S. H. Haywood

“ Free thought and free inquiry in almost any direction are fatal to some vital principle of Roman Catholicism. To match metaphors with his Holiness, they are spiritual sappers and miners, whose strokes tell fearfully among the foundation-stones of the Vatican. ”

“ The most enlightened scientists hold their views not rigidly, but flexibly, expecting them to undergo various modifications, as truth is gradually unsealed and error eliminated. They invite both scrutiny and correction; and, when argument is met by argument, proof with counter-proof, when premises are shown to be false, methods insufficient, or inferences illogical, none are more ready and generous in acknowledgment of mistakes. ”

“ Thus adequately to examine the scientific positions of the day, with a view of supplementing or subverting them, requires an amount of special preparation which few who have worked in other fields of thought have been able to make; for a certain familiarity with scientific nomenclature and experiment, which is often acquired collaterally by the good student, though of great interest and value to its possessor, is not a reasonable basis for revision of principles, methods, and deductions. ”

“ Now, sneers, innuendoes, and glittering generalities, may be convenient weapons with which to assail unwelcome arguments and conclusions, but they are certainly very ineffective. Such opposition will never end the controversy. The very animus of Protestantism is investigation, and shall New England Christians ally themselves with the pope in endeavoring to suppress its processes and ignore its results? It is only the new truth, the latest discovery, the undeveloped scheme, that is thus assailed and abused. ”

“ In summing up the main conclusions at the close of this elaborate work, he alludes to the still higher destiny which man may hope for in the distant future; but he instantly checks the incipient speculation with the characteristic utterance of the true devotee of science: "But we are not here concerned with hopes or fears, only with the truth as far as our reason allows us to discover it. ”

“ For a correct exegesis of the Apocalypse, or the Book of Job, we should not go to the scientist, but to the trained and acute Biblicist; and when our thoughts are turned toward the sources and interpretations of natural phenomena, to whom shall we look for direction and guidance, but to those who have made these phenomena their life-long study? "Every one for his own." ”

“ Language seems sensitive to the fervor of their thought, and yields to them all its wonderful vividness. Let us not be withheld by fear, by the restraints of inherited conservatism not yet outgrown, or by misdirected pulpit influence, from studying the pages of any book, magazine, pamphlet, or newspaper, containing the selected thoughts of scientists, carefully prepared for the general reader. ”

“ Shall the weak timidity and the unreasoning hostility of the sixteenth century forever repeat themselves in the presence of a fresh idea? Verily, a stranger in the world of thought fares hard at our hands. ”

“ It tends to prevent men from becoming so ardently in love with their own theories as to be blind to their defects. If it is able, as at the best it is, to set in motion a counter-current of thought, clear and forcible, it has attained its highest uses and becomes a real power. ”

“ It has changed place since then, and Tyndall now stands at its level, and must bear the surging of every tide.
Nothing is more acceptable to the honest thinker than intelligent criticism. Matthew Arnold said ten years ago that it was the great want of Europe. Worthy antagonism is always a valuable auxiliary in the cause of truth. Under its eye, eloquence is not allowed to pass for evidence, nor assertion for argument. It stimulates and reënforces the scholar, and extinguishes the pedant. ”

“ What name stands fairer to-day than that of William Lloyd Garrison? And what living: man has been more defamed and reviled than was he while he stood in advance of public sentiment on the question of slavery? ”

“ The genius of its religion is authority, and are not its subjects likely to lie stiller in the dark than when it is light about them? It is interesting and significant to notice how little its attitude toward theological or scientific inquiry has changed within the last three hundred years. Spencer in his philosophy of evolution, Darwin in his theory of natural selection, Tyndall in recasting the definitions of matter, are denounced in the spirit, and almost in the diction, of the sixteenth century. ”

“ By these scared theologians, scientific men are declared to be trying to annihilate the Bible, to dethrone the Lord Christ, and to exterminate the living God. Similar latent motives have always been imputed to the fraternity, and it seems quite unnecessary to disclaim them, since their own minds are entirely preassured of the safety of Deity. ”

“ Tyndall beautifully says: "Science desires not isolation, but freely combines with every effort toward the bettering of man's estate. The lifting of the life is the essential point." Are the sarcasms of the preacher an effort in the same direction? Will his animadversions tend to make his hearers more charitable in their judgments of others? Will his sneers at an opinion which differs from his own be likely to raise the standard of tolerance and Christian courtesy? ”

“ After it has stood before the world a few decades—some other startling thought having in the mean time stepped to the front—it quietly takes its place among established facts or principles, Biblical interpretations adjust themselves, and its exponents, living or dead, are duly applauded and honored. ”

“ If the destruction of these more recent theories, or their immediate and unreserved acceptance, were our only alternative, there might be some excuse for attacking them, even with the very unsuitable and impotent weapons with which most of us are furnished. But why can we not suffer ourselves to "make haste slowly" in regard to these questions which are so difficult, and, in a certain sense, so remote? ”

“ Is a leaning toward the belief that matter contains the promise and potency of all terrestrial life, incompatible with the ordering of the individual life in accordance with high-toned Christian principles? ”

“ An excellent tonic, for a mind that is weary of this constant challenging of leading scientists to unequal contest, is one of their own "Lay Sermons." In reading their literature, one soon passes into an atmosphere which admits no element of petty strife. ”

“ They not only show us facts, they teach us to generalize from such data, % and to put a proper relative value upon different ideas. They give us a clearer vision and an ampler horizon. They quicken the perceptions, mature the judgment, and purify the taste. ”

“ Their opinions are frequently prefaced with such phrases as "So far as I can discover," "Is it not probable," "Are we not justified in believing;" thus appealing to the intelligence and discernment of the reader, instead of seeming to compel his acquiescence. ”