Present conflict of science with the Christian religion

Front matter

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PEE SEN T

Preface

HE Bible, though not given to teach physical science, yet is closely connected with it in all its branches. Its revelations, narratives, predictions and lessons traverse every province of nature, and are more or less interwoven with nearly all its facts and phenomena. This sacred book, therefore, is open and exposed to scientific scrutinies, tests and criticisms on every side, and of every character; and it has, in fact, already passed through ordeals of this sort of such severity as no other book in existence has encountered.

The means and method of assailing the Bible have changed with the changes of time. With the progress of light and investigation, old grounds and old weapons have again and again been abandoned, and new ones taken up. Such a change of arms and tactics has taken place in our own day ; and the coming on of this new order of warfare was long since foreseen by those wise to discern the drift of the human mind. Twenty-five years ago Hugh Miller ventured the assertion : " The battle of the Evidences will have as certainly to be fought on the field of physical science, as it was contested in the last age on that of the metaphysics."

That prediction was true; it is now being fulfilled. The conflict on this ground has already for a length of time been waged with persistent energy. Every object and element on the field of science, which learning and ingenuity could convert into an ally or a weapon against the Sacred Volume, has been seized.

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The developments of geology have been arrayed against the Mosaic account of the creation. The facts of natural history have been marshalled to overthrow the doctrine of man's creation in the likeness and image of God. Anatomy and physiology have been employed to destroy belief in the unity of the human race, and to establish for its different branches so many distinct origins. Archaeology has been pressed into the service to bring up from caves, or mounds, or catacombs, relics, no matter of what sort, if they could be employed to undermine or to oppose the statements of holy writ. Philology has been tasked to its utmost ability to carry back to an immeasurably distant past the origin of mankind, by attempting to prove that the languages they speak are the slow growth of many tens of thousands of years. The laws of nature have been tortured to give evidence against the providence and even the presence of God in the world. In short, nothing has been passed by that promised in anywise to aid in the overthrow of "the Old Book."

As a result of all this, we perpetually hear it affirmed, in private conversation and public lectures, and see it printed in daily journals and monthly magazines, that the discoveries of science are in collision with the statements of Scripture. Isolated facts, facts imperfectly studied, facts misinterpreted, and facts invested with fictitious significance and importance, are paraded under the imposing name of science, and boldly' put forth as conclusive evidences, for the discomfiture of Christians. Every difficulty connected with the Bible, real or imaginary, is loudly proclaimed, often magnified. The doubtful inferences of biased criticism, and the mere theories of speculative philosophy are delivered with assurance as so many established truths. And the attempt is industriously made to create the impression that " the world 99 is gone after these errors.

The consequences of all this are but too obvious. It has had its effects. As (he continual dropping of water will wear away

PREFACE. 7

the stone, so the constant application of such influence does tell, has told, not only on minds less vigorous or less cultivated, but also on those more active and intelligent. It has served to awaken doubts where no misgivings existed before. It has made errors familiar, and their acceptance comparatively easy, where formerly they would have shocked and been repelled. Many have been moved from the simplicity of their early faith in the Scriptures, and now follow their guidance with faltering steps. Many others have been rudely shaken from their once cherished convictions, and live on in a sad mixture of doubts, hopes and fears ; their wonted peace has been destroyed, though their faith may not have been altogether overthrown. While not a few, it is to be feared, have been brought to settle down in hopeless scepticism. And this leaven of iniquity is daily extending its pernicious influences.

The present volume has been written to meet this state of things. Encouraged by the reception his late work on a kindred subject, "Science and the Bible" has met with — ten large editions having been called for within three years from its publication — the author undertook the preparation of this work from the desire and with the hope of furnishing thoughtful and inquiring readers with an antidote to these prevailing errors, of calming down the anxieties of Christian people, and of reassuring those who have been disquieted that the foundation of their faith still standeth strong.

This the writer undertakes to do, not by denying or ignoring the sound deductions of science, for he accepts them, but by the light of established facts and the force of uncontro verted truth. He attempts not to offer any apologies for the Bible, for it does not need them. He appeals for no leniency at the hands of its enemies, for that were vain. He seeks not to shield it from- the investigations of science, for that would be equally futile and unwise. He believes that this Book is able to bear all the light that human science can concentrate and make to fall upon it, and

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tliat the stronger that light is the more manifestly will its Divinity shine forth. He therefore bids science God-speed in its noble studies, assured that the Works of God will never be found in conflict with his Word.

It will be noticed, and perhaps made a point for criticism, that the title given to the work is not in harmony with this sentiment, but stands opposed to it and to the drift of the whole volume. This, in a sense, is true. But as The Conflict of Science with Religion has become a current expression for the vital question of the day, it has been judged that this title correctly sets forth the subject to the discussion of which the book is devoted, whilst the sub-title sufficiently indicates on which side of the question the author stands.

The main points of difficulty that have been urged against the Bible, on scientific grounds, are here presented, and discussed in their most recent aspects.

In the preparation of the work the author has all along consulted, on both sides of the questions, the leading authorities, not only in America, but also in England, France and Germany.

The facts connected with the various subjects that come under consideration are, in every case, brought down to the present day.

In composing the work it was found impracticable, without a burdensome multiplication of words, to avoid altogether the use of scientific terms. As these may prove in some degree an embarrassment to plain readers, a list of them, with their significations, has been placed at the end of the volume.

Of the need and importance of such a work as the writer has here undertaken he has no doubt whatever ; but how successful he has been in accomplishing it he must leave to the decision of his readers.

List of Illustrations.

Page

Christ Instructing the People Frontispiece.

Buddha, Brahma, Vishnu, Siva 31

Map of the Planet Mars 43

Aspect of the Earth in the Glacial Period 85

The Man of God, startled, paused in his Prayer 118

- An Ascidian 162

Ascidian Tadpole 162

Rock Formations 187 \

N Chalk under the Microscope 190

^ Pishes of the Devonian Epoch 197

Landscape of the Silurian Period 198

v eurypterus remipes 200

<Trilobite 204

Left Eye of a Trilobtte magnified 204

Fortuitous Variations 215

Chimpanzee, Gibbon, Gorilla, Orang 270

^outlines of the skulls of an adult chimpanzee, of a Native Australian, and of an average European. . 276

- Outlines of the Engis Skull 306

10 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page

Types of Mankind 327

A Picture copied from an Egyptian Temple 417

Sphinx 419

Swiss Lake Dwellings 446

Stone Implements found in the Caves of Europe 467

Hairy Mammoth engraved on a piece of Elephant's Ivory 481

Primeval Man's Contemporaries 486

Egyptian Brick Field 557

Map of the Wilderness of Sinai 567

Scene of the Delivery of the Law 571

Egyptian Tablet at Magharah 576

Profile of Palestine, North to South 595

^ Profile Across— Jaffa to Moab 596

^Sectional Views of the Dead Sea 610

Lot's Wife 614

Contents

UNITY OP CREATION AND THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS.

The mental and moral state of Mankind at the advent of Christ — Gross darkness covered the earth — Painful incertitude — Heroic struggles for light — Ideas of the origin and government of the world — Association of deities — Gods of the Greeks, Eomans, Egyptians, etc. — Monsters of corruption — Ignorance of the most enlightened — Views of Zeno, Cleanthes, etc. — Their highest wisdom sadly disfigured — Condition of man, unaided, hopeless ....

Light breaking forth in an unexpected quarter — Sublime enunciations of Jesus — True ideas of Creation and Providence — New doctrines to the world — Christ alone as a Teacher — But one God and Ruler — Corroboration of science in these last days

II

From this dark and desolate aspect of mankind, which presents itself to us alike in the valley of the Nile and on the plains of India, amid the temples of Greece and the palaces of Rome, let us now turn to another field — a field to which the great Names, whose sentiments we have now reviewed, would have scorned to look for light, or wisdom, or anything else great or good. It is the small and impoverished province of Judea, occupied by a subjugated and despised people. Here we behold a man, plain and lowly, reared amid the toil and poverty of an obscure village, going forth and discoursing to delighted multitudes on the profound subjects, which all the wisdom of sages had failed to illumine or relieve. This is Jesus of Nazareth. Let us listen to a few of his sublime enunciations. Without wealth, power, or prestige to support him, we hear him proclaim to the world with the calmness of assured knowledge and of conscious authority, in opposition to the philosophies and religions of all nations, that —

There is none good hut One, that is God.

All things were made hy Him ; and witJwut Mm was not anything made that was made. 3

He upholdeth all things by the word of his power ', and by Him all things consist.

He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

He feedeth the foivls of the air ; He arrays the lilies of the field as was not Solomon in all his glory.

A sparrow shall not fall on the ground without your Father ; the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

He is the God and Father of all ; in Him all live, and move, and have their being.

He is the King eternal, immortal, invisible ; the only wise God, whom no man hath seen, nor can see.

Of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things : to ivhom be glory for ever. Amen.

Thus, in all places, throughout his ministry, and by all his apostles, Jesus Christ proclaimed in the face of the world, and in the midst of the hoary idolatries of the earth, that there is but one God, true and living and wise and powerful ; that none shared with Him at the first in the creation of the universe, that none now share with Him in its government; that He hath made all things, and that for his pleasure they are and were created. This was a doctrine that was new and surprising to the nations of the earth — a doctrine such as was never broached in the Academies of Greece, never heard in the Forum of Rome, never whispered by the oracles of Arcadia, Delphos or Dodona — a doctrine, indeed, far in advance, and far above all the wisdom of the world. In this, J esus of Nazareth stood alone in his teaching. No other instructor had ever put forth, or ever conceived such exalted views of God, or of creation, or of providence.

And now the great question is, Was He right ? Are we to receive his testimony, single and alone, against the sentiments and practices of the whole world ? Was his teaching according to fact and truth ? Is it sustained and confirmed by the light of this nineteenth century? — We answer, Yes; completely and in all

PAKTICULAES.

No fact has been more clearly demonstrated by modern research, than that the Creation is one in its origin, one in its government, and one in its end. The heathen, we have seen, placed a separate god, of distinctive character and aims, to preside over every particular province and element of nature; but, as the Great Teacher utterly discarded, so the light of modern science has wholly dissipated these phantoms, by revealing one general plan, and the same general laws, running throughout every region and department of the universe. And now to the proof of this.