it—an appreciable gulf separating the animals of one
age from those of another. Within six days we have,
according to Moses, all living creatures created, from the
sea-worms and great marine lizards to the vertebrate animals,,
including even man himself.
No line of demarcation showing the great periods of
time that must have elapsed in the evolution of the lower
to the higher forms of life, which all true science now
demands, can be found in Genesis, and for this very obvious
reason : because the writer of Genesis was wholly ignorant
of any such evolution, and the all-wise Deity apparently
neglected to supply the information, when he revealed to
his chosen servant his method and manner of creation.
Equally uusatisfactory is the Bible view of biology.
All the races of the earth are practically alleged to have '
sprung from Noah and his three sons ; but, remembering
the long period over which the history of China and India.
�TWO REVELATIONS.
7
stretches—a history written in monuments of stone and
wood—it is impossible for any intelligent person who has
seriously considered the subject with a view of arriving at
truth to give credence to teaching which makes the human
family less than six thousand years old. How infinitely
trivial is all this when compared with the revelations of
science—revelations which the study of man has extracted
from Nature herself. How insignificant is the Mosaic view
of astronomy, when viewed side by side with modern know
ledge ! From a comparatively small luminary, placed
in the heavens to give light to this earth during the day,
the sun is seen to be a vast body, 880,000 miles in dia
meter. The little twinkling stars are magnified into great
bodies, many in magnitude vaster than our sun, and at
such immense distances that the light of some of them
has not yet reached our earth. In our own system we have
Jupiter, hundreds of times larger than our earth, with four
moons dancing constant attendance upon her ‘ in addition
to which we have Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, and Mars, all
older, and three of them larger, than the earth which we
inhabit.
“ It is difficult,” says Colenso, “ to realise to ourselves the
enormous size and distance from us of the fixed stars, and
the awful solitude in which each separate star and its little
troop of planets exists by itself in the midst of the mighty
universe.” Perhaps the following calculation may assist the
reader’s mind to grasp more distinctly and appreciate more
fully the grandeur of the heavenly host: “ One travelling
at railway speed, day and night, 33^ miles an hour, or 100
miles in 3 hours, would reach the moon in 300 days, and at
the same rate he would reach the sun in 330 years. But, if
he could reach the sun in one single day, it would take 550
years of such travelling to reach the nearest fixed star. And
then it must be remembered that the enormous interval,
on every side of our sun and its little family, is an awful
void of animal and vegetable life. A similar tremendous
void must recur between one star and another, and on all
sides around each separate star—nay, around each separate
mote of nebular star dust.” Now, as far as can be ascertained,
the nearest fixed star is twenty-one billions of miles from our
earth; the next nearest being thirty-seven billions of miles
distant; while Sirius is no less than eighty-two billions of
�8
TWO REVELATIONS.
miles away. Nor is this by any means the most distant, for
the Polar star is calculated to be two hundred and ninetytwo billions of miles distant, and Capella one hundred and
thirty-three billion miles still further off.
To return again to the sun, which is the grand centre and
animating principle of the planetary system, around which
the various planets revolve, and the attractive power by
which they are sustained in their orbits—in short, the source
of light and heat and all that renders the earth fit for habita
tion. In magnitude the sun is so vast that figures fail to
convey any adequate idea of its immensity. As, however,
arithmetical numbers and illustrations are the only means
open to us in which to indicate the vast magnitude of
this body, I may as well say that its diameter is estimated
to be no less than 880,000 miles. Its circumference, or line
going quite round it, is 2,764,600 miles; while its surface con
tains 2,432,800,000,000 of square miles, or, in other words,
twelve thousand times the number of square miles on our
globe. It has been further estimated that its solid contents
comprehend 356,818,739,200,000,000, or three hundred and
fifty-six thousand billion of cubical miles—that is, 1,350,000
times the number of solid miles which our terraqueous globe
contains j so that it would take 1,350,000 globes as large as
our earth to equal the size of the sun. The distance of the
sun from our earth is 95,000,000 of miles. Or, to take a
familiar illustration : a cannon-ball travelling at its utmost
speed is calculated to fly through the air at the rate of 500
miles an hour. Going continuously at this speed, the
cannon-ball would reach the sun in twenty-one years, two
hundred and forty-five days. Or, again, suppose a train to
travel at the rate of four hundred and eighty miles a day,
it would require five hundred and forty-seven years of such
travelling to reach the sun. In view of these facts, is it
not preposterous to suppose that the sun and the stars were
not created until the fourth day ? How could the earth—
nay, the whole of the planets in our system—exist for a
single instant without the sun, the great centre of attraction,
the great heavenly loadstone which holds them in their
respective orbits, and keeps them continuously spinning
along in space ? How could herbs and grass grow before
the existence of the sun ? Moreover, if it took deity six
days to complete the creation of this world—infinitesimally
�TWO REVELATIONS.
9
small as compared with other heavenly bodies—how much
longer would it have required to create the numberless stars
that stud the universe, the magnitude and distance of which
no words can express ?
Geology, instead of showing an earth that has existed
only a few thousand years, makes us acquainted with the
fossil remains of animals that must have existed thousands
of years before Jehovah thought of communicating his
opinion on these subjects to Moses, or any other of the
inspired Bible-makers of the earth. And, while geology
thus opens up for us a vast field for study which inevitably
leads to the revelation of the “ unity of nature,” biology
joins hands to demonstrate the great antiquity of the human
race and the relation of man to the lower animals, tracing
all forms of life down to its lowest condition—the proto
plasmic germ.
By a study of geology we learn to distinguish the epochs
or ages that mark the various changes in the earth’s condi
tion by reference to the rock systems which constitute the
crust of the earth. They are as follows, beginning from the
lowest or first formed :—
1. The Metamorphic system.
2. Laurentian system.
3. Cambrian system.
4. Silurian system.
5. Old Red Sandstone system.
6. Carboniferous system (Devonian).
7. Permian system.
8. P. Triassic system.
9. Oolitic system (Jurassic).
10. Chalk system (Cretaceous).
11. Tertiary system.
12. Superficial Deposits.
Each of these systems, consisting of many beds of rock,
would require ages of long duration for its formation;
yet even the whole lumped together would cover but
a part—and perhaps only a small part—of the earth’s
history. Since the termination of the rock systems
the present tribes of plants and animals have come into
existence; and it will be seen that the stages of develop
ment through which they have passed have been exceedingly
�>
IO
TWO REVELATIONS.
slow—so much so that the evolution of one species into
another is, for the most part, quite imperceptible.
Though the earth has undergone many transformations
since the first geological epoch, no doubt can exist in any
thoughtful mind that, in its general features, it remains the
same. Sea and land, atmosphere and light, rains and winds,,
summer and winter, have remained pretty -well the same.
Fishes, birds, and quadrupeds have lived for seons, and'
preyed upon each other, as they now do. These, though
altering from time to time, the sea and land often changing
positions, remain the component parts of the world as we
know it this day.
Taking the earliest series of stratified rocks—those that
are found above the granite—no life-remains are discover
able in them. This series, having been brought into their
present condition by being subject to continuous burning,
are for that reason called “Igneous Rocks.”
In the Laurentian system, so called from the St.
Lawrence of North America, only the very lowest form of
life-remains have been found : something approaching in
simplicity to a spreading bunch of coral. Sea-weeds,
zoophytes, burrowing worms, and shrimp-like animals are
yielded in the Cambrian. In the Silurian are found the
remains of a number of marine creatures, numerous species
of zoophytes, or animals allied to the “ sea pen,” corals,
crinoids, some species of shell fish, worms, and Crustacea..
Marine plants, seed weeds, and the Trilobite—a curious,
creature, in every respect a well-developed crustacean,
covered with shelly plates, terminating variously behind in a
flexible extremity, and furnished with a headpiece composed
of larger plates ; eyes of a very complicated structure, which,
according to the best fossil anatomists, were fitted with noless than 400 spherical lenses—are also found here.
In the following age we have the Crinoidea and the
Cephalopods.
In the fifth epoch (blocked sandstone) appear a largenumber of now extinct fishes, such as the Placoidians and
the Ganoidians.
The Carboniferous age is chiefly remarkable for the pro
duction of a land vegetation called coal, no new form of
animal life being discernible during this period; but when
we come to the New Red Sandstone we find novel
�TWO REVELATIONS.
II
and superior forms of plant and animal life appear, though
the greatest and most marked departure occurred in the
Oolitic age, when, for the first time, insects are brought upon
the scene, and such extraordinary reptiles as the Saurians, or
lizard family.
Of these saurians that curiously-formed creature known
as the Ichthyosaurus is well worth a passing notice. This
gigantic saurian had the backbone of a fish, the long tail of
a crocodile, the snout of a porpoise, the head of a lizard,
with a large number of strong teeth, large eyes, and the
paddles of a whale, which enabled it to propel itself rapidly
through the water. The remains of these creatures show
that they varied between twenty and thirty feet in length.
Later, we find what are called land or crocodile lizards,
such as the Megalosaurus and the Pterodactyle, or Flying
Dragon.
According to Dr. Buckland, in this age are to be found on
the surface of slabs, of calcareous grit and stonefied slate,.
“ perfectly preserved, petrified castings of marine worms
and, though traces of the footprints of animals may be found
on the surfaces of these rocks, there are no indications during
this period of the existence of man. By reference to these
footprints the existence of birds at this early period of the
world’s history has been pretty well established ; and it is
probable that a gigantic kind of gallinaceous bird, larger even
than the ostrich, waddled about the earth, to the danger,
perhaps, of birds of smaller size.
Rock salt is found in the Triassic age, and on the top of
the Oolite formation are found innumerable beds of what is
familiarly known as limestone in some parts of England and
Germany, several hundreds of feet in thickness. Professor
Huxley and other well-known scientists consider the for
mation of this substance due mainly to the “ siliceous
coverings of animalcules the remains of some of which
animals have been discovered in these beds.
But we must pass rapidly on, and come to the Tertiary
system. In this age we come across great rock for
mations such as the Tripoli, now believed to be composed
exclusively of the solid remains of animalcules, so minute
in structure as to be imperptible to the human eye
without the aid of a microscope. We are now introduced
to several orders of reptiles, such as the Chelonia (tortoises),
�12
TWO REVELATIONS.
Crocodilia and Batrachia (frogs), and birds of the genera,
represented by the owl, woodcock, quail, etc.; while among
the quadrupeds were the Palaeotherium, the Glyptodon (a
sort of armadillo), and the Anoplotheria, in addition to
■certain of the wolf, fox, racoon, doormouse, and squirrel
tribes.
In what is termed the Miocene period of the Ter
tiary formation are found the remains of the gigantic
Dinotherium and of the Hippotherium, an animal allied to
the horse, hogs, cats, and animals, bearing resemblance to
the tiger, the dog, and bear; while the sea was alive with
marine mammalia, such as whales, seals, dolphins, and so
on.
Characterising the Pliocene age, which is again divided
into two periods, we find the remains of Pachydermatous
families, such as the mammoth, rhinoceros, and hippo
potamus, take the place of the extinct thick-skinned
animals before mentioned, and traces appear of the exist
ence of some ruminants, such as oxen, deer, and camels.
It has now been established that the great Mastadon, a
■skeleton of which -was dug out of the earth in America so
recently as 1801, belongs to this period; as does also the
Megatherium, a huge creature, slow in movement, and
larger somewhat than the common ox, with tremendous
toes and claws; while, in the second half of this period, a
number of animals have been discovered similar to species
now existing; and from this period downwards progress
towards the present types of the animal world becomes
more and more manifest.
Now, if the earth has existed only some six thousand years,
and if, as Genesis states, everything was created within six
days, how is it that the remains of animals, of various stages
of growth or development, are to be found thus embedded
in the rocks ? How is it that the Bible makes no mention
of the extraordinary creatures named, the ancestors of the
animals now existing on the earth ? Besides, if we would
study aright the age of the earth, we must not fail to take
into account the important discovery of William Pengelly in
Kent’s Cavern. “ We know,” says this scientist, in his lec
ture on “ The Time that has Elapsed Since the Era of the
Cave Men of Devonshire,” “ that in Kent’s Cavern there
are inscriptions on the granular stalagmite; and we know
�TWO REVELATIONS.
TS
further that the lines of drainage of the cavern have not
changed. Now, if it has taken 250 years to form the twentieth
of an inch in thickness in a part of a cavern where the stalag
mite has been formed with unusual rapidity, judging from
these bosses, you perceive clearly enough that it would take
twenty times that amount of time at that rate to represent
an inch—that is, 5,000 years, and we have fully five feet to
account for in the granular stalagmite only. Now, ladies and
gentlemen, are you prepared for that amount of time ? Five
thousand years for an inch, and sixty inches—sixty times,
five thousand years!”
Dealing with the Palaeontological evidence, the same
authority enumerates the kind of animals found in the
earth. They were “ the cave lion, felis of the size of
the lynx, wild cat, cave hyena, wolf, fox, canis vulpes var
spelseus, canis of the size of isatis, glutton, badger, cave
bear, grizzly bear, brown bear, mammoth, rhinoceros, tichorhinus, horse, urus or wild bull, bison, ‘ irish elk,’ red
deer, reindeer, hare, lagomys spelaeus, water vole, field vole,
bank vole, arvicola gulielmi, beaver, and machairodus
latideus.” Here we have three groups of animals—many
extinct; some, though not extinct, only to be found on the
continent, and others, such as the fox and the hare, still
existing in Great Britain.
Biological research proves beyond the shadow of a doubt
that man’s existence on the earth dates not 5,000, nor 50,000,
but probably hundreds of thousands of years, and Karl
Vogt, the great German scientist, goes as far as saying that
“ there is no longer any doubt that man existed in Europe—
probably the latest peopled part of the world—at a time
when the great southern animals—the elephant, mam
moth, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus—were found there.
Even when no human remains or tools have been found
the acute researches of Steenstrap have found traces of man
by distinguishing the bones, which have been gnawed by
animals from those which show signs of having been split
by man for the sake of the marrow, or otherwise handled
by him” {Anthropological Review, page 219); a state
ment corroborated by Sir Charles Lyell in his “ Anti
quity of Man,” page 204, and also maintained by Professor
Huxley and other leading scientists of the day.
It is of no avail for theologians to declare that the
�14
TWO REVELATIONS.
passages in the first chapter of Genesis are susceptible of
bearing the interpretation that ages elapsed between the crea
tion of the vegetable kingdom and man. The Bible says that
the evening and the morning was “the first day,” and we
refuse to confuse ourselves and others over the meaning of a
verse which ought to be clear to every person possessing
only a grain of common sense. This portion of my subject
I close with a quotation from the late Bishop Colenso, with
which I entirely agree. He says : “ We have thus seen that
in Genesis i., if regarded as statements of historical matter
of fact, are directly at variance with some of the plainest
facts of natural science, as they are now brought home, by
the extension of education, to every village, almost we might
say to every cottage in the land. It is idle for any minister
of religion to attempt to disguise this palpable discordance.
To do this is only to put a stumbling block in the way of
the young—at all events of those of the next generation—
who well instructed themselves in these things, and, having
their eyes open to the real facts of the case, may be
expected either to despise such a teacher as ignorant, or to
suspect him as dishonest, and in either case would be very
little likely to attach much weight to his instructions in
things of highest moment ” (Bishop Colenso, in “ Examina
tion of Pentateuch,” page 324). But, if we turn our atten
tion from the narrow and puerile view of the Bible to the large
and comprehensive view of science, we shall find that the
universe is in reality the one great open book—a revelation
to man just up to the measure of his capability of reading
and understanding it. The diligent and earnest student
of Nature day by day grasps some new fact, and, speculating
upon its value, opens up new mines of thought for future
exploration. It is worthy of remark, too, that Nature is
a book that is open to all peoples; it recognises no
distinction of colour, or nationality, or sex ; it is free to
impart its wonders to all who are prepared to read its ever
unfolding pages. Better far than any revelation contained
in the numerous bibles of the earth ; for these, though con
taining the best guesses at truth that man could make in
past ages of ignorance, could not in their very nature con
tain an infallible record of Nature’s final words to man.
Never for a moment silent, this universe, in its ceaseless
changes, is ever ready to deliver its message to whosoever is
�TWO REVELATIONS.
15
willing to receive it—a message that is exactly suitable to the
progressive nature of man; it is delivered, not all at once,
but in piecemeal; for, as man is incapable of grasping or
understanding all the truths of Nature at once, she is slow
and persistent in the gradual but everlasting unfolding of
her wondrous book.
These natural revelations, moreover, are never finished.
The knowledge of one age becomes the ignorance of the next,
as surely as the heresy of to-day will become the orthodoxy
of to-morrow ; for, with an ever-widening grasp of facts, the
half-truth that was known yesterday will bear a new meaning
in the light of the additional half that has been discovered
to-day. Well, indeed, is it for man that he acquires his
knowledge thus by small, but never-ending, instalments.
Just as a story loses its charm to the reader the moment
the plot is disclosed, or interest wanes as the reader can,
with some degree of certainty, predict the course of events
as they are likely to affect the hero or heroine, so life would
lose its charm, its chief source of happiness, its motive
power, if man could interpret now for all time the meaning
of Nature’s wonders. Fortunately for man, such knowledge
is not possible. Could he live for a thousand years, there
would always be some fresh lessons for him to learn; and,
though there is a limit to his power of grasping the meaning
of Nature’s truths, the facts within his reach are so numerous
that he need never seek in vain. Not by spasmodic effort,
nor by any series of such efforts, can he encompass all truth
that to him is knowable. Only by ceaseless accumulation of
facts, only by a careful classification of those facts, only by
well-reasoned deductions, can man hope to understand their
real significance. As the great mountains of the earth are
but the deposits, through thousands of ages, of small particles
of matter that, from their inherent properties, have thus
been drawn together, so is the knowledge of man : every
moment there is a fresh deposit of facts for him who will
study, and the great accumulations of the past make up the
sum of man’s knowledge to-day. The universe is a great
panorama; it is continually unfolding new pictures to
satisfy our mental cravings, and this unfolding seems likely
to go on forever.
Printed by Watts & Co., 17, Johnsoris Court, London, E.C.
�WORKS BY ARTHUR B. MOSS.
Was Jesus
an
Impostor ? ioopp., cloth is., boards 6d.
A Discussion between two Freethinkers—Agnes Rollo Wilkie
and Arthur B. Moss. The most blasphemous book of the age.
Freethinkers enjoy it ; Jews like it amazingly ; Christians detest it.
It strikes at Jesus the God, demonstrates the hollowness of his pre
tensions, shows that he deceived himself and his followers, and
that through them the world has been deceived ever since. With
Introductory Paper by Mr. Charles Watts.
The Mirror of Freethought. Cloth, is.
Waves of Freethought. 6d.
Man and the Lower Animals, id.
Natural Man. id.
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The following Pamphlets are Sold at One Penny each:—
Bible Horrors ; or, Real Blasphemy.
Bible Makers.
Bible Saints.
Moses Versus Darwin.
M't -, - Socrates, Buddha, and Jesus.
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The Old Faith and the New.
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The above twelve Pamphlets will be sent post free on
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�
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Victorian Blogging
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Two revelations
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Moss, Arthur B.
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Text
ON THE
MATERIALISM OF MODERN SCIENCE ;
OPENING
ADDRESS,
READ BEFORE
THE
LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF LIVERPOOL,
October 5th, 1871.
BY
ALBERT
J.
MOTT,
President.
��ON THE MATERIALISM OF MODERN SCIENCE.
The time is near at hand, if we may judge our age by its
tendencies, when the pursuit of science will have to justify
itself anew to the reason of mankind. It is not a matter of
course that human beings should spend the hours which
remain to them, after the necessities of life have been pro
vided for, in exploring the mysteries of Nature or unravel
ing the threads of history. That great happiness may
co-exist with little knowledge is a fact of daily observation.
That it increases in this world in the ratio of our intellectual
acquirements has never been proved, and is far from pro
bable. We know how often the lives of learned men are
melancholy lives. Health injured in the laboratory ; eye
sight dimmed behind the telescope; strength exhausted in
toiling over hills and deserts; time, which never returns,
spent in the severities of study or the languor of overwork ;
all these are the common incidents of scientific research, and
must continue to be so while human nature remains the
same. And although there are some men in all ages who
devote themselves to science by an irresistible impulse, which
requires no stimulus, asks for no reason and defies all
possible discouragement, this fact, instead of recommending
such studies to mankind at large, removes one powerful
motive to their general pursuit. For nature will in any case
be continually explored by these, her natural devotees ; the
main truths discoverable at any given period will be dis
covered by them; the rest will receive whatever practical
benefit arises from such discoveries without any effort of
�2
president’s address.
their own, and the utilitarian purposes of science are in this
way sure to be attained, at all events to a considerable
degree.
The grounds on which the acquisition of knowledge
through laborious study, not forced upon us by immediate
wants or special instincts, can be seriously advocated,
belong altogether to our conception of human life itself, its
destiny, its purposes and its proper aims, and these being
themselves among the subjects of scientific research, our
conclusions concerning them are the most important and
fundamental of its products ; the elements by which alone
we can determine whether its further prosecution can be
worth the time and pains it must demand.
Now we are accustomed to take for granted that it is of
course worth this time and pains, and the reason is very
obvious. We belong to a race which as such has never
doubted the immortality of the human soul, and the special
form in which this is the belief of Christendom at once
determines our views of the nature and ends of life. Mental
powers which are to be used, not for fifty years but for ever,
are of course worth cultivating for their own sakes here. To
fit ourselves for future and endless occupations, not to make
an ephemeral life as pleasant as may be while its lasts, is the
work suited to our present condition. Nothing in the
universe can be uninteresting to us whom the universe itself
cannot outlive. No acquisition of knowledge can possibly
satisfy our proper wish for it, when the field and the time
before us are both of them recognised as infinite. These,
which are the mere aphorisms of common sense, are raised
into the axioms of philosophy by that conception of higher
natures and Power diviner than our own, which is the neces
sary adjunct of a belief in human immortality in any form ;
and this belief gives a final reason for unlimited effort
�president’s address.
3
towards our own mental progress, by altogether freeing us
from the fear, which would otherwise be overwhelming, that
life may slip away for ever while we are only preparing the
ground on which no harvest can ripen, and where our labour
will have been in vain.
It is this philosophy, deeply planted in all civilised
nations of modern times, that causes an intuitive assent to
be given to the wisdom of laborious study and of present
sacrifice, for the sake of mental growth. It is of course in
perfect harmony with Christianity itself, inasmuch as all the
reasons that are valid in seeking our own improvement are,
from the Christian point of view, still more so if we seek the
improvement of others.
But modern science has been coming to some momentous
conclusions, which are in their essence destructive of every
philosophy of this kind, and if these are true we have no
right to take for granted on the existing grounds that the
advancement of knowledge must be good for us. The
philosophy on which all our habits of thought are founded
assumes as its first postulate that two different kinds of being
actually exist, and are apprehended by us as existing. Wc
call them matter and mind; body and spirit; the material
and the immaterial. We never question the fact that in
using these words we are naming two orders of things essen
tially unlike each other, or that their existence and their
difference are intelligible to us. One of the most essential
points of difference is in their relation to human life.
Human life, so far as it depends on the existence of our
bodies, depends on that which is in its nature transitory.
The elements of which our bodies are composed appear
themselves to be indestructible, but they exhibit none of
the phenomena of human life unless combined in this com
plicated and unstable form. And since different living bodies
are successively formed by the combination of the same
�4
president’s address.
particles of matter, no power can reconstruct them so that
all should exist again at the same time. A living body is
not in fact, but only in appearance, the same being from day
to day. If we watch a moving crowd at such a distance that
we can see no movement, but only see that the same points
are always occupied by similar forms, those forms seem
permanent in those positions, and that which changes at
every moment may appear unaltered for any length of time.
But as in a crowd like this, so in our bodily frames, if each
successive particle or union of particles possessed a con
sciousness of its own, they would have no notion of identity
with those which preceded them. Such a notion can only
be entertained by a looker-on, and by him only through
imperfect observation.
On the other hand, our mental nature constantly asserts
its own permanent identity, and while perfectly aware that
thoughts, feelings, and all mental operations or states suc
ceed each other, and form a series and a process, it main
tains always that these do not constitute a mental being any
more than motion constitutes a material particle, and that
the being who feels and acts continues the same being, as
strictly as the moving particle continues to be the same.
All the explanations of what we mean by mental identity
either admit this or else they are arguments to prove that
successive thoughts and feelings give rise to one permanent
thought or feeling, which we call the consciousness of
identity; and that the notion thus embodied is untrue.
The notion, however, is ineradicable, and forms a necessary
part of the philosophy I am considering.
Now the bearing of this part of our philosophy upon the
question of human immortality is very clear. To think of
a dead body as simply restored to life, and as being then the
same living person as before, is easy enough in a certain
�president’s address.
5
stage of ignorance, but becomes quite impossible as soon as
we notice what happens to the body after death. This has
been everywhere perceived, and the literal identity of bodily
forms in a future life does not, I suppose, form part of any
theory on the subject. The identity with which we all feel
concerned is mental identity. We change our bodies con
stantly in the present world, and can imagine ourselves
inhabiting any sort of external form. But the very forms
we now stand in would cease instantly, not only to be our
selves, but in any way to belong to us, if our minds left
them and other minds took possession of them.
Now if my mental identity does in fact depend on the
existence of my present body, that is, if it depends on the
maintenance of this organic form by the constant succession
of material particles, replacing each other in one unbroken
series, it must follow that when this body goes to pieces in
such a way that it cannot be reconstructed, I myself must
perish with it altogether and for ever. Anothei being,
*
exactly like me, might be made, and thoughts and feelings
like my own might possibly be given him. But the simple
fact would still only be that two individuals precisely similar
to each other had lived, and that one of them was dead ; not
that the dead one was alive again. My existence has no
concern in, and no influence upon, the existence of my dupli
cate. What is really necessary to my continued existence
hereafter is that my mental identity should depend on
something which does not go to pieces as the body does, or
which, if this should happen, does not become the material
out of which other beings are made, and which, therefore, it
is not impossible to put together again. If the material
body constitutes the whole of the living being, this indis
pensable condition can never be fulfilled, except by the
grotesque theory, sometimes adopted, which supposes that
the living principle resides in some small, and of course
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president’s address.
undiscovered, portion of the body, which in fact is never
decomposed.
But if mental existence is a different thing from material
existence, that is, if the fundamental postulate of our com
mon philosophy is true, this difficulty never can arise.
Whatever the essence of mind may be, we have no ground
for thinking that dead minds, like dead bodies, are used up
again in the construction of living ones. There is no such
reason, therefore, why consciousness may not be restored to
the mind which has lost it. The identity of the being is not
destroyed by the mere fact that it has ceased to think and
feel. The destruction occurs only when the being itself is
divided into parts, and these parts become portions of other
beings. You may keep a seed for centuries without a sign
of animation, yet able to revive and continue the life it had
before. But if you once break it up, and let its elements
become the elements of other seeds, revival is of course out
of the question.
When any doctrine of a future life is presented to us,
whether as the inference of reason, or the teaching of autho
rity, or both, the reception we give to it as rational beings
must evidently depend on the view we take of this funda
mental question. If there is no preliminary objection to the
fact asserted, on general grounds, we can weigh the evidence
without prejudice, and judge according to its cogency ; while
if our philosophical views have already placed it among impos
sible things, we are obliged either to reject all evidence in its
favour as necessarily faulty, or else to affirm that there are
two kinds of truth while we deny that there are two kinds of
being, and to admit that what we see to be impossible may
nevertheless take place. The latter view is doubtless held at
present by many men of high scientific attainments, but
there are no elements of stability in it. When our faith and
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7
our philosophy mutually support each other, there is no
reason to fear that either will be overturned; but when they
contradict each other, the ultimate destruction of one or both
is already certain.
It is this all but universal philosophy which, by asserting
two kinds of existence, has made the continued life of the
human soul a thing probable in itself, and therefore suscep
tible of proof by ordinary evidence, and which has thus
become the true foundation of our general view of life, its
objects, and therefore its motives, and through these its
maxims, and the common standards by which we estimate
the value of its pursuits; it is this philosophy with all its
consequences which is now assailed by the theories of
modern physical science, as they are accepted and taught by
many of its leaders, and probably by the majority of its
younger students.
These theories assert that the only
existing things known to us are material things, and that if
anything of a different nature does in fact exist, we have no
faculties by which it can be apprehended. The facts con
cerning material bodies, their properties and their changes,
are therefore the only facts within the reach of human intel
ligence ; the search after anything else is a vain and useless
search, and any fancied knowledge on such subjects is fancy
only. These views are supported by considering the sources
of human knowledge. We become acquainted with things
around us only by the action of the physical organs of sense.
That action itself is only physical change, and is only
brought about by the physical changes of other bodies. All
that is thus communicated to us, therefore, is in fact nothing
but physical change, and this alone is the substance of all
our knowledge.
The full result of these theories is not indeed generally
appreciated, is often kept out of sight, and is believed by
many to be cancelled by certain explanations, the soundness
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of which is vaguely hoped for, but is not vigorously put to
the test. But it is clear that, on this materialistic view of
things, any belief in human immortality must be founded on
the supposition that its inherent difficulties can be got over
in some way which is unintelligible to ourselves. But why,
then, should we make this supposition ? In what manner
could we come to know that it is justified ? The question is
a crucial one, and the inevitable answer is, that the suppo
sition could not be justified.
„
For if our only sources of knowledge are only able to
make us acquainted with the facts of material change, our
ignorance of all other facts is necessarily absolute, and no
supposition concerning them can have anything to rest upon.
Knowledge, like the senses which supply it, is on this
theory only a name for material change, and what, then, is
meant by knowledge of anything besides ? Yet the suppo
sition must be that we do come to know that there is some
thing else, and that this justifies a belief in immortality.
That is to say, that, being ourselves purely material, and in
relation only with matter and its changes, we yet come to
know a fact which material changes not only cannot account
for, but cannot so much as render possible in itself. This is
the climax of self-contradiction.
Let me recapitulate a little. Our desire for the advance
ment of knowledge, and our conviction that a great part of
life should be devoted to intellectual pursuits, are the result
not of a universal and irresistible impulse, but of a reason
able judgment, founded on our general view of human life
itself, as expressed by our common maxims concerning it,
which are the axioms of thought in this direction. But
these themselves are founded on and derived from the
assumption that human life is not related to this world only,
and that it is not ended with the grave. And this assump
tion of immortality itself depends on the belief that there are
�president’s address.
9
two kinds of existence, and that the human soul is not the
same thing as the human body.
If the fact is otherwise, the doctrine of continued life
becomes incredible, or can only be held in defiance of all
the inferences of reason. If life is thus shortened to a few
brief years, our whole view of it with all its objects must, if
we are rational beings, be utterly changed. If it is thus
changed, the maxims which serve as guides, and the conduct
based upon them, cease to be reasonable since they lose their
foundation. The entire theory of life must be re-considered,
and, as I began by saying, the pursuit of science will have to
justify itself anew to the reason of mankind.
There are philosophers of the purely materialistic school
who will not shrink from accepting this challenge, and will
undertake to prove that sufficient reason can be given for
intellectual and moral culture, even on the supposition that
our conscious identity expires with our latest breath. I
believe their arguments are futile, and their efforts neces
sarily vain, but I postpone the discussion of that question.
That it is of infinite importance no one will dispute. My
object so far has been to show that the question is neces
sarily raised, if the materialistic doctrine is accepted, and I
shall now endeavour to point out to you what I conceive to
be the general fallacy of the reasoning which leads to its
acceptance by the students of physical science.
On the threshold of the inquiry we are met by the fact
that a belief in two kinds of existence, material and imma
terial, has been nearly universal everywhere. It is necessary
to the materialistic philosophy that this fact should be
accounted for, and the task has been undertaken by Mr.
Tylor, in those remarkable chapters on Animism which
occupy more than four hundred pages in his book on Primi
tive Culture. Very few, I believe, have read these chapters
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president’s address.
carefully. It is a work of considerable labour ; and even the
sense in which Mr. Tylor uses the word Animism is perhaps
unknown to many. He means by it the doctrine of spiritual
beings generally; the belief, that is, in some kind of exist
ence which is not material. He shows by an enormous
accumulation of details that this belief is not a product of
recent civilisation, but is universal among all savage tribes.
Adopting the savage theory as to the origin of existing races,
he assumes that civilised man has inherited this belief from
his rude ancestors, and that the grounds on which they
acquired it are therefore the grounds on which it really rests.
He then considers in what way the lowest races can have
acquired it, and he finds an answer to this question in the
effect of dreams upon the imagination of savages. Dreams
are common to all men. The beings we seem to meet in
them appear to us to be really present. But we find their
bodily forms have not been really present. Hence an inference
that they have a second form which is independent of the
body. The excitement of fever leads to similar results.
The inference is supported also by imaginary forms which
we often think we see in dim light; by the shadows of
objects, and by their reflection in water. In all these cases,
what appear to us to be material beings are found in fact to
have no objective existence.
This constant experience,
according to Mr. Tylor, has produced in the minds of savages
generally a belief in the double nature of all visible things;
in a material body which can be touched, and in an immaterial body which cannot be touched.
From this settled conviction, originating in the lowest
tribes and handed down to other races, Mr. Tylor supposes
the belief in spiritual beings to have been derived. It is, I
think, the only attempt that has been made to give a reason
able account of the universality of this belief on purely
physical grounds. It is extremely interesting in itself, and
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11
it has at first sight a very plausible appearance, but it will
not bear close examination.
You will see at once that the savage origin of mankind
must be assumed before the reasoning can have any force
whatever. But in fact it has no force even on that assump
tion. If savages believe in spirits because they cannot
otherwise account for dreams and optical illusions, it is
certain that cultured races do nothing of the kind. It is
soon perceived that shadows and reflections have no separate
existence, and that the general phenomena of dreams are
like those of fancy and of memory. If in special cases
communication with spiritual beings is ever believed to occur
in sleep, among ourselves, it is because we already believe
that there are such beings who might thus address us; not
because the evidence of this is furnished by our dreams.
This is not a case of a belief received traditionally and
accepted carelessly, without considering the grounds on
which it rests. The validity of its evidence has occupied the
profoundest thought of the greatest thinkers for an unknown
length of time, and the reasons suggested by Mr. Tylor have
had no influence upon minds like these. It is in moral and
intellectual evidence, not in the evidence of the senses, that
the great leaders of cultivated thought in all ages have found
the proof of spiritual existence ; and there is no reason in
the world to think that the effect of this evidence upon the
minds of the higher races has anything to do with the con
clusions drawn by savages from facts of a totally different
kind.
In all departments of thought different men support the
same beliefs, both true and false, by different and independent
reasonings, and it is remarkable how often that which could
never be really anything more than confirmatory evidence in
favour of an opinion is mistaken for the actual source of it.
What, for example, can be more striking than the difference
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among the reasons given for general obedience to human
governments. All races, savage or civilised, in which
governments exist, are agreed as to the obligation; but some
found it on the divine right of kings, some on the natural
rights of majorities, some on the precepts of religious
teachers, some on vague superstitious fears, some on notions
of inherited rank, some on general expediency. The last of
these is doubtless the effective reason in all cases. The
practical advantage of having a government and of submit
ting to it is universally felt; and the other reasons are
really only reasons for submission to particular forms of it,
the necessity for some form or other being taken for granted.
It is precisely so with the belief in spiritual existence.
Certain mental facts, of which all men are conscious, pro
duce in most men the belief that soul and body are different
things, and the various arguments which in different states
of culture are brought forward in support of this, are only
the grounds on which particular conceptions of the fact, and
not our assurance of the fact itself, are founded.
And since it is certain that civilised races hold their
belief in spiritual existence for reasons which are not those
suggested by Mr. Tylor as the cause of savage opinion on
the subject, it is impossible to prove and unreasonable to
imagine that savage opinion has really been formed in this way.
Without discussing here the question of a real savage
origin for the human race, I must point out how vast an
error is committed when it is supposed, even as a possible
truth, that the existing savage races can have remained
isolated and unaffected by the ideas of civilised men from
what are called primeval times. The tacit assumption that
this has been or may be the case is, I think, the most
serious fallacy in the whole modern theory on this subject.
�president’s address.
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For consider the ascertained facts. We know that
powerful and civilised nations existed four thousand years
ago; that for at least that length of time the great bulk of
the world’s population has been under the influence of such
thought as is expressed in the ancient literature of Egypt,
Assyria, Judea, Persia, India, and China; that war, com
merce and adventure have been hurrying men to and fro
upon the earth during the whole of that long period. What
part of the world can we suppose to have remained altogether
unvisited by either the armies, the emigrants, the merchants,
or the travellers of its civilised states ? We mistake the
absence of remembered intercourse and present knowledge
for evidence of a permanent isolation, which is quite impos
sible in a world full of living and restless beings. Every
nation has next door neighbours who receive some influence
from it, and convey this again to those beyond. Every
nation has individual stragglers who pass in all directions
beyond its boundaries and never return. Even in the ocean,
in the course of many centuries, all islands are visited by
strangers either through accident or design. Actual proof of
these facts, though really needless, is abundant everywhere.
Stone implements are frequently found, made of materials
that must have come from a distance. Metal work gives
evidence of the same kind. Special resemblances in the arts
of life; the wide diffusion of languages and races; the
frequent legends concerning the advent of strangers; all
•show us, as might be expected beforehand, that on this earth,
where there are only fifty million square miles of dry land,
and a thousand million human beings to live upon it, an
interchange of thought goes on perpetually and reaches to
every part. This is so simple a question of common sense,
.that it seems only necessary to state it in plain words in
order to command assent. Yet it has been entirely over
looked, though it strikes at the root of the whole evolution
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president’s address.
theory as applied to the development of human thought.
For it is clear that the knowledge and the arts of savage life
tell us nothing about an earlier condition of human nature,
unless they have been really self-developed, and have not
been suggested by intercourse with higher races. But we
can never know this to be the fact unless we know that higher
races cannot have had any influence over them, and this,
instead of being probable in any case, is manifestly impossible
in almost all. A single straggler from a higher race into
the midst of a lower one is certain to introduce a whole set
of new ideas, and forty centuries are more than sufficient to
convey this influence to the ends of the earth. Mr. Tylor is
so fully aware of the rapidity with which savage ideas are
modified by any intercourse with civilised men, that he very
properly rejects as doubtful examples of purely savage
thought the legends of a later date than the period when
such intercourse is known to have been established. But he
falls into the common error of supposing an absolute isola
tion to have existed previously.
The fact that a belief in two kinds of existence is almost
universal among mankind, in all shapes of culture, still
remains, therefore, to be accounted for. But that there
should be any difficulty in accounting for it arises, I think,
from a cardinal defect in that doctrine of Experience on
which the materialistic philosophy supposes itself to stand.
That doctrine appears to take the following form. Expe
rience includes all our successive states of consciousness,
or at least all that can be remembered. Every state of
consciousness depends on changes in the condition of our
material organism. Those changes are brought about by
contact with the material universe, through the organs
of sense, external or internal. The changes themselves,
therefore, are only such as one material thing can produce in
another. Knowledge, being one form of consciousness,
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15
depends on these very changes, and cannot therefore relate
to anything that is not material. When we speak of imma
terial existence, therefore, we speak of something about
which nothing can be known, because there is no avenue of
sense by which it can affect us.
The defect of this view, and of the materialistic doctrine
generally, is that it confounds the physical conditions of
experience with experience itself, which is nothing but
mental change; and that it tacitly assumes, in defiance
of the evidence, that consciousness depends on nothing but
physical change.
Now this could only be proved by showing that conscious
ness consists of nothing else but physical change, and the
fallacy discloses itself the moment we use these words. For
if our words have any meaning, physical change and con
sciousness are the names of two different things, not of one
and the same thing. It is not possible for us to understand
by any physical state or motion what we understand by
consciousness. If I see an object, certain molecules vibrate
in my brain. If they do not vibrate, I do not see; but the
vibration and the seeing are not only not the same thing,
they are totally dissimilar, and are quite as incomparable as
a colour is with a number, or a clock with the hour of the
day.
This is admitted as a fact, but is very imperfectly appre
hended. Professor Tyndall, for example, adopts the mis
leading statement that, when we see, what we are really
conscious of is an affection of our own retina.
*
An affection
of the retina is one of the external conditions of sight, but
we are no more conscious of it than of the ethereal move
ments by which it is affected, or of their remotest physical
causes. Consciousness knows nothing about a retina, or
• Tyndall, Belfast Address, 1874, p. 29.
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president’s address.
any of its changes. Our own bodies are as much external
objects to ourselves as any other material things; and this is
especially and unreservedly true concerning the brain and
the nervous system, the very existence of which is only
known to most of us through a series of inferences drawn
from other men’s observation.
The absolute difference between a conscious state and a
physical condition is felt where its consequences are not
acknowledged; and we generally find consciousness spoken
of, not as physical change itself, but as the product
of it.
But, then, what is a product? Unless it is a new creation
it is something which in fact existed before, but is now in an
altered state. If we say that consciousness is a product of
physical change alone, we can only mean that the physical
substance which has undergone a change has at the same
time become conscious. What, then, is our notion of con
sciousness as a condition or quality of a physical substance,
and by which of our senses do we apprehend it as such ? If
I say a thing is hard, I appeal to the sense of touch ; if red,
to the eye; if sweet, to the palate; if noisy, to the ear; if
fragrant, to the nose; if heavy, to the muscles or the nerves.
These are all avenues of sense by which I believe that
external things affect me. From the mode in which I am
thus affected, I infer the existence and the qualities of those
external things, and I call them material objects. But when
I say of anything that it is conscious, what sense am I
appealing to ? In what way does it affect me by being
conscious ? Clearly, in no way whatever. I have no avenue
of sense by which the fact can be made known to me as the
facts concerning material objects are made known. Your
bodily forms and movements affect me as I address you, and
make your bodily presence known; but how can I know your
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17
thoughts by any such means ? or how can I conceive it
possible so to know them? All my knowledge of physical
facts comes to me through my physical senses, but none of
my knowledge of mental facts is attained in that way. I do
not know what they are by inference from my sensations ;
I know it by direct knowledge of myself as a mental being
alone.
The mistaken idea, that what can be verified by the
physical senses is worth attending to, but that what cannot
be thus verified can never be known, requires a few more
words of examination.
Absolute unconditional knowledge is only possible con- .
cerning our inward selves. We are conscious, and we know
the facts of our own present consciousness; and this know
ledge is absolute. To be conscious, and to know the facts of
consciousness, are not identical states, but they are both
states the existence of which we are always able to affirm
unconditionally.
Some of the facts of consciousness, which we call the
impressions of the senses, make us infer the existence of
material things. This inference we also call knowledge, but
it is never absolute or unconditional; it is knowledge of
another kind. We cannot affirm that a material object
exists and affects our consciousness, in the way in which we
affirm that we exist and are conscious.
But the absolute knowledge we have of ourselves extends
to nothing beyond ourselves, and is therefore of very limited
interest to us as living beings. To know our own states
of consciousness is not to satisfy our natural desires, which
turn continually from the feelings we experience to the infe
rences we draw, and find their proper exercise and pleasure
in doing so. The inferences drawn directly from our sensa
tions constitute the most perfect kind of knowledge we are
B
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president’s address.
able to acquire concerning things external to ourselves.
Experience assures us that within certain limits such infe
rences may be relied upon, that expectations raised by them
will be fulfilled, that wishes guided by them will be gratified,
that our confidence in their general truth is never shaken,
and that the more carefully we examine them the more
correct our conception of external facts appears to be. These
inferences thus form the largest portion of human know
ledge, and especially of scientific knowledge, in which the
desire for exact conclusions, which can be verified again
and again without difficulty, finds the fullest satisfaction.
Now the reason why an inquiry into anything beyond
these direct inferences from what is called the evidence
of the senses is discouraged by scientific men in the present
day, is supposed to be because no real evidence exists by
which Buch an inquiry can be answered. The truth, how
ever, is that the evidence is the same as that on which
modern science itself relies, but that the conclusion has to be
arrived at by a double inference instead of a single one. It
is, in consequence, far more difficult, and far more liable
to mistake, and it requires corresponding diligence, patience,
and caution.
In considering the growth of a tree, for example, we have
first to infer the physical facts from our own sensations
of sight and touch, and then, from this first inference, to
draw a second, as to those causes of growth which cannot be
inferred directly from our sensations.
But the basis of all other knowledge is the knowledge of
ourselves as beings who can think and feel. This is not the
knowledge of any physical fact, all that we know of physical
facts being inference founded on it.
Now when something is known to us which cannot be
intelligibly accounted for by the elements supposed to be
present, the natural and the strictly scientific inference
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is that some other element is also there. A new line in the
spectrum suggests the existence of a new material. The
radiation of light and heat through an apparent vacuum
determines our belief in an all-pervading ether. The move
ments of a magnetic needle convince us that the needle
is controlled by other sources of energy. The facts of
gravitation between bodies at a 'distance satisfy men of all
schools that something besides the gravitating bodies is
concerned in them.
Nor is there much disposition to assume that matter
itself is only of one kind. The difficulty of supposing
all the known elements to consist of precisely similar atoms,
differing only in their grouping, is very great. Nor can any
reason be given why only one kind of thing should be
in existence, or why there should not be mutual relations
between different kinds. When, therefore, we see the facts
of life associated with certain material arrangements which
cannot in themselves account for them, we ought, as sound
philosophers, to conclude at once that there is something
here besides these material arrangements.
A serious error of conception on one particular point has
much to do with the prevailing materialism of scientific
thinkers. We are asked whether, when we speak of “ living
powers,” or “ ourselves,” we can form a mental picture
of any one of these apart from the organism through which
it is supposed to act.
*
The question inverts the whole
mental process. It is not from a consciousness of the
organism that we infer the existence of ourselves and our
living powers ; it is from a knowledge of ourselves as exist
ing, and of our powers as living, that we infer the existence
of the organism. How do I know that this hand, this head,
or this brain are actual realities ? I know it only inferen* Tyndall, Belfast Address, 1874, p. 13.
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president’s address.
tially, and only because I first know, not inferentially but
absolutely, the fact that I myself exist, not as a material
organism, but as a conscious being. The mental picture I
form of myself is of a being using its living powers; and as
my conception of the external world, and, of course, of every
organism, is all derived from my knowledge of what happens
to myself when those living powers are used, the mental
picture of myself necessarily includes my relations to out
ward things as I conceive them, and the outward things
themselves are necessarily thought of when I form the
picture.
But mental existence, not physical existence, is the one
thing absolutely known to us, and though this absolute
knowledge of it is limited to ourselves, it enables us to draw
inferences concerning the existence of other immaterial
beings as valid in their nature as any inference about
physical things. All we have to remember is, that any facts
concerning other immaterial beings can only be known to us
through a double inference, so far as things external to
ourselves only affect us through our physical senses. What
is possible in mental existence we may know from our
own self-knowledge, but what is really the fact beyond
ourselves can only be learned by patient observation and the
judgment of reason upon its results.
And here I think we may take a final and conclusive step
in this important argument.
When a man addresses a single word to a fellow-creature,
believing that it will be understood, he virtually abandons
the materialistic doctrine, and admits that he himself
possesses knowledge which the physical senses can never
give. He assumes that his neighbour thinks and feels ; but
on what ground does he assume this? That a material
object of this particular shape is there; that it moves, and
speaks, and feeds; that certain acts of his own and certain
�PRESIDENT 8 ADDRESS.
21
conditions in surrounding things are followed by certain
changes in this object, including all the sensible pheno
mena of what we call human life in others; all this is
conveyed to him by his physical senses. But they tell him
nothing at all about thought and feeling in the object before
him; and in assuming that these exist, he cuts off the very
root of the materialistic philosophy, for he takes for granted
that he knows something concerning objects external to
himself, which it is not and could not be possible under any
circumstances to verify by any appeal to physical experience.
The thoughts of his neighbours, if they have any
thoughts, cannot possibly be made evident to himself in any
single case whatever, and the canon of Materialism demands
that under such circumstances he should have no opinion as
to their existence, and should content himself with observing
and recording the laws by which the outward actions of the
human forms about him are governed, without pretending to
know anything as to their unseen causes.
Yet we are all aware that there is no fact external to
ourselves of which we have a more absolute assurance than
the fact that our fellow-men do think and feel. What can
the materialist say to this ? He knows their forms and
movements through his own favourite means; he learns
them directly through the evidence of his physical senses.
He sees their faces with his eyes; hears their voices with
his ears; touches them with his fingers; knows that they
offer resistance to his muscular sense. But his senses tell
him no more about their thoughts than they do about the
cause of gravitation.
If he should say he believes his neighbours have minds
like his own, because he knows they have bodies like his
own, I shall tell him he deceives himself. The bodily form
does not give him this belief if the acts are idiotic ; and he
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president’s address.
would attribute a human intelligence to any form whatever
if it gave practical evidence of human motives and purposes.
I should tell him also that the co-existence of his own mind
with his own body is not known to him as a necessary
co-existence. He cannot learn from experience whether his
mind could exist without his body, or whether similar bodies
must always have similar minds.
And lastly, since experience in any case can never be
conceived of as verifying the fact of thought and feeling in
his neighbours, but only as verifying other facts from which
this is inferred, the inference according to his principles can
be nothing better than a working hypothesis, useful only so
far as it enables him to predict results.
And yet in what respect does this hypothesis differ from
the actual knowledge of material things, supposed to be
derived directly from experience itself? That knowledge
rests entirely on a similar hypothesis. It rests on our belief
in the trustworthiness of memory, which is what we refer to
when we speak of experience, and which is verified only as
we verify our belief in the intelligence of other men ; by the
judgment of a living soul.
The conception of memory by the modern physical school
is so important, and I think so irrational, that having here
referred to it in this way I shall ask you to consider the
matter parenthetically for a few moments.
Every sensation or other mental change is supposed by
this school to be dependent on molecular alteration of nerv
ous matter. This matter is conceived of as composed of an
almost infinite number of connected threads, each of which
is a channel of sensibility. To feel anything is to have one
of these channels altered. This alteration is either perma
nent or not. If it is permanent, the feeling may be recalled
in memory by again stimulating the same nervous channel.
�president’s address.
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Now on physical grounds the whole theory appears irra
tional. Firstly, because all organic substance is constantly
changing, so that there is nothing permanent about it.
Secondly, because to admit the idea of permanent change is
to deny that memory consists in a repetition of what
occurred before in the nervous substance, for this could only
happen if the substance remained as before. If a stimulus
passing through A, B, C, changes it into A, C, B, another
stimulus through A, C, B will not be a repetition of the
first through A, B, C. Yet if there is no permanent change,
what is the physical fact of memory ?
Still more important is it to consider that memory does
not consist in the reproduction of former mental states, but
in the recognition of the fact that they are thus reproduced ;
that the thing now thought of has been thought of before.
And this is a totally different affair.
Sights, sounds,
thoughts, and feelings are really repeated day by day in our
consciousness without the slightest memory attending the
repetition. Memory depends on our perception of Time;
on our conscious knowledge of a past existence; and to
attempt to explain it by any physical conditions, which
necessarily represent the present only, is a symptom of a
false philosophy, and a science which forgets its own founda
tions.
Happily our practice is often wiser than our theories, and
there is no reason to fear that we shall ever doubt the
mental existence of our friends. And, till we doubt it, a
permanent materialism is impossible. For if one thing can
be known to us which is beyond the reach of sensible expe
rience, other things of a like nature may also be known ; and
if we can justly infer the presence of a living soul in a
human body, we may with equal reason infer the presence of
a Divine Spirit in the universe.
There is one particular idea, commonly connected with
�24
president’s address.
the conception of mental or spiritual beings, as dis
tinct from material beings, which has been, I believe, a
very serious impediment to sound views upon the sub
ject. It is taken for granted that a human soul, if it
has a separate existence, must also have a conscious exist
ence independently of a human body.
If you examine
the argument used by Professor Tyndall, in his Belfast
address, in opposition to Butler’s reasoning, you will find
that all its force depends upon this assumption.
*
The
reply put into Bishop Butler’s mouth is based on the same
conception, as I dare say it would have been by Butler him
self. But it is in consequence an insufficient and unsatis
factory reply. The true answer would be that a human soul
does not require a body in order to exist, but does require a
body in order to be conscious. We have no more ground for
thinking that our souls could feel as they do without the
help of an organised body, than we have for thinking that
our bodies could act as they do without the guidance of a
living soul. The facts concerning automatic action, so finely
brought forward by Professor Huxley, do not affect this
question.^ If a frog’s body accommodates itself to certain
circumstances after its brain is removed, and if we really
know, which however is extremely doubtful, that no con
scious volition is concerned in it, the fact only furnishes one
more example of involuntary action which is like voluntary
action. The cases are very numerous. Nay, it is probable
that everything we do of a physical kind may be done
involuntarily at certain times; and habits which we are
perfectly aware have been formed by the action of our own
will, appear often to be like the winding up of machinery,
which, being thus wound up, will carry out our purposes for
a given period whether we know it or not. Habits of self♦ Tyndall, Belfast Address, 1874, p, 14.
f Belfast Lecture, lb74.
�president’s address.
25
preservation are expressly of this kind. We are quite
ignorant of the nature of the machinery, and are likely to be
so till we discover why or how it is that bodily movements
take place at all. But that our own will has a distinct
relation to them, and that we understand enough of this to
determine whether other men have wills and are using them,
by observing their bodily movements, will,. I suppose, be
admitted ; though we may be mistaken with regard to any
one of them, if we form our opinion on too narrow a basis of
observation.
The effect of bodily disease upon the mind and character
is great, but all it amounts to is the well-known fact that all
our conscious states are influenced by physical conditions.
It does not affect the question of our own permanent
identity, which does not even depend on our own recognition
of it. We forget our existence every night, and our
characters, by which we mean the relative force of many
inclinations, vary more or less every day. But we do not
cease to be the same individuals on this account.
The direct power of a human mind over the movements
of matter is undoubtedly extremely small in amount, and is
confined within very narrow limits of possible action. And
no portion of matter is under mental control to the exclusion
of other forces, so that all the movements of which it
is capable may be produced by other means as well. Thus,
after an ordinary involuntary inspiration, I can, by the
exercise of my will, draw in more breath, which would not
have been drawn involuntarily. My will in this case has
caused a sort of movement which is usually caused by other
means. And going to the bottom of this movement, as far
as we are able, it seems probable at present that the only
material substance over which any one human mind has
direct control is the nervous organism of one human body.
�26
president’s address.
And in exercising this control we are not ourselves aware of
the substance on which we are acting. We are only aware
that by some means our will is obeyed. In this respect we
are not unlike the clerks in a telegraph office, who know
by experience that if they do certain acts themselves a
distant hand will move, though they have no real knowledge
of the agency by which this is effected.
But however small the mental power over material move
ment may be, it is quite sufficient for its purpose. We are
surrounded by infinite forces, acting or ready to act in
all directions, and all we need is ability to guide a certain
number of them to a certain extent. The mind, acting as a
cause of change in the nervous system, is, to refer to a
familiar illustration, precisely like the driver of a locomotive,
who is only able himself to move the steam valve and
the break lever, and who can only move even these through a
very small space — a space which may be indefinitely reduced
by perfect mechanical arrangements till the actual movement
and the actual force employed may be inappreciable to sense.
Yet this is quite sufficient. There is physical force enough
in the steam and in the friction. He does not want to add
anything to it; he supplies nothing out of his own strength
to the forces by which the wheels are moved or stopped. He
only wants to determine the direction in which those forces
act, for by determining their direction he controls their
effect. And those delicate movements which his own
strength does bring about may also be brought about by
other causes, the difference being, however, that the whole
combination and series of effects which really distinguish
the action of human intelligence will not be produced with
out it.
This seems to me the common sense explanation of
voluntary activity. We may discover hereafter that even the
�president’s address.
27
nervous organism is only indirectly affected by the mind, or
that mental power is only able to determine the direction in
which static forces can become active ones; or we may learn,
on the other hand, that all force is mental, and that either
small forces are partial manifestations of great ones, or that
great forces are the accumulated result of small ones.
These are questions of method only.
That defective psychology, which has not distinguished
between the fact of spiritual existence and the power of
mental consciousness, has had its origin in unscientific
times, and has led to much extravagance of thought. We
owe to it, for example, the notion that in sleep we are always
dreaming, and that nothing once known to us can be really
forgotten. Such views are only examples of the kind of
thought which makes the physicist so impatient of the meta
physician, and gives Materialism an undue advantage in
many discussions. They are obviously based on fancy only,
and not on knowledge of any kind.
But we do know that mental existence and consciousness
are not the same things as material existence and motion ;
and as they are not the same things, we are justified in
concluding that the universe contains at least two different
kinds of being, and that we, as human creatures, are made
of these two kinds united. We know our bodies as a
succession of moving particles, which come and go, and are
never at any moment what they were the moment before.
We know our living selves as permanent beings, not coming
and going; changing in power and in knowledge, but remain
ing in identity the same from day to day. Our bodies give
us knowledge of the world without, and all the consciousness
we can remember is dependent on their assistance. Con
tinually while we live, and finally when we die, these bodies
go entirely to pieces, and are used up again and again
�28
president’s address.
in other forms; but our mental nature being different, there
are no grounds for thinking that it is either broken up
or changed by death; and since it has already inhabited
a body continually changing, there is no reason why some
other body may not be its dwelling hereafter, giving it again
the means of consciousness, and of outward communication
with the universe.
Such a view accounts for all the facts known to us,
in accordance with our entire experience, which Materialism
can never do; and it leaves before us the prospect of a
conscious life to come, as in its nature probable on strictly
scientific grounds.
That science should recognise this, and .teach it, appears
to me absolutely essential to its own continued hold upon
human interest; for consider again, What are the real conse
quences of the opposite view ? Suppose we were agreed that
only one kind of thing has real and permanent existence, and
that this one kind of thing is matter. It follows, from the
nature of organisation, that no organised being is a perma
nent being, any more than the water in a running stream
to-day is the water that was there yesterday. The water
may appear to be the same to others, but it could not appear
so to itself if it were a sentient thing. No one will deny
that one material atom cannot transfer its own identity
to another, or that twTo different atoms, doing similar things,
can never be one atom doing the same thing twice; or
that, when we speak of ourselves as continuing to exist,
we are not speaking of other beings; or that the question
in which we feel a personal interest is, whether we our
selves shall continue to exist, and not whether other
people exactly like us will exist after us. The very word
“identity” would otherwise be without a meaning, and all
knowledge would be illusion. And it follows that, on the
theory of Materialism, to continue or to restore the lives of
�president’s address.
29
human beings after their bodies have been dissolved and
used again, is impossible. This world then, and the short
period of our present lives, could alone be of any real
concern to us; and I ask, What are the reasons by which
scientific studies, and the general culture of the intellect, are
in such a case to be recommended to our choice ? If we
choose them by nature, in preference to anything else, well
and good; but if our natural choice is for other things, what
is to induce us to alter it ?
A man knows by the tables of mortality what his average
chance of life in this world amounts to. He knows that,
although he may happen to exceed the average, he may also
happen to be one of those who die to-morrow. We cannot
help looking before and after. We find ourselves, when
we begin to think for ourselves, with tastes and dispositions
already formed. We cannot act at all without a motive, and
all our motives are either present impulse or reasonable
purpose. What reasonable purpose can be set before our
minds to make us undertake the slow labours of study,
the hardships of self-sacrifice, the risk of losing all by dying
while nothing is accomplished ?
The question, you must remember, is not whether we
should do these things if it happens that we wish to do them,
but whether other wishes should be changed to these, and
what is to change them. For this is the educational problem
of every age. The natural desire of most men, if left
to themselves, is to lead easy lives, and to enjoy present
pleasures. This desire is disturbed by thoughts of a future
life, or of a Divine Presence; but if these thoughts can be
discarded, still more if their whole foundation can be
disbelieved, what is there in the ordinary course of life
to bring about a similar disturbance ? Self-interest could
never do it with the majority of men. The gifts and oppor
tunities of the majority are comparatively very small, and if
�30
president’s address.
the object is to make this life, while it lasts, a pleasant one,
their safest way is to take things easily, and make sure
of the pleasure that lies nearest. A selfish Epicureanism
becomes at once the highest wisdom.
c And the reasonableness of an unselfish life on such
a theory .cannot be successfully maintained.
No doubt there is in every human being a power of
loving and desiring, for its own sake only, whatever
is pure and noble and disinterested.
No doubt there
are many in whom this power asserts itself so strongly that
it must be exercised ; who of their own free choice prefer
the happiness of others, and the moral elevation of their
own characters, to anything else that is set before them. No
doubt, also, the voice of conscience is universally heard, and
is always impelling us in the same direction. But why are
we to encourage these feelings when they are not naturally
strong ? Why are we to say to the men of lower tastes and
habits, You are degrading your nature ; you are wasting
your opportunities ; you are sinning against right and duty;
jf our nature, our opportunities, our conscience, are all the
mayflies of an hour, and our own concern in them will end for
ever when the hour is past ? It is not true that the pleasure
of this life is known to be increased by cultivating either the
heart or the intellect. Its nature is known to be changed by
such cultivation, and those who have experienced this change
can no longer content themselves without it. But prior
to such experience, most men can very easily content them
selves without it; and who is to measure degrees of satisfac
tion, or show the actual balance between pleasures of
different kinds ? There are many savage tribes in whom the
enjoyment of life is far more unmixed than ours, and what
are the reasons by which Materialism would induce us
to disturb their present state, and raise them, as we esteem
it, into civilised beings ? To store the mind with knowledge,
�president’s
.
to quicken and purify the affections
this world can never satisfy. It is
flower in an English garden, where wi
before it has time to blossom. It is liL
the sun, certain as we are that the earth v
And I must for a moment call your sp>
the fact that the physical theories in which Mu
its chief support are really speculations of the 1
kind, resting on the narrowest possible basis o±
truths.
What Mr. Darwin has discovered, for example, is that,
the present world, filled with life as we find it, the
process of natural selection will account for continued change
in the specific characters of living things.
What we know about evolution generally is that, within
the limits of our observation, there is, in the common order
of change, a very frequent resemblance to the process which
we call development in the growth of living things.
What we know about the dissipation of heat is, that
bodies like the earth and sun are cooling, unless there
is some external source, not at present understood, from which
internal heat can be supplied.
These are most important additions to human knowledge,
but they are utterly insufficient to justify the theories now
derived from them concerning the origin of life and the
history of the universe; and science, in the meantime, while
adopting these theories with dogmatic faith, is hiding, under
the name of Energy, its own inability to account for the
facts relating to the material world, without the help of that
which is immaterial. For energy, like consciousness, is not
cognisable outside ourselves by any physical sense. We
know what we mean by it, but that is because we ourselves
possess it, and can infer its external presence by reason of
this internal knowledge.
�.t’s
address.
>0 impress upon you as strongly as
belief in two kinds of being has been
4; that all the maxims of human conrmed under its influence; and that in
_ie cultivation of the human intellect is a
j in itself, and in the highest degree, we are
.aoms which have been thus produced, and for
.ere is at least no other obvious justification. If
mndamental belief is overturned, all its consequences go
.th it, and it rests with the lovers of science to show by
some new method of their own why study of any kind is
worth pursuing. And before replying to this challenge it is
necessary to consider another and not a smaller difficulty.
If there is really no such thing as immortality, and if the
study of science destroys the belief in it, it leads us then to
sacrifice a glorious and beneficent illusion for the sake of a
painful and depressing truth. Why should we make this
sacrifice ? Why is it well for us in such a case to know the
truth ? I think we may be sure of one thing ; that mankind
generally would decide that it is not well. Whatever we do,
our real knowledge of truth is very limited and most imper
fect, and the only ground we have for wishing to know as
much of it as possible is the assurance, not only that it
cannot be altered, but that it is in harmony with our highest
and most permanent desires. This assurance is strongly
rooted in all Christian nations, but, I believe, in them
alone; and it is clear that it must depend on the general
view we take of our position in the universe. Science
assumes that natural Truth ought to be loved for its own
sake, and forgets that it owes this idea entirely to religious
trust; to the conviction that all things are governed by
infinite wisdom and absolute goodness, and therefore that to
know what is true is to know what is best. This conviction
�president’s
.
has become so much a habit of tho<_
we forget what it rests upon, and
needs no support. Yet who does no
the lower animals, concerning death t
happy ignorance ? And who does not
ourselves, it is good to find some thing
impenetrable veil ? To draw such a veil over .
knowledge of which could only destroy human
without bringing any compensation, is only commo,
ness to others and common prudence for ourselves,
know by the long experience of the past how fully immor
tality can be believed in and trusted to, under the ordinary
conditions of human knowledge, and how perfectly it is
fitted to satisfy and purify the desires of our hearts ; and if
it were a fact that it could never be enjoyed, our wisest
course would be to retain the happiness of that belief, and
for this purpose to prevent, if not for ourselves at least for
our children, the pursuit of studies which led to its rejec
tion. Thus it is, happily as I think, that Materialism will
always defeat itself, by turning men away from any form of
science which evidently involves the acceptance of its
doctrine. And it is therefore in the supreme interest of
science itself that I recommend its present tendencies to
your earnest consideration. It is a matter on which the
leaders of science should speak their whole minds without
hesitation. It will not do to say, as is so generally said, We
study the physical world, and leave other matters to other
men, unless it is plainly shown that these other matters are
not affected by the results of physical research. And when,
on the contrary, those results as interpreted by science are
seen by every one to have the most direct and momentous
bearing upon the deepest interests of human nature, there is
a cold and forbidding cruelty in the science that will calmly
dig about the foundations of our dearest hopes, will lead us
�t’s address.
je or nothing left to stand on, and
.aking no pains to learn whether the
nether it has been necessary.
science is alone to blame in this matter.
Jy with theology. It was the constant
^ans, a few years ago, to deny the truth of
. been verified, while they assumed the truth of
3 that could not be verified. The human mind
posed to be capable of deciding correctly, by a kind
.xStinct, whether particular events had happened or par
ticular words were spoken in ancient times; and decisions
arrived at in this way were held to have a higher validity
than inferences drawn from the patient observation of exist
ing facts. Against such habits of thought the scientific
spirit is necessarily and always absolutely opposed, but they
are equally inconsistent with the religious spirit, which
desires to know the truth as earnestly as science does, and
is even more deeply interested in avoiding the pitfalls of
false reasoning. But theology, which, in needless alarm,
had closed its gates at first against what seemed to be a host
of enemies, is opening them again to the reinforcements of
its truest friends ; and the present danger is that science
will remain outside, in a position of cold antagonism, sacri
ficing its own best interests to the materialistic idea.
Science in other days has held a noble and sacred office,
strengthening and elevating by its discoveries the conviction
of a divine presence in the universe, and of an immortal
future for ourselves ; exposing many errors, correcting many
prejudices, teaching modesty, tolerance, and patience to our
reasoning powers, but maintaining always the essential truth
that there are two kinds of Being, and the fact that, while
our own mental existence is absolutely known to us, the
presence of any bodily organs can only be inferred. If
this conception is abandoned, we stand indeed upon one
�president’s address.
35
bright spot of life; but there is an abyss of endless darkness
into which, within a few short years, every one of us must
take his final plunge. The universe becomes dreadful in
the presence of that yawning gulph, and he is wisest who
sees the least of it, and who can hide the future in a golden
haze of present pleasure till the moment when he drops
away. Not such, however, is the true teaching of science in
a world like this. It is the closing of our eyes, not the
keenness of our vision, that brings such phantoms into view;
and the first fresh flower, the first sparkling dew-drop, the
first smile of a friend or a little child will take us back to
the grand realities of nature, if we look at them in the light
of a sound philosophy, and see them as they really are.
�_
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Victorian Blogging
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & 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>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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On the materialism of modern science; opening address read before the Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool, October 5th, 1871
Creator
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Mott, Albert J.
Description
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Place of publication: [s.l.]
Collation: 35 p. ; 22 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Inscription on front page: Sir Charles Lyell with the author's kind regards. The top right corners of pages 31/32-33/34 have been torn out; text missing.
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[s.n.]
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[1874]
Identifier
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G5359
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Materialism
Science
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<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 (On the materialism of modern science; opening address read before the Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool, October 5th, 1871), 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>
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application/pdf
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Text
Language
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English
Conway Tracts
Materialism
Science and Religion