SCIENCE FROM THE PULPIT. 735 



traders, have always come from a class of men who are peculiarly un- 

 fitted by education to see the bearing of modern investigation. The 

 Church should be eager to receive the discoveries of investigators of 

 the strange and wonderful works of the Creator, with confidence that 

 all can and must be reconciled with revealed religion. We see very 

 little of this eager, receptive condition among ministers. On the con- 

 trary, the occupants of the pulpits immediately assume a fretful con- 

 dition of indignation. They bristle at the very mention of the doc- 

 trine of evolution, of prehistoric man, and the theories of the antiquity 

 of the world. 



The address of Prof. Tyndall has been criticised from a hundred 

 pulpits. If carefully read, it will not be found to afford material for 

 the wave of indignation which has swept over the religious world. 

 The address was evidently inspired by an indignant feeling of protest 

 against religious dictation in science, which was tinctured also by a 

 certain want of reverence characteristic of many scientific men. This 

 deficiency in reverence is to be lamented, but the attitude of an in- 

 vestigator is generally one of irreverence. Pi*of. Tyndall is quick to 

 perceive the scientific questions which are to be fashionable, so to 

 speak, among the general public. He early saw the tide of interest 

 which was setting toward the ice-formations of Switzerland. He led 

 the general public to appreciate the doctrine of the conservation of 

 force by his admirable treatise on " Heat as a Mode of Motion." He 

 is the pioneer in the modern style of popular scientific lectures, which 

 gives to beauty of experimental illustration a lucid yet imaginative 

 diction. No less ready has he been to perceive the coming ferment 

 in religious matters ; and he has dashed gallantly into the combat 

 with a certain Celtic fire, leaving perhaps many unguarded points. 

 It may be that he considers that the religious agitation in Germany 

 has nothing to do with the prerogatives of emperor or pope : but that 

 bigoted religion and science are the true antagonists, and, with his 

 customary insight into the scientific tendencies of the age, he is eager 

 to be the first in the field. There is much in the spirit of protest 

 which the Belfast address breathes that appeals to the mind of every 

 scientific man. 



Ministers who are only general readers in science can have no con- 

 ception of the scientific spirit which comes through investigation. 

 There is a cultivated interest which arises only from familiarity with 

 methods, processes, and instruments. A minister lives apart from the 

 seething turmoil and progress of the scientific world ; and, if he should 

 attempt to dispute with innovators, he will meet the same fate as any 

 comparative recluse who attempts to dictate to the world from his re- 

 tirement. 



Nothing leads thinking young men of scientific tendencies to neg- 

 lect church-going more than wrong-headed and illogical deductions 

 from science by their pastors. They hear the doctrines of Darwin 



