The herald., 1895-03-25
THE IDEAL FREE CHURCH
The Contributions of Science
to Religion
JENKIN L. JONES' SERMON
The M0desty of Science and the Ar.
rOgance Of Dogma
Science and Religion Have Common Origin
and Should be Co-I-aborers for Mans
Advancement

Rev. Jenkin Lloyd Jones Of Chicago,
secretary of the worlds congress of re.
igions, and also Of the American con.
gress of Liberal Religious Societies, spoke
in Alaccabee temple yesterday morning
before large congregation OF liberal
people. The Church OF the New Era ex.
tended its hospitalities to Mr.. Jones. Mr..
Schnabel said in introducing the famous
divine that the Church of the New Era
was an effort toward the realization of the
ideal church of which Mr.. Jones was the
greatest exponent-a church of free
thought and of free speech. The platform
was very beautifully decorated with flow
ers-the gifts Of women who wished to
express their appreciation of the Tecep-
tion accorded Mr.. Jones by the Church of
the New Fra.
Mr.. Jones prefaced his address by recit-
ing impressively from the psalms. He
said that he did not wish to be regarded
as controversiaist but as a firm be.
lever in the religious nature of man.
lie chose as h's subject The Contribu.
tions OF Science to Religion. The war
between science and religion is unnatural
and deplorable. That the relations be-
tween them are strained is a lamentable
fact. Religion has refused to investigate
and depended upon miraculous revelation.
Science knows but one realm and that is
the realm of law The continuity of
causation is the greatest contribution
made to human thought by science. 1t
excludes all possibility of accident. Sci
ence does not know OF any way of escap-
ing consequences except by facing them.
If religion cannot rest on the basis Of
science it must 20, for science has come
to stay. But if religion has to do with
the moral conscience of man, with the
kinship that exists between man and his
fellows. mans relations to the infinite
realm in which he finds himself; if it has
to do with man $ quest for truth, his rev.
erence for law, his sense of sin, his thirst
for excellence, his hope of immortality,
then science stands most intimately con-
nected with religion.
Science and religion must be co-labor-
ers. They have common origin. Both
are born out of the curiosity of the mind,
the desire to know causes and account for
things This curiosity is greater force
in the lower animals than fear or hunger.
Curiosity called forth the crude religions
of primitive man. From the primitive
conc options it has risen through its vari-
ous stages to that theism which recognizes
one controlling power and one inclusive
love--led ever by this same curiosity.
I his same curiosity has led into al in
qury of secondary causes, the study and
classification of phenomena, and this is
science and it eventually leads. no less
than religion, to the sense Of an ordered
universe, to 4 control OF nature. Both
show an incomplete destiny. Religion
has known two distinct natures, one the
natural, the other the supernatural. The
supernatural has been displaced by
science, which recognizes but one nature
throughout the universe.
Il Science as well as religion is shrouded
in mystery and bounded by the unknown.
The methods of the old alchemists are as
repulsiye to modern scientists as the crude
religious life of man is to the new re-
ligionist.
There are critical moments in the lab
oratory as in the battlefield. Surprises
are always at hand
Science breeds industry in the human
soul. 1t teaches humility.
What is man that Thou are mindful.
of him?" How unseemly is our conf
dence in schemes of salvation. What con-
ceit in our formulas of creation and des.
tiny. What arrogance in our creeds. Who
are yon that presuines to fix the bounds
of God $ love or truth? Com pared with
the agitation of Briggs or Harper hsresies
how much more piety there is in the ag-
nostic exclamation"
Such knowledge is too wonderful for
me; it is too high; can not attain un-
to it.
But the same lines of study that en-
force mOdesty reassure the soul with .
becoming sense of dignity. The life that
is the product Of the boundless past may
we'll hold its head proudly. Man repre-.
sents triumphant success in the millions
Of variations necessary to produce the
hnman form. The crayfish is the most
conservative of animals. His type has
been persistent. Few dangers await him
who. like the craytsh, progresses back
ward. But those who experiment with
the unknown must often meet danger and
death. 1t is estimated that SO, 000, 900 ex-
tinct species have tried and failed
have gone down in the battle of
progress. A few only have been success
ful-some of the birds, fishes and few
mammals-and only one, man, has reached
unquestioned intelligence. He is the
triumph Of 100, 900, 600 ventures.
This should teach US to respect our
bodies and honor our minds-the fair.
est, not alone among 10000, but among
10. 00O 900, 900.
Man has dared question until matter it.
tencies-he has demateIialized mind it,
self. These potencies have reached their
highest manifestation in the mind of
man. Science joins hands with religion
in teaching the soul to 20 forward. There
is scientific foundation for human SYM
pathy. We find it even among hogs. They
rally promptly when the shrieks of u
wounded companion announce that he is
in extremity. Mr.. Jones considered it
hard on hogs to compare the most selfish
and unresponsiye OF our race to them.
The religion that has grown into altruism
is the religion tnat is to be. 1t will free
its believers OF the self consciousness of
what Carlyle calls his dirty little SOUL
The love Of advance will assert itself In
the future as in the past. Through it will
come more than the sense OF ones own
salvation; there will come sense of one.
ness with the universe. The trend of re-
ligious thought is to broaden on the hori-
zontal rather than the vertical.
The following quotation from Mr..
Jones remarkable lecture will give some
illustrations
When religion takes counsel with sci
ence it will stay it's sensibilities with
common sense. correct its inspiration
with investigation; supplement- its revel-
ations with experiment and will be at war
only with superstition and fear only igno-
rance
Mr. Jones wealth of illustration was re-
markabe and his delivery perfect. al
though his voice was overtaxed, as he
has spoken eighteen times during the
past ten days.
A severe rheumatic pain in the left
shoulder had troubled Mr.. j. H. Loper,
well-known druggist of Des Moines, Ia,
for over six months. At times the pain
was so severe he could not lift anything
With all he could do he could not get rid
of it until he applied Chamberlain's Pain
Balm. II only made three applications of
1. n,s I.aA, So g~~.