The sun., 1901-04-14

most OF the women the priest still holds
sway. OF the men. not many are seen In
churches. The general attitude OF the
educated toward religion seems TO be not
20 much that Of hostility as that OF total
Indifference. q state of estrangement more
hopeless than hostility itself.
There is In France Protestant Church.
Of which Guizot was an eminent member.
which In his time was renewing Its
Nfe But there was q schism In II between
an evangelical! party and a party which
was entirely nationalist. Guizot belonging
TO the first, his son-in-aw TO the second;
and rationalsm seems To have prevailed
With the Protestant party Of France was
allied an evangelical party In Switzerland.
OF which Vinet was the most eloquent divine
But In vinet a. In liberal divines generally.
we find an inclinationto rest on the spiritual
rather than on the supernatural In the
city Of Calvin generally opinions appear
70 reign more opposed to the religion OF
Calvin than those for which he burned
Servetus
But OF the dlslntegrating forces. criticism,
the Higher Criticism as II Is the fashion 10
call 1t. has by no means been the only one.
Another. and perhaps in recent times the
more powerful. has been science. from which
voltaire and the earlier sceptios received
little or no assistance In their attacks: for
they were unable to meet even the supposed
testimony OF fossils 10 the Flood. II ts
curious that the bearing Of the Newtonian
astronomy on the Biblical cosmography
should not have been before perceived;
most curious that Il should have escaped
Newton himself. His system plainly oon-
travened the idea which made the earth
the centre OF the universe, with heaven
above and hell below II, by which the
oosmography alike Of the Old and the New
Testament is pervaded Yet the Star OF
Bethlehem remained little disturbed as
an article of faith The first destructive
blow from the region Of science was per-
haps dealt by geology. which showed that
the earth had been gradually formed. not
suddenly created. that Its antiquity i'm
measuraby transcribed the orthodox
chronology, and that death had come into
the world long before man. Geologists,
scared by the echoes OF their own teaching,
were fan 10 shelter themselves under al
legorical interpretations Of Genesis totally
foreign to the intentions Of the writer;
making out the days Of Creation to be
pons, version which. even # accepted.
would not have accounted for the entrance
Of death into the world before the creation
of man Those who attended the lectures
OF Buckland and other geologists Of that
generation we'll recollect the shifts TO
which science had recoursein its efforts "a
avoid collision with the cosmoguny sup
posed 10 have been dictated by the Creator
10 the reputed author Of the Pentateuch
That the narrative Of Genesis could hold
its ground so long against science was due
at once TO its dignity. which earned for II
the praise OF Longnus. and 10 its approx
imation TO scientific truth in describing
the universe as the work OF single mind.
These characteristics have even In the day
Of geology and Darwin raised up for II
such an apologist as Mr.. Gladstone. whose
defence. however. amounts TO this, that the
Creator. in giving an account Of his own
work to Moses. came remarkably near the
truth.
The grand catastrophe, however. was the
discovery Of Darwin. This assailed the
belief that man was distinct creation
apart from all other animals, with an i'm
mortal soul specially breathed into him
by the author Of his being II showed
that he had been developed by natural
process ont Of lower forms OF life. II
showed that instead Of fall Of man there
had been a gradual rise, thus cutting away
the ground of the Redemption and the In
carnation. the fundamental doctrines Of
the orthodox creed For the hypothesis
Of creation generally was substituted that
Of evolution by some unknown bur natural
force
Not only 10 revealed or supernatural
but 10 natural religion heavy blow was
dealt by the disclosure Of wasted Rons
and abortive species which seem 20 pre-
Clpde the idea Of an intelligent and omnpo-
tent designer.
The chief interpreters of science in It's
bearing on religion were. in England. Tyn-
dali and Huxley. Tyndaii always declared
himself n materalist, though no one could
less deserve the name II II implied anything
Ike grossness or disregard of the higher
sentiments. He startled the world by his
declaration that matter contained the
potentially Of all lfe; an assertion which.
though IT has been found difficult to prove
experimentaly, there can be less difficulty
in acceptinC. since we see life in rudimentary
forms and in different stages or develop
mrnt Huxley welded trenchant pen and
was an uncomprOmising servant Of truth.
bitter controversy between him and
Owen arose out of Owens tendency TO COM
promise He came at one time to the ex-
treme conclusion that man was an autom-
atom which would have settled al religious
and moral questions ont oH hand, but In
this he seemed afterward to feel that he
had gone TOO far. An autOmaton automati-
calv rejecting on its automatic character
IA being which seems 10 defy conception.
The connection Of action with motive.
NJ motive with character and circumstance,
Ia what nobody doubts: but the precise
nature Of the connection. as It II not sub
,ect, lke n physical connection, 10 our In
spection. defes scrutiny, and our conscious
ness which Is our only informant, tells
ia that our agency in some qualified sense
Ia free