THE RELIGION OF A SCIENTIFIC MAN

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12070, 13 September 1902, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE RELIGION OF A SCIENTIFIC MAN

In a recent long essay, printed in the Fortnightly Review, and now republished in book form, Mi. Henry Thompson, a weliknown English scientist, records his "attempt to seek, by a carefully made induction from available data, some certain assurance respecting the influence which the 'Infinite and Eternal Energy from which all tilings proceed' has exercised on man throughout his long career on earth." Says the London Academy and Literature of the liter: —

''Sir Henry Thompson has been for nearly forty years among the most distinguished of surgeons ; he has taken astronomy as a hobby, he has written a couple of novels, as well as innumerable books and paper:) on surgical and medical subjects; and he. has been a frequent exhibitor at the Academy and the Salon. Now, in his eightysecond year, he sits down to declare the result of twenty years' search for a spiritual foothold. And the last word of the scientific man in search of (.bid is one of gladness.'

Sir Henry Thompson has not found the God of any of the revealed religions. In fact, he confesses to a dislike of the terms God, Jehovah, Theos, Jove, etc., and thinks that these should not be used in scientific writing, for the reason that they have become i»o completely identified by long association of ideas with schemes of theological doctrine based on the alleged existence of personal appearances on earth of the beings thus named." He has tried to tied from the progress of man and the known universe some hint of the tendencies, disposition, and purpose of the Eternal Energy which lies behind phenomena. "One method," he says, "alone can throw light on the subject, viz., a studious observation of the facts of Nature and of the inferences which may be legitimately drawn from them." Man's progress, Sir Henry observes, has been "long and painful;" he has slowly acquired knowledge of the objects by which he is surrounded ; and he has won every step "solely by his owe unaided efforts." The first half of the article is devoted to a rapid survey of the development of man from the anthropoid ape to the present conditions. His inference from this survey is as follows: —'

"The first and most natural feeling suggested by a survey of that long and difficult course which man lias traversed through countless ages may be for many one of pity —with a sense- of regret that, had it been possible, aid should not now and then have been proffered, perhaps at ceitain turningpoints in his history, when apparently it. would have been greatly serviceable. And not- a few have expressed inability to believe in the beneficent tendencies of the Unknown Source of all power, and have inferred evidence of neglect, or of indifference, in regard to man's progress and welfare. "But, on the other hand, it is next to certain that had the human race received at any time a revelation, say, of the means of obtaining fire, or of the elements of agriculture, or of the means of obtaining complete relief from suffering which modern science has discovered, man would never have become the efficient and highly-en-dowed creature lie is. He has fought his own way throughout, has overcome every obstacle himself, and passed through an educational course of the most perfect kind —self-taught, not 'helped.' • '" The result of this survey of man's long struggle with the forces of Nature, so often apparently hostile, but which he has so completely dominated and rendered subservient to his will and conducive to his well-being, has, I believe, established a fact which affords a complete and decisive proof of the beneficent tendency exercised by the Source of the Infinite and Eternal Energy." If it is true that there is much pain in the world it, is also true that the lower animal has a, comparatively small capacity for suffering and that man has learned to relieve the agonies of which he has become capable. Moreover, man shares with the animals infinite capacities for enjoyment in a thousand forms. We quote again: —

''The cultivated and religious man .

is grateful, vet proud to feel himself a participant i.'i the great and endless procession of tin' wise and good throughout the ages: trustful, without shadow of a. doubt respecting any kind of future there. may be in store, and concerning which it is needless for him to inquire or speculate. He 'lives a life, of Faith' in the Source of the Infinite and Eternal Energy, confident in the knowledge that the Jaws of the universe are the outcome vi perfect Wisdom and Beneficence."

The scientific man's religion, adds Sir Henry, is one in which a priestly hierarchy has no place, and in which there are no specified formularies of worship. To him religion, in the phrase of Huxley, " ought to mean simply reverence and love for the ethical ideal, and the desire to realise that ideal in life."

He disavows any desire to disturb the beliefs of those who derive comfort and strength for well-doing from the Christian faith ; but he has in mind the many who lack active faith in all religions, and he foresees a division in the future into two classes: —

"Among the rising and future generations of the educated classes many are certain to have their eyes opened to the fact that no supernatural revelation has ever been made to man. Hence the day is probably not far distant when the religious part of the community will be divided into two distinct camps or classes, viz., first, those who enjoy complete liberty of thought and action and practise the manly virtues which are associated 1 herewith ; and secondly, those who become devotees of the old Papal Church, which denounces the exercise of reason and inquiry in all matters connected with religion, and as a consequence demands implicit obedience, offering to her votaries in —with or without the intervening pains of purification in purgatory, according to circumstances—an ultimate admission by the Gate of tit. Peter tc the society of the blessed for evermore—a well-organised hierarchy which has exercised a vast influence on huma affairs aid interests for many ages, and may probably continue to do so for two or three more to come, but must eventually entirely disappear."