Science and religion

Front matter

Chap. J2) I

PRESENTED

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Preface

The nucleus of this work was a pamphlet published by ■George Combe in April. 1847, with the title "On the Relation between Religion and Science." A second edition was issued a few months later, and the entire essay was reproduced in the Phrenological Journal for July of the same year.

The publication brought on the author, with renewed virulence, the charges of irreverence and atheism to which he had been subjected for nearly thirty years. Referring to these attacks, he said : " ZST o religious martyr ever held his faith more purely and firmly than I hold my own convictions. . . . Like the veteran soldier who has escaped unhurt from fifty battles, I hear the cannonade of passion and prejudice with a feeling that it cannot reach me."

To the charge that he had subordinated Scripture to the law of Nature, he replied in a letter to Mrs. Whately : " I have not said that Scripture is derived from natural religion, but only that its practical precepts regarding human conduct in this world must be supported by the order of Nature, otherwise that they cannot produce practical fruits. But natural religion appears to me to be derived from Nature, and not from Scripture."

Going on to explain his general position, he says, in the same letter : " I regard the external world as designedly adapted by God to the human mind and body, and as containing within itself (by this Divine appointment) objects and relations addressed to, and intended + -o arouse, excite, and gratify, all our faculties.

vi

PREFACE.

In short, I recognise God — His adaptations in everything animate and inanimate ; I feel myself constantly in His presence, and every moment under the control and discipline of His laws. Revelation may present higher objects than Nature to our faculties, but Nature does appear to me to address them all.

4 'By you, perhaps, similar views are entertained, but I go a step further. I do not regard all the Divine adaptations unfolded to us through Causality and Comparison as intended merely to excite a devout Wonder and Veneration, without leading us to do anything practically. On the contrary, I see practical lessons embodied in every one of God's natural institutions."

George Combe's cardinal doctrine thus w T as that God had revealed Himself in Nature as well as in Scripture ; that the one revelation was as instructive in its facts, and as binding in its lessons, as the other ; and that the two revelations are in entire harmony, except when God's message is perverted by man-made creeds.

The pamphlet of 1847 grew under his hand until, in 1857, it assumed the dimensions of a volume.

That volume was affectionately inscribed to his friend Dr. Charles Mackay, in token of " A friendship of long duration, admiration of your genius, and cordiaJ sympathy with the purposes to which you have devoted it."

In a letter to Mr. Benjamin Templar in 1858, George Combe wrote regarding this work : " I consider it the most original, and, in its distant results, the most important of all my productions \ but this may be, like a parent's love of his youngest child, because it is mv last/'

Edinburgh. October, 1893.

CONTENTS,

Chapter I. An Historical Retrospect

PACrH

Effect of the Eef ormation . . . . . . . .1

Belief in God's special intervention , . . . . 2-

And in that of the Devil 4

Founded in Judaism ......... 5

Providence rules by general laws in the physical world . . 7 Also in the moral world ......... 8

Divine authority of the Natural Laws .... = . 9

Ignored by the Churches . . . . . . - .10

And by Politicians 11

Views of Archbishop Whately . . , , . . .12 Lord Palmerston and the Edinburgh Presbytery . . . .13

A second Reformation needed ........ 15

Views of Caiiyle and Chalmers . . . , . . .16

View of Dr. Tholuck , . .17

Need of reconciling Science and Religion . . . . .19

Chapter II. The Complex Character Of Religion

Definition of Science and of Religion ...... 20

Religion partly emotional, partly intellectual . . . .21

The meaning of Consecration . 22

What Theology means . 23

Difference between Theology and Religion ..... 23

Warp and Woof 2±-

Nature not recognised as sacred . . . . . . .23

Is a Natural Theology possible ? . . . , . . .27

Chapter III. Of God

Origin of the idea of God 29

Among the Greeks and the Romans ...... 29

Among the Jews .......... 30

The Mahommedan idea 31

The Christian idea . . . . , . . . . .33

Yin CONTENTS.

PAGE

The Roman Catholic interpretation ...... 34

The Reformers' interpretation . . . , . , .35

Origin of dogma , . .36

Ideas of God derived from Nature . . . - . . .37 Belief in God intuitive or rational ...... 38

The province of Reason . 40—-

The adaptations in Nature not accidental 41

Reply to the Atheist's argument 43

Objection to the argument from Design . . r , .44

Answered 45

The mode of God's existence inscrutable .... 47

Chapter IV. The Government Of The Physical And Moral Worlds

I. TJie Government of the Physical World . . ' . .50

The regulation of the forces of Nature 51

The physical sciences manifestations of Divine power . . .52

II. The Government of the Moral World . .... 53

Evidences of law and order in the lower animals . . . .54

Ignored by dogmatic religion . . . . . .55

What the moral government of the world means . , . .56 Absence of its practical recognition . ■ e , , .57

Ignorance of Natural Laws the grand obstacle . . * .59

Chapter V. Life And Death

The Christian dogma of Death . . 60

Death, according to Science, a natural institution . „ .61

The grand evils of Death 62

Death a beneficent institution . . . . . . .64

Relations of Life and Death to the natural Constitution of Man . 65 How the duration of Life may be extended . . . . .65

tJiiiformity of the death-rate ,66

Is it Fatalism, or Causation ? . . . . , , .67 Example : the sense of Hearing ....... 68

Vindication of God's secular providence 69

Knowledge of the Natural Laws, Divine truth . . . .70 Suffering for their infraction pre-ordained by God . . .71 That suffering may be avoided by knowledge and forethought . 72

Testimony of the records of mortality 73

Sir James Simpson's Tables . . . . , , . * . 74

The effects of foul air 75

The voice of Nature ; that is, of God ...... 76

The prison versus the hospital . , ,77

The cry of Infidelity . 78

Case of Exeter and Tiverton 79 Appeal to the lower faculties ... .... 80

Longevit}' and Happiness , . ./ t n t .81

CONTENTS, ix CHAPTER VI

MOEAL GOVERNMENT OF NATIONS.

PAGE.

Are the Bible precepts as to justice and mercy practical ? .83

The Case of England and Ireland 8-1

Disbelief in Moral Government on the part of iuler? . . , 85 Results of England's misgovernment of Ireland . . .87

Eree Trade a triumph of moral force SS

Superiority of Moral to Physical Force 90

The Case of England and India 91

Inconsistency of national spoliation with Christianity . . . 92 England's Indian policy a mistake ......

Benevolent conquest a pretence 95 Proofs of a moral government by Natural Laws . . . .97

CHAPTER TIL

THE WOELD AX INSTITUTION.

What is an Institution ? , .9^

Example : The Planetarv Svstem 99

„ The Ocean 100

„ Natural History . . . . . = 6 .101

The Human Constitution . . . . . . 103

Original Sin and Anaesthetics 10-i

Pain and Disease, not essential parts of the Institution. . .104 Adaptation in Physical Nature . . . . . . .105

The doctrine of the Church of Scotland 107

Opposed to the view that the world is an Institution . , . 110 The Catechism inconsistent with the order of Nature . » .112

CHAPTER VHI.

THE SACEEDXESS OF NATURE.

Rejection of the laws of Providence, practical atheism c .114

Labour not a curse, but a boon 116

The objection from suffering, futile .117

Provisions in Nature for the mitigation of suffering . . .118

Decline of parental love, benevolent 119

Decline of the fear of Death , 120

The Benevolence of Natural Law 121

Necessity of correct views of God and His government. . .122

Conditions of our knowledge of God 124

The difference between Obeying and Comprehending . . . 125 Service of the Shaking Quakers in America . . . . .120 Compared with Roman Catholic ceremonies . . . , .128 What worship accords with the human faculties ? . . . 129 The relation of Nature to the religious emotions . . . .130 x CONTENTS,

PAGK

Aim of the religions emotions . . . , «. . .131

Impressions modified by mental constitution » , ► .13*2 Basis of religion and morality in Nature c » 133

CHAPTER IX.

RKLIGMOTJS DISCIPLINE OF NATURE.

Meaning of Discipline ......... 134

Every line of eondnct must be moral ...... 135

Doubtful condemnation of Mammonism ..... 136

Eeal cause of the evils of -wealth 133

^Vhat is the Higher Life .139

Harmony between the intellectual and the moral faculties and

the Institutions of God 141

Eesult of severing religion from the laws of Xature . . . 144

Distinctive character of Christianity 145

Its disadvantages • . • . 146

CHAPTER X.

THE BONDAGE OF DOGMA.

Differences among Christians . . . . . . .143

Xo system of doctrines in the Bible . . . .' . 149

Influences undennining Christianity 150

Dogma an obstacle to social progress ...... 151

Doctrines of the Fall and the Atonement . . . . .152

Origin of Moral Evil, according to Natural Law . . . .152

Abuses of the Christian doctrines 153

Case of the penitent felon . . . ; ... 154 Dogma powerless against crime ....... 156

The Papal power opposed to liberty and improvement . . .157 The power of Protestantism not less injurious . . . .158

Opposition of the Clergy to the Divine order of Xature . .159

How dogma supports despotism 160

Why tyranny is impossible in England . . . . .161 Potency of the moral government of the World . , . .162

CHAPTER XI.

CONVICTION AND BELIEF.

The doctrine of Heaven and Hell an instrument of power . . 165

The authority of the letter of Scripture 166

The distinction between conviction and belief . . . .167 Two sources of Belief — intuition and testimony . . . .168

Man-concocted articles of faith . 169

The motive of the Clergy 171

Origin of the belief in eternal punishment 172

Conviction dependent on Divine manifestations in Xature . .174 Belief dependent on Clerical interpretations 174

CONTEXTS. xi

PAGE

Dogmatic religion makes the Clergy a separate class . . .175

Reformation must begin with the laity 1 76

No hostile design against Religion . . . . . .177

Religions founded, on the supernatural . . . . . .179

Influence of Natural Science with the Hindus .... 180

Natural Religion potent against superstition .... 182

CHAPTER XII.

THE DOGMAS AS PRACTICAL RULES.

Obstructive effects of the Dogmas in Legislation .

The cause of this state of things, the ignoring of Natural Law

Dogmas of the Emperor of Russia .....

The Dogmas obstructive in Education .....

The differences of sects inimical to the course of Nature

The Education Grant . an endowment of discord .

The torrent of Sectarianism .... ...

Success of the Non-sectarian System in the United States .

Failure of the Voluntary System in England

The Dogmas and the monopoly of Sunday ....

The Dogmas are the religion of the dogmatists

CHAPTER XIII.

CONCLUSION — THE REFORMED FAITH.

Human Nature the central point of inquiry . . , , .199 Its relation to the religious faculties . . , , , .199 The qualities and relations of Natural objects .... 200 The Laws of Nature are Divine Laws . . . . . .201

Distinction between Religion and Theology 202

The Higher Life, under the reformed faith ..... 203 The future destiny of Alan, under the reformed faith . . . 204 The Bible no obstacle ......... 205

Value of Science teaching 205

Divine government discernible in Nature . . . . .207

Prince Albert quoted 208

Realisation of a present Deity 209

Appendix

I. On the Worship of the Shakers 211

II. Heaven and Hell ! 213

III. Note on Dr. McCosh's "Method of the Divine Govern-

ment" 216

IV. Speech of Lord John Russell on Teaching Natural Theology

in Common Schools ° , 218

V. The Teaching of Physiology in Common Schools . '. 221

CHAPTER I. Ax Historical Retrospect

The Reformation in the sixteenth century produced a powerful effect on the European mind. The miracles, precepts, and sublime devotional effusions of the Old and Xew Testaments excited with deep intensity the religious sentiments of the people, and introduced ardent discussions on temporal and eternal interests which, unfortunately, were followed by furious and desolating wars. Freedom on earth, and salvation in heaven or perdition in hell, were the mighty topics which then engaged public attention.

In the beginning of the seventeenth century, a generation born and educated under these exciting influences appeared upon the stage. The Reformation was then consummated, but the duty remained of acting it out in deeds. The new generation had read in the Books of the Old Testament of a people whose King was God ; whose national councils were guided by Omniscience ; and whose enterprises, whether in peace or in war, were aided and accomplished by Omnipotence employing means altogether apart from the ordinary course of Nature. The Xew Testament presented records of a continued exercise of similar supernatural powers ; and the great lesson taught in both seemed to that generation to be, that the power of God was

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SCIEXCE AND RELIGION.

[chap, l exercised as a shield to protect, and an irresistible influence to lead to success and victory in secular affairs, those who believed and worshipped aright, who embraced cordially the doctrines revealed in the sacred volumes, who abjured all self-righteousness and self-reliance, and who threw themselves in perfect confidence and humility on Him as their King, Protector, and Avenger.

In the first half of the seventeenth century the active members of society in England and Scotland embraced these views as principles not only of faith, but of practice. With that earnestness of purpose which is inspired by profound conviction of religious truth, they desired to realise in deeds what they professed as faith. As remarked by Thomas Carlyle, that generation " attempted to bring the Divine law of the Bible into actual practice in men's affairs on the earth." In the contests between Cromwell and the Covenanters, we observe both parties claiming to be " the people of God " ; both asserting that they are directed by Divine influence and supported by Divine power, even when in hostile collision with each other. It is necessary only to read attentively Cromwell's letters and speeches, and the contemporary narratives of the Covenanters, to be satisfied of this fact. Each party ascribed its successes to the Divine approval of its conduct and belief, and its calamities to displeasure with its unbelief or other sins.

When Cromwell overthrew the Scots, and "had the execution of them " — in other words, the slaughter of them — for many miles in the pursuit, he called it " a sweet mercy " vouchsafed to him by God, to whom he devoutly ascribed the glory. After mentioning his victory at Dunbar, the trophies of which were about " three thousand Scots slain," "near ten thousand prisoners," "the whole baggage and train taken," with " all their artillery, great and small,'"' he adds, " It is easy to see the Lord hath done chap. I.] AN HISTORICAL RETROSPECT.

tins. It would do you good to see and hear our poor foot to go up and down making their boast of God." *

The Covenanters held the same belief ; but, somewhat inconsistently, while they confessed that their own religious unworthiness had brought upon them the Divine displeasure, they denied to Cromwell the right to interpret the victory as a manifestation of the Divine approval of his faith, principles, and practice : They endeavoured to represent it as merely " an event " ; for which Cromwell rebukes them in the following words : — " You (the men of the Covenant) say that you have not so learned Christ ' as to hang the equity of your cause upon events.' We (for our part) could wish that blindness had not been cast upon your eyes to all those marvellous dispensations which God hath lately wrought in England. But did you not solemnly appeal (to God) and pray 1 Did not we do so too 1 And ought not you and we to think, with fear and trembling, of the hand of the great God in this mighty and strange appearance of His, instead of slightly calling it an event ] Were not both your and our expectations renewed from time to time whilst we waited upon God, to see which way He would manifest Himself upon our appeals ? And shall we, after all these our prayers, fastings, tears, expectations, and solemn appeals, call these bare events 1 The Lord pity you ! "f

While the people of that age entertained these views of the manner of Gods administration of secular affairs, they

* Letter XCII., Cromwell to Lenthal, dated Dunbar. 4th September, 1650; " Carlyle's Cromwell,'' Vol. II., p. 41. — [In subsequent quotations, the words within single marks of quotation, and within parentheses, are inserted by Mr. Carlyle to make Cromwell's meaning plainer.— Ed.]

t Letter XCVIL, Cromwell to the Governor of Edinburgh Castle, dated Edinburgh, 12th September, 1650; in « Carlyle," Vol. IL, p. 65.

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SCIENCE AXD RELIGION. [chap. i.

were equally convinced of the supernatural agency of the devil, and with similar earnestness acted on this conviction. They ascribed their sins to Satanic influence on their minds, and attributed to the exercise of Satanic power many of the physical evils under which they suffered. They imagined that this power was exercised by the devil through the instrumentality of human beings, and burned thousands of these supposed agents of the fiend, under the name of witches.

This belief lingered among the Scottish people a century later. In February, 1743, the Associate Presbytery of the Secession Church passed an "'Act for Renewing the National Covenant " ; and among other national sins which they confessed and vowed to renounce is mentioned ''the repeal of the penal statutes against witchcraft, contrary to the express laws of God, and for which a holy God may be provoked, in a way of righteous judgment, to leave those who are already ensnared to be hardened more and more, and to permit Satan to tempt and seduce others to the same wicked and dangerous snare."

These were the views of God's providence entertained by the religious men of the seventeenth century. Those who were not penetrated by a deep sentiment of religion acted then, as the same class does now, on the views of the order of Nature with which their own experience and observation, aided by those of others, had supplied them. They did not trouble themselves with much inquiry whether this order was systematic or incidental, moral or irrespective of morality, but they acted as their views of expediency dictated at the moment. It is with the opinions of the religious and earnest men of that century that we are now principally engaged.

In commenting on that period, Thomas Carlyle observes, in his own quaint style, that " the nobility and gentry of England were then a very strange body of men. The chap, i.] AN HISTORICAL RETROSPECT.

English squire of the seventeenth century clearly appears to have believed in God, not as a figure of speech, hut as a very fact, very awful to the heart of the English squire/' He adds : " We have wandered far away from the ideas which guided us in that century, and, indeed, which had guided us in all preceding centuries, but of which that century was the ultimate manifestation. We have wandered very far, and must endeavour to return and connect ourselves therewith again/ 3 >;<

I ask, How shall we return ! This is a grave question, and the answer demands serious consideration.

The grand characteristic of the Jewish dispensation, on which chiefly these views of the Divine government of the world were founded, was that it was special and supernatural. In the seventeenth century the people possessed very little scientific knowledge of the elements, agencies, and laws of inorganic and organic Nature. The Scriptures constituted almost the sole storehouse of deep reflection and profound emotion for that age ; and, in the absence of scientific knowledge, thoughtful men fell naturally into the belief that, as the Scriptures were given for guides to human conduct, the same scheme of Providence, physical and moral, which had prevailed in ancient Jewish times must still continue in force. Their conviction on this point appears to have been profound and genuine, and they attempted to act it out in deeds.

But was there no error of apprehension here ? Were they not mistaken in believing that the course of Providence was the same in their day as it is described to have been among the ancient Jews ? A brief consideration of their actions, and the results of them, may help us to answer the question.

* Lib. cit,, Vol. L, pp. 3 and 87.

SCIENCE AND RELIGION.

[chap, l

They assumed that the supernatural agencies which Scripture told them had been manifested under the Jewish disj ensation might still be evoked, and would, in some form or other, be exerted for their guidance and support, if they appealed to God, and called for them in a right spirit. Hence, instead of studying and conforming to the laws of Nature, they resorted to fastings, humiliations, praise, and prayers, as practical means not only of gaining battles and establishing political power, but of obtaining Divine direction in all the serious affairs of life. Their theology and their science, so far as they had any science, were in harmony. They did not recognise an established and regular order of Nature as the means through which God governs the world, and to which He requires man to adapt his conduct ; but they regarded every element of physical nature and every faculty of the human mind as under the administration of a special and supernatural Providence. They viewed God as wielding all these elements arbitrarily, according to His will ; and or that will they believed they could operate by religious faith and observances.

In principle, their view of the nature of the Divine administration of the world was similar to that entertained by the Greeks and Romans. Homer's priests and heroes offered supplications to the gods for direct interference in favour of their schemes, and their prayers are represented to have been occasionally successful in bringing supernatural aid. Cromwell, and the men of his age, with more true and exalted conceptions of God, believed in His still administering the affairs of men, not by means of a regular order of causes and effects, but by direct exercises of special power.

I should say that in this condition of mind they were inspired by pure and exalted religious emotions, but misled by great errors in theology. It was under the influence of such views of the Divine administration that the existing chap, i.] AN HISTORICAL RETROSPECT.

standards of the Church of England and of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland were framed • and hence perhaps arose the very meagre recognition of the order of God's providence in the course of Nature as religious truth, and as a system of practical instruction for the guidance of human conduct, which characterises them.

After the days of Cromwell, however, the human understanding, by a profounder and more exact study of Nature, obtained a different view of the course of Providence in the administration of temporal affairs. Science revealed a system in which every object, animate or inanimate, appears to be endowed with peculiar qualities and powers, which it preserves and exerts with undeviating regularity as long as its circumstances continue unchanged ; and in which each object is adapted with wisdom and benevolence to the others, and all to man. In the words of the Rev. Mr. Sedgwick, science unfolded a fixed order of creation so clear and intelligible that " we are justified in saying that in the moral as in the physical world, God seems to govern by general laws.*' — "I am not now," says he, "contending for the doctrine of moral necessity • but I do affirm that the moral government of God is by general laws, and that it is our bounden duty to study those laws, and, as far as ive can, turn them to our account.''*

Here, then, an important revolution has been effected in the views of profound thinkers in regard to the mode in which Providence administers this world. Science has banished from their minds belief in the exercise by the Deity, in our day, of special acts of supernatural power as a means of influencing human affairs ; and it has presented a systematic order of Nature, which man may study, comprehend, and follow as a guide to his practical conduct.

* "Discourse on the Studies of the University" (of Cambridge). By Adam Sedgwick, M.A., 3rd edition, p. 9.

s

SCIENCE AND RELIGION.

[chap. I.

In point of fact, the new faith has already partially taken the place of the old. In everything physical, men now act on the belief that this world's administration is conducted on the principle of an established order of Nature, in which objects and agencies are presented to man for his study, are to some extent placed under his control, and are wisely calculated to promote his instruction and enjoyment.

Some persons adopt the same view in regard even to moral affairs. The creed of the modern man of science is well expressed by Mr. Sedgwick in the following words :— " If there be a superintending Providence, and if His will be manifested by general laws, operating both on the physical and moral world, then must a violation of these laws be a violation of His toil I, and be pregnant with inevitable misery. Nothing can, in the end, be expedient for man, except it be subordinate to those laivs the Author of Nature has thought jit to impress on His moral and physical creation^ Other clergymen also embrace the same view. The Rev. Dr. Thomas Guthrie, in his "Plea for Ragged Schools," observes that "They commit a grave mistake who forget that injury as inevitably results from flying in the face of a moral or mental as of a physical law."

This revolution in practical belief, however, is only partial ; and the great characteristic of the religious mind at the present day is its aversion to the doctrine of an intelligible, moral, and practical system of government, revealed by God to man in the order of Nature for the guidance of his conduct, and that correct expositions of this system possess the character of religious truths. This unbelief in an intelligible and practically useful Divine government in Nature affects our religion, our literature, and our conduct. I put the following questions in all earnestness :— Are the fertility of the soil, the health of the body, the prosperity of individuals and of nations — in short, the great secular interests of mankind — now governed by special acts

CHAP, i.] AN HISTORICAL RETROSPECT. 9

of supernatural power ? Science answers that they are not. Are they, then, governed by any regular and comprehensible natural laws ! If they are not. then is this world a theatre of anarchy, and consequently of atheism ; it is a world without the practical manifestation of a god.

If* on the other hand, such laws exist as science proclaims, they must be of Divine institution, and worthy of all reverence ; and I ask. in the standards of what Church, from the pulpits of what sect, and in the schools of what denomination of Christians, are these laws taught as religious truths of Divine authority, and as practical guides for conduct in this world's affairs ] If we do not now live under a special supernatural government of the world, but under a government by natural laws, and if these laws are not studied, honoured, and obeyed as God's laws, are we not actually a nation without a religion in harmony with the true order of Providence, and therefore without a religion adapted to practical purposes \

The answer will probably be that this argument is infidelity ; but. with all deference. I reply that the denial of a regular, intelligible, wisely adapted, and Divinely appointed order of Nature, as a guide to human conduct in this world, is practical atheism : while the acknowledgment of the existence of such an order, accompanied by the nearly universal neglect of teaching and obeying its requirements, is real infidelity, is disrespectful to God, and injurious to the best interests of man. Christians cannot consistently believe that God answers the prayers of Mahommedans, Hindus, Persians, and Chinese, lor they deny the soundness of their faiths ; nor that He exercises a special providence for their guidance to temporal prosperity, and for their consolation in affliction and in the hour of death : and yet. if God really governs the world, His laws must apply to these nations as well as to Christians.