s Marius
amid the ruins of Carthage, not stopping to consider what Biblical men
will do with his facts; never more than touching upon their religious
bearings; intent only on ascertaining what the facts are, and what they
teach. This, we say, is the spirit and temper of the true
philosopher--this betokens the genuine son of science. As well might we
demand of Watt, or Fulton, or Davy, or Brewster, or Faraday, in pursuing
their inquiries into the nature and laws of steam, electricity,
galvanism, or light, to be careful that their discoveries impinge not on
the teachings of religion or the creed of orthodoxy, as to demand of
Lyell to investigate the antiquity of man in humble deference to the
well-established belief of the whole Christian world that he has no such
antiquity. Not a bitter thing is said in the whole book against any
traditional belief; the Scriptures are scarcely more than alluded to; he
seems scarcely conscious that he is attempting to establish conclusions
at variance with the cherished creeds of vast multitudes of men. To some
this may seem the callousness of infidelity; to us it seems the sublime
composure of science. To him, the fact in the case is everything; and he
is content to leave it to work its own results.

What now, on the other hand, have been the spirit and temper of the
religious press and the pulpit touching the progress of science, and
especially its encroachments upon the ancient landmarks of traditional
belief? We are sorry to be compelled to say that, with some honorable
exceptions, the spirit manifested by religious journals and clergymen
generally, has not been worthy of unqualified admiration. In many
instances they have shown a dogged determination to hear nothing on the
subject. Assuming, with absolute confidence, not only that the
Scriptures are what the Church claims them to be, but that their
interpretation of them is infallible, they have affected to ignore all
the findings of science, and to treat them, in their bearing on Biblical
interpretation, as profane intermeddling with divine things. They seem
to imagine that their safety consists in not seeing danger, like the
ostrich hiding its head in the sand, and supposing that thereby its
whole body is protected. In other instances, while professing a
willingness to hear--to seek truth--to not be afraid of the light--to
boast of science even as the handmaid of religion--they have shown a
disposition to decry the alleged discover