Religious Belief. 191 



In 1862 Agassiz delivered a series of six lectures 

 in the Academy of Music, Brooklyn, N. Y., which 

 were entitled The Graham Lectures," on the 

 Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God " as mani- 

 fested in his works. In one of these lectures he 

 announced what may possibly surprise the reader. 

 He said : 



I know that I have been considered by many 

 persons an infidel, because I have not taken for my 

 guidance in the study of science the dictum of certain 

 creeds. But science cannot submit to dictation, it 

 must build up what it seeks upon the premises which 

 it finds. Let us be content if the results lead to the 

 same conclusion ; we shall stand then in the position 

 of one who, having been brought up in the reHgion 

 of his parents, and having been led astray by doubts, 

 has at length, under the influence of a better frame 

 of mind and of sober thought, come to reconsider 

 the basis of his doubts, and by laborious investiga- 

 tion has returned to the faith he had forsaken. 



" Such is the position of science. It is the ques- 

 tioning, the doubting element in human progress : 

 and when this has gone far enough, it begins the 

 work of reconstruction in such a way as will never 

 harm true religion, or cause any reasonable appre- 

 hension to the real and sincere Christian. Such is my 

 conviction ; and while I am considered on one side 

 as an infidel, and decried on the other in scientific 

 circles as a bigot, as one who follows the lead of a 

 creed rather than that of science, I feel bound to 

 say that I am neither.'' 



Those who professed to believe Agassiz an infidel 



