62 LAY SERMONS, ESSAYS, AND REVIEWS. [tv. 



of medicine sets before himself the noble object of taking care of 

 man s bodily welfare ; but the members of this other profession 

 undertake to &quot; minister to minds diseased,&quot; and, so far as may be, 

 to diminish sin and soften sorrow. Like the medical profession, 

 the clerical, of which I now speak, rests its power to heal upon 

 its knowledge of the order of the universe upon certain theories 

 of man s relation to that which lies outside him. It is not my 

 business to express any opinion about these theories. I merely 

 wish to point out that, like all other theories, they are professedly 

 based upon matter of fact. Thus the clerical profession has to 

 deal with the facts of Nature from a certain point of view ; and 

 hence it comes into contact with that of the man of science, who 

 has to treat the same facts from another point of view. You 

 know how often that contact is to be described as collision, 

 or violent friction ; and how great the heat, how little the light, 

 which commonly results from it. 



In the interests of fair play, to say nothing of those of mankind, 

 I ask, Why do not the clergy as a body acquire, as a part of their 

 preliminary education, some such tincture of physical science as 

 will put them in a position to understand the difficulties in the 

 way of accepting their theories, which are forced upon the mind 

 of every thoughtful and intelligent man, who has taken the 

 trouble to instruct himself in the elements of natural 

 knowledge ? 



Some time ago I attended a large meeting of the clergy, for 

 the purpose of delivering an address which I had been invited to 

 give. I spoke of some of the most elementary facts in physical 

 science, and of the manner in which they directly contradict 

 certain of the ordinary teachings of the clergy. The result was, 

 that, after I had finished, one section of the assembled ecclesias 

 tics attacked me with all the intemperance of pious zeal, for 

 stating facts and conclusions which no competent judge doubts ; 

 while, after the first speakers had subsided, amidst the cheers of 

 the great majority of their colleagues, the more rational minority 

 rose to tell me that I had taken wholly superfluous pains, that 

 they already knew all about what I had told them, and perfectly 



