Modern Atheism under its forms of Pantheism, Materialism, Secularism, Development, and Natural Laws

J >> James Buchanan >> Modern Atheism under its forms of Pantheism, Materialism, Secularism, Development, and Natural Laws

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The general principle which is involved in these and similar statements
may be perfectly sound, when it is applied merely to _natural events_,
occurring in the ordinary course, and according to the established
constitution of the material and moral world; but it is manifestly
inapplicable to _supernatural events_, such as the creation of the
world, or the revelation of Divine truth, since these events cannot be
accounted for by any known natural cause, and must be ascribed to the
immediate agency of a Higher Power. Without some such limitation, the
general principle cannot be admitted, since it would involve an
egregious fallacy. We must not limit Omnipotence by circumscribing the
range of its possible exercise within the narrow bounds of the existing
economy, or of our actual experience. We are not warranted to assume
that the origin of the world, on the one hand, or the establishment of
Christianity on the other, may be accounted for by _natural causes_
still known to be in actual operation. In regard to _natural events_ the
principle is sound, and it is rigorously adhered to by the expounder of
Natural Theology; in regard to _supernatural events_ it can have no
legitimate application, except in so far as it is combined with the
doctrine of efficient and final causes, which leads us up to the
recognition of a Higher Power. It might be safe and legitimate enough,
when we find a fossil organism imbedded in the earth, to ascribe its
production to the ordinary law of generation, even although we had not
witnessed the fact of its birth, provided the same species is known to
have existed previously; but when we find _new races_ coming into being,
for which the ordinary law of derivation cannot account, we are not at
liberty to apply the same rule to a case so essentially different, and
still less to postulate _a spontaneous generation_, or a _transmutation
of species_, for which we have no experience at all. In such a case, we
can only reason on the principle that _like_ effects must have _like_
causes, that marks of _design_ imply a _designing_ cause, and that
events which cannot be accounted for by _natural causes_ must be
ascribed to a Power distinct from nature, and superior to it. It is
manifestly unreasonable to assume that nothing can be brought to pass in
the Universe otherwise than by the operation of the same natural laws
which are now in action; or that, in the course of our limited and
partial experience, we must necessarily know all the agencies that may
have been at work during the long flow of time. And, in accordance with
these views, Sir Charles Lyell expressly limits the general principle to
_natural events_, and shows that "Geology differs as widely from
Cosmogony as speculations concerning the _Creation of Man_ differ from
his _History_."

FOOTNOTES:

[28] "Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation," p. 17.

[29] AUGUSTE COMTE, "Cours de Philosophic Positive," II. 363, 376. The
merits of this attempt are very differently estimated by two competent
authorities; by PROFESSOR SEDGWICK in the "Edinburgh Review," No. 82, p.
22; and by SIR DAVID BREWSTER in the "North British Review," No. 3, p.
476.

[30] "Vestiges," p. 11, 23.

[31] WHEWELL, "Indications of a Creator." SEDGWICK'S "Discourse," 5th
edition. "Edinburgh Review," No. 82. SIR D. BREWSTER, "North British
Review," No. 3. PROFESSOR DOD, "Princeton Theological Essays," second
series. H. MILLER, "Footprints of the Creator." T. MONCK MASON,
"Creation by the Immediate Agency of God."

[32] THOMAS MONCK MASON, "Creation by the Immediate Agency of God, as
opposed to Creation by Natural Law; being a Refutation of 'The
Vestiges,'" &c., p. 34.

[33] SIR JOHN HERSCHELL, "Memoir on Nebulae and Clusters of Stars,"
London Philosophical Transactions, 1833. "Edinburgh Review," No. 82, p.
19.

[34] "North British Review," No. 3, p. 477.

[35] PROFESSOR NICHOL, "The System of the World," Preface, VI., and 108.

[36] Ecclesiastes 12: 1.

[37] LORENZ OKEN, M. D., "Elements of Physio-philosophy,"--reprinted
(unfortunately) under the auspices of the Ray Society, London, 1847.

[38] DR. JOHN BARCLAY, "Inquiry concerning Life and Organization," pp.
33, 36. See also pp. 177, 235, 413, 526.

[39] "Telliamed; ou, Entretiens d'un Philosophe Indien avec un
Missionaire Francois, sur la Diminution de la Mer, la Formation de la
Terre, l'Origine de l'Homme," 2 vols., 1748.

[40] "Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation," 6th edition, p. 90.

[41] MR. HUGH MILLER, "Footprints of the Creator," p. 226.

[42] "North British Review," 1845, p. 483.

[43] "Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation," p. 92.

[44] "The Vestiges," p. 104.

[45] Ibid.

[46] TODD, "Cyclopaedia of Anatomy and Physiology," article, Generation.

[47] MR. HUGH MILLER, "Footprints of the Creator," p. 233. T. MONCK
MASON, "Creation by the Immediate Agency of God." "Princeton Theological
Essays," Second Series, p. 422.

[48] CUVIER, "Ossemens Fossiles," p. 61.

[49] MR. HUGH MILLER, "Footprints," p. 254.

[50] DR. WHEWELL'S "Indications," p. 54.

[51] "Footprints of the Creator," p. 19.

[52] "The Vestiges," p. 105.

[53] "The Vestiges," pp. 91, 96.

[54] "The Vestiges," p. 9.

[55] HUGH MILLER, "Footprints," pp. 13, 15. PROFESSOR DOD, "Princeton
Theological Essays," II. 432.

[56] CICERO, "De Natura Deorum," L. II.

[57] M. COMTE, "Cours de Philosophie Positive," I. 3, 6, 14; IV. viii.,
653, 656, 708, 711, 723; V. 1, 9.

[58] M. COMTE, "Cours de la Philosophie Positive," I. 3.

[59] Ibid., V. 30, 42, 50, 96, 98, 101.

[60] M. COMTE, "Cours," V. 37, 75, 91, 101.

[61] Ibid., V. 58, 87, 94, 105, 125, 278.

[62] M. COMTE, "Cours," V. 107, 115, 119, 124, 136, 148, 162, 167, 207,
224, 229.

[63] Ibid., V. 128, 164, 268, 279, 281, 290.

[64] M. COMTE, "Cours," V. 297, 325, 461, 470; VI. 231.

[65] M. COMTE, "Cours," V. 479, 487, 496, 505; VI. 2.

[66] COMTE, "Cours," I. 4, 10; IV. 664, 669, 676, 702.

[67] M. COMTE, "Cours," V. 299, 326, 345; VI. 62, 72, 157, 234, 503,
864.

[68] ABBE MARET, "Theodicee Chretienne," p. 218.

[69] M. COMTE, "Cours," V. 327, 344, 369, 538, 582, 684; VI. 137.

[70] Ibid., V. 428, 597, 684, 836; VI. 419, 521, 860.

[71] M. COMTE, "Cours," I. 44, 141; IV. 673; V. 45, 303.

[72] VICTOR COUSIN, "Introduction a l'Histoire de la Philosophie," I.
121. Ibid., "Cours de la Philosophie," III. 2, 464.

[73] M. COMTE, "Cours," V. 3, 5, 22; VI. 32, 481.

[74] M. COMTE, "Cours," V. 382, "Premier fondateur, _reel ou ideal_, de
ce grand systeme religieux."

[75] "Encyc. Britan.," articles "Augury" and "Divination." DR. THOMSON'S
"History of Chemistry."

[76] MR. H. MILLER'S "Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland."

[77] M. COMTE, "Cours," I. 13; V. 461, 470; VI. 86, 126, 148.

[78] DR. CUDWORTH, "Intellectual System," I. 33.

[79] "Westminster Confession of Faith," chap. V. Sec. 2, 3.

[80] STRAUSS, "Life of Jesus," I. 88. HENRY ROGERS, "Reason and Faith,"
Appendix, p. 96.

[81] DR. CHALMERS' Works, I. "Natural Theology."

[82] M. COMTE, "Cours," I. 7.

[83] MONTAIGNE, "Apology for Raimond de Sebonde," Essays, II. 148.

[84] COMTE, "Cours," VI., Preface, IX.

[85] DR. ANDREW THOMSON, "Sermons on Infidelity," p. 62.

[86] M. COMTE, "Cours," IV. 709: "Je puis affirmer n'avoir jamais trouve
d'argumentation serieuse en opposition a cette loi, depuis dix-sept ans
que j'ai eu le bonheur de la decouvrir, si ce n'est celle que l'on
fondait sur la consideration de la _simultaneite jusq'ici necessairement
tres commune_, des trois philosophies chez les memes intelligences."
"Cours," I. 27, 50, 10: "L'emploi _simultane_ des trois philosophies
radicalement incompatibles,"--"la _coexistence_ de ces trois
philosophies opposees." See also IV. 683, 694; V. 28, 39, 41, 57, 171;
VI. 26, 31, 34, 155.

[87] M. COMTE, "Cours," I. 14: "En considerant comme _absolument
inaccessible et vide de sens pour nous_ la recherche de ce qu'on appelle
les _causes, soit premieres, soit finales_."

[88] SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH, "Encyc., Britan.," Preliminary Dissertation,
p. 354.

[89] M. COMTE, "Cours," IV. 664.

[90] Ibid., VI. 728, 730, 760, 826, 835, 866.

[91] NEWMAN'S "Essay on Development," p. 27.

[92] NEWMAN'S "Essay on Development," p. 38.

[93] Ibid., p. 95.

[94] BROWNSON'S "Quarterly Review," No. 1, p. 43.

[95] SEDGWICK'S "Discourse," Fourth Edition. Preface, CCCXCIII.

[96] NEWMAN'S "Essay," p. 447.

[97] Letters of Rev. W. A. BUTLER on the "Development of Christian
Doctrine," p. 116.

[98] PIERRE LEROUX, "Sur l'Humanite." AUGUSTUS COMTE, "Positive
Calendar." The author gave some account of this in an article
contributed to the "North British Review," May, 1851.

[99] PROFESSOR BUTLER'S "Letters," p. 87.

[100] "Eclipse of Faith," p. 13.

[101] DR. WORDSWORTH, "Letters to M. Gondon," p. 153.

[102] LYELL, "Principles of Geology," I. 75.

CHAPTER III.

THEORIES OF PANTHEISM.

At the commencement of the present century, Pantheism might have been
justly regarded and safely treated as an obsolete and exploded
error,--an error which still prevailed, indeed, in the East as one of
the hereditary beliefs of Indian superstition, but which, when
transplanted to Western Europe by the daring genius of Spinoza, was
found to be an exotic too sickly to take root and grow amidst the fresh
and bracing air of modern civilization.

But no one who has marked the recent tendencies of speculative thought,
and who is acquainted, however slightly, with the character of modern
literature, can have failed to discern a remarkable change in this
respect within the last fifty years. German philosophy, always prolific,
and often productive of monstrous births, has given to the world many
elaborate systems, physical and metaphysical, whose most prominent
feature is the deification of Nature or of Man. France, always alert and
lively, has appropriated the ideas of her more ponderous neighbors, and
has given them currency through educated Europe on the wings of her
lighter literature. And even in England and America there are not
wanting some significant tokens of a disposition to cherish a kind of
speculation which, if it be not formally and avowedly Pantheistic, has
much of the same dreamy and mystic character, and little, if any,
harmony with definite views of God, or of the relations which He bears
to man.

One of the most significant symptoms of a reaction in favor of Pantheism
may be seen in the numerous republications and versions of the writings
of Spinoza which have recently appeared, in the public homage which has
been paid to his character and genius, and in the more than philosophic
tolerance--the kindly indulgence--which has been shown to his most
characteristic principles. He is now recognized by many as the real
founder both of the Philosophic and of the Exegetic Rationalism, which
has been applied, with such disastrous effect, to the interpretation
alike of the volume of Nature and of the records of Revelation. In
Germany his works have been edited by Paulus (1803) and by Gfroerer
(1830); in France they have been translated by Emile Saisset, Professor
of Philosophy in the Royal College; while a copious account of his life
and writings has been published by Amand Saintes, the historian of
Rationalism in Germany.[103] All this might be accounted for by
ascribing it simply to the admiration of philosophical thinkers for the
extraordinary talents of the man; and it might be said that his writings
have been reprinted, just as those of Hobbes have been recently
reproduced in England, more as a historical monument of the past than as
a mirror that reflects the sentiments of the present age. But it is more
difficult to explain the eulogiums with which the reappearance of
Spinoza has been greeted, and the cordiality with which his daring
speculations have been received. He has not only been exculpated from
the charge of Atheism, but even panegyrized as a saint and martyr! "That
holy and yet outcast man," exclaimed Schleiermacher,--"he who was fully
penetrated by the universal Spirit,--for whom the Infinite was the
beginning and the end, and the Universe his only and everlasting
love,--he who, in holy innocence and profound peace, delighted to
contemplate himself in the mirror of an eternal world, where, doubtless,
he saw himself reflected as its most lovely image,--he who was full of
the sentiment of religion, because he was filled with the Holy Spirit!"
"Instead of accusing Spinoza of Atheism," says M. Cousin, "he should
rather be subjected to the opposite reproach."[104] "He has been loudly
accused," says Professor Saisset, "of Atheism and impiety.... The truth
is that never did a man believe in God with a faith more profound, with
a soul more sincere, than Spinoza. Take God from him, and you take from
him his system, his thought, his life." "Spinoza, although a Jew," says
the Abbe Sabatier, a member of the Catholic clergy, "always lived as a
Christian, and was as well versed in our divine Testament as in the
books of the ancient Law. If he ended, as we cannot doubt he did, in
embracing Christianity, he ought to be _enrolled in the rank of saints_,
instead of being placed at the head of the enemies of God."

Contrast the language in which Spinoza is now compared to Thomas a
Kempis, and proposed as a fit subject for canonization itself, with the
terms in which he was wont to be spoken of by men of former times; and
the startling difference will sufficiently indicate a great change in
the current of European thought. And if we add to this the
contemporaneous reappearance of such writers as Bruno and Vanini, whose
works have been reprinted by the active philosophical press of Paris, we
may be well assured that it is not by overlooking or despising such
speculations, but by boldly confronting and closely grappling with them,
that we shall best protect the mind of the thinking community from their
insidious and pestilent influence.

But we are not left to _infer_ the existence, in many quarters, of a
prevailing tendency towards Pantheism, from such facts as have been
stated, significant as they are; we have explicit testimonies on the
point, in a multitude of writings, philosophical and popular, which have
recently issued from the Continental press. In a report presented to the
Academy of Sciences, M. Franck, a member of the Institute, represents
Pantheism as the last and greatest of all the Metaphysical systems which
have come into collision with Revelation; and describes it as a theory,
"according to which spirit and matter, thought and extension, the
phenomena of the soul and of the body, are all equally related, either
as attributes or modes, to the same substance or being, at once _one_
and _many_, finite and infinite,--Humanity, Nature, God." Conceiving
that the older forms of error--Dualism and Materialism--have all but
disappeared; and that Atheism, in its gross mechanical form, cannot now,
as Broussais himself said, "find entrance into a well-made head which
has seriously meditated on nature," M. Franck concludes that Pantheism
alone, such as has been conceived and developed in Germany, is likely to
have the power of seducing serious minds, and that it may for a season
exert considerable influence as an antagonist to Christianity.[105] M.
Javari gives a similar testimony. He tells us that "that great lie,
which is called Pantheism (_ce grand mensonge qu'on appelle le
Pantheisme_), has dragged German philosophy into an abyss; that it is
fascinating a large number of minds among his own countrymen; and that
it is this doctrine, rather than any other, which will soon gather
around it all those who do not know or who reject the truth."[106] The
Biographer of Spinoza, referring to the recent progress and prospective
prevalence of these views, affirms that "the tendency of the age, in
matters of Philosophy, Morals, and Religion, seems to incline towards
Pantheism;" that "the time is come when every one who will not frankly
embrace the pure and simple Christianity of the Gospel will be obliged
to acknowledge Spinoza as his chief, unless he be willing to expose
himself to ridicule;" that "Germany is already saturated with his
principles;" that "his philosophy domineers over all the contemporary
systems, and will continue to govern them until men are brought to
believe that word, 'No man hath seen God at any time, but He who was in
the bosom of the Father hath revealed Him;'" that it is this
"Pantheistic philosophy, boldly avowed, towards which the majority of
those writers who have the talent of commanding public interest are
gravitating at the present day;" and that "the ultimate struggle will
be, not between Christianity and Philosophy, but between Christianity
and Spinozism, its strongest and most inveterate antagonist."[107] And
the critical reviewer of Pantheism, whose Essay is said to have been the
first effective check to its progress in the philosophical schools of
Paris, gives a similar testimony. He tells us that it was his main
object to point out "the Pantheistic tendencies of the age;" to show
that Germany and France are deeply imbued with its spirit; that both
Philosophy and Poetry have been infected by it; that this is "the
veritable heresy of the nineteenth century; and that, when the most
current beliefs are analyzed, they resolve themselves into Pantheism,
avowed or disguised."[108]

A few _specimens_ of this mode of thinking may be added in confirmation
of these statements. Lessing, as reported by Jacobi, expressed his
satisfaction with the poem "Prometheus," saying: "This poet's point of
view is my own; the orthodox ideas on the Divinity no longer suit me; I
derive no profit from them: [Greek: hen kai pan],--(_un et tout, the
one_ and _the all_),--I know no other." Schelling, in his earlier
writings, while he was Professor at Jena, and before the change of
sentiment which he avowed at Berlin, represented God as the one only
true and really absolute existence; as nothing more or less than Being,
filling the whole sphere of reality; as the infinite Being (_Seyn_)
which is the essence of the Universe, and evolves all things from itself
by self-development. Hegel seeks unity in every thing and every where.
This unity he discovers in the identity of existence and thought, in the
one substance which exists and thinks, in God who manifests and develops
himself in many forms. "The Absolute produces all and absorbs all; it is
the essence of all things. The life of the Absolute is never consummated
or complete. God does not properly exist, but comes into being: 'Gott
ist in werden.'--_Deus est in fieri_. With him God is not a Person, but
Personality, which realizes itself in every human consciousness as so
many thoughts of one eternal Mind.... Apart from, and out of the world,
therefore, there is no God; and so, also, apart from the universal
consciousness of man, there is no Divine consciousness or personality.
God is with him the whole process of thought, combining in itself the
objective movement, as seen in Nature, with the subjective, as seen in
Logic; and fully realizing itself only in--the universal spirit of
Humanity."[109]

We select only two specimens from the recent literature of France; they
might be multiplied indefinitely. Pierre Leroux, the editor of the
"Encyclopedie Nouvelle," says, in his "Essay on Humanity," dedicated to
the poet Beranger:--"It is the God immanent in the Universe, in
Humanity, in each Man, that I adore."--"The worship of Humanity was the
worship of Voltaire."--"What, is Humanity considered as comprehending
all men? Is it something, or is it nothing but an abstraction of our
mind? Is Humanity a collective being, or is it nothing but a series of
individual men?"--"Being, or the soul, is eternal by its nature. Being,
or the soul, is infinite by its nature. Being, or the soul, is permanent
and unchangeable by its nature. Being, or the soul, is one by its
nature. Being, or the soul, is God by its nature."--"Socrates has proved
our eternity and the divinity of our nature."[110] The next specimen is
a singular but very instructive one. It is derived from the treatise of
M. Crousse, who holds that "intelligence is a property or an effect of
matter;" "that the world is a great body, which has sense, spirit, and
reason;" that "matter, in appearance the most cold and insensible, is in
reality animated, and capable of engendering thought." It might be
amusing, were it not melancholy, to refer to one of his proofs of this
position: "Une horologe mesure le temps; certes, c'est la un effet
intellectuel produit par une cause physique!"[111] His grand principle
is the doctrine of what he calls "Unisubstancisme," and it is applied
equally to the nature of God and the soul of man. God is admitted, but
it is the God of Pantheism,--Nature, including matter and mind, but
excluding any higher power. "God is the self-existent Being, which
includes all, and beyond which no other can be imagined. The Infinite is
identical with the Universe."--"God is and can only be the whole of that
which exists. Let us proclaim it aloud, that the echoes may repeat it,
God, the Great Being, is the All, and the All is One. God is every thing
that exists; the Universe, that is the supreme Being. In it are life
eternal, power, wisdom, knowledge, perfect organization, all the
qualities, in a word, that are inseparable from the Divinity. Beyond the
universe, or apart from it, there is nothing (_neant_); above the
visible world and its laws there is for man--_nullite_."

It is deeply humbling to think that, in the light of the nineteenth
century, and in the very centre of European civilization, speculations
such as these should have found authors to publish, and readers to
purchase them. Need we wonder that several Catholic writers on the
continent, conversant with the works which are daily issuing from the
press, and familiar with the state of society in which they live, have
publicly expressed their apprehension that, unless some seasonable and
effective check can be given to the progress of this fearful system, we
may yet witness the restoration of Polytheistic worship and the revival
of Paganism in Europe?[112]

The most cursory review of _the history of Pantheism_[113] will serve to
convince every reflecting reader that it must have its origin in some
natural but strangely perverted principle of the human mind; and that
its recent reappearance in Europe affords an additional and very
unexpected proof that, like the weeds which spring up, year after year,
in the best cultivated field, it must have its roots or seeds deep in
the soil. In the annals of our race, we find it exhibited in two
distinct forms; _first_, as a Religious doctrine, and, _secondly_, as a
Philosophical system. It had its birthplace in the East, where the
gorgeous magnificence of Nature was fitted to arrest the attention and
to stimulate the imagination of a subtle, dreamy, and speculative
people. The primitive doctrine of Creation was soon supplanted by the
pagan theory of Emanation. The Indian Brahm is the first and only
Substance, infinite, absolute, indeterminate Being, from which all is
evolved, manifested, developed, and to which all returns and is
reabsorbed. The Vedanta philosophy is based on this fundamental
principle, and it has been well described as "the most rigorous system
of Pantheism which has ever appeared."

We learn from the writings of Greece that a similar system prevailed in
Egypt, different, indeed, in form, and expressed in other terms, but
resting on the same ultimate ground; and we know that Christianity found
one of its earliest and most formidable antagonists in the philosophical
school of Alexandria, which was deeply imbued with a Pantheistic spirit,
and which, perhaps for that reason, has recently become an object of
much interest to speculative minds in France and Germany. The Gnostic
and the Neoplatonic sects maintained, and the writings of Plotinus and
Proclus still exhibit, many principles the same in substance with those
which have been recently revived in Continental Europe. In the earlier
as well as the later literature of Greece we find traces of Pantheism,
while the Polytheistic worship, which universally prevailed, was its
natural product and appropriate manifestation. The ancient Orphic
doctrines, which were taught in the Mysteries, seem to have been based
on the oriental idea of Emanation. Even in the masculine literature of
Rome we find numerous passages which are still quoted, with glowing
admiration, by the Pantheists of modern times.[114] There is, indeed,
but too much reason to believe that the numerous references which occur
in the Classics to the existence of one absolute and supreme Being, and
which Dr. Cudworth has so zealously collected, with the view of proving
"the naturality of the idea of God," must be interpreted, at least in
many instances, in a Pantheistic sense, and that they imply nothing more
than the recognition of one parent Substance, from which all other
beings have been successively developed.

We find some lingering remains of Pantheism in the writings of the
middle age. Scot Erigena, in his work, "De Divisione Naturae," sums up
his theory by saying: "All is God, and God is all." Amaury de Chartres
made use of similar language. And it must have been more widely diffused
in these times than many may be ready to believe, if it be true, as the
Abbe Maret affirms, and as M. de Hammer offers to prove, that the
Knights of the Order of the Temple were affiliated to secret societies
in which the doctrines of Gnosticism and the spirit of Pantheism were
maintained and cherished.[115] It reappeared in the philosophical
schools of Italy before the dawn, and during the early progress, of the
revival of letters and the Reformation of Religion;[116] and even now,
after three centuries of scientific progress and social advancement, it
is once more rising into formidable strength, and aspiring to universal
ascendancy.

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