St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-01-02
RELIGION AND SCIENCE.
Rev. NJ. ID. Shutters Sermon at
Church of the Redeemer.

Rev. NJ. ID. Shutters Sermon at
Church of the Redeemer.
Rev. Marion d. Shutter preached an
interesting sermon last evening, ex-
planning the obligations that religion is
under to science. He said:
Many religious people have de-
nounced scientific investigation as hos
tile to Christianity. They have feared
that the worlds recent advances in
physical knowledge might be destruc-
tive of reverence and faith, might even
overthrow mans belief in God and in the
human soul. As matter of fact our most
prominent scientific men have not been
believers in the current creedS of christ
endOm, and would not have been sorry
to see them OverthrOWn. On the other
hand. Christian people have assumed a
scientific infallibiiity in the Bible. The
Bible is no authority in science. Its in
cidental expressions must be taken as
the notions of the time in which they
were written. We may discard them
without impairing the value of the book
as religious force, as a moral and spir-
itual guide. There can be no real con-
flict between truth in one department
of thought and life and truth in any
other department. Truth is one Who
ever finds out any new thing is uncOv-
ering the footprints of the eternal
There is 10 conflict between science
and religion. Science has done much
for religion. The soul of science, which
is free thought, investigation, demand
for proof, has done something to tone
up theology and make its devotees more
dill diSan mt in their tna search for
ing theOlOgfan SO much dislikeS as
to be obliged to prove something. His
time-honored formula is, This is Gods
truth! Your controversy is not with
me, it is with God. You must believe
this or be damnedw Nothing is quite
SO revolving to the sinsere inquiring
mind as to be met in this fashion.
Science has enlarged our conceptions of
the universe and TINS has enlarged our
conception of God. 1t has also given us
a spiritual idea of the universe and of
man. The bugbear with religious peO-
pie has always been that science was
materialistic; that it tried to account for
everything without a God; that it de-
MED the existence OF soul in man. But
whatever else science may have done, or
failed to do, surely in its later develop
mentS, if it has demonstrated anything.
il is the utter failure of materialiSm to
oCNOullO 1Ol Uilio uIltfCiSc. IOCltllCC Has
also cleared away many of these super
stitionS of religion. 1T destroyed the
terrible belief in witchcraft which blot
ted so many christian centuries. 1t is
baniShing the belief in a devil and evil
spirits 1t is banishing the cloud of
many horrible fancies that gather about
the tomb. 1t has relieved the soul from
host of fears, and scattered many of
the dark shadows that rested on the
human mind. The spiritual as we'll as
the intellectual life is quickened. God
is greater than we know. Our feelings
of awe and reverence are intensified
We can claim with clearer understand
ing than did the psalmist, Great and
marvellous are Thy works, o Lord, God
Almighty! In wisdom hast Thou made
them ALL" Our faith is enlarged and
strengthened. The more we find out of
God and His ways, the more we are i'm
pressed with the idea that there is
vastly more we do not know, but the
seen enables us to trust Him. for that
which is not seen, AS Whittier sings:
Il dimly guess from blessings known
OF greater out of sight,
We see, too, that the world and man
long regarded alien from God, and ut
terly evil, lis Gods world after ALL"
His kingdom is not something apart
from this world for a handful of elect
saints, but the natural product, the con-
Summate flower of this worlds growth
in civilization, and in all goodness and
and justice and love and truth.