180 THE LIGHT OF DAY 



son, who thinks the Christian faith could not pos- 

 sibly have originated in an age that had a helio- 

 centric astronomy, sets forth and enforces the 

 opinion that our astronomical science has not in any 

 vital respect altered or impaired the validity of the 

 theological conceptions of the Jewish and Christian 

 revelations. The " Spectator" fails to see that the 

 Semitic dramaturgy sprang out of the colossal ego- 

 tism of the early races, the races who considered 

 themselves as the special centre and object of 

 creations, an egotism that science tends directly to 

 overthrow. It is true the old prophets and Biblical 

 writers sought to humble and belittle man in the 

 presence of the hosts of the starry heavens, but this 

 was only a momentary reaction from their gigantic 

 egotism, which made Jehovah so solicitous about 

 his chosen people. But this is not the point. 



The point is that the Copernican system of astro- 

 nomy gives us a conception of the order and harmony 

 of the universe and of the physical insignificance of 

 our planet and its subordination to other bodies that 

 is utterly inconsistent with our Semitic theology. 

 The two are not homogeneous ; they spring from 

 entirely different standpoints. The Israelites may 

 have been God's chosen people, and this earth of 

 ours may be the apple of his eye among the worlds, 

 but the tendency of the study of science is to utterly 

 uproot such notions. Science liberalizes and imper- 

 sonalizes. To the impartial student of history all 

 peoples are God's people, and all worlds alike the 

 scenes of his power. In the light of modern astro- 



