LITERARY NOTICES. 



123 



of civilization ; and the data are given by 

 which to forecast the stupendous future of 

 the English race, not only on this continent, 

 but throughout the world. 



Although written with sobriety, to be 

 submitted to the critical judgment of a cul- 

 tivated audience, yet these lectures are a 

 good deal stirring and stimulating in their 

 effect upon the reader's mind. This is due 

 both to the charm of the presentation and 

 to the magnitude of the elements of the 

 author's imposing theme. " The stand-point 

 of universal history" affords an exciting 

 outlook, and Mr. Fiske gives his readers a 

 clear command of the position. The author 

 of "Cosmic Philosophy," with whom the 

 conception of universal evolution has be- 

 come part of his mental constitution, is well 

 prepared to handle historical questions in 

 the fullest breadth of their bearings, and 

 the interest of the present book is chiefly 

 derived from this preparation of its author. 

 It may, in fact, be commended as a spe- 

 cially instructive study in political evolution. 

 This is well explained by Mr. Fiske in the 

 following prefatory passage : 



In the three lectures now published I have en- 

 deavored to illustrate some of the fundamental 

 ideas of American politics, by setting forth their 

 relations to the general history of mankind. It is 

 impossible thoroughly to grasp the meaning of any 

 group of facts in any department of study until we 

 have duly compared them with allied groups of 

 facts ; and the political history of the American 

 people can be rightly understood only when it is 

 studied in connection with that general process of 

 political evolutiou which has been going on from the 

 earliest times, and of which it is itself one of the 

 most important and remarkable phases. The gov- 

 ernment of the United States is not the result of 

 special creation, but of evolution. As the town- 

 meetings of New England are lineally descended 

 from the village assemblies of the early Aryans; as 

 our huge Federal Union was long ago foreshadowed 

 in the little leagues of Greek cities and Swiss can- 

 tonsso the great political problem which we are 

 (thus far successfully) solving is the very same 

 problem upon which all civilized peoples have been 

 working ever since civilization began. How to 

 iasure peaceful concerted action throughout the 

 whole, without infringing upon local and individual 

 freedom in the parts, this has ever been the chief 

 aim of civilization viewed on its political side ; and 

 we rate the failure or success of nations 'politically 

 according to their failure or success in attaining this 

 supreme end. When thus considered in the light 

 of the comparative method, our American history 

 acquires added dignity and interest, and a broad and 

 rational basis is secured for the detailed treatment 

 of political questions. 



The Nature and Reality of Religion. A 

 Controversy between Frederic Harrison 

 and Herbert Spencer. With an Intro- 

 duction, Notes, and an Appendix on the 

 Religious Value of the Unknowable, by 

 Count D'Alviella. New York : D. Ap- 

 pleton & Co. 1S85. Pp. 218. Price, 

 cloth, $1 ; paper, 50 cents. 



That there is a " chaos of discordant 

 opinion " in the religious world is a common 

 remark, and, superficially regarded, the re- 

 mark is true enough. There are divers 

 great religious systems accepted by vast 

 multitudes which exemplify profound diver- 

 sities of belief ; and these systems are bro- 

 ken up into sects innumerable, all marked 

 by divergences of religious opinion. Yet 

 this state of thought is by no means a 

 "chaos"; there are order and law in it. 

 Religious phenomena exhibit their predict- 

 able sequences of cause and effect. It may 

 be counted on that people generally will 

 stick to the faith into which they were born, 

 and to the sect in which they were brought 

 up, regardless of any question of the ration- 

 ality of the creed they hold. Indeed, the te- 

 nacity with which, generation after genera- 

 tion, they cling to the accidental tenets they 

 inherit, is an element of order which gives 

 to religious organizations their stability and 

 permanence. 



Yet the condition of the religious world 

 is by no means one of absolute immobility 

 and stagnation. To the degree in which 

 the human mind is active, religion shares 

 the result. While many are quiescent, a 

 few are ever inquiring, and, with increasing 

 enlightenment and growing knowledge, the 

 superstitious element in religion gradually 

 diminishes and disappears. This, too, is an 

 orderly change, and goes on in the religious 

 world by the established laws of progress. 



Such controversies as those of Spencer 

 and Harrison are, hence, quite in the course 

 of things. With whatever considerations 

 of personality they may be mixed up, they 

 are products of religious advancement, and 

 still further contributions to it. The pres- 

 ent discussion, however, is of more than 

 usual significance, as it is not occupied with 

 incidental but with fundamental religious 

 questions. The conception of progress in 

 religion is unquestionably revolutionizing 

 and destructive, and no problem is more 

 profound or momentous than that which 



