The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1877-05-12
SCIENCE AND RELIGION.
A DISCUSSION BY PROFESSOR
PIERCE, OF HARvARr.

| No Conflict Between Science and Re-
igi0n-A Glance at the Record Of
The Past-Darwinism defined aud
Hts supposed Relations TO kelig Ion
spoken OE-rhe Outcome.
From the Boston Advertiser, 7th.
Professor Benjamin Pirece, of Harvard
University, delivered a discourse in the
First church Rev. DR.. E,lis's) Sunday
afternoon on 1.-The Conflict between Sci.
euce and Religion" He spoke substanti-
ally rs follows:
The strangeness of this unwonted po-
sition embarrssses me. l can only pray
that my thoughts and words may be so
guided rs to be in harmony with the
sublime utterances to which these walls
are familiar. l own scientific volume
which undertakes to investigate the
principles OF all the motions OF the UNI
verse, and which comes to the conc uslon
that "there Is one God, and science is the
knowledge OF Him." / recently read the
report of sermon by very popular
preacher, in which found the passage:
"Lesve science to the devil. 1t will
have enough to do there" lsthis the
true doctrine, after we have had the
light of the gospel for nearly two thous
and years, to go back to the darkness
OF primitive ignorance2 God dIdn't
make the light and declare it to be good
and ill it with the most wonderful
powers, so that 1t should invite man To
It's study TO be d delusion and q snare.
To maintain such doctrine would be-
. bot nat IalI nd
sary. 1t would be that which would drive
away into honest skeptlclsm all the
honest seekers alter truth in physical
science. 1t would be utterly ut varI-
ance with the doctrines which we have
had from almost all our pulPits in this
city tor SO many years
Science ard religion are born of the
same house, and that hoL Sc is not divided
against itself There will at ali times be
AN apparent conflict between them aris-
ing from defects of human nature,
but all this conflict originates in the deI-
cheney of our knowledge, not III the
greatness of it. The conflict has had
| different sources at different times, vary
ing with the age and with the state OF
knowledge, and with the character OF
the discovery that may have been made
in physical science, but wherever any
truth in science has, by any means
whatever, got Incorporated into religious
statement, it is not possible to bring
| forward truth In opposition to that; 1t
| is not possible to shake that which was
received as truth once by scientific men
and thus has passed into religion, with
out seeming To shake the foundation OF
religion. We may be sure, from all the
experience that we have had. that the
time will come that al new truth will be
changed from being considered To belong
to the adversary to bethe strongest sup
port OF religion itself Go back to that
earliest OF all religious statements that
! we hsve-that OF the first chapter OF
Genesis. 1t now appears strange toany
| thinking man that that should have seen
placed in hostility to science; for what
| Is ltP Look at 1t rs Statement. IL
| brpips with q statement that in the be-
ginning God created the heavens and
| the earth, aud that the earth was With
ont form aud VOID. That God created
! the heavens and the earth all scientific
men hold That the earth was ever
| without form add VOID WAS a scientific
statement. The ordinary statement OF
| science at the time which this was writ
ten WAS that there was chaos, and It
Is that chaos only which is alluded TO-
Again, subsequently it is said: Let
there be armament in the midst OF the
waters, and let i, divide the waters from
the waters. and God made the TRINA
ment." For many ages 1t was SCien'
tjhc teaching that there was hrma.
nent. Ptolemy believed in armament
and that the stars were all attachel &c
that ornament. That was the popular
scientific statement. That was the re-
ce;ved statement with all scientific men
and unless it had been the object o.
this world to declare what sclertlh(
birth was, It " as not its proper province
To reverse that statement. The object OF
this CHAPTER was to declare that which l:
dec AIRED Throughout, that this tirmamen'
whatever it might be, was the work o
God. And so when stated atterwarc
that the earth shall bring forth grass
b,rb-,ieldlng seed, this sounds like th'
lstes, enorml,y of science; but II mea''
po,hiny of that kind at that time. Iha
the earth did seem to bring forth grass
from it own power was the natural 90
servstion OF all men observing ~ tina
time and it WAS the natural statement
therefore, TO have made, but SUI! tina
WAS not the statement here. The state
NOR, here was that God made this earth
whatever it might be, and that was th'
colo object of it. Viewed rs cosmog
onv we must remember that there W.
ro other form of science at that time
An the cosmogonies which were OF M
msn origin were coarse, but observe nov
wonderfully this. viewed rs q cosmos;
opv. is cleared from all that cosrsenes'
lis object WAS to declare to the Jew
that ali this universe came from one De
in, its creator. the ON.
nower that was worthy to be woI
tfh,pned. and that whatever was wor
sbippe1 by other nations was merely
created thing.
The next form OF scientific conf c
WAS that with regard to the staoii!t: c
tho earth. This had been the scientin
tescb,ns which has been corporate
INTO religions ideas and forms. ara whe
.o;snt;sc men came forward and dlscoV
, God that that was not true, 1t Is not re
msrlshle that the religious wori
was not ready to be instantly carrie
.u,sv from this truth which II had r.
neivsd from science. And soft has bee
subsequently, with the idea Wild Tsa less =,
to the antiq uity of the earth; ihele ~
, clear views in science that the earth ~ 2,
an sp,,ou,tS, would say now, Proosol
of,OO do. 600 OF years. IT, therefore, yo