APOLOGY FOR THE BELFAST ADDRESS 



plus grand de' la langue humaine apres 

 celui de religion, sera suspect aux ames 

 qui se souviendront de la science impie 

 et materialiste de Locke, de Condillac 

 ou d'Helvetius. L'heure actuelle est 

 aux sciences naturelles : c'est maintenant 

 1'instrument de combat centre 1'Eglise et 

 contre toute foi religieuse. Nous ne les 

 redoutons pas." Further on the Bishop 

 warns his readers that everything can be 

 abused. Poetry is good, but in excess it 

 may injure practical conduct. " Les 

 mathematiques sont excellentes : et Bos- 

 suet les a louees ' comme etant ce qui 

 sert le plus a la justesse du raisonne- 

 ment '; mais si on s'accoutume exclusive- 

 ment a leur methode, rien de ce qui 

 appartient a 1'ordre moral ne parait plus 

 pouvoir etre demontre ; et Fenelon a pu 

 parler de V ensorcellement et des attraits 

 diaboliques de la geometric." 



The learned Bishop thus finally accen- 

 tuates the claims of the Church : 

 " Comme le definissait le Pape Leon X, 

 au cinquieme concile cecumenique de 

 Latran, ' Le vrai ne peut pas etre contraire 

 a lui-meme : par consequent, toute asser- 

 tion contraire a une verite de foi revelee 

 est necessairement et absolument fausse.' 

 II suit de la que, sans entrer dans 1'examen 

 scientifique de telle ou telle question de 

 physiologie, mais par la seule certitude 

 de nos dogmes, nous pouvons juger du 

 sort de telle ou telle hypothese, qui est 

 une machine de guerre anti-chretienne 

 plutot qu'une conquete serieuse sur les 



secrets et les mysteres de la nature 



C'est un dogme que 1'homme a etc forme 

 et faconne des mains de Dieu. Done 

 il est faux, heretique, contraire a la 

 dignite du Createur et offensant pour son 

 chef-d'oeuvre, de dire que 1'homme con- 

 stitue la septieme espece des singes. 



Heresie encore de dire que le genre 



humain n'est pas sorti d'un seul couple, 

 et qu'on y peut compter jusqu'a douze 

 races distinctes !" 



The course of life upon earth, as far 

 as Science can see, has been one of 

 amelioration a steady advance on the 

 whole from the lower to the higher. The 



continued effort of animated nature is to 

 improve its condition and raise itself 

 to a loftier level. In man improvement 

 and amelioration depend largely upon 

 the growth of conscious knowledge, by 

 which the errors of ignorance are con- 

 tinually moulted, and truth is organised. 

 It is the advance of knowledge that has 

 given a materialistic colour to the philo- 

 sophy of this age. Materialism is there- 

 fore not a thing to be mourned over, but 

 to be honestly considered accepted if 

 it be wholly true, rejected if it be wholly 

 false, wisely sifted and turned to account 

 if it embrace a mixture of truth and 

 error. Of late years the study of the 

 nervous system, and its relation to 

 thought and feeling, have profoundly 

 occupied inquiring minds. It is our 

 duty not to shirk it ought rather to be 

 our privilege to accept the established 

 results of such inquiries, for here assur- 

 edly our ultimate weal depends upon our 

 loyalty to the truth. Instructed as to the 

 control which the nervous system exer- 

 cises over man's moral and intellectual 

 nature, we shall be better prepared, not 

 only to mend their manifold defects, but 

 also to strengthen and purify both. Is 

 mind degraded by this recognition of its 

 dependence ? Assuredly not. Matter, 

 on the contrary, is raised to the level it 

 ought to occupy, and from which timid 

 ignorance would remove it. 



But the light is dawning, and it will 

 become stronger as time goes on. Even 

 the Brighton "Church Congress " affords 

 evidence of this. From the manifold 

 confusions of that assemblage my 

 memory has rescued two items, which it 

 would fain preserve : the recognition of 

 a relation between Health and Religion, 

 and the address of the Rev. Harry Jones. 

 Out of the conflict of vanities his words 

 emerge wholesome and strong, because 

 undrugged by dogma, coming directly 

 from the warm brain of one who knows 

 what practical truth means, and who has 

 faith in its vitality and inherent power of 

 propagation. I wonder whether he is 

 less effectual in his ministry than his 

 more embroidered colleagues ? It surely 



