Chapter II: Preface

The aim of the present volume is to indicate the measure of harmony traceable between recent advances in science, and the fundamental characteristics of religious thought, and the extent to which harmony is possible. This attempt has been made in the hope of contributing towards a better understanding of the relative positions of scientists and theologians, thereby aiding the formation of public opinion on questions appearing to involve serious antagonism.

The plan followed is to bring under review the great fields of scientific inquiry, advancing from unorganized existence to Man; to present the most recent results of research in these separate fields, without extending to minute details; as far as possible, to allow scientific observers to state results in their own words; and then to examine carefully the reasonings deduced from ascertained facts, and the bearing of facts and inferences on religious thought.

The general result is that marked modifications of thought concerning the structure and order of the universe have arisen on account of scientific discoveries, to be accepted by theologians, as by all thinkers; that the bearing of these modifications on religious conceptions has been greatly mistaken by many scientific observers; and that it must be held clear by scientists and theologians alike, that while scientific methods are reliable within their own spheres, science can bear no testimony, and can offer no criticism, as to the supernatural, inasmuch as science is only an explanation of ascertained facts by recognition of natural law. In accordance with this last statement, it is maintained, that science does not reach, far less deal with, the problem concerning the origin of Nature, the solution of which can be found only by transcending Nature, that is, by recognizing the supernatural.

In the course followed I believe the purpose of the eminent Physicist who founded the lecture, has been rigidly kept in view.

I desire here to express to the President and Professors of Union Theological Seminary, my sense of their great kindness while I delivered the course of lectures in New York, and specially for so arranging as to allow of including the full course within eight lectures,--a form which has been retained in publication.

I have also to express my thanks for the kind manner in which these lectures were received in Edinburgh, where, with the exception of the two first, the course was, by request, redelivered.

H. C.

UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH,
_January 31st, 1881_

CONTENTS.

LECTURE I.

CONDITIONS OF THE INQUIRY.

Advantages resulting from recent advances in physical science
-- Advance does not unsettle the whole mass of conviction --
Religion and science agree in seeking a rational basis, and
both present a body of harmonized conceptions -- Diversity of
view is to be expected in both spheres -- Needless anxiety as
to alleged conflict between science and religion -- The first
requisite is to trace the boundaries of the two departments
of thought -- Description of religion, natural and revealed
-- Description of science, its method and sphere -- Common
starting ground for both -- Each supplies inducement for
seeking a harmony 9

LECTURE II.

EXPERIENCE GATHERED FROM PAST CONFLICTS.

Value of the lessons from past failures -- Discussions as to
"spontaneous generation" -- Range of experiments and mode of
conducting them -- Difficulties in excluding germinal forms,
and in determining the temperature at which their destruction
was ensured -- Hopefulness awakened by earlier investigations
-- Acknowledged failure as the result of more rigid tests --
Conclusions of Pasteur, Roberts, Tyndall -- Close of the
discussion as maintained by Bastian -- Dr. Draper's "History
of the Conflict between Religion and Science" -- Objections
to the plan of the book -- Misleading representations of
conflict -- Alleged scriptural view of the nature of the
world, incapable of vindication -- The Bible not a book of
science, but a revelation of the way of deliverance for
sinful man 43

LECTURE III.

INORGANIC ELEMENTS IN THE UNIVERSE.

Two forms of existence to be recognized -- Matter and Energy
-- Distinction of the two -- Tait on energy -- MATTER -- Its
indestructibility and uncreatability by any process at the
command of man -- The atomic theory as related to the
divisibility and compressibility of matter -- Scientific
belief, as analogous to theologic -- ENERGY -- Perpetual
change in form and distribution of materials -- Position,
motion, and force -- Transmutation or conversion of energy --
Conservation of Energy -- Deterioration and dissipation of
energy -- Heat as a form of motion -- Results of scientific
research are such as to support religious thought concerning
the origin of the world -- The changeable can not be the
eternal -- Science here reaches its _ultimatum_ as to the
structure of the world, and gives all the support possible to
the reality of the supernatural 82

LECTURE IV.

ORGANIZED EXISTENCE. LIFE AND ITS DEVELOPMENT.

The new problem -- Origin of life, relation of the organized
to the unorganized -- Origin of species -- Darwin's theory of
evolution by natural selection -- Characteristics of life --
The prominent features of Mr. Darwin's theory -- Power of
adaptability to environment inherent in organism -- History
of the steps by which the author was led to the adoption of
his theory -- Wallace's "Contributions" -- Darwin's
acknowledgment that science does not favor the belief that
living creatures are produced from inorganic matter --
Admission of creation of life -- Favorable impression made by
the theory -- Common ancestry of allied species -- Rejection
of fixedness of species -- Difficulties which beset the
theory -- All change does not indicate progress -- Difficulty
connected with the early stages of evolution -- Persistence
of species 119

LECTURE V.

RELATIONS OF LOWER AND HIGHER ORGANISMS.

Fertilization of flowering plants -- Relation of pollen to
the seed vessels -- Need for transference of pollen -- Means
to prevent self-fertilization -- Relation between animal life
and vegetable -- Search for honey by bees and other insects
-- Bearing the pollen to distant flowers -- Distribution of
work among insects and birds -- Evidence of adaptation --
Interdependence of lower and higher organisms -- ANTS --
Their exclusion from certain flowers -- Their work,
perseverance, intelligence, slave-holding, extracting honey
from other insects, constructing bridges 162

LECTURE VI.

HIGHER ORGANISMS; -- RESEMBLANCES AND CONTRASTS.

Sensibility and motor activity characteristic of animal life
-- Both uniformly provided for by identical arrangements of
nerve system -- Two distinct lines of nerve fibre combined in
a nerve centre -- Structure of nerve fibre -- Isolation --
Combination -- Brain structure -- White matter, and grey --
Subdivisions of the organ -- Complexity of brain structure
according to complexity of organism -- Brain in insects,
fishes, reptiles, smaller quadrupeds, larger quadrupeds,
monkeys, apes, man -- Close resemblance of the brain of the
ape to the human brain -- Researches as to brain function by
means of electric excitation of the organ -- Fritsch and
Hitzig -- Ferrier -- Identification of sensory and of motor
centres -- Silence of front and back regions -- Confirmatory
evidence from brain diseases 204

LECTURE VII.

MAN'S PLACE IN THE WORLD.

Human organism modelled on the same plan as lower organisms
-- Prevailing opinion opposes an attempt to refer all human
activity to organism -- Religious thought not directly
involved -- Science must include the study of human life --
Science by discovery of the structure and functions of the
nerve system has explained many phases of action formerly
regarded as voluntary -- The contrast remains between
muscular action and human conduct -- Acquired aptitudes --
Intellectual superiority -- Hæckel's suggestion of "mind
cells" -- Adverse evidence -- Nerve cells, varied sizes, the
largest found in the spinal canal, as well as in the brain --
Government of human conduct -- Man's application of a higher
law -- Benevolence, as an illustration -- Contrast with
struggle for existence -- Man's ideal law, constituting the
_ought_ in human conduct 239

LECTURE VIII.

DIVINE INTERPOSITION FOR MORAL GOVERNMENT.

Summary of recent scientific conclusions with which religious
thought is to be harmonized -- Religious conceptions as to
divine interposition, in their relation to fixed law --
MIRACLE -- Its place as evidence for the Messiahship of Jesus
Christ -- Credibility of miracles -- Our Saviour's miracles
-- Their benevolent purpose as bearing on their evidential
value -- How related to the laws of nature -- Incapable of
explanation by these laws -- They do not conflict with these
laws in any intelligible sense -- Meaning of the old formula,
"a violation of the laws of nature" -- Importance of the
scientific position that violation of natural law is
inconsistent with our knowledge of the government of the
world -- Method and result in miracle-working, as related to
natural law -- Explanation of the antagonism of scientific
thought to the conception of miracle -- PRAYER -- How its
answer stands related to natural law -- The cruder thoughts
concerning the province of prayer -- All law, fixed law,
whether physical, intellectual, or moral -- These laws a
harmony -- It is in recognition of this, with subordination
of physical to moral, that the spirit of prayer lives --
Fixed law is concerned with varying conditions, and with
varying results -- Interpretation of "fixed law" --
Dependence of physical results on moral action -- That there
are two spheres is no help out of difficulty -- Nothing in
scientific teaching to warrant denial of the doctrine that
God interposes for moral ends -- Warrant for prayer rests on
a divine promise, involving moral conditions -- To ask
evidence of its answer, irrespective of these conditions, is
to seek evidence in neglect of that which is essential for
the result -- The answer of prayer must be in all cases more
an evidence of divine righteousness than it is of divine
power 275