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who are infidels, and at the close of last century we saw on the 
Continent of Europe the sad spectacle of French Encyclopae- 
dists, and other learned men, labouring to extinguish the little 
faith that was then to be found in the world ; but it remains to 
be inquired whether these men were not infidels before they 
were philosophers; and subsequent events have shown that 
they raised their paean before they had won their victory ; for 
the Bible is read now far more than it was then, and Christ 
has His disciples in the halls of Continental as well as British 
science. 
And it has not been for want of will on the part of 
infidels that our Sacred Writings have remained the firm 
foundation of the faith of Christendom. As science after 
science has risen into notice, they have ransacked its store- 
house in search of something which they could forge into a 
new weapon against the old book; and even the guardians of 
the faith have sometimes been the first to brand some new 
scientific doctrine as unscriptural, or to decry the whole in- 
vestigation as irreligious. As time has gone on, it has occa- 
sionally happened that the scientific doctrine proved to be a 
crude and erroneous conclusion ; or the suspicious theory 
being established, it has been found that what it opposed 
was merely the view of some Jewish commentator or Christian 
poet. 
The history of astronomy is instructive in this respect. 
When it was contended that the earth, instead of being a flat 
plain was a round ball, with people walking on the other 
side of it, the idea was denounced as unscriptural and pre- 
posterous. After this was generally received, the Copernican 
theory of the solar system was promulgated, and then monks 
preached against the new heresy, and the authorities of the 
Church passed these two resolutions : — 1st. The propo- 
sition that the sun is the centre of the world, and immovable 
from its place, is absurd, philosophically false, ana foimally 
heretical; because it is expressly contrary to Holy Scripture. 
2nd. The proposition that the earth is not the centre of the 
world, nor immovable, but that it moves, and also with a 
diurnal motion, is absurd, philosophically false, and theo- 
logically considered at least erroneous in faith. When, 
however, these propositions were universally taught, even 
at the Homan observatory, the immense magnitudes and 
distances of the stars were looked upon . with suspicion 
as reducing our globe to a mere speck in the universe, 
although it is the theatre of man's probation, and oi the Son 
of Cod's great sacrifice. But no educated man doubts these 
conclusions now, and in many a sermon, as in Dr. Chalmers s 
