, and every popular illustration taken from nature,
corresponds to the accuracy of scientific investigation, before we
believe the Bible to be a revelation of our duty to God and man, yet it
may be worth while to inquire, further, whether we really find upon its
sacred pages such crude and egregious scientific errors as Infidels
allege. We have seen in the last chapter, that they are not able to read
even its first chapter without blundering. Indeed, they generally boast
of their ignorance of its contents. It is a very good rule to take them
at their word, and when they quote Scripture, to take it for granted
_that they quote it wrong_, unless you know the contrary. The first
thing for you to do when an Infidel tells you the Bible says so and so,
is to get the Book, and see whether it does or not. You will generally
find that he has either misquoted the words, or mistaken their meaning,
from a neglect of the context; or perhaps has both misquoted and
mistaken. Then, when you are satisfied of the correct meaning of the
text, and he tells you that it is contrary to the discoveries of
science, the next point is to ask him, _How do you know?_ You will find
his knowledge of science and Scripture about equal. Both these tests
should be applied to scientific objections to the Bible, as they are all
composed of equal parts of biblical blunders, and philosophical
fallacies.

In the objection under consideration, for instance, both statements are
wrong. The Bible does not represent the earth as the immovable center of
the universe, or as immovable in space at all. It does not represent the
sun and stars as revolving around it. Nor are the facts of astronomy
more correctly stated. It is not the Bible, but our objector, that is a
little behind the age in his knowledge of science.

If we inquire for those texts of Scripture which represent the earth as
the immovable center of the universe, we shall be referred to the
figurative language of the Psalms, the book of Job, and other poetical
parts of Scripture, which speak of the "foundations of the earth," "the
earth being established," "abiding for ever," and the like, when the
slightest attention to the language would show _that it is intended to
be figurative_. The accumulation of metaphors and poetical images in
some of these passages is beautiful and grand in the highest degree; but
none, save the most stupid reader, would ever dream of interpreting them
literally. Take, for insta