And seeks to get such ethics as it desires out of neces sarianism Its moral philosphy examined The determinism which appears to be a primary doctrine of the Revolutionary religion, is fatal to the idea of justice, and makes of legislation vane sine moribus leges If law, with penal sanctions, be the bond of civil society, the family is its foundation 88 90 94 95 The family, as it exists in Europe, is mainly the creation of Christianity 96 And rests upon the ascetic teaching of Christianity concerning the virtue of purity 97 The new gospel brands that teaching as a superstition 98 Licence, teste Mr. Morley, is in the new gospel what austerity is in the old. 98 Paternity is of as little account as marriage in the new gospel. 102 The traditions of the English home are irreconcilable with the new gospel 103 Mr. Morley insists that those who desire to see the Christian dogma and Churches replaced by the "higher form of faith" presented by the Revolution, are bound to labour for that end. The means specially recommended is the banishment of 104 105 PAGE Mr. Morley inveighs against the Education Act of 1870 as being "of the nature of a small reform," and desires the entire destruction of the denominational system. 108 The reason is obvious: this "future great reform" would supply the most effective means of undermining the Christianity of England, and of making straight the paths of the new gospel 109 CHAPTER IV. THE REVOLUTION AND SCIENCE. There is a great consensus of Revolutionary publicists that the Revolution must be "scientific " They urge that the public order must rest on "natural truths; for them physical sciences are the only sciences; and the generalisation of those sciences called Darwinism, is specially dear to them. By Darwinism they mean, however, the speculations engrafted on Mr. Darwin's writings by teachers such as Professor Haeckel, the general result of which is a purely physical explanation of life . In this Haeckelian Darwinism the new gospel hopes to find a most effective weapon for the overthrow of the old . The appeal, then, is to Darwinism. To Darwinism let us go. What are the facts of Darwinism as apart from the speculations founded on it? 110 111 112 114 115 It does not appear to be open to doubt that the law of natural selection, as Mr. Darwin has stated it, largely But these facts are fatal to the fundamental propositions of the Revolutionary dogma; to its doctrine of the natural, inalienable, and imprescriptible rights of the individual; to its doctrine of absolute reason; to its doctrine of the social contract; to its doctrine of the aboriginal goodness of man; to its shibboleth of "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity "; to its panacea of education; and to the optimism underlying it The absolute antinomy between the postulates of the Revolution and the truths summed up in the evolutionary formula is certain. Does the like antinomy exist between those truths and the transcendental conceptions on which religion is based? All religions rest upon an ethical feeling. The central idea of Christianity is this: of the root of moral obligation in the Divine nature, and in man's filial relation to it Religion, and especially Christianity, proclaims Deity and PAGE 116 123 126 126 existence, and dictates, and absolute character reason is the question. PAGE That 128 The answer is that while Mr. Darwin has succeeded to some extent, in tracing and exhibiting the evolution 128 The domain of physical science is the sphere of sense perception 128 The evolutionary formula is not concerned with the origin of spirtual or vital forces. 128 The moral sense may have been evolved as Mr. Darwin supposes, but you do not explain a thing by tracing it back to its rudimentary forms, or by exhibiting the course of its development. 128 In the moral sense there is something transcending organic life and sensation. Relativity is the last word of Darwinism. The Categorical Imperative is absolute. 129 Mr. Darwin's facts point to, and harmonise with, a psychic basis of life and Directive Intelligence Thus the whole universe is transfigured before us, and we catch some glimpse of its real meaning. The supreme law which rules through it, is a law of tendency upwards, of striving after perfection. This is the true law of evolution These considerations commended to men of good will who rage against Mr. Darwin's doctrine without understanding it 130 131 132 |