The Portland daily press., 1889-06-24
SOUND PRECEpTS FOR THE GRADUATES,
In Which Other People May Find
Something of Benefit.
BaccaIaureate Sermons In the Col
leges of Maine.
President Hyde on The Relations OF
Science and Religion.

BRUNSWICK, June 23.-President Hyde o
Bowdoin College preached the.baccalaureate
sermon this afternoon, taking as his text:
Render unto Cesar the things that are Caesars,
and unto God the things that are Gods. Mark.
1917.
Science has superseded Caesar as the great
secular authority. Hence the lesson Of the
text to modern times becomes, Render unto
Science the things that belong to Science,
and unto God the things that belong to God.
First; Render to physical science the age
of the earth, the process Of its formation, the
origin of species aud the descent of man.
Accept every fact, respect every hypothesis
based upon facts which physical science or
ers, and permit no other authority, sacred or
profane, to interfere with your investigation
or influence your conclusion on these mat
ters. The rocks and mountains are older
than parchment or papyrus. The Bible never
was intended to teach science, and the ''con-
flict" between the Bible and science is due,
not to the assumption Of ancient writers, but
to the stupidity of modern readers.
Second: Render to the science Of biblical
criticism the date Of books of the Bible,
their authorship, their mode of composition,
the source Of their materials, and the princl-
pies Of their Interpretation. II the Mosaic
legislation is the growth of centuries rather
than the product of a lifetime; IL Ezekiel and
the exile had more TO do with its final form
than Moses and the wandering; il Job and
Jonah are dramatic and parabolical exposi-
tions of spiritual.truth rather than literal rec
ords Of historical events; il the Gospel story in
some matters of external detail may have re-
ceived slight additions and alterations dur
ing its forty years s0journ in the wilderness
of oral tradition; If not every epistle can
be traced to the writer whose name it bears;
the only thing to do is simply to take facts as
biblical criticism gives them to us. 1t is
poor sort Of faith in God which thinks his
cause is coming to naught the moment the
props and fences which tradition has set up
around it are withdrawn.
Third: Social science is the sole authority
which has a right to tell us what functions
belong to the State, and what functions be-
long to the individual; what shall be embod-
led in the constitution, and what shall be
taught in the public schools; what kind Of
property shall be taxed, and what uses shall
be made of money raised by taxation.
Whatever order social science may declare
the best: whether it be individualism toned
down to generosity by profit-sharing. volun-
tary cooperation and extensive organized
charities; or socialism toned up to self rel-
ance by devices not yet discovered or a COM
promise between the two, there will always
remain great gulf fixed between the private
interest Of man merely as an individual, and
the public interest of man as member of
human society and the only power to bridge
that gulf and identify the interest of the in
dividual with the interest Of his fellows is
the religious motive. The fatherhood Of
God, our common sonship to Him, and our
loving obedience to His will is the only
bridge that will stand the strain involved in
a practical expression of the brotherhood of
man.