Volume 1

Heterodox London, or, Phases of free thought in the metropolis / by Charles Maurice Davies.

  • Davies, Charles Maurice, 1828-1910.
Date:
1874
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Heterodox London, or, Phases of free thought in the metropolis / by Charles Maurice Davies. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    elsewhere, but maintains that there is light and iruidance in Secular truth whose conditions and sane- tions exist independently, act independently, and act for ever. Secular knowledge is manifestly that kind of knowledge which is founded in this life, which relates to the conduct of this life, conduces to the welfare of this life, and is capable of being tested by the experience of this life. Geometry, algebra, botany, chemistry, navigation, political economy, ethics, are Secular subjects of instruction, distinct albeit from Secularism, which includes the education of the con- science. They are founded on nature, they relate to the uses of this life, promote the enjoyment of this life, and can be tested by personal experience. That which is Secular can be tested in time ; that which is Theological is only proveahle after death. If a sum in arithmetic is wrong, it can be proved by a new way of working it; if a medical recipe is wrong, the effect is discoverable on the health; if a political law is wrong, it is sooner or later apparent in the disaster it brings with it; if a theorem in navigation is erro- neous, delay or shipwreck warns the mariner of the mistake; if an insane moralist teaches that adherence to the truth is wrong, men can try the effects of lying, when the disgrace and distrust which ensue soon convince them of the fallacy; but if a theolo- gical belief is wrong we must die to find it out.’ (Hear, hear.) Now the last passage, which is perfectly rele- vant to the subject, seems as if I had written it for