320 SPARKS FROM A GEOLOGIST'S HAMMER. 



required a reinterpretation of some passages of scripture; 

 and a vague expectation had been awakened that some 

 sort of a skirmish between science and theology was im- 

 pending. 



It is fair to record the fact, however, that no conflict 

 with the fundamental principles of religious faith was 

 anticipated by any holding representative positions in 

 science; nor were corresponding representatives of theo- 

 logical learning fearful, to the least extent, that any 

 phase of science so sustained by evidence as to be gen- 

 erally accepted by the scientific, could contravene the 

 accepted fundamentals of religious belief. The popular 

 apprehensions existed, as they have always existed, in the 

 minds of one class who have no adequate knowledge of 

 the nature and force of scientific evidence, and of an- 

 other class who rather enjoy the spectacle when theology 

 gets a pelting, even if with mere " tufts of grass." Un- 

 doubtedly it is the depraved heart which prompts to a 

 large share of the satisfaction felt in such a case; but 

 there seems to be also a semi-humorous element in our 

 nature which enjoys, as a mild sensation, any discom- 

 posure manifested by theology at being even unjustly 

 accused of jealousy toward science. 



It is fair, also, to record the fact that the three lect- 

 ures of Professor Huxley do not contain a single expres- 

 sion avowing or intimating an atheistic belief; and all 

 assertions to the effect that " he more than suggested 

 that his aim was atheistic" have no other foundation 

 than the opinion of their authors that the doctrine of 

 evolution means atheism. On the contrary, Professor 

 Huxley has expressed himself in such terms as to clearly 



