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TUB POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



triplex web of man's physical, intellectual, and 

 moral nature, and such are the forces that will 

 be effectual to the end. 1 



You may retort that even on my own showing 

 "the power which makes for righteousness " has 

 dealt in delusions ; for it cannot be denied that 

 the beliefs of religion, including the dogmas of 

 theology and the freedom of the will, have had 

 some effect in moulding the moral world. Grant- 

 ed ; but I do not think that this goes to the root 

 of the matter. Are you quite sure that those 

 beliefs and dogmas are primary, and not derived 

 — that they are not the products, instead of be- 

 ing the creators, of man's moral nature ? I 

 think it is in one of the " Latter-Day Pamphlets " 

 that Carlyle corrects a reasoner, who deduced 

 the nobility of man from a belief in heaven, by 

 telling him that he puts the cart before the horse, 

 the real truth being that the belief in heaven is 

 derived from the nobility of man. The bird's 

 instinct to weave its nest is referred to by Emer- 

 son as typical of the force which built cathe- 

 drals, temples, and pyramids : 



" Knowest thou what wove yon woodbird's nest 

 Of leaves and feathers from her breast, 

 Or how the fish outbuilt its shell, 

 Painting with morn each annual cell? 

 Such and so grew these holy piles 

 While love and terror laid the tiles ; 

 Earth proudly wears the Parthenon 

 As the best gem upon her zone ; 

 And Morning opes with haste her lids 

 To gaze upon the Pyramids ; 

 O'er England's abbeys bends the sky 

 As on its friends with kindred eye ; 

 For out of Thought's interior sphere 

 These wonders rose to upper air, 

 And Nature gladly gave them place, 

 Adopted them into her race, 

 Aud granted them an equal date 

 With Andes and with Ararat." 



Surely, many utterances which have been ac- 

 cepted as descriptions ought to be interpreted 

 as aspirations, or as having their roots in aspira- 



1 My Spectator critic says that I give up approba- 

 tion and disapprobation ; but, as already indicated, 

 the critic writes hastily. Each of them is a subsec- 

 tion of one or another of the influences mentioned 

 above. 



tion instead of in objective knowledge. Does the 

 song of the herald angels, " Glory to God in the 

 highest, and on earth peace and good-will toward 

 men," express the exaltation and the yearning of 

 a human soul, or does it describe an optical and 

 acoustical fact — a visible host and an audible 

 song ? If the former, the exaltation and the 

 yearning are man's imperishable possession — a 

 ferment long confined to individuals, but which 

 may by-and-by become the leaven of the race. 

 If the latter, then belief in the entire transac- 

 tion is wrecked by non-fulfillment. Look to the 

 East at the present moment as a comment on the 

 promise of peace on earth and good-will toward 

 men. That promise is a dream ruined by the 

 experience of eighteen centuries, and in that ruin 

 is involved the claim of the " heavenly host" to 

 prophetic vision. But, though the mechanical 

 theory proves untenable, the immortal song and 

 the feelings it expresses are still ours, to be in- 

 corporated, let us hope, in purer and less shad- 

 owy forms in the poetry, philosophy, and prac- 

 tice, of the future. 



Thus, following the lead of physical science, 

 we are brought without solution of continuity 

 into the presence of problems which, as usually 

 classified, he entirely outside the domain of phys- 

 ics. To these problems thoughtful and penetra- 

 tive minds are now applying those methods of 

 research which in physical science have proved 

 their truth by their fruit. There is on all hands 

 a growing repugnance to invoke the supernatural 

 in accounting for the phenomena of human life ; 

 and the thoughtful minds just referred to, find- 

 ing no trace of evidence in favor of any other 

 origin, are driven to seek in the interaction of 

 social forces the genesis and development of man's 

 moral nature. If they succeed in their search 

 — and I think they are sure to succeed — social 

 duty would be raised to a higher level of signifi- 

 cance, and the deepening sense of social duty 

 will, it is to be hoped, lessen, if not obliterate, the 

 strifes and heart-burnings which now beset and 

 disfigure our social life. Toward this great end 

 it behooves us one and all to work ; and, devoutly 

 wishing its consummation, I have the honor, ladies 

 and gentlemen, to bid you a friendly farewell. 





