exquisite and wonderful mechanism of the human body, but that the human mind itself — emotion, intellect, will, and all their phenomena — were once latent in a fiery cloud. Surely the mere statement of such a notion is more than a refutation. I do not think that any holder of the evolution hypothesis would say that I overstate it or overstrain it in any way. I merely strip it of all vagueness, and bring before you, unclothed and unvarnished, the notions by which it must stand or fall. Surely these notions rep- resent an absurdity too monstrous to be entertained by any sane mind." ^ Professor Tyndall, however, as well as Professor Hux- ley, is on both sides of this question. Materialism, with its doctrine of spontaneous generation, is thus monstrous and absurd, only on the assumption that matter is matter. If you only spiritualize matter until it becomes mind, the absurdity disappears. And so do materialism, and spontaneous generation, and tlie whole array of scientific doctrines. If matter becomes mind, mind is God, and God is everything. Thus the monster Pantheism swallows up sci- ence and its votaries. We do not forget that the naturalist, after spending his life m studying matter, comes to the conclusion that " matter is nothing," that the " Supreme Intelligence " is the universe.^ Thus it is that those who overstep the limits of human knowledge, or reject the control of primary truths, fall into the abyss of outer darkness.
The way Professor Tyndall puts the matter is this : ^ " These evolution notions are absurd, monstrous, and fit only for the intel- lectual gibbet in relation to the ideas concerning matter which were drilled into us when young. Spirit and matter have ever been presented to us in the rudest contrast ; the one as all-noble, the other as all-vile." If instead of these perverted ideas of mat- ter and spirit, we come " to regard them as equally worthy and equally wonderful ; to consider them, in fact, as two opposite faces of the same great mystery," as different elements, of " what
1 AihencEum, September 24. 1870, p. 409.
2 Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection, pp. 363-368. Mr. Wallace thinks that " the highest fact of science, the noblest truth of philosophy," may be found expressed in toe following words of an American poetess : —
" God of the Granite and the Rose ! Soul of the Sparrow and the Bee ! The mighty tide of Being flow?
Through countless channels, Lord, from thee. It leaps to life in grass and flowers,
Thiough every grade of being runs, While from Creation's radiant towers Its glory flames in Stars and Suns." t Athenceum, September 24, 1870, p. 409.
10 PART n. Cn. I. — ORIGIN OF MAN.
our mightiest spiritual teacher would call the Eternal Fact of the Univei'se," then the case would be different. It would no longer be absurd, as Professor Tyndall seems to think, for mind to be- come matter or matter mind, or for the phenomena of the one to be produced by the forces of the other. The real distinction, in fact, between them would be done away. " Without this total revolution," he says, " of the notions now prevalent, the evolution hypothesis must stand condemned ; but in many profoundly thought ful minds such a revolution has already occurred." We have, then, the judgment of Professor Tyndall, one of the highest au- thorities in the scientific world, that if matter be what all the world believes it to be, materialism, spontaneous generation, and evolution, or development, are absurdities " too monstrous to be entertained by any sane mind."
We can cite his high authority as to another point. Suppose we give up everything; admit that there is no real distinction between matter and mind ; that all the phenomena of the universe, vital and mental included, may be referred to physical causes ; that a free or spontaneous act is an absurdity ; that there can be no intervention of a controlling mind or will in the affairs of men, no personal existence of man after death, — suppose we thus give up our morals and religion, all that ennobles man and dignifies his existence, what do we gain ? According to Professor Tyndall, nothing.^ " The evolution hypothesis," he tells us, " does not solve — - it does not profess to solve — the ultimate mystery of this universe. It leaves that mystery untouched. At bottom, it does nothing more than ' transpose the conception of life's origin to an indefinitely distant past.' Even granting the nebula and its potential life, the question, ' Whence came they ? ' would still remain to baffle and bewilder us." If we must admit the agency of will, "caprice," as Professor Tyndall calls it, billions of ages in the past, why should it be unphilosophical to admit it now ?
It is very evident, therefore, that the admission of the primary trnths of the reason — truths which, in point of fact, all men do admit — truths which concern even our sense perceptions, and involve the objective existence of the material world, necessitates the admission of mind, of God, of providence, and of immortality. Professor Tyndall being judge, materialism, spontaneous generation, the evolution of life, thought, feeling, and conscience out of matter, are absurdities " too monstrous to be entertained by any sane mind," unless matter be spiritualized into mind, — and then everything is God, and God is everything.
1 The London Athenaum, September 24, 1870, pp. 407-409.