SCIENCE AND THE BOOK 275 



Certain long revered doctrines may have little prac- 

 tical influence upon them. Yet inherently they all 

 believe in religion, and most of them believe them- 

 selves to be religious, as indeed they really are. 



It is a most wholesome tendency which leads us 

 to esteem religion as the main interest in life. We 

 must feel a sense of shame when we consciously 

 permit the influences, which most favorably mold 

 our character, to weaken their hold upon our lives. 

 Certainly in our time religion is the essential agent 

 by which character is molded. Any of us would be 

 foolishly short-sighted were he willing to weaken the 

 hold of religion upon his life for the sake of a scien- 

 tific theory, the truth or falsity of which could have 

 but little practical bearing upon his conduct. We 

 must hold to religion at all hazards. We may, when 

 circumstances so suggest, change our denominational 

 allegiance. We may and often do interpret our faith 

 quite at variance with the ecclesiastical body with 

 which we are connected. We may constantly modify 

 and develop our beliefs. But it is a pitiful life which 

 has lost the staying and strengthening influence of 

 religion. I believe this conviction is deep-rooted in 

 the minds of our people and that it deserves the place 

 it holds. 



To a mind thus essentially religious the announce- 

 ments of science often come as a shock. They seem 



