Tilt FAITH OF A SCIENTIST.

Otago Witness, Issue 2761, 13 February 1907, Page 79

Tilt FAITH OF A SCIENTIST.

(The Spectator).

Sir Oliver Lodge has drawn up a religions catechism designed for the use of teachers and of all these interested in education. It is, however, as the confession of faith of an eminent man of science rather than as a vehicle for imparting instruction that the document will interest the general public. In the form of questions and answers, Sir Oliver Lodge reveals his attitude towards all the great problems of faith. He tells us what he thinks about the existence of Gcd, the Creation of Man, the Fall, the origin of evil, the hope of a future life, the revelation made through Christ, the efficacy of prayer, and the significance of the Kingdom of Heaven. On all these subjects the ordinary man, if he thinks about religion at all, must often desire to know the opinion of a scientific specialist. How far is the creed of Christendom compatible with the conclusions of science? is a distressing question constantly at tbe back of many minds. No single man of science can possibly answer it : but a candid reply from such a one as Sir Oliver Lodge cannot fail to attract an eager attention. To begin at the beginning, our catecliist is. of course, a believer in evolution, and can give no credence to the first chapter of Genesis as an historical narrative. Man, as alive and .conscious upon the earth today, he tells us, has ascended, with struggle and suffering, from the lower forms,, of animal life. The Fall of Man, however, is not in his eyes a meaningless expression. "At a certain stage of development man," he says, ' "became conscious of a difference between right and wrong, so that thereafter, when his actions fell below a normal standard of conduct, he felt ashamed and sinful." Here the reader is seized with a great desire to stop and ask questions What is meant by a normal standard of conduct? How can any such standard have been brought into existence by the first stab of conscience experienced* by the first moral man? The difficulty of accounting for the fact that, while the moral law is unchangeable and eternal, every man must be acquitted or condemned in accordance with the conscience of his age has led to a perhaps inevitable ambiguity. The sequel, however, is clear and convincing. "The possibility of fall marks a rise in the scale of existence," and brings us to ''the distinctive character of manhood," which is "responsibility." Man has the "power of choosing between good and evil, with freedom to obey one motive rather than another."

As to what good and evil are, Sir Oliver Lodge gives us the following d^fthitions and explanations : — "Good is that which promotes development and is in harmony with the will of God." Evil, on the other hand, "retards or frustrates development and injures some part of the universe." The bits of mere definition are the. least interesting part of, fne catecliisnx. So they are of the received catechisms, but vi this new one they are at least short. The human and practical element is never absent for many lines. How are we to know good from evil? Sir Oliver Lodge relies in tbe first instance upon conscience. Man's "own nature," be says, "when *nccrrupted, is sufficiently in tune with the universe to enable* him to be well aware in general of what is pleasing and displeasing to the Guiding Spirit." Sin he regards as a necessary corollary of free will. A man commits sin when he deliberately sees the better and chooses the worse, thereby injuring himself and others. 'The root sin is selfishness.' 1

Here in the middle of his catechism the writer propounds the most fundamental question of all. "W T hat caused and what maintains existence?" No categorical answer is, of course, po&sible. The writer reverently declares the greatness of human ignorance, and clings to the divine inspiration of liope. "Of our own knowledge we are unable to realise the meaning of origination or of maintenance . . . but we conceive that there must be some Intelligence supreme over the whole process of evolution." Vastly beyond our comprehension, as this Supreme Power of necessity is, "we trust and believe that it is a Good and Loving Power, able and willing to help us and all creatures, and to guide us vriselv, snthout detriment to our incipient freedom " To the goodness of God the fact of evolution seems to Sir Oliver

Lodge To point ; but lie does not basj his faith entirely upon the evidence of things seen. He leaves deliberately the region of the demonstrable, and speaks of "the grace of God," which he describes as "a lovingkindness," which seems to .surround man, "the mainspring of joy and love and beauty." It may take, \\e says, "a multiplicity of forms, but its essence and higher meaning were specially revealed to dwellers on this planet in the form of a Divinely-human perfect life, the life of Jesus Christ, through whose spirit and loving influence the race of man may hope to rise to heights at present inaccessible."

As to the future life, while the catechist states an absolute belief therein, he offers no definite argument in its favour, though in that, and in all matters "concerning things too high for our. on n knowledge," he puts much confidence in the assurance of inspired men — "the great teachers, the prophets and poets and saints of the human race.'' "Our , terrestrial^ existence is." he believes, "temporary ; oiir real existence c> niiniies without* 'fceising, in either a higher or a lower form, according to our use of opportunities and means of grace, and the fulness of life uliimMtly attainable represents a state of prrfoetioH at present inconceivable by us." Tfc4 danger of sin is here given an e-vprosEion not, perhaps, in strict accordance with the ordinarily received notions of the Ohristiaja Church ; but the churches themfelvesK^s* press their inspired fears in many metaphorical forms, and are not sufficiently unanimous to be able to condemn an evolutionist's conception of retribution. To the question," "What do you understand by prayer?" Sir Oliver Lodge replies : '"I understand that when our spirits are attuned to the Spirit of Righteousness, our hopes and aspirations exert an influence far beyond their conscious range, ana in a true- sense bring us into communion with our Heavenly Father." He does rjot reject the idea of prayer for temporal benefits. He believes we should ask for anything we need, "as children ask parents, in a spirit of trust and su^jmis-

The catechism ends with an interpretation of our Lord's expression, l- tihe Kingdom of Heaven." Almost all New Testament commentators have attempted a definition. The present writer remembers to have Tead none better than this. "The Kingdom of Heaven is the most essential feature of Christianity. It signifies an harmonious condition or state in which the Divine Will is perfectly obeyed ; it represents the highest state of existence, individual or social, that we can conceive.

. . . It is tbe ideal state of society towards which reformers are striving ; it is the ideal of conscious existence towards which saints aim."

The n-ost striking thing in this declaration of faith is that the faith declared is Christianity, and not a cold Deism. For Sir Oliver Lodge it is not enough to believe that intelligence lies behind the universe and keeps the .stars in their courses. This conviction may rest upon a scientific basis, may one day perhaps be demonstrably proved, but it is, and must always remain, an intellectual rather than a religious conviction. It gives to those who believe it no vense of safety, none of sympathy, none of forgiveness, and none of hope. For all these thii-gs we must look to revelation and not to reason, to inspiration and r.ot to investigation. In doing so Sir Oliver Lodge appears to think that we violate no scientific principle. Itis faith, not knowledge, by which we are brought into communion with God. That the worlds are nonlerfully made is but little consolation in the tioub'.es of lite. Christ, speaking by the Spirit of God. as sured mankind of their divine bonship. There is no witness to His words but the witness of the .Spirit. Yet science, Sir Oliver Lodge implies, lias nothing to say against them, and certainly it is by the things of the Spirit that both characters and communities are saved.

But some aident churchman may say: "We did not need a man of science to tell us tins. We knew it all before. Whyhas Sir Oliver Lodge caused so much stir?" This point of view is surely ungracious. It is always, humanly speaking, something of an event when wise men come to worship Christ. The fact of their homage is of more importance to the chffrehefc than the details of their reasoning. There are many religious minds tmhich can only find rest 'in authority. Gefituarifs ago the an? thority of the OhurdfKfcufnced them. A dim sense that she bad- knowledge on her side quieted their doubts and left them able to OTrve God in j^eace. Nowadays they feel that the Church has no monopoly of knowledge. "They even suspect that "Authority" has her residence and is with the men of science. A voice from the other camp confessing that essential Christianity which they ardently desire to believe, and do diligently practice, but the truth of which is too often ovei shadowed for them by a suspicion that the scientific men do not believe it, can alone confirm their faith. In tbe name of such mvii — and their number is neither small nor decreasing — the Christian church should thank Sir Oliver Lodge.