ARTICLE II.-ON CERTAIN POINTS OF RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN ORTHODOXY AND NATURE.

By "Nature," for present purposes, is understood the material universe, including all phenomena with which the nonmetaphysical sciences deal-the whole body, one might perhaps say, of concrete truth, about which, so far as satisfactory investigation has been pushed, we feel positively sure; the actual facts, excluding all hypotheses which are from their nature incapable of demonstration. By "orthodoxy" (neglecting the etymology of the word), is meant a certain system of belief on subjects in regard to which neither the senses nor pure reason can furnish any direct testimony-the common opinion of the so-called "evangelical" churches. This system of belief indubitably includes, among others, the following points:

1. That all men, everywhere, incline naturally to evil rather than to good; and that no one makes persistent progress toward a strictly virtuous life without supernatural assistance.

2. That man, nevertheless, is entirely free in his choices as a moral agent, and is therefore responsible for all his deeds; and yet that God not only foreknows to the minutest particular whatever comes to pass, but also so directs the course of events as to work out fully his own will, both in the general history of nations and in the personal life of every human being.

3. That the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children, to the third and fourth generation.

4. That man's eternal well-being depends upon his comply. ing with certain conditions which are stated in a number of ancient manuscripts, written in languages that no man for centuries has ordinarily spoken, and for the most part not explicitly formulated even in these writings, but expressed in general terms, or left largely to be inferred by the reader, in such manner that there is wide room for differences of opinion on many not unimportant points.

5. That very many men, leading sober, honest, industrious, kindly and useful lives, are nevertheless the continual objects of the wrath of God, and pass at death to a state of suffering6. From which it is at least doubtful whether there shall ever be deliverance.

That these tenets are regarded with more or less dislike by a very large number of the people to whom they have been propounded-excluding such persons as have never distinctly apprehended their purport in its depth and fullness, and excluding also such, at the other extreme of the scale, as have either been able to reason out for themselves, or have received understandingly from others, a satisfactory system of theodicy—goes without saying. Some accept them, or suppose they accept them, in an unthinking, implicit way, as matters too sacred for prying curiosity or impartial discussion, while secretly-half unconsciously, perhaps wishing that most of them were not true. Some hold their judgment in suspense, seeking salvation for themselves indeed in the manner prescribed by the orthodox faith, and laboring, very likely, to persuade others to follow their example, but really entertaining all the time a certain degree of suspicion that perhaps they are taking unnecessary trouble, and a certain degree of hope, consequently, that their friends who neglect entirely the alleged essentials of salvation may fare just as well in the next world notwithstanding. Some reject them utterly and contemptuously as inconsistent with each other, incompatible with the conceptions they have formed as to what ought to be the character of God, or as on other grounds unworthy the belief of independent and fearless thinkers. Now it is the purpose of this paper to point out that certain striking parallelisms to these, the most unpopular" dogmas of the Christian faith, may readily be discerned in nature, the physical universe that surrounds us and of which we form a part.

I.

The doctrine of total depravity, how it has been, and now is, scorned and execrated by turns! Yet divorce the idea from theology and theological phraseology, consider it as a practical

every-day subject ought to be considered by a rational and prudent man who has other men to deal with, and how do the facts look? Do the persons that one knows the most about, generally exhibit a marked tendency toward discovering for themselves, and then abandoning, their faults and bad practices? Are our social and business regulations adjusted on the presumption that men may commonly be trusted and that evil purposes are rather the exception? Does one ordinarily receive strangers into the intimacy of his family on the strength. of personal attractiveness and courteous mien, without proper introduction and the implied or expressed guarantee of some trusted friend? Does the proprietor of a great mercantile establishment allow his subordinates to keep their accounts as they please or not at all, taking for granted that he will receive from each of them the correct amounts of money? Are important agreements—no matter how simple-usually settled by word of mouth, without the execution of formal papers that will bind the signer in a court of law? Is it thought useless to take a written receipt for a payment because the person to whom it is made is not likely to forget the transaction? Are loans effected at the Stock Exchange without furnishing tangible security? Are good habits as easy of acquisition, and do they hold one's life as firmly in their grasp when established, as bad habits?

Such questions answer themselves; any child old enough to understand them will give the correct reply. Put this case to any group of young people, a class at school, for instance: "Suppose there are two boys of the same age, living next door to each other, in houses just alike; their fathers are employed at the same rate of pay in the same factory, and in every respect the two homes are very similar. Suppose, however, that one of these boys has been brought up to speak the truth at all hazards, to abhor dishonesty and impurity, to control his temper, to thank God every morning for protection through the night, and to seek divine pardon every evening for the sins of the day-while the other boy lies and steals and fights and swears. Suppose now that the two become intimate friends, and are constantly together. What do you think will happen? Will each learn of the other-the one, good things; the other, evil things? Or will one of them gradually copy the other in

all things?" I have tried the experiment several times, and have never yet failed of receiving the same reply: "The bad boy will spoil the good boy!" And the experience of mature life, it can hardly be doubted, will confirm the opinion thus formed under the guidance of the clear instinct of childhood. Practically, all sane men concur in it.

I was traveling, one pleasant autumn afternoon, through the great fruit region of Western New York. Two men sitting near me, whose words I could not choose but hear, had been discussing religious (or irreligious) questions in a manner which left no doubt, though that particular point had not come up, that they would both have pooh-poohed total depravity as the nonsensical fancy of an antiquated age. But as the widespread apple orchards, heavy laden, met our eyes in every direction, the conversation turned upon fruit, its production. and marketing, and it transpired that one of these men was a buyer of apples in large quantities. The risks and losses of the business were spoken of, and especially the frauds attempted by dishonest shippers. The fruit-buyer remarked, however, that he knew just one man, only one, whose apples he received without examination; they were always exactly what they were represented to be, or if there was any differ ence, they turned out rather better than the grower described them. "Well," answered his companion, "my private opinion is that some fine day when you take an unusually large lot from that fellow at a high price, you will find yourself egregiously swindled; and then he will play off his good character on you, and have some plausible story about its not being really his fault, and you'll never get satisfaction." The first man laughed, and said, yes, he supposed so; it was the way of the world.

I thought then, and think now, that this anticipation of villainy was not justified by the facts as stated. I believed then, and believe now, that in every half-christianized country there are thousands of men in every walk of life whose word is as good as their bond, and who hold their personal integrity above all questions of loss or gain of money. But the point of interest in the conversation is that these speakers-hard, practical men of business, accustomed to driving bargains with

all sorts of buyers and sellers, and to forming quick and shrewd judgments of the character and intentions of those with whom their vocations brought them into contact-that these men had derived from their experience so low an opinion of the actual morality of their fellows; that they had plainly reached the conclusion that there are few indeed who are really honest except so far as they think it their best policy to be so. See what the fruit-buyer's words really come to: In all his dealings with the growers, he had never encountered but one trustworthy man, and he would not be surprised to have even him turn out a knave on the first especially favorable oppor tunity; it was "the way of the world !"

Now the point I wish to make is just this: We ordinarily treat our fellow men as if there were a strong presumption that they would take unfair advantage of us if they could; we know by experience (if the trial has been made) how much easier it is to acquire new faults than to relinquish those we have, while observation clearly teaches that evil communications are far more apt to corrupt good manners than are good manners to over-awe evil communications; and we shall be told every day, on inquiry of the men most experienced in the rough struggle for life, that "it is the way of the world” to assume a cloak of virtue to hide the intention of vice-confirming Herbert Spencer's generalization that in the management of business, "instead of assuming, as people usually do, that things are going right until it is proved that they are going wrong, the proper course is to assume that they are going wrong until it is proved that they are going right."*

These facts, established and indisputable, do not entirely cover the ground of the theological doctrine of total depravity; but do they not furnish us, in phenomena of which every student of the human race is bound to take account, a close parallel to that doctrine, which is often overlooked by mystical believers in the "something good" in every depraved and abandoned man?

* Popular Science Monthly, December, 1882, vol. xxii, page 272.