THE DECLINE OF BIBLIOLATRY. 603 



Christian faith, and to destroy the foundations of morality ; still 

 less to brand them with the question-begging, vituperative appel- 

 lation of " infidelity." The point is not whether they are wicked; 

 but whether, from the point of view of scientific method, they 

 are irrefragably true. If they are, they will be accepted in time, 

 whether they are wicked or not wicked. Nature, so far as we 

 have been able to attain to any insight into her ways, recks little 

 about consolation, and makes for righteousness by very round- 

 about paths. And, at any rate, whatever may be possible for 

 other people, it is becoming less and less possible for the man 

 who puts his faith in scientific methods of ascertaining truth, and 

 is accustomed to have that faith justified by daily experience, to 

 be consciously false to his principle in any matter. But the num- 

 ber of such men, driven into the use of scientific methods of inquiry 

 and taught to trust them, by their education, their daily profes- 

 sional and business needs, is increasing and will continually 

 increase. The phraseology of supernaturalism may remain on 

 men's lips, but in practice they are naturalists. The magistrate 

 who listens with devout attention to the precept, " Thou shalt not 

 suffer a witch to live/' on Sunday, on Monday dismisses, as in- 

 trinsically absurd, a charge of bewitching a cow brought against 

 some old woman ; the superintendent of a lunatic asylum who 

 substituted exorcism for rational modes of treatment would have 

 but a short tenure of office ; even parish clerks doubt the utility 

 of prayers for rain, so long as the wind is in the east ; and an out- 

 break of pestilence sends men not to the churches, but to the 

 drains. In spite of prayers for the success of our arms and Te 

 Deums for victory, our real faith is in big battalions and keeping 

 our powder dry ; in knowledge of the science of warfare ; in 

 energy, courage, and discipline. In these, as in all other practical 

 affairs, we act on the aphorism " Laborare est orare " ; * we admit 

 that intelligent work is the only acceptable worship ; and that, 

 whether there be a Supernature or not, our business is with Nature. 



According to the London Times, Dr. Frithiof Nansen intends to start on his 

 projected expedition to the north pole next year, and to make direct for the 

 mouth of the Lena River in Siberia. He believes that a current sets from the 

 Siberian coast across the pole to Greenland, as various objects have been discov- 

 ered on the Greenland coast that could have got there only from Siberia or the 

 sea north of it. Dr. Nansen expects to be away three or four years, but his 

 ship will be provisioned for six years. His V-shaped vessel will be of about two 

 hundred and fifty tons, will accommodate twelve men, and will be so strongly 

 built as to be impervious to ice-nipping. Alcohol will be taken only in the medi- 

 cine-chest or for food; but apparatus for providing electric light will form part of 

 the equipment. 



[To labor is to pray. Editor.] 



