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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



to create one for him." But is there no 

 right or wrong in the nature of things 

 by which the law itself is to be shaped, 

 and to which it is the object of all law 

 to give effect ? A man creates a work 

 of value into which he has put his time, 

 exertion, substance, and his very blood. 

 Has he a right to the property he has 

 produced against those who covet it ? 

 It shall be as the politicians vote, ar- 

 gues Mr. Arnold: "If the ayes have 

 it, he has ; if the noes have it, he has 

 not." This is not creditable. Mr. Ar- 

 nold should cultivate a more intimate 

 communion with the " power that 

 makes for righteousness." 



Much is made in this article of the 

 difficulty of securing property in books. 

 Government is, of course, a very imper- 

 fect agency, and only partially secures 

 any of its objects. But all other diffi- 

 culties are as mole-hills to mountains 

 compared with that which Mr. Arnold 

 lends his influence to increase and 

 strengthen. 



SCIENCE NOT ATHEISTIC. 



"We recommend those thoughtless 

 theologians who think they are doing 

 God service by arraying modern physi- 

 cal science against him and charging 

 that it is atheistic, to read the article en- 

 titled " God and Nature," by the Lord 

 Bishop of Carlisle. He utters a timely 

 and much-needed rebuke to his careless 

 brethren on this subject. "We have 

 been amazed at the fatuity of many 

 divines in the course they have pur- 

 sued upon this question. Their prede- 

 cessors have been more wise, and have 

 generally recognized that "the study 

 of nature led up to nature's God " ; 

 but now, on the contrary, we are as- 

 sured that the study of nature leads to 

 the denial of God. What on earth our 

 theological friends are to gain by spread- 

 ing the belief that physical science is 

 fundamentally irreligious by renouncing 

 and subverting all conception of the 

 Deity, we are at loss to understand. 



Physical science is not to be put down 

 in this way. It is a great phase of 

 man's mental progress and is destined 

 to increase in influence in an accelerat- 

 ing ratio. There is no doubt, further- 

 more, that its growth is an invasion of 

 the domain illegitimately held by the- 

 ology in the past, and threatens the 

 ascendancy of theological systems and 

 ideas. It is hardly to be expected that 

 professed theologians can view this 

 change with complacency, but that af- 

 fords no excuse for getting into a pas- 

 sion with science, and striving to array 

 religious prejudices against it. Our 

 friends should not forget that the 

 "modern science" upon which they 

 expend their denunciations is a great 

 body of accredited and impregnable 

 truth, and that it is a somewhat serious 

 matter to declare and reiterate the ac- 

 cusation that it is atheistic in its spirit 

 and influence. How far is this from 

 asserting that the demonstrative truth 

 of nature is against the existence of 

 God ! and if scientific men reply to the 

 theologian, "Very well, you know best," 

 where will rest the responsibility ? 



The Bishop of Carlisle sees that this 

 is a mistaken policy. He says, " It is 

 not desirable that the reproach of athe- 

 ism should be thrown about rashly " ; 

 and, what is more important, he points 

 out that as commonly done it is not 

 true. A very slight examination of the 

 conditions of thought in scientific pur- 

 suit forbids the current theological con- 

 clusions. He draws a valid distinction 

 between the legitimate, proper, and 

 logical attitude of the scientific mind 

 toward the conception of Deity and 

 the atheistic state of mind ; and he 

 strives to mark this distinction by the 

 introduction of a new term. He says : 

 " It seems to me that we want a new 

 word to express the fact that all physi- 

 cal science, properly so called, is com- 

 pelled by its very nature to take no 

 account of the being of God ; as soon 

 as it does this it trenches upon theology 

 and ceases to be physical science. If 



