THE GOSPEL OF NATURE 
Yet I would not say that the study of Nature did 
not favor meekness or sobriety or gentleness or for- 
giveness or charity, because the great Nature stud- 
ents and prophets, like Darwin, would rise up and 
confound me. Certainly it favors seriousness, truth- 
fulness, and simplicity of life; or, are only the seri- 
" ous and single-minded drawn to the study of Na- 
ture? I doubt very much if it favors devoutness or 
holiness, as those qualities are inculcated by the 
church, or any form of religious enthusiasm. De- 
voutness and holiness come of an attitude toward 
the universe that is in many ways incompatible with 
that implied by the pursuit of natural science. The 
joy of the Nature student like Darwin or any great 
naturalist is to know, to find out the reason of 
things and the meaning of things, to trace the foot- 
steps of the creative energy; while the religious 
devotee is intent only upon losing himself in infinite 
being. True, there have been devout naturalists and 
men of science; but their devoutness did not date 
from their Nature studies, but from their training, 
or from the times in which they lived. Theology 
and science, it must be said, will not mingle much 
better than oil and water, and your devout scientist 
and devout Nature student lives in two separate 
compartments of his being at different times. In- 
tercourse with Nature —I mean intellectual inter- 
course, not merely the emotional intercourse of the 
sailor or explorer or farmer — tends to beget a habit 
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