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NATURE
AND THE
SUPERNATURAL ;
OR,
BELIEF AND KNOWLEDGE.
—BY—
CHARLES WATTS
Editor of “ Secular Thought.”
Author of ■“ Teachings of Secularism Compared with Orthodox Christianity, ”
Evolution and Special Creation,” “ Secularism: Constructive and De
structive,” “ Glory of Unbelief,” “ Saints and Sinners : Which ?”
“ Bible Morality,” ^Christianity: Its Origin, Nature amd
Influence,’ “ Agnosticism and Christian Theism: Which is
the More Reasonable ? ” “ Reply to Father Lambert,"
‘ ‘ The Superstition of the Christian Sunday: A
Plea for Liberty and Justice,' “ The Horrors
of the French Revolution,” Ac., Ac.
CONTENTS:
1. What do we Know of Nature ?
2. The Grandeur and Potency of Nature.
3. The Supernatural.
4. What is the Supernatural ?
5. Belief and Knowledge.
6. Religion: Natural and Supernatural.
TORONTO :
" SECULAR THOUGHT ” OFFICE,
31 Adelaide St. East.
PRICE
- 10 CENTS.
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NATURE AND THE SUPERNATURAL;
OR,
BELIEF AND KNOWLEDGE.
What do we know of Nature 1—What is nature ? Of course
most persons know what is meant by nature, in part at
all events; and the only difference in opinion or definition
that can arise will be as to its totality. There are a thou
sand facts lying all around us, and a thousand phenomena
of which we are every day eye-witnesses, that all will agree
to call nature. The question, however, does not concern
these, but others, real or imaginary, which differ somewhat
from them, arid which are supposed, therefore, to be incapable of
being classed under the same head. Those who desire to obtain
a clear and accurate idea of nature cannot do better than read
carefully Mr. John Stuart Mill’s excellent essay on the subject,
published after his death. He gives two definitions, or rather
two senses, in which we use the word in ordinary, every-day
language. The first is that in which we mean the totality of all.
existence, and the other that in which we use the term as contra
distinguished from art—nature improved by man. But it must
be borne in mind that this is still nature. Nature improved by
man is only one part of nature modified by another ; for man isas much a portion of nature as the earth on which he treads, or
the stars which glow in the midnight sky over his head. Nature,,
therefore, as we understand it, and as Mill defines it in his first
sense, is everything that exists, or that can possibly come into
existence in the hereafter—that is, all the possibilities of exis
tence, whether past, present or future. If it is asked on what
ground we include in this definition that which to-day does not
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NATURE AND THE SUPERNATURAL:
'exist, but may come into existence hereafter, we reply : Because
that which will be must be, potentially at least, even now. No
new entity can come into being; all that can occur is the
■commencement of some new form of existence, which has ever
Bad a being potentially anyhow. No new force can appear,
some new form of force may. But, then, that, when it comes,
will be as much a part of nature as the rest—is indeed even
now a part of nature, since it is latent somewhere in the universe.
Nature, in a word, is everything, besides which, to us, there is
and can be nothing.
We speak of human nature as though it were in some sort of
;sense superior to nature in general, which in fact it is. One part
■of nature may be higher than another according to human con
ception, for all nature is not the same in every particular. We
have inorganic nature, that is nature in which only certain
forms of force are seen in operation ; then we have vegetable,
animal, and the last, the highest of all, human nature, in which
forces are displayed not seen in any other part of nature. All
•these phenomena, however, are natural. The profound thought
•of Plato, Aristotle and Bacon, or the mighty flights of genius
manifested in the productions of Homer, Horace, Virgil, Dante,
Milton or Shakespeare, are as natural as the growth of a plant,
the rolling of a stone, the descent of the dew, or the evolution
of a world.
The question is frequently asked, What do we know of nature ?
Cur reply is that all we do know is of nature. The attempt,
therefore, that is often made to prove man ignorant of nature
is really an endeavour to prove him ignorant of everything, inas
much, as there is nothing else of which he can possibly have any
knowledge. That our knowledge of nature is at present small
we do not deny, but it is large compared with what it was, and
ano doubt it will be larger still in the future if we only devote
proper time to the manifold lessons which she is always pre
senting to earnest students. Instead of boasting of our super
abundance of knowledge, we rather lament our ignorance, but it
k is of that which can be known, not of that which is to us un
�OR, BELIEF AND KNOWLEDGE.
5
knowable, and about which it is useless to enquire and idle to
speculate. With us the natural is the field of the knowable and
in this field we are content to work. So far as we have gone
we are certain of the road that we are travelling, we walk on
solid ground, and we have no fear for the future. We may err
in our interpretations of some of the facts of the universe, but.
we feel assured from past experience that further investigation®
will rectify such errors, and even while they remain they are
slight and trivial and such as are common to fallible man. If
we leave this road of Nature it can but be to wander in quag
mires, surrounded by dense fogs, with no light to guide us except
a will-o’ the-wisp.
Dr. .McCosh has said, ‘In this world there is a set of object®
and agencies which constitute a system or cosmos, which may
have relations to regions beyond [beyond what?] but is all thewhile a self-contained sphere with a space around it............ This
system we call nature.” But this very system constitutes all we
know, not possessing faculties that can take us any further.
Such a system being nature, the laws in operation in it are
natural laws, and the forces by which everything is brought t$
pass are natural forces. Our knowledge is bounded by these,
f and from them receives its limitation. To talk, therefore,regarding that which lies beyond—if even it were possible to
conceive of a beyond—must be mere speculation, nothing more.
It is sometimes objected against the position here affirmed,
that upon the principle that nature is everything and that,
whatever is done must be accomplished by natural powers and
forces, no law of nature can be broken,for that would imply that
nature can act against herself. Now the error of this objection
is in supposing that because the totality of all things is nature
therefore there can be no conflict in the various parts. Nature
as a whole cannot of course be altered, but one portion may and
does come into conflict with another. A man may use his
physical powers, which are of course natural, to do that which
produces injury on his bodily organisation, which is also quite
natural, and we say he has broken a law of nature. We do mot,.
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NATURE AND THE SUPERNATURAL:
however, mean that he has done anything which nature did not
give him the power to do, but that he has used his power to a
disadvantage to himself, and it may be to others. The expression,
therefore, is relative not absolute.
It is further objected that as there are certain ac(s which we
are in the habit of speaking of as being unnatural, how can any
thing be unnatural if nature includes everything ? For instance,
we say of a man who treats those of his own kith and kin
cruelly, that he acts unnaturally, and we designate certain crimes
as unnatural offences. But we do not mean by such phraseology
that these acts are super natural but infra natural, that is, they
are not higher, but lower than nature. Further, a moment’s
reflection will show that by the use of these terms we do not
intend to convey the idea, that anything has been done outside
of nature as a whole, for the very powers employed are natural
and the acts are no less so. What is meant is that a person who
so acts has pursued a course of conduct which is not in harmony
with our exalted conception of the sphere in nature to which he
Belongs. Measured by ordinary standards one part of nature is
higher than another. Man’s sphere is the highest of all that we
are acquainted with, he has intellect in a far superior degree
than any other animal, and he has evolved a moral law by which
he is supposed to regulate his conduct. Now, if instead of
conforming to the laws of his own being he descends to a
lower platform and acts in a way that is utterly out of
harmony with his exalted functions, we say that he is unnatu
ral, meaning thereby that he is descending to a lower sphere in
nature than that which we have a right to expect him to occupy.
The act that we call unnatural in him would probably be natu
ral enough in a lower animal, and therefore cannot, be outside
nature, but is only out of accord with the requirements of that
part of nature in which he plays his part. There is evidently a
legitimate function for every passion and desire of which man
finds himself possessed, and the proper use of these, according
to the purpose of nature, we call naturalwhile to divert them
from their proper object or end we say is unnatural. A man
�OR, BELIEF AND KNOWLEDGE.
7
has an appetite for food which is natural, but he can starve him
self to death, which, in a sense, is natural too, and yet in another
sense we should say it was unnatural, because it was a violation
of an instinct common to us all. Suppose a starving man to be
destitute of food, and his own child, who has plenty, refuses that
aid to his parent that would save life, we should regard such a
son as an unnatural monster, not meaning thereby that he had
done anything that nature did not furnish the means of doing,
but that he had not acted according to. the higher laws of his
nature which appertain to all beings moving in his sphere. All,
therefore, that can be done, said, or thought, is and must be
natural in the widest sense of that term. Man’s beginnings
were in nature; his every act is natural, his thoughts are natu
ral, and in the end the great universe will fold him in her em
brace, close his eyes in death, and furnish in her own bosom his
last and final resting-place. Beyond her he cannot go. She was
his cradle, and will be his grave; while between the two she
furnishes the stage on which he plays his every part. And more,
she has made him, the actor, to play the part. Nature is one
and indivisible. She had no beginning, and can have no end.
She is the All-in-all. Combined in her are the One and the
Many which so perplexed the philosophers of ancient times.
The Grandeur and Potency of Nature.—The grandeur of
Nature must be obvious to all who reflect on its many
beauties. The massive rocks, the golden sunset, the glowing
stars, the rolling waves, the rippling brook, the grassy mead,
the trees with their luxuriant foliage, and the flowers of
every variety of hue, which have entranced and charmed man
kind during all ages, are but the grand treasures and sights of
Nature. The poet who has revelled in these natural gems,
painting them in words which have stirred the emotions to their
lowest and made the objects themselves stand out in clear out
line conspicuous to the reader, fascinating and enrapturing his
mental vision, is the poet of Nature, who finds in the external
universe food for his highest powers. Where is there a topic
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NATURE AND THE SUPERNATURAL:
more grand and ennobling ? Even that higher development of
the poetic genius, which deals, as Shakespeare did, with the
thoughts, feelings and passions of men, does but depict another
phase of Nature, profounder and more sublime, but Nature still
Milton, too, who was the poet of the supernatural so called, has
but transferred the passions and impulses of men into another
sphere, imaginary, it is true, but copied from the world of fact.
For Imagination herself cannot escape beyond the bounds of the
natural. It is said that the poet “ gives to airy nothings a local
habitation and a name but his airy nothings are simply copies
of real things, and the location he assigns to them is always a
natural one. Shakespeare’s supernatural characters are but men
—men, it may be, with some more exalted powers and some
higher attributes than men possess in the world of fact ; but
they are no less men for that, and the exaltation of their powers
is always in the direction of Nature. The philosopher whose
profound thought shall live while humanity remains on the earth,
making him who gave birth to such lofty ideas what is called
immortal, never goes beyond Nature in his deepest penetration
into the secret springs of the universe and of man.
Nature extends beyond all we can conceive of. Her glory is the
glory of the great Whole, her power the potency of the Infinite.
The highest attributes which we can imagine are hers, for from
her we borrowed our ideas of what she is, or what her possibili
ties are. Our thoughts are in Nature and of Nature. Our ideas
are pictures of her revelations to the mind of man, our sublimest
conceptions are but reproductions in mental visions of her doings
before our eyes. She is the great mother of us all; on her
breast we repose during life, and in her arms we are enfolded
in death.
Now, what is our chief business in relation to the
universe of things ? It is to learn all we can in regard to the
great laws and • mighty forces operating around us and in us
There must ever remain a field for the exercise of our faculties
in such inquiries, for Nature is unlimited in her resources, as
she is in her potency and extent.
�OR, BELIEF AND KNOWLEDGE.
9
“ No man, however keen his eye,
Can into Nature’s deepest secrets pry.”
So said an old poet, and no doubt he was right. Nature’s
deepest secrets defy all investigation, for they extend to the
depths and heights of the Infinite. But that does not alter
the fact that our sole business here is to learn all we can.
Nature’s secrets are not always easily obtained. They are not
to be had for the mere asking, as Christian mercies are said to
come. Energetic research alone can draw them from her
bosom—research often accompanied with toil, pain and sorrow.
The scientific discoveries of this age show what can be done
in the way of obtaining knowledge of the powers and forces of
the universe. Those who will cast their thoughts back to the
commencement of the present century, and then reflect what has
been accomplished since that time, cannot help being startled at
the contrast between things as they then were and as they now
exist. It is not necessary to enter into detail here regarding the
tremendous onward movement that discovery and investigation
have made within that period. In these days of cheap popular
literature almost every person is acquainted with the facts. The
wonder to us is, how our fathers progressed at all in the absence
of discoveries which we deem essential to every-day life. Rail
ways, gas, the telegraph, the telephone, photography, and many
other such advantages, have all come into use during the present
century. Had any man a hundred years ago predicted the state
of things existing to-day, he would have been considered a fit
subject for a lunatic asylum. Had such results been imagined
they would have been deemed supernatural. Nature has thus
far disclosed the great events which for ages had lain hidden in
her arcana. This she has done in obedience to patient and per
sistent investigation on the part of a noble and hard-working
band of men—the devotees of science.
The discoveries already made are an indication of what is yet
to come. From what has been we may judge of what may be.
Earnest men are still pursuing their patient investigations into
Nature. They study her laws, they question her phenomena,
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NATURE AND THE SUPERNATURAL:
they interrogate her doings, and they never go unrewarded for
their toil and their pains. Almost every day something new is
brought to view which shall tend to lighten the load of human
woe and sorrow, and bring about harmony among mankind.
The laws of Nature are our guide in life, and the grandeur of '
Nature is our inspiration. The forces of the universe we know
only in their manifestations; but that is sufficient—more we
need not. It was a wise saying of the great German philoso
pher, Goethe : “ Man is not born to solve the problems of exist
ence ; but he must nevertheless attempt it in order that he may
know how to keep within the bounds of the knowable.” We
should aim, therefore, to be consistent students of Nature in all
her marvellous manifestations. We are, as Bacon says, ministers
and interpreters of Nature: farther than that we have no desire
to go. In trees and stars and suns and flowers, in the solid earth
and the expansive sea, in the growing plants and moving ani
mals, and, above all, in the great mind of man, we find our sole
delight, our simple care, and the basis of all our hopes for the
world and all it contains.
The Supernatural.—There has been a large number of books
written on this subject, some of them by men of eminence in
their respective departments of thought; and yet the matter is
still left in a state of obscurity. It has, of course, been dealt
with from very different standpoints, and therefore exceedingly
conflicting arguments have been brought to bear upon it. Two
able American writers, Dr. Bushnell and Dr. McCosh, have dismussed it with considerable learning and some thought, in books
which are widely read and often appealed to both in the pulpit
and through the press ; but one has always to put down these
volumes with a great degree of dissatisfaction, since nothing like
clear definition is to be found in their pages. In England the
subject has been made the theme of several large works, of hun
dreds of magazine articles, and of thousands of pulpit discourses :
and by this time, therefore, some clear idea ought to be obtained
as to the differentiation between these two spheres, if there are
�OR, relief and knowledge.
11
two ; but the whele subject is still enveloped in the densest dark
ness. There must be some cause for this, and the cause, probably,
is not far to seek. The natural we know : but the supernatural,
what is that ? Of course, as its name implies, it is something
higher than nature—something above nature. But, if there is a
sphere higher than nature, and yet often breaking through nature,
nature itself must be limited by something, and the question that
at once arises is, By what is such limitation fixed, and what is
the boundary line which marks it off and separates it from the
supernatural ? And this is just what no two writers seem to be
agreed upon. But’, further, supposing such a line to be discovered
and to be well known, so that no difficulty could arise in pointing
it out, a still more difficult problem presents itself for solution—
namely, how man, who is a part of nature, and able only to come
into contact with nature, can push his knowledge into that other
sphere Which, being non-natural, cannot be at all accessible to a
natural being ? If the supernatural region be synonymous with
the unknowable, it clearly cannot concern us, simply because we
have no faculties with which to cognise it, and no powers capable
of penetrating into its profound depths. In this case, as far as
we are concerned, there is practically no supernatural, for none
can operate on that sphere in which man lives and moves and
displays his varied and in some respects very marvellous powers.
Professor Huxley thinks that every new discovery in science
pushes the supernatural further away from us by enlarging the
boundary of human knowledge of nature.
According to many writers, the spiritual is the supernatural,
because it is not under the control of natural law. But why ?
If man be partly a spiritual being, why should not natural law
extend into the sphere of his spiritual nature ? Indeed, an able
writer on the Christian side, whose work has been enthusiasti
cally received by all religious denominations—Professor Drum
mond—has maintained this position, the very title of his book
stating the whole case : “ Natural Law in the Spiritual World.”
The great German philosopher, Kant, calls nature the realm of
sensible phenomena, conditioned by space, and speaks of an
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NATURE AND THE SUPERNATURAL 1
other sphere as a world above space, depleted of sense, and
free from natural law, and therefore supersensible and super
natural. But this is to make the supernatural spaceless and
timeless—in fact, a mere negation of everything, and therefore
nothing. Now, the only light in which we can look at this sub
ject, with a view to obtain anything like clear and correct views,
is that of modern science. By her the boundary of our know
ledge has been greatly enlarged, and through her discoveries we
have been enabled to obtain more sound information regarding
the laws of the universe than it was possible for our fathers, with
the limited means at their disposal, to possess. Looking at the
universe by which we are surrounded, and of which we ourselves
form a part, we see law in operation everywhere, and this law
we call natural law.
If there be a sphere where the supernatural plays a part and
exercises any control, it must clearly be in some remote region,
of which we have, and can have, no positive knowledge; and
the forces in operation must be other than those with which we
are conversant upon this earth. Science cannot recognise the
supernatural, because she has no instruments which she can bring
to bear upon, and no means at her disposal for, its investigation
She leaves to the theologian all useless speculations regarding
such a region, contenting herself with reminding him that he is,
in all such discussions, travelling outside the domain of facts into
a province which should be left to poets and dreamers, and which
belongs solely to the imagination. All law is and must be natu
ral law, from a scientific standpoint, because we can have access
to nature, and to nature only. It is impossible to get beyond her
domain, even in imagination.
The supernatural, if it exists, mnst reveal itself through nature,
for in no other way can it reach us so as to produce any impres
sion upon the human mind. But, if it come through nature, then
how can it be distinguished from the phenomena of nature ? It
will be quite impossible to differentiate between them. We are
quite precluded from saying, Nature could not do this, and is
unable to do that. No man can fix a limit to the possibilities of
�OR, BELIEF AND KNOWLEDGE.
13
power in nature. She has already done a thousand things which
our forefathers would have declared impossible, and she will
doubtless in the future, under further discoveries and advances
in science, do much more which will look impossible to us. What
ever, therefore, comes through nature must be natural, for the
very reason that it comes to us in that way. And the business
of science is to interpret it in the light of natural law. Even if
she should prove herself incompetent to the task, it would only
show that some phenomena had been witnessed which had for a
time baffled explanations, not that anything supernatural had
occurred. And the business of science would be to at once di
rect itself to the new class of facts, with a view to finding the key
with which to open the lock and disclose the secret of the power
by which they were produced.
What is the Supernatural ?—According to Dr. Bushnell,
“That is supernatural, whatever it be, that is not in the
chain of natural cause and effect, or which acts on the chain
of cause and effect in nature without the chain.” But, it
may fairly be asked, is there any such cause, and if so,
where ? Is not every link in the chain that we see or can
conceive of natural ? Moreover, were there any other link
or chain, how could we recognise it or distinguish it from na
ture ? True, Dr. Bushnell attempts to explain his meaning, and in
so doing he practically gets rid of the supernatural altogether.
He says: “ If the processes, combinations, and results of our
system of nature are interrupted or varied by the action of God,
or angels, or men, so as to bring to pass that which would not
come to pass by its own internal action under the mere law of
cause and effect, such variations are in like manner supernatu
ral ” Now this reasoning is based upon the supposition that
things are brought about by some power higher than the ordinary
law of cause and effect. If this be meant to'be taken absolutely,
then we most emphatically deny it. But if, as it would seem, Dr.
Bushnell simply means cause and effect in external nature apart
from intelligent beings, that is to take far too limited a view of
�14
NATURE and the supernatural;
the law. For man himself is as much a creature of law as a
tree or a star, and all he does is accomplished by, not outside the
law of cause and effect. But were it otherwise, as this writer
appears to suppose, then man’s actions are all supernatural,which
is virtually giving up the supernatural altogether, in the sense
in which it is usually understood. Definitions of the superna
tural are given by the Duke of Argyle and Dr. McCosh that do
not differ greatly from that offered by Dr. Bushnell. Dr. McCosh
speaks of even miracles as not being against nature in any
other sense than that in which one natural agent may be used
against another, as water may be employed to counteract fire,
which is, in fact, to bring the supernatural into nature, and to
obliterate all distinction between them.
It is said that there are exceptional cases in which the super
natural has broken through the natural, and thus become objects
of sense in the same way as the rising and setting of the sun,
the ebb and flow of the tides, or any other natural phenomena,
and that these must be judged of by the ordinary laws of evi
dence. The reply to this, however, is that the alleged superna
tural, if it shows itself in its manifestations to man, must either
come through nature or in some other way. But there is no
other way known to us, for man cannot get on the outside of
nature even in thought. The most extravagant flights of ima
gination that we find, either in poetry or in the products of reli
gious ecstacy, are always shapen in natural moulds, either as a
whole or, what is more general, in their parts. No image formed
in the human mind can possibly be other than natural, if not in
its entirety, at least in the component parts of which it is made
up. We can conceive of a centaur, though no such thing ever
existed, or of a mermaid, though no person has ever seen one,
these being creatures purely of the imagination. They are
compound things, each part of which has been seen a hundred
times, and are formed by blending a portion of one animal with
a part of another, thus making an image which on the whole is
unnatural, but the parts of which are taken from nature. Men
speak of angels, but either they have no idea at all in their minds
�OR, BELIEF AND KNOWLEDGE.
15
as to what they are speaking of, and merely use a meaningless
word, or else they think of a human being with the addition of
wings or some other abnormal appendage. It is a noteworthy
fact that those much-talked-of angelic appearances recorded in
the Bible are really descriptions of men. Its God is pictured in
a human form, and the Holy Ghost assumes the shape of a dove.
Christianity itself is represented as being a supernatural revela
tion, yet every one of its doctrines came through a natural me
dium. The writers who penned the various books of the Bible
were men, and we have but their bare assertions that what they
taught had any other than a natural origin. Even if their
honesty be proved unimpeachable, there still arises the question
as to whether they might not have been deceived. At all events,
theie is no manifestation of the supernatural, all the revelations
coming through nature. And in that very transmission they
must have become so much blended with the purely natural that
it would be impossible to distinguish the one from the other.
All this shows that we have no faculties by which the supposed
supernatural can be as much as imagined in our minds. The
moment that we fancy we think of it, we borrow our ideas from
Nature, so that even in imagination we cannot and do not tran
scend her boundaries. The fact is, man cannot travel beyond
the natural, he having no experience of anything outside or
apart from its domain. To assert that the so-called supernatural
is the cause of the natural is to allege that which is the very
reverse of what we know to be fact. If we trace what is termed
the supernatural to its origin, we shall find it end in nature.
This may appear paradoxical, but it is nevertheless true.
Mr. Moncure D. Conway very aptly says in his “ Lessons for
the Day : ” “ Supernature is a disjointed dream of nature as seen
by science. It is the morning vision of Art; the artist realises
that more ideal world with which nature is in labour. Know
ledge, Art, Poetry, enter the ideal kingdom by the door; Super
stition tries to scramble over the walls, and gets maimed in the
attempt. The supernaturalist believes that one day an iron axe
swam on the river Jordan : but at the command of knowledge
millions of tons of iron are swimming to-day on many waters.
�16
NATURE AND THE SUPERNATURAL ;
He says certain jars of water flushed to wine; but by culture
the rains of heaven falling on a thousand hills are turned to
wine. We want no supernature. That is mere calumny on na
ture, and caricature of the best in it. What we need is har
mony with nature,—harmony with its laws that we may have
health: sympathy with its beauty that we may be pure; obedi
ence to its conditions, that we may command its forces and in
spire them with human purpose. In nature is the constancy
which is our dependence and our development; in it the poten
tiality Reason, which is our only source of Wisdom; in it the
Love which attends the loving from the cradle to the grave.
Ignorance can see it only as chaos in one age, accursed in another ;
superstition can find but terror in its laws, and hope only in their
fancied overthrow by arbitrary thaumaturgy of omnipotence;
but wherever the mind of man flowers, nature flowers in re
sponse, filling every sense with beauty, giving mind and heart
their deeper satisfaction, steadily incarnating every pure ideal.”
“It is often said that mankind are fond of the marvellous;
but it is equally true that all men reverence the laws of nature.
Man’s faith in nature has always accompanied his faith in super
nature. They even whom nature daily slays still trust in her.
Their supernaturalism is never anti-natural. Miracles may have
been invented which outrage nature; but they have not taken
high place in human credence. I believe it would be found, on
investigation, that in all the miracles which have been accepted
as evidences of religion, certainly all that have been cherished
by any race, there is a mixture of the natural and supernatural.
Elijah restores the child to life by stretching his body upon it:
room was thereby left to the popular imagination to conceive of
some natural force generated by such contact. When Christ
cures a man’s blind eyes, or Vespasian heals a wounded arm,
both were said to have done it by means of spittle; so leave
was given the mind to imagine some unexplained medicinal vir
tue in that application. The means used are sometimes absurdly
inadequate ; effects the most astounding are attributed to a tone
of voice, a form of words, a touch. But these were believed to
be part r aluigl foicu.”
�OR, BELIEF AND KNOWLEDGE.
IT
Belief and Knowledge.—There is a marked distinction to be
observed between belief and knowledge. We may, and do, have
faith in that of which we have no real or actual knowledge, for
we are compelled to exercise such faith in everyday life upon nu
merous topics. The point to be remembered is that, if we are judi
cial or rational, we shall be careful that our belief is not opposed
to knowledge. We may, and do, believe in countries which we have
never seen ; in the existence of persons with whom we have never
come into contact, and of countless things of which we have had
no actual experience ; but if we are wise we shall always be on
our guard against taking for granted that which is highly improb
able, to say nothing of the impossible. If a man asserted that one
thing was in two places at the same time, we should not stop to
ask for the evidence that he had to produce, because no amount of
evidence could serve to substantiate as a truth that which we
knew by the very nature of things to be impossible. Testimony is
highly valuable of course, but there are many subjects which no
amount of evidence could prove, simply because the matter is of
such a nature as not to admit of proof. Suppose, for instance,
someone had said that he had visited a country where two and
two made five, we should at once draw the inference that either
the man stated what was not true, or else that he attached a
different meaning to the words employed than that which we
are in the habit of giving to them. A man tells us that he#ias
seen a miracle, and that, therefore, he knows from experience that
the Supernatural does exist, and he brings a dozen persons to
verify his statement. What are we to do in such a case ? A
moment’s reflection may show that the testimony is unimpeach
able, while the conclusion is perfectly erroneous. The event
which he describes may have happened, but how is it to be
proved to be a miracle ? The forces in operation in its produc
tion may be to him unknown, he may never have seen them in
operation before, indeed they may be new to all mankind, but
still his evidence could simply vouch for the fact; and the cause
must be a matter for enquiry. The thing no doubt happened
in nature, for no experience can extend beyond that, and the
�18
NATURE AND THE SUPERNATURAL;
■assertion that the forces producing it were supernatural is a
gratuitous one, and not only not supported by the laws of evid
ence, but utterly opposed to everything that we know Belief
should have a rational basis or it is wild and chimerical. Faith
is good in its place, but it must always be confined within the
sphere of knowledge, A man can have faith in that which he
never saw and perhaps never will see : to this we do not object,
but the thing in which he has faith must be a possible one or his
faith is misplaced, and he himself deluded. Now, faith in the
■Supernatural is an unreasoning faith, pre-supposing a know edge
which we do not and cannot possess, since a knowledge of that
which lies beyond nature is an impossibility. The sphere of
faith is legitimate enough, but it is not a sphere distinct from
that of knowledge, but one which arises out of it and should
never go beyond it. We know certain things and believe others,
but the latter are always more or less connected with the former,
Faith in the order of nature is reasonable, because it is based on
experience ; faith in the supernatural is absurd because it is
opposed to all possible knowledge, not only to the knowledge
that we have, but to all that it is in any way possible for us to
have.
Of course there is a region in which speculation may be toler
ated, but it must be tolerated as speculation, nothing more. The
misfortune is that those, as a rule, who indulge in speculation
make their theories do duty as facts. They not only invest their
ideas with the importance of legitimate deductions from facts,
but give to them the value of the facts themselves. It is against
this that we protest. When men talk about matters of which
no one can know anything, they may be harmless enough as
dreamers, but when they endeavour to bend men of reason and
thought to their way of thinking, resorting sometimes even to
persecution to promulgate their idle whims, then they are dan
gerous and can no longer be regarded with impunity. Society
has to suffer for their errors; and it is the duty of every mem
ber of that society to lift up his or her voice against either their
wilful perversion of truth, or their innocent misapprehension of
�OR, BELIEF AND KNOWLEDGE.
19
facts. Such, as a rule, are the orthodox believers in the super
natural, and the popular advocates of speculative views on
religion.
We may ask, and it is a very legitimate question, What effect
has it had on the world to substitute reckless belief for know
ledge and to indulge in idle speculation regarding the Super
natural ? To say the least of it, men’s minds have thereby been
diverted from the real business of life, their attention has been
taken from the things we know, and the study of which would
prove serviceable to us, to occupy their mental powers upon
matters of which no knowledge is to be attained. To say such a
course is a waste of time would be to treat the matter far too
lightly. It is much more than that. It has led to incorrect
thinking, to loose reasoning, to the drawing of false conclusions,
and to the substitution of imagination for reality. Further, the
fostering of groundless and fanatical theological beliefs has not
only caused almost endless persecutions, but it has proved a pro
lific cause of insanity. In the Philadelphia Times and Register
of Sept. 14 of last year (1889), Dr. Joseph Jones, Professor of
Clinical Medicine in the Tulane University, wrote thus:—“ The
contemplation of certain hypotheses and dogmas, held and
vehemently urged from the pulpit, by some religious sects, have,
without doubt, produced great excitement and alarm in the
minds of persons of excitable and unstable nervous organisation.
The burning eloquence and moral pictures of the religious enthu
siast and fanatic, and the horrible revelations of the melancholy
and sinister imagination of Dante, have converted the souls of
the unwary and timid into the abodes of terror and alarm.
Certain dogmas, often represented and illustrated by this fiery
language, and by the subtle power of the painter’s brush, as the
fires and tortures of a burning hell, a veritable lake of fire, where
fiery billows eternally wrap the bodies and souls of the damned,
and whose shores forever resound with the piercing, truly hope
less shrieks of those inhabitants of this earth who have failed to
unter heaven on account of the commission of personal sins ; a
veritable living devil, ever on the alert to seduce and damn the
�20
NATURE AND THE SUPERNATURAL ;
souls of men, women, and children, and drag the unwary down
to everlasting confusion and suffering in the bottomless pit—the
unpardonable sin—have for centuries terrified the weak and
timid devotees of certain phases of religious belief into hopeless
insanity. The violent exercises of certain religious sects, during
the performance of so-called religious exercises, such as shouting,
hopping, jumping, dancing, demoniacal ‘ holy ’ laughing, often
induce epileptic seizures, and inaugurate such conjestion and
exhaustion of the nervous structures as induce religious melan
choly and end in hopeless insanity. The hallucinations which,
in the experience of the Professor, exercise the greatest influence
on the victims of insanity are: 1. The firm belief by the victim
that he is the slave and the abject subject of the devil. To all
remonstrances the victim replies that he must obey his master,
the devil. I have observed and treated cases where the victim
of religious melancholy and hallucination has for days and
weeks refused all food because his master the devil commanded
him not to eat. In some cases, every agent and every effort to
induce the patient to take food have failed, and death has re
sulted from starvation. 2. The commission of the unpardonable
sin. 3. The eternal damnation of the human soul: lost, lost,
lost for ever.”
The lesson from experience is that theological beliefs, when
sincerely and fanatically entertained, are manifested more or less
in conduct. It is, therefore, our uuty to inculcate more reliance
upon practical knowledge and less dependence upon fanciful
beliefs. It is well known that “ knowledge is power,” to whose
magic influence the world is indebted for its progress, enabling
as it does those who possess and utilise it to fight the more ear
nestly, and with a better prospect of winning, the great battle
of life.
Religion: Natural and Supernatural.—Natural religion is ■
based on love, while so-called Supernatural religion is based
on fear. Many persons object to the use of the term religion,
and no doubt the objection would be a good one if that word
retained its old orthodox associations. There is, however, a
�OR, BELIEF AND KNOWLEDGE.
21
rapidly-growing tendency to employ the word in its etymologi
cal and ethical meaning rather than in its alleged super
natural sense. Accepting religion as ethical unity, established
to promote the welfare of mankind on earth, its proper’ basis is
enlightened benevolence. This great human instinct is not
dependent upon any form of supernaturalism for its manifesta
tion ; its activity is evoked by a desire to alleviate the sufferings
of the afflicted, and to enhance the happiness of the unfortunate.
The hope of securing a fair opportunity for the exercise of this
true benevolence prompts the lover of nature to aim at correct
ing every cherished error by the substitution of a true know
ledge of the natural for the old doubtful speculations as to the
Supernatural. “ The error,” remarks a popular writer, " of the
supernatural religions is apparent, inasmuch as they possess only
artificial life, and, deprived of this, they soon succumb and
perish. Their buttresses and supports have been the despotism
of princes and the fraud and chicanery of priests. The savage
Gauls, when they entered the Senate, were awe-struck at the
majesty which stood upon the brows of the venerable Senators
One of the barbarians, however, ventured quietly to stroke the
beard of one of the Fathers of his country. The aged representa
tive of Old Rome for an instant forgot his dignity, and he
pushed the intruder violently from him. The spell was broken,
and the swords of the savages drank the life-blood of the Con
script Fathers. So has it been with many of the religions, So
long as men were awe-stricken at their mysteries, so long were
they the victims of priestcraft. When, however, men dared to
examine for themselves, when they laid their hands on the veil
it was rent from top to bottom, and the inner chamber, the
sanctum sanctorum, was found to contain little else than a mere
anthropomorphic image.”
History plainly teaches that, when Supernatural religion has
been aught more than than a system of mere belief and pro
fession, it has conduced to wrong action. The records of man
kind furnish ample proof of this. Whether it be Pagans with
their deities, Jews with their Jehovah, or Christians with their
Trinity, all such theologisms have brought forth cruelty, oppres-
�22
NATURE AND THE SUPERNATURAL :
sion and intolerance. Truth, virtue, and love are the three ele
ments which should go towards the foundation of Natural
religion. They formed a humanitarian religion in the case of
Buddhism ; they form the basis of the great religious humani
tarianism of Auguste Comte; they, with the great science of
man’s true education and enlightened benevolence, as promul
gated by that great philanthropist, Robert Owen, formed what
probably will be ultimately accepted as a practical religion of
daily life. The love insisted upon by Natural religion is, more
over, active love. It does not reach to the clouds, or attempt to
penetrate behind the veil of Nature into the region of the un
known and unknowable, but it aims only at instructing and
inspiring human nature, so that there may be perfect harmony
between that and external nature, and absolute peace, concord,
and kindliness between man and man. It is not anti-Christian,
in so far as the Christian believer remains true to the lessons of
love, of mercy, of justice, and of well-doing.
The Supernaturalist talks of Jesus as though he had more
than human .love for man, and a superhuman desire to effect his
welfare. The Naturalist, instead of this, maintains that the \
same high and lofty feeling of philanthropy, of brotherly love,
beats in every human bosom, and needs only wise and patient
cultivation to bring forth golden fruit. Natural religion declares
that there can be no grander impulse, no loftier, more animating
incentive, than an honest, steadfast desire to benefit the whole
human race. This is also the principle of Secularism—that of
active, practical love; of affection manifesting itself in benevo
lence, and earnest, kind efforts for the welfare of man, woman
and child.
Among the first indications we find in human history of the
supernatural feeling is fttichism—the worshipping of trees,
recks, animals, etc. If, however, fetichism were only such as is
here described, it would be Naturalism, not Supernaturalism,
inasmuch as a tree, a stone, an an.mal, a fish, or a bird, is each a
something pertaining to Nature. Such worship, however, was
given, primarily, not to the tree, etc., but to an imaginary some
thing supposed to be latent or hidden in the perceptible object
�OR, BELIEF AND KNOWLEDGE.
23
adored. In this manner there gradually grew up among
primaeval men the notion of a non-natural—that is, a Super
natural—world, a world of spirits, of beings which lay, as it
were, at the back of all phenomena.
Religion, to be acceptable to the intellects of the present age„
must be recognised in its truest sense—as a binding system
between man and man—as being based on Nature, from whose*
prolific source the highest thoughts, the purest conceptions, and
the loftiest inspiration are derived. Tell us not that the Natural
is impotent to kindle within us the warmest rapture of enthusi
asm. Contemplate, for instance, the setting of the sun, and may
we not exclaim : “ How glorious, how radiant with magnificence,
yon setting sun, pouring its floods of golden light o’er half the
world ! The solid earth’s proud mountain tops are crowned ! the
lowly vales, with cities, hamlets, lonely cots, rejoice in chastened
splendour. The ocean’s mighty mass is turned to liquid fire;
above, the sky is bathed in brightness, and the clouds are melting
into molten gold. Who has not hailed the vision and confessed
its glory until the burning of these sunset fires has kindled
flames of rapture within them ? ”
Oh! man, why dost thou wander seeking peace from some
far-off and unknown God. refusing Nature’s loving sympathy ?
Oh 1 listen, whoe’er thou art, to her voice, and hearken to her
language, ’tis fraught with holiest wisdom from the fount of
truth ; listen to the soft whispers from the vernal breeze, to the
gushing of the fountain, to the wind’s low sighing or the ocean’s
melody, and thou wilt know in thy mind’s depths a sweet, a
holy, deep communing far other than thou yet hast known,
with man or other Gods. Wouldst thou worship, turn thee oft at
morn, at noon, at stilly eve—at the sunset hour, to the spacious
temple of the universe, and in thy melting sadness or thy loving
gladness revel in the nature within thee and without. Art thou
stricken, and in thy bitterness art weeping ? All nature will
look on thee lovingly, and a smile shall chase away thy spirit’s
gloom, and thou shalt feel a sympathy that shall soothingly stay
the tide of thy agony. Art thou glad ? Thy spirits buoyant,
thou shalt feel a thrilling rapture blending with thy spirits’
�24
NATURE AND THE SUPERNATURAL.
gladness, and from the hidden depths of Nature thou shalt hear
a sound of harmony exquisitely beautiful, attuned to thine own
melody.
Knowest thou not, oh man, that Nature seeks to win thy
affections by her charms, that she may feed thee with beauty and
with knowledge from the unfathomable stores of the Infinite,
that thou mayest read in thine own self the symbols of her won
drous mysteries ? As thou gazest on the mystery of the dread
and trackless depths of boundless space, thronged with its
myriad hosts of living wandering fires, oh ! readest thou not the
symbol—the boundless intellect of man—wherein thou art linked
in fellowship with the Infinite? As thou gazest on the earth.'encircling ocean as its bounding waves joyously ride foaming and
Hashing -with the rising breeze, or as thou gazest ’neath the deep
blue wave, where finny life, in playful mood, is sporting over
wealth untold of dazzling pearls, gems and gold, the spoils of
ages and the wrecks of thousand years, oh ! readest thou not the
symbol within thee again—the all-embracing bond of human
brotherhood, the high transcendent worth of pure affection, the
pricelessness of love ?
As thou gazest on the vast concave—the sky of richest azure,
shading sweetly down to softest sapphire—dost thou not/ee[
that there is purity ? And as the sapphire sky is o’erspread with
gold, and floods of sunset glory shed their living lustre o’er earth
and ocean, e’en where mortal tread hath marked no pathway,
but where life, loveliness and intelligence rejoice, oh ! hast thou
not felt in that vesper hour the pensive calm thrill through
all thy pulses, and thy spirit fill with a chastened holy stillness ?
Then, as a strength is given thee from the Mighty Infinite,
reciprocating in thy deep emotion, thou hast offered to Nature as
a grateful offering, the incense of thy spirit on the altar of thy
heart. In such a moment would not thy inmost nature all
revolt against the doctrine of our “ inborn sin ” that all within
thee is depraved ? All nature pleads the sacredness of human
nature, and all together cry, “ Holy, holy, holy is the tabernacle
•of a man.”
�
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Title
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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
Date
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Pamphlet
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Title
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Nature and the supernatural or, Belief and Knowledge
Description
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Place of publication: Toronto
Collation: 24 p. ; 22 cm.
Notes: Date of publication from KVK.
Creator
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Charles Watts
Date
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[1880?-1900?]
Publisher
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Secular Thought Office
Subject
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Superstition
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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 (Nature and the supernatural or, Belief and Knowledge), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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RA1097
RA1849
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application/pdf
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Text
Language
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English
Nature
Supernatural