THE SCRIPTUEAL USE OF SCIENCE. 199 



•whicli, and the motives witli which it should be 

 studied, with relation to Keligion. Many persons of 

 eminence seem to have considered it and kindred 

 studies as the only occupations worthy of exalted 

 minds, as if the acquisition of intellectual know- 

 ledge formed the chief end of existence both here and 

 hereafter ; while multitudes of humble believers are 

 afraid of all natural science, and stand aloof from it, 

 as if its influence were necessarily adverse to true 

 piety. The truth, as usual, probably lies between the 

 two extremes. 



It seems a sufficient reply to the scruples of the 

 pious, but perhaps ill-instructed, persons last men- 

 tioned, to take the Holy Scriptures in our hands, and 

 point out how large a place natural science occupies 

 therein. The Holy Spirit has deigned to employ it 

 in all ages as a vehicle of instruction to man ; and 

 there is scarcely a single book in the Avhole Bible, 

 from which this proposition might not be proved. The 

 most devotional parts of the Book of God, such as 

 the Psalms, particularly those later ones in the collec- 

 tion, which are emphatically " Psalms of praise ;" and 

 the Song of Songs ; the direct appeals of Jehovah 

 himself ; and the words of Him who spake as never 

 man spake, — would afford us the most abundant 

 materials for the evidence. 



On the other hand, he must grossly miss the intent 

 of the Sacred Word, who supposes that even in such 

 passages the communication of natural knowledge is 

 the chief end proposed. Some of the attributes of 

 the Creator, indeed, may be deduced from his works, 

 and man is held responsible for the deduction. But if 



