Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-06-23


cred ark that they believe would be
IN danger without their aid. But
iuch is not the case. The fault
alleged against Prof. Winchell is
that his teaching does not square with the
construction certain tke0!ogians, and ''our
people," PUT upon the Tord Of God. The
best christian opponents Of the skepticism
that is now so common, have very properly
declared that the christian and Jewish scrip
lures do not teach any system Of science
whatever The scriptures speak Of natural
phenomena in the popular language that
their readers were accustomed to, without
declaring that language either accurate or
inaccurate. The church, when it lost its
pristine purity, and became corrupted by the
infusion Of human policy, declared that the
scriptures taught scientific as well as religious
truth, and tie bigotry of ecclesiasticism
closed the schools Of philosophy that Greece
and Rome had bequeathed t. the world, and
substituted church miracles, monkery, and,
in time, med&valism for those gllmpses OF
scientific facts wlieh great minds among
the aacients had discovered. The priesty au-
thonties shut out invest. : ton and induction,
and what was the result TO the church! Let
the page Of i,.ory, that is redeemed with
the blood u Victims and black with the
smoke Of inquis tons and star chambers, tell
The sad, humiliating story. And In Nash
Vile this very month of June, 1878, we have
men of eminence in their sacred profession
denying the position taken by the most able
controversial writers, and asserting, in oppo-
sition to them, that the bible does teach sci
ence and Especial creation" as a portion of
it, thus agreeing with the bigot and the per
secutor of the dark ages. ''0ur people" do
not like a more correct view OF tee case be-
cause it does not agree with their ism, and
so. indifferent to what Gods own works may
declare, the world must abide by Especial
creation" Aud because Of the sectarianism
of ''our people,, and of the theological and
false assumption that the scriptures teach
Especial creation" the teacher of science
must be insidiousiy turned out of his chair
by ecclesiastical prescription; not by the
manly openness Of direct dismissioD, but
by a winding, circuitous, indirect act,
the abolition Of the lectureship ITSELF.
Does our christianity exist by such proceed
ings as this? Is truth dependent for its
preservation on petty prosecutions for ''here-
sy?" In the first chapter of Genesis we have
no scientific account given of creation, nor
even history of creation, but a poem with
the creation for its subject; poem in meter
like the Psalms, Isaiah and Job, aud with
words used that are peculiar to Hebrew poe
try and rarely used elsewhere. But it has
suited the theologians blunderingly and false
ly to teach that that chapter gives a literal
account of Gods mode of creation, and we
see, once more, that they have not forgotten
how to prosecute those who view the subject
in light that does not differ from the bible,
because the bible leaves the matter untouched,
but differs from the construction certain peo-
ple-often ignorant OF the original scriptures
and of scientific fact-have put upon the
inspired word. Can the church be guilty
of such conduct as these Nashville persecu-
tors have manifested without damage? 1t is
telling society that, while the world learns
and advances, the church remains ignorant
and behind the age" It is procaiming
that those who would have their children ed
ucated up to the point to which knowledge
has attained, must send them where the
church has no power and her teaching no
influence. Do the friends of religion like the
prospect of such a state of things coming to
pass? Yet that is the direction in which
false zeal and mischievous theology is has
tening the church. Those who love religion
as Christ taught it, and as the early
christians practiced it, undimmed by
priestly hate, pure from persecution
for conscience sake, can view such
proceedings as the dismissal of Professor
Winchell from the Vanderbilt university, at
Nashville, only with sorrow, and with pray
ers that God may send a purer belief and a
meeker spirit among the heads of His church.
With evolution, as with sectaranism, we
have no side to take; it is a theory, as is that
of the nebulous origin of the world, and it
must stand or fall as facts yet unascertained
shall decide. To teach it as demonstrated
truth would be reprehensible, but to explain
it as theory, and to give the facts which led
to its construction, can be no proper basis for
such persecution, on the ground of religious
heresy, as has disgraced the heads of the Van
derbilt university, at Nashville.