•56 REV. CHANCELLOR LIAS, M.A., ON 



thoiiglit over the more Scriptural aspects of iiis teaching, and 

 it lias not been until lately, when the renewed study of the 

 Greek Testament and of the Greek Fathers has revived the 

 idea of the Divine immanence in man. which had been largely 

 lost sight of, that this idea of God as a Sovereign has been com- 

 bined with other Scriptural attributes. I need do no more than 

 call your attention to the remarkable work of Professor Allen, 

 of Harvard University, on the Continuity of Heligious ThougJit^ 

 in which he points out how the supposed antagonism between 

 religion and science would have been reduced to a ndnimnni, 

 had not the idea, partly accepted by Greek theology, of the 

 indwelling of God in man, and the consequent restoration 

 and ultimate perfection of the latter, been suffered almost to 

 disappear from the popular mind. The Latins lost sight of 

 these ideas through their ignorance of the language in which 

 the Greek Testament was written. The Greeks lost them at 

 last on account of the growing corruption of their Church, 

 and of the consequent tendency to substitute intermin- 

 able refinements of speculation, endless discussions, pas- 

 sionate conflicts of opinion, for the gradual growth and 

 develoj)ment of the Christian idea, as revealed in Holy 

 Scripture.* There is hope now that by means of free inquiry 

 and full discussion, coupled with a fairer and more critical 

 study of om- authorities, the ancient antagonisms between 

 religion and science may altogether disappear, and the Book 

 of Nature and the Books of Scripture be looked upon, as they 

 ought to be looked upon, as the two complementary sides of 

 the revelation of Himself by God. 



That hope is not by any means damped when Ave turn to 

 the history and results of modern scientific discovery. It is, 

 on tlie contrary, very much heightened by a reference to them. 

 Scientific men, it has appeared to me, took up at first a 

 needlessly aggressive attitude towards revelation. It is 

 true that the teachers of religion had for the most part 

 committed themselves to theories which brought the Divine 

 interferences in the order of nature into far too great 

 prominence, and had represented that order rather as a series 

 of jerks than as a continuous development. As scientific 

 research progressed, fact after fact was rescued from the 

 region of the miraculous and reduced under the dominion of 



* Since these words were written, Bishop Westcott's Lessons from Work 

 has come into a<y hands. Very similar thoughts to those in the text Will 

 be found in pp. 8-11. 



