Spencer will resume the course of his labors upon "The Principles of Sociology."
The appearance of a new book upon morals is now so common a thing as in itself to be hardly noteworthy. But the publication of such a work, at the present time, by the most eminent expositor of the doctrine of evolution, and the* only man who has dealt with that doctrine as the basis of a comprehensive philosophy which is broadly founded upon the results of modern science, and treated throughout with reference to the ultimate establishment of the principles of right and wrong in human conduct—such a book will be certain to attract wide attention.
Morality, as is well known, is a subject that has been hitherto kept in very close connection with theological beliefs. It has been generally taught by the dogmatic method, and as based upon supernatural sanctions, so that the theologians have come to be regarded as its legitimate custodians. Not only is the inculcation of morality a conceded prerogative of the pulpit, but the regular teaching of it, in nearly all our higher education, is also in the hands of the divines. In an interesting and instructive paper published in "Mind,"[1] by Mr. G. Stanley Hall, on "Philosophy in the United States," the writer remarks of the three hundred non-Catholic colleges in the country as follows: u In nearly all these institutions certain studies, aesthetic, logical, historical, most commonly ethical, most rarely psychological, are roughly classed as philosophy, and taught during the last year almost invariably by the president." To this it may be added that the president is almost invariably a doctor of divinity. These theological expounders of studies "most commonly ethical" ever insist upon the vital interdependence of theology and morals. It is taught that they are bound up together indissolubly and are subject to a common fate, and this is the way the subject is regarded by the great mass of people in the community.
But we are now called upon to take into account a most important fact. There is an undeniable and widely spread decay of theological dogmas affecting all classes of society. The old adherence to traditional beliefs is weakening, and men are falling away from their creeds. The ancient sphere of belief and faith is invaded by science, and is being inexorably circumscribed. This is notorious, and is acknowledged by eminent religious authorities.
In a paper of remarkable candor and significance, by the Rev. Phillips Brooks, of Boston, in the March number of the "Princeton Review" on "The Pulpit and Modern Skepticism," the writer admits that the phenomena of doubt "are thick around us in our congregations, and thicker still outside our congregations, in the world." This skepticism he recognizes as "a very pervading thing. It evidently can not be shut up in any guarded class or classes. Life plays upon faith every where. Ideas change and develop in all sorts and conditions of men; and the occupants of pulpits have their doubts and disbeliefs as well as others." Again, "a large acquaintance with clerical life has led me to think that almost any company of clergymen, gathering together and talking freely to each other, will express opinions which would greatly surprise and at the same time greatly relieve the congregations who ordinarily listen to these ministers."
And again: "How many men in the ministry to-day believe in the doctrine of verbal inspiration which our fathers held, and how many of us have frankly told the people that we do not believe it, and so lifted off their Bible's page the heavy cloud of difficulties and inconsistencies which that doctrine laid there? How many of us hold that the everlasting punishment of the wicked
- ↑ Reprinted in "The Popular Science Monthly Supplement," New Series, No. 1.
