SCIENTIFIC EESEARCH AND BIBLICAL STUDY. 29 



which has been from its first appearance what it is now, 

 while the stream of Hfe which has led to it tends to 

 advance further to form new kinds. This may seem ideal, 

 far-fetched, and platonic, and I say no more about it. The 

 question of questions is, Whence comes the stream of life, 

 and the tendency to vary, to inherit, and to evolve or 

 develop ? Is it from above ? or from below ? or is it really 

 capable of being regarded from both standpoints ? 



After all, evolution is no cause, it is only a formula 

 designed to express the processes of nature. It presupposes 

 creation, i.e., intelligent, originative force ; and the more 

 extensive, complicated, harmonious, and age-long these 

 processes of nature, so much the more do they indicate some 

 xinitj of method and design in the background, which call 

 for an eternal, overruling, designing — and therefore personal 

 — Cause, and which I am content to call, so far as science 

 is concerned, "Ayvcooro^ de6<i — a God whose nature cannot 

 be comprehended by the unaided intellect of man, 



I have been showing that so far as I can see there is some 

 approximation between modern scientific ^vays of putting 

 things and the convictions which a biblical student holds 

 dear. Much, however, remains to be done, and I venture tc 

 call attention to some desiderata bearing on the subject 

 before us. 



(1) There is a great deal of do,<]cmatism on both sides, 

 especially among the lesser lights. I have heard it said that 

 young ladies rush in where professors fear to tread, and 

 many things are ardently thrust forth on the " all or none 

 principle" by young enthusiasts on both sides, who thus 

 hinder rather than help the cause which they have at heart. 

 Verbal inspiration is claimed, nov/ for the Bible, now for the 

 Professor. Perhaps the voice of those who hold that there are 

 degrees of inspiration and consequently of authority, ouglit 

 to be heard not only in the biblical world but in the scientific. 



(2) There is a tendency in Bible readers to disregard the 

 processes of natm-e on the ground that the Scriptures claim 

 all nature as under direct Divine administration ; and there is 

 a counter tendency of science to economise the Divine action 

 to the uttermost, to push it back into the region of the 

 prehistoric and mythical, whence it fades from view 

 altogether. We ought to come to a mutual understanding on 

 this matter, and a little reflection will show that it is possible. 

 A careless student might imagine that by the discovery of 

 the law called the Conservation of energy, there was neither 



