THE WARFARE OF SCIENCE. ^6g 



Such facts show that the sacred books of the world were not given 

 for any such purpose as that to which so many men liave endeavored 

 to wrest them.' 



Such facts show, too, that scientific hypotheses will be established 

 or refuted by scientific men and scientific methods alone, and that no 

 conscientious citation of texts or outcries as to consequences of scien- 

 tiKc truths, from any other quarter, can do any thing save retard truth 

 and cause needless anxiety. "^ 



Is skepticism feai-ed ? All history shows that the only skepticism 

 which does permanent harm is skepticism as to the value and safety 

 of truth as truth. N"o skepticism has pi'oved so corrosive to religion, 

 none so cancerous in the human brain and heart. 



Is faith cherished ? All history shows that the first article of a 

 saving faith, for any land or time, is faith that there is a Power in 

 this universe strong enough to make truth-seeking safe, and good 

 enoucjh to make truth-telling useful. 



What Science can do for the world is shown, not by those who 

 have labored to concoct palatable mixtures of theology and science 

 men like Cosraas, and Torrubia, and Burnet, and Whiston but by 

 men who have fought the good fight of faith in truth for truth's sake 

 men like Roger Bacon, and Vesalius, and Palissy, and Galileo. 



What Christianity can do for the w^orld is shown, not by men 

 who have stood on the high places screaming in wrath at the advance 

 of science not by men who have retreated in terror into the sacred 

 caves and refused to look out upon the universe as it is, but by men 

 who have preached and practised the righteousness of the prophets, 

 and the aspirations of the Psalmist, and the blessed Sermon on the 

 Mount, and "the first great commandment and the second which is 

 like unto it," and St. James's definition of " pure religion and unde- 

 filed." 



It is shown in the Roman Church, not by Tostatus and Bellarmin, 

 but by St. Carlo Borromeo, and St. Vincent de Paul, and Fenelon, 

 and Eugenie de Guerin ; in the Anglican Church, not bv Dean Cock- 

 burn, but by Howard, and Jenner, and Wilberforce, and Florence 

 Nightingale ; in the German Church, not by Pastor Knak, but by 

 Pastor Harms ; in the American Church, not by the Mathers and 

 Stuarts, but by such as Bishop Whatcoat, and Channing, and Muhlen- 

 berg, and Father De Sraet, and Samuel May, and Harriet Stowe. 



Let the warfare of science, then, be changed. Let it be a warfare 

 in which Religion and Science shall stand together as allies, not 

 against each other as enemies. Let the fight be for truth of every 



' To all who are inclined to draw scientific conclusions from biblical texts, may be 

 commended the advice of a good old German divine of the Reformation period : " Seek- 

 ing the milk of the "Word, do not press the teats of Holy Writ too hard." 



' For some excellent remarks on the futility of such attempts and outcries, see the 

 Eev. Dr. Deems, in Popular Sciexce Monthly for February, 1876. 



