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    Untitled Article

    That the argument from design is not an argument philosophically tenable , has frequently been admitted by men of eminence and piety , from Kant to John Henry Newman . It is worse than untenable , it is suicidal . It forces the thoughts of men in directions where there is no issue but scepticism or equivocation , where men must either abandon their logic , and mentally equivocate , or must go right through to the complete denial of the very wisdom and benevolence they have been seeking .. It teaches them to look upon this universe . as a sort of workshop in which a very skilful artificer is to be seen at work . It teaches them that the wisdom of God is similar to the wisdom of xnan , only greater in degree ; that God ' s benevolence chooses the same means « s man ' s benevolence ; and that fcy the aid of the scalpel and the microscope ( with a flavour of metaphysics ) man can penetrate the " intentions" of the Creator .

    heard throughout . If we are allowed to interpret according to human analogies , and to call those things benevolent which in a human govemmenr would be benevolent , we must also interpret those other thines sw malevolent which m a human government would be malevolent . This ' is what the „ , biassed intellect necessarily detects ; and this is why the argument fvnm design is so dangerous . At first the student is in raptures with " the proofs of , 5 * ,, benevolence ; he ends by discouragement at the proofs of unskiltulness and malevolence . This wondrous frame of ours lie can nevesufficiently admire , until the Natural Theologian steps in to make evc-v organ a « text , " and then the extreme complexity of the organism brinuim , with it a readiness to get " out of order , " and thusnot onlto frustrat its

    , y e original "design , ' but to become the source of frightful anguish , not only to the individual but to Ins innocent descendants , makes the student pause then doubt , finally disbelieve . We know the answer which the Natural Theologian has ready , but the answer satisfies no inquirer , stedfast for the truth We know , indeed , that an idiot at large has written a book he calls God in Disease , m which he doubtless proves that Disease itself is an exquisite refinement of benevolence , and exerts his ingenuity in showing how the vis r . ie-licairix effects a cure ; omitting , of course , those cases in whieli it cloes-jiof effect a cure , and omitting all consideration of why cure was necessary vl > v disease itself was ordained . " ' ' ' ' "

    In truth , as long as man continues to make God in his own im ^ e to assume that the Divine Wisdom can only be Human Wisdom on a hrWr scale , and that Divine Benevolence can act only as human benevolence would act , there -will continue to be a degradation of our religious conceptions , and anarchy ia our Churches . Why not confess our utter ignorance where knowledge is impossible ? Why pretend the Mystery is no Mystery , but that we can raise the veil and disclose the secret of the universe ? Which is the more religious attitude , that of the Theologian who studies Nature with a view of detecting the " admirable contrivances" of the Creator , so that he may prove God to be a successful builder , carpenter , hunter , nurse , and warrior ( this is what Natural Theology , in so many words , attempts ) , and who thus ' explains ' the great mystery of life , or that of the Philosopher who , acknpwleuijina the incommensurable nature of the mystery , bows reverently ' before it , " and studies Nature that he may understand what is , rather than what \ vt > s intended ?

    Our protest against the-argument which forms the basis of Typical Forms and Special Ends in Creation , has carried us so far that , although we have only touched the subject we have exhausted our limits . But as the work is too remarkable to be so passed over weshall recur to it next -week for wore detailed criticism .

    This is not a religious conception , nor does it induce religious thoughts . Tor our own . part , we have the strongest repulsion against all such conceptions , as degrading to the Deity , and obstructive to human progress . The Katural Theologian thinks he has made a great point when he can say " Man builds his ships , and constructs his arches , but how poor are his efforts compared with those of the Divine Architect ! " Until some idiot shall arise to proclaim that Man is equal to the Creator , it is surely very itlle to prove the superiority of Divine Wisdom . Meanwhile , it is an extraordinary mode of showing reverence , to prove that the Creator " contrives" in his omnipotence just a * man does in his impotence . Read this passage—a tvpieal passagefrom the work before us : — °

    The fisher , as lie prepares the bladder to make the edges of his net float on the water , may observe that the sea-weed ia buoyed on the surface of the deep by a contrivance more ingenious than his own , that is , by vesicles which act as floats . Most ashes have one or more bladders filled with air , the amount of which is regulated by the will of the animal , so that it can vary its depth , sink or risa to the surface , as may smt its purposes . The fisher , too , may see that if he has nets to eaten the food needful for bia sustenance , so also have spiders and other species oi animals . r ¦ The -shepherd knows how much care and watchfulness are necessary in order to protect hi 3 flocks from , the wild beasts which attack them , and is thus led to adimretheuistincts of those animals , such as the deer , which set a watch to ffive a signal of danger . The hunter inows how much cunning he must exercise in order to , come within reach of the wild animals pursued by himand should not

    , withhold a feeling of wonder when he observes how their instincts lead the brutes to show such , dexterity in avoiding their natural enemies . The weapons with wliieb . lie and the fisher attack the animals which they wish to seize or kill do not point inore clearly to a purpose , than the instruments , whether claws or teeth , with \ vhich they defend themselves . The Aphrodite hispida , for example , a furnished with very curious Weapons of defence ; they are harpoons with a double series of barbs ; these are retractile , and the animal can draw them into the body by a muscular apparatus , and in order to prevent them , when drawn in from injuring the animal itself , each barbed spine is furnished with a two-bladed horny sheath ; v / hieh closes on the barbs in the act of retraction . Some of these provisions have a reference to the native instincts of the animals : others nave ther regard to the of the

    ra a position species . Thus we find that those liable to J £ hafl , g £ as . i ) riB 3 often take the colour of the ground on which they habitually feed . The riflemen of our army are dressed in the hue which is deemed least conspicuous , and which 13 best fitted for concealment ; and is there not an equally dear proof of design furnished by the circumstance that fishes are often of the colour of the ground over whicJb . they swim , and that wild animals are not unfrequently of the . colcmr of the covert in which they hide them selves ? Thus the hack of the young turbot may be seen of the same colour as the sand on which ifc Lies . The red grouse and red deer are of the colour of the heath 01 ^ which tWfeed , whereas the lapwing and curlew , themselves and their eges , take ihe grey hue of the pasture among which they are usually found . '

    It appears to us that any student , not biassed , would feel disposed to consider these examples as derogatory to Divine Wisdom and Benevolence . In each of these examples the ' contrivance' of man is the better contrivance and with respect to the * benevolence , ' there are these awkward considerations—1 . It it was benevolent in the Creator to make animals frequently ot the same colour as their habitat because thereby they escaped their pursuers ; what are we to consider it when the animals are not the colour of their habitat , and do not escape their pursuers ? what are we to consider this contrivance for escape , when we think of the pursuers thus frustrated ? Observe the utter futility of the argument . Weave first called upon to admire the admirable contrivances' which enable jthe predatory animal to secure its prey , and then we aie to admire the ' admirable contrivances' with which these other contrivances are frustrated—as if Divine Wisdom were employee ! playing at hide and seek !

    lake another case . Having created sheep and sent them browsing over the lovely hillsides , wliat can wo think of the benevolence which created an animal whose development is only possible in the brain of that sheep , where having ensconced itself it grows , reproduces , and finally destroys the sheep ? Here is a magnificent organism sacrificed to a parasite . Human contrivers would surely have either contrived that the parasite should find its food elsewhere , or in a leas vital part of the sheep ; or , failing in power to do that , would have destroyed the parasite . This ia the plain sense of the matter . Docs it not force us to admit that the argument of design is suicidal ? Does it not point , as hundreds of illustrations point , to the solemn fact that life is and that

    a mystery , our logic cannot unriddle the secret of the universe ; and that all attempts to explain the inexplicable must end in scepticism or discouragement . Theology calling in the aid of Zoology and Phvsiology is like the horse who , we are told by Pheedrus , called in the aid of man to subdue his enemy , and when the saddle waa placed upon his back fount ! that * % Vft <* b (* come the servant oif hia ally . To combat sceptics by " evidences ot lUesigxi forces not only sceptics but believers to consider closely what these evidences are . The result of the scrutiny ia that , although in many caaea tie design seems clear , and Uie purpose benevolent , in many other cases the design is not clear , and the purpose seems as absolutely malevolent SJL 3 ? ° !? ? n 8 ? a . iX Be ° n » e < l benevolent . It will not do for the teacher to S t ! f n ! u ' ** * *** that " th 0 Wftya of tho Lortl »™ inscrutar ti !?™ a l ° hey aro ' > hnt tbc * ° w *« w pretends to scrutinize and dis-SbSnTot" / C ftnd ° ttly * eraera »> ers * h « y we inscrutable when tney DaiK lus theory . If human reason is appealed to , h uman reason must be

    Untitled Article

    THE COUItT OF AUSTRIA . ; Memoirs of the Court , Aristocracy , and Diplomacy of Austria . Bv Dr . E- VWjsc Translated from the German by Franz Denimler . In 2 vols . " . Longmans . Dr . Vehse's long series of . volumes entitled The History of the German Courts since the Reformation , has created a great sensation amons two classes in Germany , neither of them , indeed , the most highly intellectual in the nation . One of these is the reading , but not well-read , class , ami the other the royal—for in Germany royal " families are numerous enough to form a class . No books are more constantly " out" when you ask for them at the circulating libraries in Germany ; and almost every division of the series has been in its turn forbidden % the censorship of one <; r other of the German Courts . In most of the German States , too , the presence of the author was even less tolerated than that of his books , and at last lie is expiating a little extra audacity or extra carelessness in relation to the Court of Wiirtemberg by a six . months' imprisonment .

    What , then , is the character of these books which have the double honour of being at once popular and proscribed ? Are they attractive to the popular . reader because they are written with the fascinating talent of a Macaulav , or dangerous to royalty because they are charged with democratic idea *? Neither the one nor the other . Dr . Vehse ' s memoirs are simply collections of historical ( and sometimes perhaps unhistorical ) facts and anecdotes , brought together with considerable industry , but without much art ; and , in many cases , being little more than a ' patch-work of extracts from a variety of sources , more or less accessible to the common render . The ostensible reason for their proscription is , that they narrate a few falsehoods ; the real reason , probably , is that they narrate a great many inconvenient facts , easting anything hut a favourable light on hereditary royalty and aristocracy : this , too , is the reason of their attractiveness for the public . Dr . Vehse ' s books satisfy

    curiosity , whereas German histories generally will satisfy nothing but the most philosophic and self-denying search after knowledge . He is neither n philosopher , an historian , nor a good writer ; but simply a man who hns a taste for historical details , and who has fallen on a vein of inquiry which nftorrts abundant material for popular compilations . There is no trace of a peculiar animu . 3 against royalty and aristocracy in his books . He merely ( Iocs not * - believe in the great as people believe in ghosts , " and he looks on kings , queens , and dukes and duchesses in the same light in which we most of us look _ at our common fellow-mortals—namely , as objects ofunrestrained gossip . It is to Dr . Velise ' s credit that , holding this ' point of view , he lias abstained from maldng his memoirs of courts and aristocracies more of a chronique scandaleuse , and that the worst fault he can he accused of is n too hasty and careless redaction of hia materials .

    The Memoir ,- ) nf the Court of Austria are amongst the most important of Dr . Vehso ' s series , occupying , in tho original , eleven volumes . Having made our acquaintance -with them in that original form , we can appreciate the «< 1-vantage now offered to renders , of an excellent English edition , reduced , by tho omission of uninteresting lists of officials , to the convenient sizo of t"' ° moderate octavo volumes , and in every way made more appetising by its new dross . For , Dr . Vchac is one of those writers who have nothing to lose by transitions ; nnd , in tho present case , we have a translator who uiidoratiuuls hia business , and lins performed it carefully . In this form , the work is likely to be almost as popular in England as in Germany , for it presents that compromise between amusement Mid " instruction" ao precious to the members of Book Clubs . And tho history of the Austrian court and aristocracy from tho days of the

    Untitled Article

    352 THE LEADER . [ No . 316 , Saturday

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 12, 1856, page 352, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2136/page/16/