Religious Belief. 



193 



covered of order, the more he perceived of intellect. 

 This vast display of animate and inanimate nature 

 was to him the result and perpetual expression of 

 the divine thought, a revelation of God, How I have 

 seen his face glow as he described some of the most 

 striking of the evidences of intellectual action in 

 nature ! He has been accused of weakness for 

 yielding to such impressions, advancing such opin- 

 ions. It was his great glory not to esteem the thing 

 above the thought, the product above the producer. 

 To see behind adapted forms a purposing mind is 

 not a weakness, but a necessity for every compre- 

 hensive mind. The studies of Agassiz did not lead 

 him into the mire of materialism nor the deserts of 

 pantheism, nor the dreary solitudes of atheism, but 

 to the sublime ideas of God and immortality. 



*'Yes; Agassiz was reverent. Said he to his 

 class at Penikese : * The study of nature is direct 

 intercourse with the highest mind. It is unworthy 

 an intelligent being to trifle with the works of the 

 Creator. A laboratory of natural history is a sanctu- 

 ary, in which nothing improper should be exhibited. 

 I would tolerate improprieties in a church as soon 

 as in a scientific laboratory,* and in this spirit he 

 did his work." 



To-day the students of Agassiz are among the 

 most distinguished advocates of the doctrine of 

 Darwin, and unquestionably the majority of natu- 

 ralists of the world have accepted its deductions ; 

 yet there are many who still agree with the emi- 

 nent Swiss. What the decree of future generations 

 will be can but be surmised. 



