Modern Atheism Under Its Forms Of Pantheism, Materialism, Secularism, Development, And Natural Laws

JAMES BUCHANAN, D. D., LL. D.,

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by GOULD AND LINCOLN , In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. Electro-Stereotyped by G. J. STILES &amp; COMPANY, 23 Congress Street, Boston....

25 minute read

Read Chapter

PREFATORY NOTE.

The contents of this volume originally constituted about one half of a work, entitled "Faith in God and Modern Atheism compared, in their Essential Nature, Theoretic Grounds, and Practical Influence." Simultaneously with the first issue of that work in Scotland, the five principal chapters in this volume were published separately, accompanied with the announcement that each was complete in itself . The hint thus given by the author, has been acted upon by the present publishers. On examining the

2 minute read

Read Chapter

GENERAL VIEW OF ATHEISM.

Before entering on a detailed discussion of the theories to which it appeals, it may be useful to offer some general reflections on Atheism itself, its generic nature and specific varieties, its causes and springs, whether permanent or occasional, and its moral and social influence, as illustrated alike by individual experience and by public history. By Atheism we mean any system of opinion which leads men either to doubt or to deny the Existence, Providence, and Government of a living, personal

40 minute read

Read Chapter

THEORIES OF DEVELOPMENT.

There have been various applications of the general principle of Development, by means of which an attempt has been made to explain the origin of all things by Natural Laws, so as to exclude the necessity of any Divine interposition, either for the creation of the world, or for the introduction and establishment of Christianity itself. It has been applied, first, to explain the origin of worlds and planetary systems, by showing that, certain specified conditions being presupposed, there are fixe

3 minute read

Read Chapter

SECTION I.

The doctrine of a Nebular Cosmogony was first suggested by some observations of the elder Herschell on those cloud-like appearances which may be discerned in various parts of the heavens by the aid of the telescope, or even, in some cases, by the naked eye. It assumed a more definite form in the hands of La Place, although even by him it was offered, not as an ascertained discovery of science, but simply as a hypothetical explanation of the way in which the production of the planets and their sa

17 minute read

Read Chapter

SECTION II.

The Theory of Development has been applied not only to explain the origin of worlds and of astral systems in the sky, but also to account for the origin of the various tribes of vegetable and animal life which exist on the earth itself. There is nothing, indeed, in any of the kingdoms of Nature that may not be included in it, since the formation of all material bodies, organic or inorganic, is supposed to be sufficiently accounted for by the sole action of Chemical or Mechanical laws. The wide r

36 minute read

Read Chapter

SECTION III.

It might have been thought that the principle of Development had exhausted its powers, and achieved its highest triumphs, when it had been applied successively to account, first, for the creation of planets and astral systems, and, secondly, for the production of vegetable and animal life; and that little could remain for it to do after it had succeeded in tracing the genealogy of Man back, in a direct line through many generations, to the nebulous matter or luminous Fire-Mist which was diffused

46 minute read

Read Chapter

SECTION IV.

This particular phase of the general theory bears less directly on the subject of our present inquiry than either of the three which have already passed under review, and yet it has recently been applied in such a way as may entitle it to a passing notice. For while the theory of Ecclesiastical Development has a direct relation only to the question in regard to the Rule of Faith, it has also an indirect or collateral relation to the truths of Natural as well as of Revealed Religion; and this rel

25 minute read

Read Chapter

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 spec

19 minute read

Read Chapter

SECTION I.

The Pantheistic speculations which have been revived in modern times can scarcely be understood, and still less accounted for or answered, without reference to the system of Spinoza. That system met with little favor from any, and with vigorous opposition from not a few, of the divines and philosophers of the times immediately subsequent to its publication. It was denounced and refuted by Musæus, a judicious and learned professor of divinity at Jena; by Mansvelt, a young but promising professor

29 minute read

Read Chapter

SECTION II.

In the system of Spinoza, the two "attributes of extension and thought " and the corresponding "modes" of body and soul , were equally recognized, and were employed jointly, in connection with his favorite doctrine of Unisubstancisme. They constituted the opposite poles of his theory, but were both essential to its completeness. But most of his followers, influenced by an excessive desire for simplification, have attempted to blend the two into one; and have either merged the spiritual in the co

7 minute read

Read Chapter

SECTION III.

We have already seen that the system of Spinoza equally recognized the two "attributes" of extension and thought, and the two corresponding "modes" of body and soul, in connection with the one infinite and eternal "Substance." We have also seen that most of his followers have taken a one-sided view of the subject, and have either merged the spiritual into the corporeal, so as to educe a Material or Hylozoic Pantheism, or have virtually annihilated the material by resolving it into the mental, so

30 minute read

Read Chapter

THEORIES OF MATERIALISM.

The doctrine of Materialism stands equally related to the "mechanical" form of Atheism, and to the "hylozoic" form of Pantheism. It is subsumed in both, and is the fundamental postulate on which they respectively depend. It has no natural affinity with the more "ideal" or "spiritual" form of Pantheism. We must not conclude, however, that it has no historical connection with it. For it is instructive to mark, in tracing the history of philosophic speculation, that its course resembles not so much

4 minute read

Read Chapter

SECTION I.

The doctrine of Materialism has assumed several distinct phases or forms in the hands of its different advocates; and these must be carefully discriminated from each other, if we would either estimate aright their respective merits, or do justice to the parties by whom they have been severally maintained. The grossest and most revolting form of Materialism is that which identifies mind with matter , and thought with motion . It denies that there is any real or radical difference between physical

21 minute read

Read Chapter

SECTION II.

I. Our first proposition is, that the recent progress of Natural Science, great and rapid as it has been, has not materially altered "the state of the question" respecting the distinction between Mind and Matter, however much it may have extended our knowledge respecting the properties of both, and of the relation subsisting between the two. We place this proposition on the foreground, because we have reason to believe that a very different impression prevails in certain quarters, associated in

45 minute read

Read Chapter

SECTION III.

It has been generally felt and acknowledged, that the doctrine which preserves the distinction between matter and spirit, body and soul, is more in accordance with the truths of Natural and Revealed Religion, than the opposite theory which identifies them; and that, on the other hand, a profound and serious study of these truths has a tendency to raise our thoughts above the low level of Materialism, and to direct them to the contemplation of a higher and nobler world,—the world of spirits. Ther

23 minute read

Read Chapter

THEORY OF GOVERNMENT BY NATURAL LAWS.—VOLNEY.—COMBE.

The theory of "natural laws" has been applied to disprove or supersede the doctrine of Creation, by means of the principle of Development. It has been further applied to the government , as well as to the creation , of the world; and in this connection, it has been urged as a reason for disbelieving the doctrine of God's special Providence , and employed to discredit the efficacy of Prayer . When thus applied, it is often associated with the recognition of the Divine existence, and cannot, there

4 minute read

Read Chapter

SECTION I.

The existence of "natural laws," and the operation of "second causes," are often explicitly recognized, and always obviously implied, in Scripture. Revelation is not designed to explain the nature or the action of either; but it assumes the reality of both. [185] It is plainly implied in the very first chapter of Genesis, that, at the era of creation, God gave a definite constitution , implying peculiar properties and powers, to all the various classes of objects which were then called into bein

18 minute read

Read Chapter

SECTION II.

"The Constitution of Man considered in Relation to External Objects," [194] —such is the title of a popular, and, in some respects, instructive work, which has obtained, partly through the aid of an endowment, extensive circulation among the reading class of artisans and tradesmen. Written in a lucid style, and illustrated by numerous facts in Natural History and Philosophy, it is skilfully adapted to the capacities and tastes of common readers, and it is not wonderful that it should have exerte

30 minute read

Read Chapter

SECTION III.

The doctrine of Providence lays a firm foundation for the duty of Prayer. In the case of all intelligent, moral, and responsible beings, the mere existence of a Divine government to which they are subject, would seem to imply an obligation to own and acknowledge it; and this obligation is best fulfilled by the exercise of prayer, which is a practical testimony alike to man's dependence and to God's dominion . Prayer, in its widest sense, includes the whole homage which man is capable of renderin

33 minute read

Read Chapter

THEORIES OF CHANCE AND FATE.

When we survey the actual course of God's Providence, by which the eternal purposes of the Divine Mind are carried into effect, we discern immediately a marked difference between two great classes of events . The one comprehends a multitude of events which are so regular, stable, and constant, that we feel ourselves warranted in reckoning on their invariable recurrence, in the same circumstances in which they have been observed; they seem to be governed by an unchangeable, or at least an establi

29 minute read

Read Chapter

THEORY OF RELIGIOUS LIBERALISM.

The Eclectic method of Philosophy, which was first exemplified in the celebrated School of Alexandria, and which has been recently revived under the auspices of M. Cousin in the Schools of Paris, may be regarded, in one of its aspects, as the most legitimate, and, indeed, as the only practicable course of successful intellectual research. If by "eclecticism" we were to understand the habit of culling from every system that portion or fragment of truth which may be contained in it, and of rejecti

13 minute read

Read Chapter

THEORIES OF CERTITUDE AND SKEPTICISM.

We formerly adverted to the distinction between Dogmatic and Skeptical Atheism; and, believing that the latter is the form in which it is most prevalent, as well as most insidious and plausible, we now propose to review some recent theories both of Certitude and Skepticism, which have sometimes been applied to throw doubt on the evidence of Christian Theism. The Academy of Moral and Political Sciences in the French Institute announced in 1843 the theory of Certitude as the subject of a Prize Ess

41 minute read

Read Chapter

THEORY OF SECULARISM.—G. J. HOLYOAKE.

Such is the new name under which Atheism has recently appeared among not a few of the tradesmen and artisans of the metropolis and provincial towns of Great Britain. In literature, it is represented by Mr. G. J. Holyoake, the author of an answer to Paley, the editor of "The Reasoner," and a popular lecturer and controversialist, whose public discussions are duly reported in that periodical, and occasionally reprinted in a separate form. [251] The extensive circulation which these and similar tra

54 minute read

Read Chapter

THE END.

IMPORTANT LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC WORKS, PUBLISHED BY GOULD AND LINCOLN, 59 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON. ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY; Or, Year Book of Facts in Science and Art. By David A. Wells , A. M. 12mo, cloth, $1.25. This work, commenced in the year 1850, and issued in the month of January, annually, embraces an enumeration and description of every important Invention, Discovery, or Scientific Theory, reported during the year. Each volume is distinct in itself, and contains ENTIRELY NEW M

18 minute read

Read Chapter