The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1884-10-15

| Indispensable It's teachings cannot be
relegated to the professors in other de-
partmcnts. There is. therefore, for the
continuation Of the "Pcrkin's Professor
ship an unavoidable necessity.
There seems to be q misapprchension
in the minds Of some rs TO the extent
Ftp which Professor Woodrow does teach
Natural Science in the Seminary, and in
the minds Of others rs to the extent to
which he should teach it. Now the
| word 'conncction'' in the title Of his
chair, accurately marks out both the
"cNtcnt and tho limit Of his duties.
Generally his chair is apologize; spc-
officially it is apelogctc Of the Bible and
that in asngle "conncction," viz. that
OF alleged Scientific assaults. His
teachings Of Science then, must ertcnd
to the full scope Of this connection, and
where this connection ceases, /. C. where
there is no allegation Of an offensive at
titudc OH the part Of Natural Science,
here he must find his limit He is set
for the defence Of the Bible against So
called attacks from Science. His eye
mnst therefore range over the whole
field of science wherever he hears the
sound of the cncmy's guns, there he
must go, and there prepare his dcfcnccs
All. however, must be subordinate to
the prime object-thc defence Of the
Bible. Hence he must inquire in the
first place, Is Science at war with the
Bible? In the second place, if there is
war between these two-Whcrc is the
enemy located ..
DR.. Woodrow's principles lead him to
answer the first question by saying A:
There is not now, never has been, and
never can be any real war between the
Bible and Science, i. e., between the
t"c interpretation of Gods thoughts
as recorded in Nature, and the true IN
approximation Of Gods thoughts as re-
corded in the Bible. Hence from this
point Of view, Prof. w. does not need to
study the second question. If there be-
no warfare between Nature and the Bible.
then the attempt to locate the encH,y (?)
is waste of time. But then there is
an alleged warfare hence the duties Of
his chair require him to recognize this
fact, and hence to discover the location
Of the alleged enemy
In the prosecution Of this inquiry. his
principles lead him to suspect some error
of interpretation as the cn$us JclE.
Either nature has been misinterpretcd
by her students or the Bible has occn
misinterprcted by hers, or perhaps each
book has been enormously cxpoundcd :;
Tor while both Nature and the Bible are
'nfalliblc records, the interpreters of
both are .tuliible men. PERHAPS, too
one or the other party may have inva-
| dcd the territory Of the other. Or. w.,
then, must seek first to know the true
text of the Bible: and then the true in
depreciation Of the text; secondly to
know the facts Of Science, and then the
true Interpretation Of those facts; car
rylng on Biblical Interpretation by the
acknowledged laws governing that de-
partmcnt, also carrying on interprcta-
ton Of the facts of Science by the ac-
knowledscd laws governing that depart
ment. In the third place he must de-
:ermine the domain of these two Scicn-
ccs, in order TO determine, in respect to
this alleged warfare which-Bible STU
dent or Scientific Students 10 be re-
g"rded as a trespasser upon the domain
of the other. What is the domain Of
the Natural Sciences ? .Huttey. 10
what period therefore must it be limit
ed? 10 the period of Time. What is
the domain Of the Bible ? Spirit.
What must therefore he not it's "limit. :"
but its "extent ?' Thine and Eternifv.
The application Of this test easily set
ties the question of DOMAIN between
the Bible and Science. "
| Bnt not merely the established facts
tof Science are used. The tentative bu-
P0theSes that are absolutely necessary
IN pushing forward scientific inyestiga-
tions, are used BY somo rs alleged
grounds, of warfare. DR.. Woodrow
must therefore examine these, and so
enable his students to locate even the
enemy that comes under this garb. 1t
may be disproven hypothesis if so,
it is his duty to make it manifest. 1t
mny be an 1Vaproycn, hypothesis : vet.
since u"proyen hypothesis must subsc-
/ qnenly fall into one or other of two
classes CD disproyen (false) or (2) pro-
ven (tdctD he, as man Of Science and
i.'man Of Cod" must seek to know the
truth in respect to it and teach his STU
dents where it is located its probable
truth or its probable falsehood; the
e1tent of this probability, the ground
ef thisprobabi'ity. and the A'connection'
of this unproven hypothesis o. Natural