FRISKY THEOLOGY.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 24 March 1880, Page 2

FRISKY THEOLOGY.

. — ♦ The work bearing the *' f : * o f * Ereho menor, or the Kepul lie of Materialism.* is one of the class of which Mr Mallork's ' New Republic and Positivism on an Island ' are welNknown instances. It is nn attempt to safarise the doctrines of science and philosophy which hold the para mount place in »be minds of thinki^e men at the present day. The method of doin? | this is by turning them into burlpsque and pxtravagnncps. drawing all sorts of mnnstrons conclusions from them, and then Ravine the reader to infar how absurd mu«t be «he principles of which snch arp the resnlts. In work* of this kind «he aggressive temper of orthodoxy is often more apparent than the wit or brilliancy of the satire. We say nf'h'ng as to its justice, as there is no rpa«on to supn.isp that this i« regarded as at all a desidTaturn. In this case the n-rrator nf the story hears a scien'ifin and materialistic lecture on ' The Origin of All Things' after which he tries to find ard ca*ch 9 cuckoo, the notes of which he hears in the trees, He strays away into a new eountrv, where he cc's into a eonvev* ance which flies through the air and takes him to London. The city is much grown and much changed. Indeed, the fashion of drpss and the manners and social arrangements hare all changed and th» visitor soin finds that in some way he is projected into a lime six eenHiriei ahead ofthe prespnt era. He gradually dis» covers that people are vpry much emancina^ed in their religious and social ideas. Tf a m«n i« injured h? a serums acciden' the doctor immediMfpl? puts him out of his misprv, and sends him to the ' hoilin? down establishment,' of which n det.iilcd and, as we tbin!s, very disgusting dpscription is given. In this advnnepd s'sgp of society women have grown to re«embl» men closely, and are eren gifrpd with whiskers and mousttcbe--— devlopme' t which is in some way associated with their Bbadnnnment of orthodox principle 8 and adoption of the crepd of science Newspapers are superseded by phono■raphs—scientific instruments of which it seems to us that the author has onW an imnprfpefr idea. Religion 'is oniv represented by tho workings of some* •hing, wh'ch the jirin'er his thmtv'inu* •he hook, persistently g'ven a» the G'-and <V Etre a lanse which we see is included in the rather leng'hy list of errati. It is neenless to say that marriage is abolished and is replaced by arrangements which we cannot stay to describe. Childrpn are brought up in baby farm, and the deformed and sickly are sent to 'the boiling-down establishments.' One chanter, written in a strain of delicate humor represents some people as holding tha' Darwin's famous discovery of 'he descent of mm from the monkey wts inspired b r the fa"t th'it h* w-n 'so like a baboon l.im«elf that he ha I found it neeeswv to liscover s^me way of connecting the ra.?e with a species to which he was so obviously allipd. Another pie<»e of seatln in<? satire maltes ou 1 that the descendants of Darwin bid revered to the parent stock, and w^re then in existence as a groip of 'as fine specimens of (be ape family as can be seen in the whole range of the Zoological Gardens.' It is quite consistent with the tenor of the book that the * denouement ' should be the Diy of Judgment, which is in full operation when the nnrrator pgain bear" the ' cuckoo,' and awakes to fiud it is all a dream. In this way are the haughty preen* <ions of science put to shame and turned nto deserved and very pungent ridicule nnd orthodoxy is triumphantly vindi- | cated. and replaced on au assured and inexpugnable basis,