ON THE DREAD AND DISLIKE OF SCIENCE. 417 



handed down by tradition do not agree. That of the Hindoos is not 

 that of the Jews ; the Persians reject the traditions of both. 



Modern historic criticism has made such havoc with the historical 

 pretensions that theologians are now throwing all the emphasis on 

 moral consciousness. The doctrine of our sacred books is said to be une- 

 quivocally ratified by our intuitions : we feel their truth, and we see in 

 their moral influence on mankind the verification of their divine origin. 

 But here again the scientific method, which applied to the historical evi- 

 dence has shattered its claim, applied to the evidence of moral conscious- 

 ness is equally destructive. Psychology not only enlightens us as to the 

 genesis of the intuitions, but, in a comparison with other nations and 

 the earlier stages of human development, shows how they vary. If the 

 intuitions of the savage are not those of the civilized, if precepts which 

 the Hindoo feels to be divine are opposed to precepts which the Chinese, 

 the Jew, the Mohammedan, and the Christian, feel to be divine, we need 

 a criterion beyond these varying standards. 



There is a wide-spread superstition which regards whatever is innate, 

 or otherwise unexplained, as of a higher authority and diviner sanction 

 than what is acquired through individual experience or is explicable on 

 known laws. Our religious instincts are appealed to, as if instinct 

 were the infallible guide in conduct ; although a moment's reflection will 

 show that it is the great aim of civilization to correct and repress many 

 instincts. If the developed music of our day is of a higher order and 

 more adapted to our sensibilities than the music of the middle ages ; if 

 our theories of natural phenomena are of a higher order and approxi- 

 mate more nearly to the truth than the corresponding theories of Aqui- 

 nas and Albertus Magnus, why should our theories of moral phenomena 

 be deemed inferior to those of Judaism or the councils? Is the nursery 

 a school of riper wisdom than the laboratory ? 



So much as to method ; now as to results. The sacred books of all 

 theologies claim to expound a theory of the universe and a theory of 

 human life and destiny. Their theories of the universe, both as general 

 conceptions and particular explanations, are in such flagrant contradic- 

 tion with the teachings of Science, that nowadays no one who is worth 

 a moment's consideration seeks astronomical, geological, or physiologi- 

 cal explanations in the sacred books. There has arisen the assertion 

 that the sacred books were never intended to teach man scientific truths, 

 but only to teach him his duties. The answer is twofold : first, that 

 man's duties are comprised among scientific truths ; secondly, that the 

 books do teach, not scientific truths, but doctrines which science shows 

 to be erroneous. We ask, therefore, if their dicta are proved to be erro- 

 neous on points where the control of observation is possible, what au- 

 thority can they claim on points beyond all such verification ? If their 

 astronomical, geological, and biological statements are false, why are 

 we to believe their statements respecting the origin of the universe, the 

 laws of its evolution, the nature of man, and the conduct of man ? 

 vol. xiii. 27 



