SCIENCE AND THE BOOK 275 
Certain long revered doctrines may have little prac- 
tical influence upon them. Yet inherently they all 
believe in religion, and most of them believe them- 
selves to be religious, as indeed they really are. 
It is a most wholesome tendency which leads us 
to esteem religion as the main interest in life. We 
must feel a sense of shame when we consciously 
permit the influences, which most favorably mold 
our character, to weaken their hold upon our lives. 
Certainly in our time religion is the essential agent 
by which character is molded. Any of us would be 
foolishly short-sighted were he willing to weaken the 
hold of religion upon his life for the sake of a scien- 
tific theory, the truth or falsity of which could have 
but little practical bearing upon his conduct. We 
must hold to religion at all hazards. We may, when 
circumstances so suggest, change our denominational 
allegiance. We may and often do interpret our faith 
quite at variance with the ecclesiastical body with 
which we are connected. We may constantly modify 
and develop our beliefs. But it is a pitiful life which 
has lost the staying and strengthening influence of 
religion. I believe this conviction is deep-rooted in 
the minds of our people and that it deserves the place 
it holds. 
To a mind thus essentially religious the announce- 
ments of science often come as a shock. They seem 
