UNKNOWN

Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue 72, 26 March 1888, Page 7

UNKNOWN

I M h % the,«tifa After Death V ;fflj^!s,second article, in which X, !h^ ''Mf^ißl; according to |j Hy^^fPffltl as, to immortality, ■ y KSS:^«!»m-:to the popular^ after death/ hae 111 sf-M "■ elicited a * ■hPi^Wjlu?^' Crfrrespondence. ■WE*™ Respondents we must Utei ■? laot undertake to open 11^^^ Present to,a genial Iw^'lfw'Lir'v cvi dence, inlffllLlcv"^"l^ 8 ofi»»norbality. 'ftffiS- t0 tegititoately »ri;£ d™.^ing, a negative mSL Ird1 rd We into llis interpre■BfissS jffi!?-W % selection H wrteaP°n«encft which Has: reaped mm9'£ Oxford correspon■Kl% ? wel'knoffns^na#K» he :^o^onofa ■•ftS^ Wlfch Darwinism as , ■sJrW^^.^Wr of Mm KS^W one Jllflft Allert,rightly K^l of yj? «nkhqwn universal KJpi&Sfcfal i PMtB.-of the K^fac&fe' ffa^ a- h ™self ;■ «&%S' ' BH^ld have a jl . "*' B°far as.it

can judge, gives us an opinion. It jujplges it to be pervaded with rationality, albeit there are hiany parts of it yet unexplained. And it judges it in like manner (by Mr Darwin's mouth) to.be a whole in which "happiness decidedly prevails," and speaks of the v generally beneficent ar rangement of the world." It judges that thUeourse.of. nature Jias. been one. of progr^sßj and progress in, which each, detail has been interwoven with the rest, arid the tfestilt has been reached through the details of which marly taken alone ate painful. This is a "relief" to the Christian, or to anyone who, while he might think himself .able", to pronounce upon a detail taken singly—suchj far example, as a cat's behaviour to a mouse--can easily recognise that he has no pewer to fully judge the relations between a systemwhich is as wide as the universe and the. details' which t compose it. It is enough for hii moral sense and reason if he caii-difcerh1 sufficiently the general character and outcome of the whole. Why Arrest Evolution at.'the Grkvel Frdm another point' of view a second correspondent, Mr D. Chamier, of Bedford ParK, objects to Mr Grant Allen's inference that it isinconsistent, in its whole idtesii with the premises from whioh it is, inferred. Thus:— ,-.,..■, Justus the. germ, of life, now in thehuman b'elng has develbped by stage 3 from a simply form- that is the' gospel according tb Darwin—so must it continue in itscoilrse bfdevelopme^fafte'r th^i liuma'n Existence ceases. Indeed, it is only logical to conclude that such aperitn does nob cease its development : until the' HhW of. grbwth Has., been! reachfed—until, in faotj ittb'ecomes Cosmos.. That must in its tiaxii- be assumed to,be!of conipouflS nature and also in tlie cborseof develbpnierlt:. But it is.entirfel^ at .variance with his premises for Mr Granb Allen to Suddenly terminate the career of the germ in man" with KiS death. Such a stoppage,' Of development "capnpt be suggested, by the constant grbwth ,9't'th^ germ ih its preceding stages. What would man's "relative position " be if the career of a germ-which animates him ceases with him 1 He would be the end ! The decease 'oft each human being would be accompanied by the annulment of a germ; which* had (for how long ?J beea struggling and labouring upwards, obeying the lafr which "Darwin.' discovered. .Man wouldindeed be a-finalityj&goal, a '}} central facb in th 6 universe !'l He. would asstitne just tshtet very tjprsition of im|sPrtftnce which Mr Alteh atjia! prbpeHy.declihe's,tb iillpwjh'Wi .Tfie oniy QP'nclusibn, the true lpgicq.l ending to Mr • Grant Allen's narrative p.f the " Gospel according tb Darwin ' is, a most emphatic armament iii favour of tne erowtli and develo'pmerifi bf the germ of life, aft'er'it. Iras passed through,- and left, behind, the human body.

And the very nature of the theory prevents any limit of development being assigned. A Flaw In " tne Gospel According to Don't Knfcw." Wei have had the theological objection and the scientific objection ; now let us give a more metaphysical one; A clerical correspondent writes : — I do not deny that Darwin taught the evolution of man from lower forms, arid knew the .relative size of the earth, etc. But I call ife pseudo-Darwinism to make unDarwinian inferences and employ physical facts to cheapen fact 3 which are not physical. In a word, what has "size" or ''scale" to do with the "significance" of inah i Anyhow, he cannot be as big as a mountain, but he is nevertheless greater than the sun and all the stars. It is his quality,,not hts quantity, that places him in the immensities ofc the Universe; We suffer the old cheat of the senses. Masses arid fbrces takes us in—and people who study onlj masegs and forces ar,e; apt to cheapen mind with matter. Bujb the logical flaw is fatal. You can't compare mind with mattar-. The things-are ncft' in pari materia. You can't- weigh one against the other; simply because one has got no weight 6r' r any obh^r property of nritte'r— you crin't weigh a thought or take the cubic measufe' of a prayer or. dissolve, love iri a crucihle'.? You can' do-,. all. that- with moufatains tftm' stars, and! even with man's, body, not with his mind, and just.as the. significance of.the,solar systemi. lies riot in its. materials, which" can be weighed, but in the law and Karniohy 6'fit—th'e' co-ordinating spmetfjirig or tHe Divine Mind, which prevents^ it, from beo'pming chaos and Avhich cannot be weighed—so the sighifibalibe of man. tifrnia not on the size or quality of his body, but , upon-his mind. By- that alone this " petty insignificant terrestrial species of^ bars" is greater, than sun, moon, and stars. They feel not, know not, aspirb not, worship^ not. The perceiyer transcends the perceived that perceives noC Man- pereeiyes the material universe which perceives not man. He perceives God who perceives, him, he aspires, he prays. lie can dd this because he is likeminded with God. • the homcigWity of mind—mind in the universe and mind in man a'lofie—redeems our "petty; species'' from the " insignifiance " which Mjr.Gipnt Allen seems to gloat over. Well, to be redeemed from insignifiance and delivered from the cheat of the senses does ndt prove bur inimbrt'ality. Very triie, but it. proved that, the. gospel according, tip ■ lt Do«> known, s> is at present unrip to.,superfeede the Synppties,, and tba£.inferences, frbpi Dar w in—wlu<ih Darwin was careful.. not. to draw—are insufficient tP eStiriguish thd hope that is full of immortality," . (Wisdom of Sol. HI., 4), on which, depend upon it, the last word has not yet been said.