The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1868-10-13
The Bible and Science.

as Troiessor OF Physics In the Virginia InSti-
tute, IN addressing the young gentlemen of the
institute, alluded as follows to the Bible and
Science:
Strive in, all things and at all times to be
r,ghtmlnded; and as you are conducted along
those beautiful walks in the fields of physical
research, which modern Investigation has made
SO lovely and instructive, guard against the Sc
/ ductlVe arguments of those authors who delight
to point out what they call contradictions to the
| Bible.
My dear young friends, always remember the
author OF that Book is natures God-that the
revelations of science and the statements of that
Bible are both true, and that truth cannot con-
tradict itself 81. =
Now, when you fancy you discover. as many
| say they do, discrepancies between science and
the Bible, be not fast, as Colenso and others have
BEEN to pronounce the Bible, wrong. Keep
! from presumptuous sins, and believe that the
| Bible is true-that science is true, and that if
there be discrepancies between these two records
it is not the fault of either but of yourself their
| interpreter. The records are right, but the in
| depreciation has on many occasions been wrong.
Science is progressive, and for its healthful
Advancement speculation is often necessary The
boidness of such speculation, uttered in the
shape of hypothesis has sometimes startled the
world, and needlessly disturbed the minds of
Christian people: Sometimes the reading of the
Bible has been wrong, and sometimes Of the
volume of nature, but in the end the dark say
inss of each have been found to throw light upon
the other. Gallleo, in advance of his time.
maintained that the earth turns on it's axis and
"Mother Church" in those days was offended.
She pronounced the doctrine damnable heresy,
and required him to renounce it. AS he signed
the recantation and turned, away, he muttered
'Yea, remember, but it turns for all that" So,
too, with The Nebule hypothesis, about which
you are yet to learn, but which some good men
have been disposed to regard as modern heresy,
because Of its author. Recent discovery and
scientific investigation are now presenting it in
a new light, without in the least disturbing any
religious belief whatever -
First, hypothesis, then theory, then demon
stration-these are the steps by which the science
of astronomy has reached its present advanced
state. At first, the hypothesis was that the
earth was the centre of the universe; that it |
stood still, and that the heavens rolled round it
from East to West. But discovery and research
soon convinced astronomers that this theory was
not consistent with the results of observation !
Then, the theory was that the heavens stood |
still, and that the earth turned around daily on
its axis from West to East, and annually, IN
orbitual revolution, round the SUM- Observa- |
ton and research furnished data by which the |
truth Of this theory, far as it goes, was de- |
monstrated. Finally, it was discovered that the |
sun is moving through space with the velocity of
cannon balls, carrying In its train the earth and
the whole retinue of planets asteroids and sateI-
tes, and 50 hypothesis was brought to the |
dignity of theory, which reconciles all the !
known facts of the case. ..-7 /
Though We may not claim that the Nebula
hypothesis has as yet, attained to the dignity of
theory nevertheless its plausibility appears to
be such as to bring it within the range Of proba-
blity,. and, therefore, 1t may or may not have |
truth for its cornerstone.
The Nebula hypothesis is the conception of |
great French geometer named Laplace This !
hypothesis is more profound in its reach than
Newtons laws, for the Englishman with his
beautiful theory of gravitation only dealt with |
the heavenly bodies as he found them The |
Frenchman. soaring beyond that, attempted to
deal with them from ''the beginning" to COM
prehend chaos and to show how, when the earth /
was without form and void, the various physical |
processes took place by which the Inorganic |
matter of the universe condensed into suns |
aggregated into planets, thrown off and conr erted
into satellites, sent wheeling theirorbts about
the sun, and then turning on their axis. In
comparing these two philosophers, speak of
their ntelects, not of their characters.
You know all the planets reyolve in the same
direction. how they go round the sun in direc-
tion opposite to the hands of watch, and have |
their orbits nearly in the plane of the suns |
equator; that they also rotate on their axis in |
the same direction, and that with the single ex-
ception, perhaps, of the two outside, and most
distant planets, all their moons do the same.
They could not move as they do by any chance, |
for there is no chance in nature, neither in the |
heavens nor in the earth; moreover, according
to the doctrine of chances the odds are millions
and millions to against such arrangement
as that which We actually behold among the |
planets as they move in their orbits. ~. ~.
1t is assumed, as our point of departure, that
this arrangement in the planetary world must be
according to design, and in obedience to law.
Upon other assumptions equally plausible, its
author founded his hypothesis, and then pro-
ceeded by analogy and illust ration to develop it,
and that with degree of probability, which, If
it do not carry conviction to our minds, must at
least challenge our respect and admiration. 1t
ass umes that s'in the beginning" the earth SUB
and moon, with all the planets, were IN gaseous
state: that when this was the case the planetary
spaces were filed with this rare and attenuated
matter. '1 f- -
What are the reasons for these assumptions
Chemistry tells us that all the matter Of which
this earth consists-the rocks, the metals aud
the nlountains-is made from sxty-one or sixty
two simple substances; that the greater part of
all the solid matter in the world is gaseous; that
onc-haf of the earth's crust consists of oxygen
alone, and that all the water in the sea is COM
posed of but two gases, and nothing else, and
that all the other substapces known upon the
earth may, by heat be either .yolatilzed or con-
verted into fumes or vapors, as rare, light and
attehuated, as the gases themselves With such
which he ma Had ,,eIalaux