1864.] ^j.'Y [Goodwin. 



existence altogether, coolly to take their f^ilsehood for granted, and 

 pass by their testimony in silence, while propounding theories and 

 doctrines in palpable antagonism with their received and accredited 

 teaching. 



With neither of these parties did Dr. Hitchcock have any sympa- 

 thies ; and in this he showed the truest scientific as well as religious 

 instinct. For not only is anti-scientific bigotry suicidal for the 

 religious teacher, but anti-christian bigotry is equally so for the 

 scientific inquirer. 



Is it true that Science is simply to mind her own business and let 

 the Bible take care of itself? This is, perhaps, the prevailing tone 

 of the scientific world. But is such a view philosophical ? Is such 

 a position tenable — scientijicalli/ tenable ? So far as Science restricts 

 herself to the discovery, the orderly digesting, and historical state- 

 ment of facts, it is all well. She need not trouble herself about the 

 Bible; just as she need not trouble herself about ethics or mathe- 

 matics. But the moment she proceeds to enunciate a theory, to draw 

 inferences from her facts, to dogmatize, she is not at liberty coolly 

 to announce as verities or even as probabilities, doctrines which stand 

 in flagrant contradiction to other facts and other truths resting upon 

 appropriate and commonly received evidence, — and that, too, without 

 attempting to refute, or even so much as alluding to, those other 

 alleged facts and truths, or to the evidence on which they repose. 

 Such a procedure cannot claim to be either philosophical or scientific. 

 Science must aim at a harmony of truth, at a unity of conception. 

 No truth, no evidence lies beyond her sphere. If she reject any 

 facts, if she neglect any testimony, she undermines the very fiuiida- 

 tions of her whole edifice. It is not narrow-mindedness but lavge- 

 mindedness, which leads a true philosopher to take into his account 

 all the facts and all the evidence from all sources and of every kind, 

 before drawing his definitive conclusion. 



It seems to be too often forgotten that there is real evidence for 

 the truth of the Christian religion, and for the Divine authority of 

 the Holy Scriptures, and consequently for the truth of whatever they 

 teach, — evidence of facts and testimony, — evidence, taken as a whole, 

 of vastly greater compass and weight than there is for any scientific 

 dogma whatever, which stands in contradiction to the Bible or any 

 of its contents, — evidence which cannot be annihilated or rebutted 

 by being simply ignored, — evidence which, until it is fairly and 

 directly met and refuted, stands firm, and will stand firm forever. — 

 (FiV/. Rev. of Lyell's Antiquity of 31an, in the Am. Theol. and 

 Presb. Quart. Eev., April, 18GI.) 



