Year: 1876

comment from the religious press for his
lectures here and his address at the
Johns Hopkins University on the 18th inst.
The ,Je,cish Times is rather gleeful over the
Professors grand dash at ''the Miltonic
theory" Of creation. 1t is Christianity. 1t
says, which has turned the account of the
creation Of the world, as presented In the
Genesis, into a dogma, and used 1t as
brake with which to stem the wheel OF
scientific progress. The Jews themselves
maintained the liberty of investigation long
before the time that Christians had to fight
with the ecclesiastical authorities, in order
to be allowed to test the truth Of theories by
the crucible Of scientific experiments.
The Jews never claimed for their
Bible the prerogetive Of book
of science. They debated with the greatest
freedom in their schools, fifteen or more
centuries ago, the question whether the
world was created ont Of nothing or whether
there was a substance from all eternity from
which the Creator fashioned the world OF
matter. The Jews never placed On obstacle
in the path of the naturalist and were never



new destructive spirit that would endanger
their religious system Nor did the Jews
ever base their religion upon the credibility
of miracles or upon the literal acceptance OF
the Bible word. The Evangelist thinks Pro-
fessor Huxleys substitution Of the Miltonic
for the biblical theory of creation was nothing
more than a clever evasion, and he might
<1,a hat
his lectures were to be an attack, if not
upon Moses and the Bible, at least upon the
commonly received Interpretation of the
Sacred Word. and as such the editor
accepts it and assures the Professor that
religious men are not fearful of the progress
of scientific truth, but on the contrary,
welcome any advance of human knowledge.
But, like the Professor himself, SO the editor
Of the Evangelist calls for ''proof" Of the
theory of evolution before he accepts it and
throws away his old faith in a creation and
Creator The Catholic Rerieto takes Profess
sor Huxley to task for his address at the
Johns Hopkins University, where he said
that elementary instruction should disci-
pline all sides of the mind and should leave
no important faculty uncultivated, and yet
he omitted altogether the moral faculties
and had not o word 10 say in behalf of re-
ligious education. His elementary in
struction," too, as defined by himself
singularly enough "embraces oil the kinds
of real knowledge and mental ac-
tivity possible to man," but omits
that knowledge which the Christian
world believes to be the highest-the
knowledge of God. What more conspicuous
example can we find of the evils of his own
system, says the Revis,o, than its oracle,
whose brilliant mind is darkened only to the
light from heaven, between which and his
soul is drawn curtain of despair? A Balti-
more correspondent of the Observer calls at
tention to the tone of materialism running
through the Professors address at this Uni
versity, in which God was not mentioned
once, but in which he spoke with peculiar
satisfaction of the circumstance that the in
stitution was to be subjected to the influence
of no Theological or political sectarianism."
The exercises closed as they opened, with
out q word of prayer or recognition Of God,
though the most prominent clergymen of
the Presbyterian and Episcopal churches
were there upon the platform, and yet that
courtesy was withheld which is observed by
the legislatures of the different States and
even at partisan political conventions. The
Catholic Standard makes this university ad-
dress text from which to show its readers
the imperative necessity they are under to
provide for the education Of Catholic chill
dren where religion shall not be
ignored, as it systematically is, by
the non-Catholic systems. That the
trustees intend to give an irrelgious
character to the Johns Hopkins University
is shown, says the Standard, by their choice
of Professor Huxley, pronounced disbe-
lever in revealed religion. soorner and
enemy of Christianity under every form,
true or erroneous, notorious atheist, to
deliver the opening address This address
our contemporary characterizes as paganism
beyond and below that to which the old
Greeks and Romans sank in the last stages
of their career for, false and low as their
ideas of God and religion were, they still
did recognize the existence of divine
power and the fact that man was under obli-
cations to obey and reverence the divine
will. The Christian Union, without peril
nent remarks. refers to and quotes from
Professor Huxley's address at Baltimore
For the rest our religious exchanges are
divided on variety of subjects of more or
less interest to their respective readers.