Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1883-08-15

SCIENCE AND THE BIBLE.-And ever
science, after all the marvellous dscoverie.
it has of late accomplished, and oil tn,
signal triumphs it is daily achievng-nov
soaring 10 the skies, questioning eacl
particular star and comet and remotes
nebua, and Analysing the very tints anc
texture of the sun itself; now sounding
the depths of the sea and spreading GU
Its countless contents, animate and mani
mate, to be the subj ~ct of an exposition foI
princes to inaugurate and the world &c
admire; now exploring and searching the
caves and cavernS of the EARTH and laying
bare to our insatiate gaze the long buried
treasures of lIlion or A>sos, or the hardly
less interesting outcomes of mounds and
she'll heaps in our own land; and now
4uspending in mid.air, over the broad
current which had so long separated the
two great sister cities OF our our cont
nent, that stupenduus bridge over which
travel and traffic my pass and repass
unimpeded from hour to hour, and look
down upon the tail ships sailing freely
beneath Them; even science, | say, in all
The just pride of these and a hundred
Other successes. has never found, and never
can find, any fixed and s'eadfast point OF
phi'u'Ns VI any SURF anu 0naI
res ing lace to tall back upon, save in
nat sublime announcement, in the vtry
first verse of the Bible, I'm the beginning
God CT Gated the heaven and the earth"
In ms connection lcnnnot but recall the
TACT that it was my privilege Just D year
ago, In tins v'ry month of NAV, while in
London, TO repre- sent our American acade
my OF arts and sciences, ut the public
finn. a &c
greatest philosopher and naturalist of our
day and generation. 1t was solemuized
at WesI minister Abbey, and his remain,
We're laid at the side OF those OF Sir John
iierSchel and Sir Isaac Newton. The
highest peers OF the realm were among
the pail bearers, and all who were most
distinguished in church and state, in art
and literature, in science and theology,
were gathered around his grave. Tie
burial service of the English liturgy was
read or ch, nted, and, as II part OF it, the
wonderful chapter of the Epistle to the
CORN hans, in which the great apostle, as
with pencil of electric fire, draws that
glowing distinction and contrast which no
material science Can ever overlook or
confound, and which shines and sparkles
on The pages of holy writ like the milky
way across the heavens above US: There
are celestial bodies. and bodies terrestrial:
but the glory of the celestial is one, and
the glory of the terrestrial is another
q. There is natural body, and there
is spiritual body. And az we
have borne the image of the ear,by. we
shall also bear the image of the heavenly
Never before, II seemed 10 me, had those
old familiar texts sounded so new. SO full
of meaning, SO convincing, so sublime, as
when read in presence of all that was
mortal of one whose mastery researches
and deductions and theories-howover
conscientiously, and reyerentlv
and pursued, rs we owe IL to |
him to remember that they always were-l
had probably done more to disturb the
faith of the Christian world than anv
ntterances since that glorious epistle was
written by St. Paul.
And certainly, my friends, that solemn
tribute 10 the genius and virtues of Oar.
win, by the highest authorities OF the
English church rs well as of the English
nation, was a most memorable and inn
Dressive attestation, from which we trns,
here may be no appeal, that no discover
es OF modern science, and no theory mr.
doctrines OF evolution, even if uniyersallv
accepted and adopted, are ever TO he
ounled incompatible with a firm and
lnwavering belief in one God, as the
'Ieator of Heaven and earth, and in one
ord Jesus Chri t. who brought life and
immortality to light through the gospel
robert @. Winthrop.