ened unto those who,
"_Seeing, they see, but will not perceive; and hearing, they hear, but
will not understand._"

This work is written for the man of culture who is seeking for
truth--believing, as does the author, that all truth is God's truth, and
therefore it becomes the duty of every scientific man to accept it;
knowing, however, that it will surely modify the popular creeds and
methods of interpretation, its final result can only be to the glory of
God and to the establishment of a more exalted and purer religion. All
facts are truths; it consequently follows that all scientific facts are
truths--there is no half-way house--a statement is either a truth or it
is not a truth, according to the _law of non-contradiction_. If,
therefore, we find tabulated amongst scientific facts (or truths) a
statement which is not a fact, it is not science; but all statements
which are facts it naturally follows are truths, and as such must be
accepted, no matter how repulsive they may at first seem to some of our
poetical imaginings and pet theories. We cannot help but sympathize with
the feelings which prompted President Barnard to write the following
lines, still we will see he was too hasty: "Much as I love truth in the
abstract," he says, "I love my hope of immortality more." * * * He
maintained that it is better to close one's eyes to the evidences than
to be convinced of the _truth_ of certain doctrines which _he regards_
as subversive of the fundamentals of Christian faith. "If this (is all)
is the best that science can give me, then I pray no more science. Let
me live on in my simple ignorance, as my fathers lived before me; and
when I shall at length be summoned to my final repose, let me still be
able to fold the drapery of my couch about me, and lie down to pleasant,
even though they be deceitful, dreams."[1] The limitations to the
acceptance of truth that President Barnard makes is wrong; for, as
Professor Winchell has said, "we think it is a higher aspiration to wish
to know 'the truth and the whole truth.' At the same time, we have not
the slightest apprehension that the whole truth can ever dissipate our
faith in a future life."[2] Let us "Prove all things and hold fast unto
that which is good," recognizing the fact that "the truth-seeker is the
only God-seeker."

AUTHOR
JANUARY 25, 1880.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE

PREFACE v, v