ADVANCE OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 19 



teenth century contended against great odds. They 

 upheld a theory as to the origin of life which could 

 not be established inductively in the existing state 

 of knowledge, and which even at the time of the 

 publication of the Origin of Species lacked veri- 

 fication. Although for the most part devout men, 

 they were declared arch enemies of sound religion, 

 and although right in their contention for the value 

 of the inductive-deductive method of thought, they 

 were also proclaimed as the enemies of sound scien- 

 tific thinking. 



THE ADVANCE OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 



The belief that the Bible contained a revelation 

 of scientific as well as of spiritual and moral truths 

 was not supported by the most prominent of the 

 early theologians, nor many centuries later by 

 Bacon. It is edifying to read the appeals of these 

 two great Christian philosophers, Augustine and 

 Bacon, for freedom of scientific thought, against the 

 error of searching the Scriptures for laws of Nature. 



" It very often happens," says Augustine, " that there is some 

 question as to the earth or the sky, or the other elements of this 

 world . . . respecting which one who is not a Christian has knowl- 

 edge derived from most certain reasoning or observation" (that 

 is, a scientific man) , " and it is very disgraceful and mischievous 

 and of all things to be carefully avoided, that a Christian speaking 

 of such matters as being according to the Christian Scriptures, 

 should be heard by an unbeliever talking such nonsense that the 

 unbeliever perceiving him to be as wide from the mark as east 

 from west, can hardly restrain himself from laughing." 



