VII 
HERBERT SPENCER’S SERVICE TO RELIGION! 
“ Fuvolution and religion: that which perfects hu- 
manity cannot destroy religion.” — Mr. President and 
Gentlemen: The thought which you have uttered 
suggests so many and such fruitful themes of discus- 
sion, that a whole evening would not suffice to enu- 
merate them, while to illustrate them properly would 
seem to require an octavo volume rather than a talk 
of six or eight minutes, especially when such a talk 
comes just after dinner. The Amazulu saying which 
you have cited, that those who have “stuffed bodies ” 
cannot see hidden things, seems peculiarly applicable 
to any attempt to discuss the mysteries of religion at 
the present moment; and, after the additional warn- 
ing we have just had from our good friend Mr. Schurz, 
I hardly know whether I ought to venture to approach 
so vasta theme. There are one or two points of sig- 
1 This address was delivered by Dr. Fiske at the farewell banquet to Mr. 
Spencer given at Delmonico’s on the evening of November 9, 1882, the 
Hon. William M. Evarts presiding. At itsconclusion, Mr. Spencer, who sat 
near Dr. Fiske, partly rose in his chair and said, “ Fiske, should you develop 
to the fullest the ideas you have expressed here this evening, I should regard it 
as a fitting supplement to my life work.” A full report of the proceed- 
ings at the banquet, prepared in pamphlet form by Professor E. L. You- 
mans, under the title “Herbert Spencer on the Americans, and the 
Americans on Herbert Spencer,” was published by D. Appleton & Com- 
pany in 1883. 
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