EDITOR'S TABLE. 



125 



Spencer will resume the course of his 

 labors upon " The Principles of Soci- 

 ology." 



The appearance of a new book upon 

 morals is now so common a thing as in 

 itself to be hardly noteworthy. But the 

 publication of such a work, at the pres- 

 ent time, by the most eminent exposi- 

 tor of the doctrine of evolution, and 

 the* only man who has dealt with that 

 doctrine as the basis of a comprehen- 

 sive philosophy which is broadly found- 

 ed upon the results of modern science, 

 and treated throughout with reference 

 to the ultimate establishment of the 

 principles of right and wrong in human 

 conduct such a book will be certain to 

 attract wide attention. 



Morality, as is well known, is a sub- 

 ject that has been hitherto kept in very 

 close connection with theological be- 

 liefs. It has been generally taught by 

 the dogmatic method, and as based 

 upon supernatural sanctions,, so that 

 the theologians have come to be re- 

 garded as its legitimate custodians. Not 

 only is the inculcation of morality a con- 

 ceded prerogative of the pulpit, but the 

 regular teaching of it, in nearly all our 

 higher education, is also in the hands of 

 the divines. In an interesting and in- 

 structive paper published in "Mind,"* 

 by Mr. G. Stanley Hall, on " Philosophy 

 in the United States," the writer re- 

 marks of the three hundred non-Catho- 

 lic colleges in the country as follows : 

 u In nearly all these institutions certain 

 studies, aesthetic, logical, historical, most 

 commonly ethical, most rarely psycho- 

 logical, are roughly classed as philoso- 

 phy, and taught during the last year 

 almost invariably by the president." 

 To this it may be added that the pres- 

 ident is almost invariably a doctor of 

 divinity. These theological expound- 

 ers of studies "most commonly ethical " 

 ever insist upon the vital interdepen- 

 dence of theology and morals. It is 

 taught that they are bound up together 



* Reprinted in " The Popular Science Month- 

 ly Supplement," New Series, No. 1. 



indissolubly and are subject to a com- 

 mon fate, and this is the way the sub- 

 ject is regarded by the great mass of 

 people in the community. 



But we are now called upon to take 

 into account a most important fact. 

 There is an undeniable and widely 

 spread decay of theological dogmas af- 

 fecting all classes of society. The old 

 adherence to traditional beliefs is weak- 

 ening, and men are falling away from 

 their creeds. The ancient sphere of 

 belief and faith is invaded by science, 

 and is being inexorably circumscribed. 

 This is notorious, and is acknowledged 

 by eminent religious authorities. 



In a paper of remarkable candor 

 and significance, by the Bev. Phillips 

 Brooks, of Boston, in the March num- 

 ber of the " Princeton Review " on 

 " The Pulpit and Modern Skepticism," 

 the writer admits that the phenome- 

 na of doubt " are thick around us in 

 our congregations, and thicker still out- 

 side our congregations, in the world." 

 This skepticism he recognizes as "a 

 very pervading thing. It evidently 

 can not be shut up in any guarded 

 class or classes. Life plays upon faith 

 every where. Ideas change and devel- 

 op in all sorts and conditions of men ; 

 and the occupants of pulpits have their 

 doubts and disbeliefs as well as oth- 

 ers." Again, "a large acquaintance 

 with clerical life has led me to think 

 that almost any company of clergymen, 

 gathering together and talking freely 

 to each other, will express opinions 

 which would greatly surprise and at 

 the same time greatly relieve the con- 

 gregations who ordinarily listen to these 

 ministers." 



And again : " How many men in the 

 ministry to-day believe in the doctrine 

 of verbal inspiration which our fathers 

 held, and how many of us have frankly 

 told the people that we do not believe 

 it, and so lifted off" their Bible's page 

 the heavy cloud of difficulties and in- 

 consistencies which that doctrine laid 

 there ? How many of us hold that the 

 everlasting punishment of the wicked 



