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applied to either of these truly interpreted. The philosopher 
and the theologian have often been m point-blank opposition. 
But after a contest Of 1,800 years, in which both the philo- 
sopher and the theologian have often been worsted, and forced 
to retire from a false position. Scripture and science stand as 
they have ever done. That is, revealed truth and discovered 
truth either agree, or at least run parallel, m their never- 
opposing course. . ra. • 
The fact of such a state of warfare is no new thing. ris- 
tianity was cradled in the midst of storms, and grew vigorously 
during the early centuries amidst contending tides of thought. 
Underneath the surface of apparent so-called orthodoxy m tne 
middle ages, conflicting currents of opinion ran strongly. 
Since the Reformation these have come into more manifest 
collision. As the coral-like growth of science has brought 
new ground to the surface, the eddies of opinion and theory- 
have run more sharply between the new truths of science and 
the old truths of Scripture. It cannot well be otherwise Nor 
is this in all respects to be deprecated m an age of slowly and 
unequally accruing facts. Our contests are seldom about the 
facts, excepting occasionally about some things rashly asserted 
to be facts. Our contests are chiefly about opinions and 
theories, supposed, rightly or wrongly, to arrange those tacts 
in due order of coherence and dependence, or else to follow 
from those facts. . , 
There is nothing essentially new, therefore, m the conflicts 
now being waged between belief and unbelief. But they have 
assumed in some respects changed proportions, it belongs 
to the increased nervous sensibility of human society as a 
whole, that these collisions are felt more deeply, and over a 
wider surface, and therefore attract more general notice. Bet 
me illustrate this difference by one name. That of Darwin is 
conspicuous in science. But the fanciful theories of the 
Darwin of the days of George III., together with the more 
solid achievements of Priestley and the rest of their coadjutors, 
however familiar to the literary Englishman, were in tact 
scarcely known to the nation. The Darwin of Victoria _s days 
has made every reading mechanic familiar with the ideas ol 
the strange legendary history he has framed for the descent 
of man; a legend in comparison of which the grotesque 
transformations of fairy tales may retire abashed and discom- 
fited. Darwin the grandfather, and Darwin the grandson, 
will thus precisely illustrate the changed conditions wtncii 
Years have brought, and with which we have to deal. 
This change is formidable just in proportion as it extends 
more widely, and therefore, in the view of the believer, affects 
