§ 5 Concluding Remarks
An eminent theologian tells us: “Reason is the only faculty we have wherewith to judge concerning anything, even Revelation itself.”72 How is it, then, that Religionist and Rationalist arrive at such contrary conclusions? The explanation is simple enough: the Religionist trusts, the Rationalist distrusts, his emotions. Which is in the right? The survival of religious belief will largely depend upon the view men may ultimately take upon this question. Whether religion be no more than “morality touched by emotion,” as Matthew Arnold defines it,73 or whether all religions are only different ways of expressing a reality which transcends experience and correct expression, we cannot, on that account, accept dogmas that are untrue; we cannot pretend that a supernatural revelation has been vouchsafed to us. We may surmise, as Sir Henry Thompson supposed, that the “eternal and infinite energy behind phenomena” is what we call “God”; but we have to admit that this God is an unknown God, and that all attempts to unravel the mystery that surrounds our own fate are the merest guesses in the dark. Does a surmise—a belief if you will have it so—of this kind afford any religious satisfaction? If this Eternal Energy possesses what we should call a mind, can we worship a Supreme Intelligence
“Which stoops not either to bless or ban,
Weaving the woof of an endless plan”?
Can we worship the Unknown? Can we, like the Athenians of old, erect altars to the Unknown God? I trow not. The age of ignorance and superstition is slowly, but none the less surely, passing away, never again to return.
Sir Oliver Lodge believes74 in “the ultimate intelligibility of the universe,” and with this opinion many of us will agree. Perhaps our present brains may require considerable improvement before we can grasp the deepest things by their aid, or perhaps they will suffice as they are, and only a further acquisition of knowledge may be required. In any case, one sees no reason why, because we have no acceptable theory of life or of death now, we must therefore be equally ignorant many centuries, or even a single century, hence. On the other hand, it is, of course, quite possible that these mysteries may remain for ever unexplained. It may transpire that Haeckel’s assumption of a monism in the physical world, and his identification of vital force with ordinary physical and chemical forces, are incorrect. It may transpire that Professor le Conte was wrong in regarding vital force as just so much withdrawn from the general fund of chemical and physical forces. Radio-activity and the cyanic theory75 may not furnish a satisfactory solution of the problem of the first appearance of life upon this globe. But one thing, at all events, our present knowledge seems clearly to indicate: the solution of the problem cannot be in accord with the Christian dogmas. Should the secrets of our existence still lie concealed in the womb of time, their birth will be the death, not the renascence, of the dying creeds of to-day.
Meanwhile our present course is clearly defined: we should search out and expose all false premises of belief. Only in this way can we hope to arrive a little nearer to the ultimate truth. Also, what is of much greater consequence, when all that is demonstrably untrue in the world’s beliefs has been pointed out and acknowledged, believers and unbelievers will be in far better accord concerning all that is vital to the well-being of the human race. “We cannot,” as Mr. Trevelyan pertinently remarks,76 “alter the nature of the Unknown by conceiving it to be other than that which it is; but we can get a wrong basis for ethics, and a false sentimental outlook on everything, by reason of false beliefs.”
By all means let those who can, continue to cherish the “larger hope”—why should they not, while all is unknown?—and let the metaphysicians continue to translate their wishes and aspirations into philosophical language; but the guiding spirit in human affairs should be, and one day will be, a scientific humanitarianism working on rational principles for the peace and happiness of all mankind.
“Ring out the grief that saps the mind
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.
Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.
Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.
Ring out old shapes of foul disease,
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.”
76 P. 387 of The Independent Review, December, 1904.
Notes
1 See p. 477 of The Relation of Confirmation to Baptism, by A. J. Mason, D.D. (Longmans.)
2 At a men’s service held in St. Mary Bredin’s Church, Canterbury, on December 4th, 1904.
3 One phase of this failure was well shown by “Oxoniensis,” in his letters which started and ended the “Do We Believe?” correspondence in the Daily Telegraph. On the other hand, we find pronounced unbelievers taking a leading part in wise reforms, and devoting their lives to researches that will benefit humanity.
4 This statement is made on the authority of Darwin and of all our modern naturalists. The theory is established, and its important message to the human race elaborated, in such works as Darwin’s Descent of Man (see vol. i., chap. v., “The Development of the Intellect and Moral Faculties”), Huxley’s Ethical Lectures (“Science and Morals,” 1886; “Evolution and Ethics,” the Romanes’ lecture for 1893, etc.), Clodd’s Story of Creation (chap. xi., on “Social Evolution”), Winwood Reade’s Martyrdom of Man, and Prince Kropotkin’s Mutual Aid.
5 P. 264 of Japan by the Japanese, edited by Alfred Stead.
6 Pp. 147–8 of Lafcadio Hearn’s book, Kokoro.
7 In the Japan Times. Quoted by Mr. Moore in his book, The Christian Faith in Japan, p. 131.
8 The Christian Faith in Japan, pp. 53–4. Explanations regarding the shortcomings of the Japanese in the matter of commercial morality will be found in Professor Nitobe’s Bushido, pp. 64–70, and also, as there mentioned, in Knapp, Feudal and Moral Japan, and in Ransome, Japan in Transition, ch. viii.
9 The Nineteenth Century and After, February, 1905, art. “Moral Teaching in Japan.” Regarding their native virtues, see Appendix.
10 The Independent Review, December, 1905, art. “The Religions of Japan.”
11 See p. 221 of Dr. Lydston’s book, The Diseases of Society.
12 In his book, A Modern Utopia, p. 144. See also Appendix to this work.
13 It may not be out of place to mention here that various Ethical Societies in England (and her Colonies), Europe, and America are doing all they can to meet the ethical needs of Agnostics, and their efforts deserve far greater support than they have yet received from the wealthy. For this want of sympathy there are many obvious reasons—reasons, fortunately, that will disappear in the near future. It will be urged that the truly pious and honest believer finds prayer of the greatest help towards right conduct, while the unbelieving ethicist is destitute of this aid. I do not propose now to discuss the ethical value of prayer, or consider the causes of its success and failure; but I would ask the reader to refer to my remarks in Chapter VI. on the psychology of prayer. Personally, I am of opinion that the practice of auto-suggestion may prove useful to those in need of such assistance, and that one day (let us hope at no distant date) psychical research will lead to the discovery of a complete and scientific method for the toughening of our moral fibres. See also further note in the Appendix.
14 Mr. H. G. Wells furnishes us with some novel ideas on this point in his book, A Modern Utopia, chap. vii., §§ 2–5. If we cannot prevent degenerates from marrying, at least we can abolish an environment that assists heredity in their production. See also Appendix.
15 See pp. 25–6 of Stanley de Brath’s The Foundations of Success.
16 See Prince Kropotkin’s articles in The Nineteenth Century and After (August, 1904, and March, 1905), entitled “The Ethical Need of the Present Day” and “The Morality of Nature.” Anyone wishing to know why we must lead the moral life should not fail to read these instructive articles, and also Dr. Saleeby’s Evolution: The Master-Key.
17 Prince Kropotkin in The Nineteenth Century and After.
18 “Rationalism may be defined as the mental attitude which unreservedly accepts the supremacy of reason and aims at establishing a system of philosophy and ethics verifiable by experience and independent of all arbitrary assumptions or authority” (from the Memorandum of the Aims and Objects of the Rationalist Press Association).
19 Closing words of Professor Huxley’s essay, Science and Morals.
20 Essay entitled “An Episcopal Trilogy,” p. 312 of Essays on Controverted Questions (Macmillan & Co.).
21 Art. “Why Live a Moral Life?” in the Agnostic Annual, 1895.
22 Art. “Why Live a Moral Life?” in the Agnostic Annual, 1905.
23 Art. “Why Live a Moral Life?” in the Agnostic Annual, 1895.
24 Ibid.
25 Quoted from his Autobiography, entitled My Life: A Record of Events and Opinions (Chapman & Hall).
26 Art. “Why Live a Moral Life?” in the Agnostic Annual, 1895.
27 Ibid.
28 P. 121 of The Story of Creation (R. P. A. Cheap Reprint).
29 The Nineteenth Century and After, August, 1904, art. “The Ethical Need of the Present Day.”
30 Quoted from a little volume recently published, entitled The Japanese Spirit. (Constable.)
31 Cited by Mr. L. Gulick, an American missionary organiser, in his work on The Evolution of the Japanese.
32 Quoted from a leaflet of the Moral Instruction League. (See Appendix.)
33 Quoted from p. 507, Vol. II., of The History of English Rationalism in the Nineteenth Century, by A. W. Benn (Longmans, Green, and Co., 1906).
34 In his masterly work, On Compromise.
35 See p. 55 of The Bible and the Child.
36 Bishop Diggle, the President of the Church Congress of 1906, in his opening address.
37 Ibid.
38 Recorded in The Life of Frances Power Cobbe, as Told by Herself. (Sonnenschein.)
39 See § 3 of the last Chapter and § 2 of the present.
40 P. 392 of The Independent Review, December, 1904.
41 Browning’s Funeral, a poem by Mrs. Huxley. The last three lines were inscribed, at Prof. Huxley’s request, upon his grave-stone (in St. Marylebone Cemetery, East Finchley).
42 See Chapter I., p. 30.
43 See Appendix.
44 An Agnostic’s Apology, pp. 131, 133, 138, of the R. P. A. Reprint.
45 Spencer’s Principles of Sociology, p. 98, “The Data of Sociology.”
46 In his book, The Hearts of Men.
47 See art. “Is Man by Nature Religious?” by H. Dundas, in The Agnostic Annual for 1906.
48 We are speaking now, remember, of a religion such as the Christian faith, one involving a belief in the supernatural, and not of religion as Professor Huxley defined it—“a reverence and love for the ethical ideal, and the desire to realise that ideal in life.” We are not speaking of a mere ethical “binding” between man and man, of a religion free from all theology, such as Comte’s “Positivism.”
49 Quoted from pp. 169–171 of A Reply to Dr. Lightfoot’s Essays.
50 An Agnostic’s Apology, p. 137.
51 In Chap. VII., pp. 311, 315–16, and in Chap. VIII., § 2 and § 3 (3) and (4).
52 Quoted from p. 27 of The Agnostic Annual for 1906.
53 Canon Scott Holland, in a sermon preached in St. Paul’s Cathedral, May, 1906.
54 These are the concluding words of a lecture delivered in the Central Hall, Manchester. The lecture is incorporated with others in a book entitled Is Christianity True? (Charles H. Kelly, 26, Paternoster Row, E.C.; 6d.).
55 See Appendix.
56 This view is confirmed by such standard works as Lecky’s Rise and Influence of Rationalism in Europe, Buckle’s History of Civilisation in England, Robertson’s Short History of Freethought, and Benn’s History of Rationalism in the Nineteenth Century.
57 Quoted from a sermon preached by the Rev. Charles Voysey at the Theistic Church, October 22nd, 1905. See also Appendix.
58 See Gibbon’s Rome, p. 257, vol. ii. (ed. 1809).
59 This warning was pronounced by Canon Henson on November 16th, 1905, when commenting, in St. Paul’s Cathedral, upon the Russian atrocities.
60 P. 352, Vol. I., of his History of Civilisation in England (Longmans, Green, & Co.; 1891).
61 See also Chap. VII., p. 281, note.
62 On Sunday, April 13th, 1890.
63 At a gala banquet at Dresden, October 25th, 1905.
64 Taken from the emperor’s speech at the opening of the Reichstag, November 28th, 1905. N.B.—Christian nations distrust one another’s righteousness even when the State and the Church are united and the rulers are defenders of the Faith. It may be noted also that at the swearing-in of the recruits of the Potsdam garrison on November 14th, 1905, they were told to make the Crucifix their Generalissimo!
65 In his book, The Peace of the Anglo-Saxons, with an Introduction by Field-Marshal Earl Roberts, K.G. (Watts & Co.) Observations suggested by this warning will be found in the Appendix.
66 Apart from the extra burden on the workers, does the Church, I wonder, ever thoroughly realise the inevitable effect on public morality of keeping a large body of men from living a normal domestic life? Does she realise that diseases hurtful to the race are more prevalent than ever, and that nowadays prostitution has spread from the garrison towns to the villages? Does she realise that her “purity” campaigns fail to strike at the root of the evil?
67 Held in Lucerne on September 19th–23rd, 1905.
68 See Appendix.
69 See Mr. (now the Right Hon.) Augustine Birrell’s suggestive article, “Patriotism and Christianity,” in the Contemporary Review, February, 1905.
70 The Tsar is probably sincere in his professions, and is the helpless tool of his advisers. Can we make the same excuse for another potentate—for him of the “mailed fist”?
71 See Appendix.
72 Butler, Analogy, pt. ii., 3.
73 In Literature and Dogma. See p. 21 of the R. P. A. Reprint.
74 See p. 183 of The Hibbert Journal, October, 1905.
75 Compounds of cyanogen have a close resemblance to living matter. As cyanogen is only produced at an intense heat, it is surmised that the living substance may have been produced once and for all when the earth was incandescent.