, 1876-12-23

minglng in scientific disputes arise out
OF his belief about the origin aud gOv-
eminent Of the world per- So, because one
does not think OF making them to trained
religious Philosophers tur instance. tn
Principal Dawson or Mr.. ST. George
Miva"t Some may think or say that
the religious preposscssions OF these gen.
tlcmen lessen the weight of their opin.
ions on II certain class ot scientific ques-
tions, but no one would question their
right to share IN scientific discussions
We are moved to speak on this subject
by the regret which we feel at seeing
educated and influential men, from per.
haps the most influential body Of ed
ucated men in the country, helping by
their example I" spread the already too
prevalent dcusion that training IS nut
needed to enable man to talk or think
with profit to himself or Others on amy
subject and it is delusion which-lct
us sny-hrlps TO cut the ground from
under the feet of religious MS well as
other teachers. 1t furnishes the subtle
poison which dcbauchcs politics, and
makes So much labor in all fields slight
and inefficient, md which renders ed
ucation hasty and slip slod, and scholar
ship shallow and pretcntious. Reading
over the other day the Rev. Joseph
Cooks lectures in Boston, in which he
demolished the EvOluionists by means
of detached sentences from the works
now of one and now OF another, put to-
gether With considerable rhetorical skill
and seasoned with tlippancy, and pre-
sented in such way as to make it
appear that the geologists and biologists
and phyicists and naturahsts-the Lyells,
lIuXlcys, Haeckels, Dnrwins, Helmholsls,
and Others, who have c0untcnnnced and
supported the hypothesis of evolution,
and given to it years or lives Of labor
iOus and conscientious investigation
were set Of clArlatans or dreamers,
whose chief use was to make clerical
Monday lectures" funny, we confess we
doubted whether we had of late heard
of any more melancholy spectacle, OF one
likely to prove more misoIirvous.
What was most melancholy about il
was, however, not the assault on labor
ious Investigators 10y gentleman whose
acquaintance with the sui iect in hand is
at best very small, hut the apparent
unCOnciousncss of both the orator and
his audience that there was anything
absurd or humilating in his position.
Let us assure the ministers who enjoy
and participate in this sort of sport that
it is not the men of science they are in.
juring; it is their own order and voca-
tion. II they will only look back, they
will see that the history of the relation
of religion to science has consisted in
the man of the acceptance by theolo'
gians of scientific hypothesis over which
they at first laughed or were angry, and
that this acceptance has only damaged
theology when the acceptance was
grudging or ill-tempered. How many
unpleasant and at first sight formidable
truths have been swallowed since the
day when the proposition over which
the Rev. Joseph Cooks of the time doubt
less made merry, that the earth wns not
the center of the solar system but only
a satellite of the sun, was first produced
Would it not be best for religion and
morals to give up struggle in which
they may lose much and can win moth
ingl Can there be any gain wrougbt
for either by pretending that there are
some subjects on which one may be quail
flied to talk without having studied
theml The world is not so simple as
it used to be, or so ignorant. Plain
people all over the country, in our day,
know enough about the methods OF
scientific investigation to be familiar
with Newton's Rule that hypothesis
which will explain a phenomenon, and
against which no fatal objection IS
known, is a good and proper hypothesis
to work on in investigation and they
see that the hypothesis of evolution does
fulfil these conditions, and they expect
those who assail Il TO produce one that