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

who has gone astray on the subject of
Science and Revelation Surely he
has had the material, the opportunity
and the times if there had. been the
least germ of hcresy in his teaching, or
the smallest conceivable vitality in that
germ, surely by this time we must have
had amongst at least ono Of his students
full-blown hereto evolved We can
confidently appeal to these tacts in the
history Of his students as . 0emoNsk,'o-
ton Of the groundlcssness not ouly of
the cha'ye, but Of the .Jear, that heresy
can result from DIR. Woodrow's teach
ings.
Thirty years ago, wise men said, ''Sci-
cncc is not to be denounced as infidel if
she does contradict the popular language
used in Scripture. We must set apart a
suitable man to study the relations Of
Script,we and SCIENCE" This, necessity
was sfch}byEthe Church then, and as a
conscductscc Prof. Woodrow was called
to fill the Perkins chair. Is not that
necessity more prcssingly felt to-day ?
and shall we vacatc the chair? TO sup
pose such course would be an insult
to the Christian intelligence of our
Southern Presbyterian Church. TO do
such a thing would cause shout of
malignant triumph to so up ~ the
midst of every camp Of scientific inf
deity.
So long as Goliah Of Gath taunts the
armies Of the living God, SO long may
the God of Israel grant unto us, a David
from the shccpfold Of Jesse. to go forth,
single-handcd though it he, to do battle
in behalf of Israel; not impcdcd in his
movements by the armor and the wcap-
oas of Saul. but Trusting in the Lord
God, clothed in simple garb, his staff
and his sling in his hands, and in his
shepherds bag five smooth stones out
Of the brook.
Dismiss DR.. Woodrow from the Semi
nary? What then shall be done with
the students. who shall come fresh from
their scientific studies in the Colleges
and Universities, earnest, intelligent aud
inq.iring minds. eager to go to the bot
tom of'thcsc Questions concerning Sci
cncc and Revelation ? Who shall take
charge Of them? They have not wait
ed I'LL they get to the Seminary TO learn
the Science Of Nature from the Book Of
Revelation. They have all, ready learned
Astronomy from tho stars, Geology
from the rocks Botany from the plants,
and Zoology from the animals. These
things have been taught hitherto purely
as natural science, without any refer
cncc at all to the Bible, or if so, ref
ercnce purely incidental on the part of
some professors, whilst others i .yc.
from time TO time, slyly or openly point
ed out tho contradictions (?) between
Science and the Bible. Even apart
from all undue influence from their. pro-
fcssors. the students own minds incvi-
tably agitatc the questions how are
these contradictions to be rcconcilcd ?
How can nature teach one thing and the
Bible another, andyet both be from God {?
Can God contradict Himself? Thus
you cannot keep these questions out the
Seminary. Every student who enters
the Seminary, carries these questions
,yfh .bhn. FHs has heard about Evolu-
tion, and he wonders how it is to be rec
onciled with the plain teaching of the
I'd chapter Of Genesis: he has already
. bselstllof odglil IN Up ddwuh a knowl-
edge of Geology. .and he wonders how it
is to be reconcilcd with the lst chapter
Of Genesis.
Now, what will you do. with your
Seminary student, tormcnted daily with
these questions which demand solution L?
Will he so to the Professor Of Sacred
Rhetoric ?. Or Hebrew and Greek cxcge-
sis Or Church History and Polity ?
Or OrTheology Each Of these is already
burdened with his appropriate work.
What then Will you sneer at Geolos
gy as an improved hypothesis The
student will smile at yourighorancc, and
probably begin to doubt your icompe-
tency to teach your:owns branch. Will
you denounce Evolution us nothing but
Atheism. and exhort the student to study
his Bible and let infidcl science alone ?
The student mny. be slenccd,. but he
will be far from satisfied. Suppose you
say to him, Evolution must be false for
it contradicts () the existence of God,
(2) the immortality of man, and (3) the
federal hcadship Of Adam: Suppose
the student shonla ask, How do1yon
prove that Evolution contradicts these
fundamentals ? Do you think you
could sloiit without, begging, tho ques-
ton? a.- or,-Es f.ll'r2 ,'r''i.,:-.s .s
Manifcstly, therefore, if our students