PROFESSOR TYNDALL'S " MATERIALISM."
[TO THB EDTTOB Or TRH "SPBOTA20/01
you excuse me if I say that your, article on the i4 Materialism" of Professor Tyndall seems to ma to- have
somewhat exaggerated the vagueness and confusion of his words.
I understand Professor Tyndall to say two things which seem
to me not necessarily inconsistent, viz. :— 1. That, notwithstanding the seeming gaps in continuity, over which no stepping-stones are or may ever be visible to science, yet the theory of evolution of human as well as animal and vegetable life from inorganic matter is the theory to which science' points as most likely to be true.
2. That he sees no solution of the mystery of this evolution in 'material atheism, but regards it as the manifestation of a power which he cannot define or comprehend, because it baffles intel- lectual scrutiny.
I need not quote passages in support of the first point. I will .only say that Professor Tyndall's confession of faith in evolution has again and again been coupled with the admission of the unabridged gaps in the evidence.
But upon the second point the following chain of passages may perhaps-be instructive :—
" In fact, the whole process of evolution is the manifestation of a Power absolutely inscrutable to the intellect of man. As little in our day as in the days of Job can man by searching find this Power out
the Power whose garment is seen in the visible universe," &c. —(Address at Belfast.)
"In connection with the charge of Atheism, I would make one re- mark. Christian men are proved by their writings to have their hours -of weakness and of doubt, as well as their hours of strength and of .conviction, and men like myself share, in their own way, these varia- tions of mood and tense. Were the religious views of many of my assailants the only alternative ones, I do not know how strong the claims of the doctrine of 'Material Atheism' might be. Probably they would be very strong. But as it is, I have noticed during years of self- • observation that it is not in hours of clearness and vigour that this doctrine commends itself to my mind ; that in the presence of stronger and healthier thought it ever dissolves and disappears, as offering no solution of the mystery in which we dwell and of which we form a part." —(Preface to the Address at Belfast, September 15, 1874) "I have sometimes—not sometimes, but often—in the spring-time watched the advance of the sprouting leaves, and of the grass, and of -the flowers, and observed the general joy of opening life in nature, and I have asked myself this question,—' Can it be that thero is no being or thing in nature that knows more about these things than I do ? Do I, in my ignorance, represent the highest knowledge of these things existing in this universe ?' Ladies and gentlemen, the man who puts that question fairly to himself, if he be not a shallow man, if he be a man -capable of being penetrated by profound thought, will never answer the question by professing that creed of Atheism which has been so lightly attributed to me."—(Lecture at Manchester; Daily News, October 28, 1874.) "When I attempt to give the Power which I see manifested in the -universe an objective form, personal or otherwise, it slips away from me, declining all intellectual manipulation. I dare not, save poetically, use the pronoun He' regarding it ; I dare not call it a Mind ;' I refuse to call it even a' Cause.' Its mystery overshadows me, but it remains a mystery, while the objective frames, which my neighbours try to make it fit, simply distort and desecrate it Review, November, 1875.) I will only add that, recollecting that these expressions proceed from one who professedly sits at the feet of physical science, and who '‘ possesses," as you say, "the ear of nature, and catches much more than most of us of her hidden secrets," I confess I am thankful for the response, oracular though it be. I think I see in it another indication that an "Atheistic Materialism" is not likely to be the future religion even of the Priests of Science ; and I ask myself, not without hope, " What will be the response when the facts of men's inner religious life and the development through the ages -of man's moral nature have been examined, with the same pains and care and truly scientific methods and child-like seeking after truth, which have in our time been expended upon those other facts which lie in the domain of matter and its laws?"—I am,
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