220 THE LIGHT OF DAT 



It is a source of wonder to me how modern theo- 

 logy has stood for so long a time the test of astro- 

 nomy, — in fact, has harnessed astronomy into its 

 service. It is not that the stars are less convincing, 

 but that men are harder to convince than I was will- 

 ing to believe. It is not difficult to see how this 

 fantastic conception of things would fall before the 

 standard of him who had got even the insects or the 

 minutest fact of nature. How, then, can it prevail 

 before him whose standard is the globe, — " round, 

 rolling, compact," — with no possible failures, of no 

 conceivable age, obeying no namable rule or method, 

 yet above all rule and method, — purely an inspira- 

 tion, whose vast beauty and perfection the highest 

 speech can only edge ? 



Our proudest statements go but a little way — at 

 most but recognize this as up, that as down, that 

 as east, this as west, but absolutely, without refer- 

 ence to point or place which way is east and which 

 way west ? Leave the earth behind you as a speck 

 in the sky, and which way is up, which down ? Now 

 where is your immutable fact ? Enlarge your sphere 

 of observation a little, take into account the circle, 

 instead of the fragment of an arc, and how relative 

 and puerile your boasted achievements seem ! It is 

 as if sight were added after groping with the hands. 



Are the great facts of science, then, only so much 

 formulae, — have they no moral application ? Does 

 it make no difference in your views of God, of the 

 soul and immortality, whether the earth is all or 

 whether there are other earths, whether it is round 



