It is true that afterwards, in the interest of ethics, he tried to
smuggle in by a back-door the Deity whom he had turned out by the front
gate, but the attempt was not a success. His philosophy--while it led to
new speculative systems in which the name of God was used to mean
something very different from the Deistic conception--was a significant
step further in the deliverance of reason from the yoke of authority.
[1] For the sake of simplicity I use "deist" in this sense throughout,
though "theist" is now the usual term.
[2] Spinoza's Theological Political Treatise, which deals with the
interpretation of Scripture, was translated into English in 1689.
[3] See Benn, Rationalism in the Nineteenth Century, vol. i, p. 138
seq., for a good exposure of the fallacies and sophistries of Butler.
CHAPTER VII
THE PROGRESS OF RATIONALISM
(NINETEENTH CENTURY)
MODERN science, heralded by the researches of Copernicus, was founded in
the seventeenth century, which saw the demonstration of the Copernican
theory, the discovery of gravitation, the discovery of the circulation
of the blood, and the foundation
[177] of modern chemistry and physics. The true nature of comets was
ascertained, and they ceased to be regarded as signs of heavenly wrath.
But several generations were to pass before science became, in
Protestant countries, an involuntary arch-enemy of theology. Till the
nineteenth century, it was only in minor points, such as the movement of
the earth, that proved scientific facts seemed to conflict with
Scripture, and it was easy enough to explain away these inconsistencies
by a new interpretation of the sacred texts.
Pages:
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158