226 president's address. 



But there is one element which I cannot eliminate from the 

 consideration, and that is, the historic record of Scripture. There 

 are limits which human reason cannot overpass ; but I do not 

 believe that the application of Scripture, as an external authority, 

 ought to be brought to bear, so as to check philosophical inves- 

 tigation. Had Mr. Darwin, or any one else, attempted to prove 

 that the moral, intellectual, or spiritual faculties of man have 

 been gradually developed by the working of natural causes, or 

 the operation of matter upon matter, I should, at the outset, 

 reject all consideration of the theory, as beyond the province of 

 reason, and within that of revelation. No conceivable amount 

 of evidence from the structural affinities of plants or animals, 

 could have the slightest bearings on our convictions as to the 

 origin of conscience, or the Supreme Being, or the immortality 

 of the soul. But Mr. Darwin has carefully avoided this. Still, 

 there does seem to be an anxious desire to shift back and back to 

 the origin of life, and to attribute it to secondary causes. Yet 

 still behind each cause others lie concealed, until, in the order of 

 causation, we are at length led back to that Final One, with 

 which alone the mind can be thoroughly content. " The strain of 

 music from the rich lyre of science flows on, rich and sweet, full 

 and harmonious, but never reaches a close. No cadence is heard 

 with which the intellectual ear can feel satisfied."* It is not the 

 province of Scripture to teach natural, but moral truth, and no 

 one fact of natural science has Scripture ever taught. Scripture, 

 therefore, speaks according to the appearance of things ; and in 

 so doing, makes no sacrifice, as some have pretended, to human 

 ignorance and prejudice. Some deductions of science may 

 appear at first sight startling, because contrary to our commonly 

 received interpretations, not because contrary to Scripture itself. 

 So the discoveries of Galileo appeared 300 years ago. So did the 

 proved existence of extinct creatures, and of death upon the 

 earth before the fall, appear 20 years ago. So, to some, do the 

 arguments for the limited extent of the Noachian deluge appear 

 to-day. But, when we search the Scriptures, we find that these 

 demonstrated truths of geology no more contravene the test of 



* "Inductive Philosophy." 



