Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1893-09-16

being wornout institution, stands near
er the syinpathies Of the people than il
ever did and eclipses all other institu-
tions.
But our antagonists go on and say
that Christianity is falling back, in the
fact that in6delity is holder now and
more blatant than it ever was. deny
the statement. 1nfdelity is not near so
bold now as it was in the days of our
fathers and grandfathers. There were
times in this country when men who
were openly and above board infdel and
antagonistic to Christianity could be
elected to high Office. Now, let some
man wishing high position in the state
proclaim himself the foe of Christianity
and an infdel, how many states of the
Union would he carry; how many
counties; how many wards In Brooklynf
Not one.
All, my friends, ipfdelity in this day
Is not half as bold as it used to be. If 1t
comes now, it Is apt to come under the
disguise Of rhetoric or fantastic senti-
mentality know if man with great
intelligence does become an infdel and
begins an attack on Christianity it
makes great excitenent.-of course it
docs, and people come to the conclusion,
weakminded Christians come to the con-
clusion, that everything is going over
board because some man Of strong in
tellect assails Christianity.
If q man jumps overheard from Gu
nard steamer, be makes more excite
inent than all the 500 sane passengers
who continue In the berths OF on the
decks, but does that stop the ship? Does
that wreck all the 500 passengersi 1t
makes great excitement when man
leaps from platform or o pulpit into
infdelity, but does that hinder our glo-
rious Biblo from taking its millions into
the skies? l tell you infdelity is not
half as bold now as It used to be-.
DIVERSITY OF SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT.
Do you suppose such things could be
enacted now as were enacted in the days
of Robespierre, when shameless wom-
an was elected to be goddess, and she
was carried on golden chair to Ca
thedral, and the people bowed down to
her.as o divine being and burned in
cense before her-she to take the place
of the Bible, aud of Christianity, and Of
the Lord Almighty? And while that
ceremony was going on in the cathedral,
In the chapels and In the corridors ad-
joining the cathedral scenes of drunken
ness and debauchery and obscenity were
enacted such as the world had never seen.
Could such thing as that transpire
pow2 No. sir. The police would swoop
on it, whether in Paris or New York.
Infdelity is not half as bold now as it
used to be.
"But," say our antagonists, Christi
unity is falling back because science, its
chief enemy. is triumphing over it.
Now, l deny that there is any war be-
tween science and revelation. There is
not fact in science that may not be
made to harmonic with the statements
of the Bible. So said Hugh Miller; SO
said Joseph Henry; so said Professor
Hitchcock; so said ofessor Silliman; so
said Prof Mitchell.
q Joseph Henry, the. Leading scientist of
America, better known and honored in
the royal societies transatlantic than any
other American, lived and died be-
lever in the religion of Jesus Christ.
Joseph Henry knew all the facts of geol-
ogy and yet believed the book of Gene
sis. He knew all the facts of astronomy
and yet believed the book of Joshua, the
sun and moon standing still. Joseph
Henry knew all the anatomy Of man and
fish and yet believed the book of Jonah,
If the scientists of the day were all
agreed, and they came up with solid
front to attack our Christianity, perhaps
they might make some impression upon
it, but they are not agreed. 1t is often
said that we religionists are failing in
our advocacy of Christianity because we
differ in our theology. | tell;you we do
not differ inside the church in theology
half as much as they differ outside the
church in science. If they reject our re-
lgion because we differ on some minor
points, we might just as we'll reject
science because the scientists differ, but
as far as can tell the war of infdel
science against Christianity is not SO Sc
we're as it used to be, because these men
are antagonistic to each other, and as far
as can tell. it is going to be a war be-
tween telescope and telescope, Leyden
jar and Leyden jar, chemical apparatus
and chemical apparatus. They do not
agree on anything.
Do you suppose that this Bible theory
about the origin of life is going to be
oyerthrown by men who have different
theories-5O different theories-aboutthe
origin of life? And when Agassiz comes
out and puts both feet on the doctrine
of evolution and says in regard to many
scientists, n notice that these young
naturalists are adopting as theories in
science things which have not passed
under observation, Agassiz saw what
we all see-that there are men who talk
very wisely who know but very little,
and that just as soon as young scien-
fist finds out the difference between the
feelers of wasp and the horns Of q
beetle he begins to patronize the Al
mighty and go about talking about
culture as though it were spelled Gull
c.h-a-r-culchar,
1t makes me sick to see these literary
fops going down the street with copy
of Darwin under one arm and a case OF
transfxed grasshoppers and butterflies
under the other arm, talking about the
Survival Of the Fittest," and Huxley'a
s"Protoplasn." and the "Nebular Hy-
pothesis, and talking to us common
men as though we were fools' II they
agreed in their tleor..r cainc up
With solid facts against Christianity, !
say perhaps they might make some I'M
preston, but they do not agree. Oar
win charges upon Lamarck, Wallace
upon Cope. Herschel even charged up
On Ferguson They DO not agree about
L. Il H. 49,