36 



CONSTANCE L. MAYNARD ON 



Only one century ago two of these apologists were read by 

 thousands, and doubtless considered final, and these are Bishop 

 Butler, who wrote the Analogy, and Paley, who inaugurated the 

 argument from Design in Nature. Both of these have been 

 rendered inefficient and put out of court by the advance of 

 scientific discovery, and so doubtless it wall be to the end of time. 

 What satisfies the intellect of one generation will not satisfy that 

 of another, but as our knowledge advances, we must advance 

 also. As a Scottish minister once said to me, " The defences 

 of Christianity are not military, hut naval.'' One, and only one, 

 line of proof is secure, indisputable, eternal, incontrovertible, and 

 that is the change in the human character wrought by the 

 acceptance of Christ as the Saviour from sin ; both from the debt 

 of the past and the tyranny of the present. This change, this 

 new life born within us by the work of the Holy Spirit, is spoken 

 of many times in the Bible. Take one instance only; Instead 

 of the thorn," the selfish isolation that wards off other people, 

 " shall come up the fir tree," the type of strong, unobtrusive 

 usefulness; instead of the brier," the catching, carping, irri- 

 tating, ill-tempered spirit, " shall come up the myrtle tree," 

 sweetness, fragrance, and bridal beauty: " and it shall be to the 

 Lord for a name, and for an everlasting sign that shall not be 

 cut off." If we work for the Kingdom of Heaven, this is our 

 experience. In the depths of our own souls we know this change 

 from the selfish to the altruistic position, from the bitter to the 

 sweet, and in dealing with those under our charge, to see the 

 spiritual miracle going on is the very joy and crown of our 

 endeavour. Centuries come and go, and from the days of the 

 Acts of the Apostles to the work of our Bible Classes or of the 

 Mission-field of to-day, here is the one evidence for the truth of 

 the Word of God that can never be disputed or gainsaid. 



Let us pass on to the difficulties raised by Science, for to my 

 own mind these stood first and chief. My rebellion was long 

 and complete, for, for some twenty years, I would read nothing 

 that bore on the subject on Evolution, nothing but Henry Drum- 

 mond, to whom many of us are eternally grateful. However, one 

 day some one suggested that this was not the first time Science 

 and Eeligion had come into direct collision, and that in the con- 

 flict Science had always won, and yet Eeligion was eventually 

 none the worse. It was like bringing a lamp into a dim twilight 

 room, as my mind and memory at once supplied the historic 

 instances. Think of the first and most crucial struggle of all, 

 when the earth w^as discovered to be a free, rolling ball attendant 

 on the sun. Dante's conceptions were so scriptural, so satis- 

 factory, while under the new light the words up and down lost 

 their meaning. The Apostles' Creed itself, as well as all Scrip- 

 ture, speaks of up to heaven, and down to hell, and if the localities. 



