Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1875-12-30
THE ETERNAL vRRITIES.

Prof. Proctor, in card denying
the report that he contemplates ac-
cepting the Astronomical chair in an
English university, uses The follow.
ing vigorous and trutbfui language;
''It seems impossIjl- FIR Messy to
distinguish betwcen religion and
dogmas which long hlbit has taught
them to associate with religion.
Two hundred years ago me-. were
thought to be defenders of the faith
who taught that it was esse ltial for
Christians to believe in the fixity and
central position Of the earth, but such
teachers wrought incalculable mis-
chief to the cause for which they
were 30 Jealous. In our own time
similar mistake is being made by
persons who suppose that thereby
they are serving religion. Their in
itentions may be excellent, but they
are, in truth, the worst enemies of
religion. He who teaches men to
believe that certain scientific views,
which are all the time gaining
ground, are incompatible with par
ticular religious doctrines, helps to
snake il certain that those doctrines
will, before long, be widely discred-
Ted. He is the true enemy of those
doc rines, not the man who would
dissocdase them from dogmas.
Suppose twenty, fifty, or an hun
dred years hence, by means Of tele-
scopes mere powerful than have yet
swept the skies, analysis more exten-
sive, and calculations more accurate
than have yet been devoted to the
mighty subject; that some Of what
are now considered the we'll estab-
lished principles of astronomy should
be set aside as errors-would this re-
construction of our theories abolish
the mechanism of the heavens3 If
the nebular hypothesis were aban-
doned, would the Milky Way-that
meeting Of gentle lights without a
name"-b less beautiful to the gaze
Of earth-prisoned mortals9 If the
orbit Of Jupiter were ascertained to
be more eccentric than we now be-
lieve it, would that splendid planet
shine with diminished lustre2 If the
comets which shoot across the path
which our globe is uaversing were
found to obey different rules from
those now assigned thtm-would that
lessen their number or impede their
motion9 If even the grand law Of
gravitation-now regarded as the key
stone of the universe-was proved to
be deficient in important particulars,
and supplanted by another and more
perfect would the gorgeous
company above straightway disband
and rush headlong into chaosa As
nronomy, then, depends upon the
stars; but the stars do not depend
upon astronomy. Every fragment of
the science might be swept into the
oblivion of exploded ideas; but out
of those dim depths, which ne plum
met line has ever sounded, the my
.riad Of celestial worlds would still
look down upon us as brightly as
when the shepherds first traced their
courses from the plains of Chaldes.
Why, then, is It SO difficult for
many good people to understand that
theology may perish and yet religion
livea Theology is no more religion
than astronomy is the stars. If every
creed which man has ever devised and
the church sanctioned were struck
out of existence forever; If every
dogma which Christian and pagan
sects have battled over were utterly
annihilated; if the vast mountain Of
accumulated speculation which the
ages have piled upon the human
soul were levelled into dust ami
scattered TO the winds-would that
disturb the eternal varieties which
God has lifted above the mists and