SCIENCE AND REVELATION.

17

Inseparable

scientific and

truth.

But there are two sciences, Astronomy and _LECT. I. Geology, which bring us into an acquaintance relation of with facts of amazing grandeur and interest, religious concerning the Extent and the Antiquity of the created Universe. The knowledge which each communicates rests upon its own appropriate evidence; in the one case, the evidence of sense obtained by innumerable observations made and compared by the most competent men, and confirmed by rigorous mathematical processes; and, in the other, the evidence of sense also and the testimony of a host of accomplished observers, and, though not to the same perfect extent as Astronomy, yet, in a degree which objectors little imagine, receiving support from mathematical applications.

Are then the discoveries and deductions of those sciences consistent, or are they not, with the declarations of primeval divine revelation?

We cannot but expect such consistency. Our Creator has given us faculties suited to the perception and the right appreciation of it. Cases indeed are conceivable, and they do occur, in which difficulties appear, because we see only detached portions of the truth, and the intervening parts of our field of view are covered with an obscurity which we cannot dispel. Yet such cases are not those of contradictory propositions, in which the affirming of one destroys that of the other. But this is the predicament of the subject which we have to consider. If from the

C

18

SCIENCE CONSISTENT WITH REVELATION.

LECT. I. discoveries of Astronomy and Geology we infer that the created universe, including our own globe, has existed through an unknown but unspeakably long period of time past; and IF, from the records of revelation we draw the conclusion that the work of creation, or at least so far as respects our planet, took place not quite six thousand years ago; it is evident that the two positions cannot both stand: one destroys the other. One of them must be an error; both may be wrong; only one can be right.

Our first care must be to ascertain the true state of the facts, on each side. Are the propositions respectively drawn from their premises, by sound reasoning? Have we guarded sufficiently against all causes of error? Are the facts in nature satisfactorily proved? And is our interpretation of the Scriptures legitimate? Doubts and renewed investigation of the latter question imply no precarious issue with respect to the great designs of revelation. "The foundation of God standeth sure." The great principles of faith and obedience, hope and happiness; the doctrines, warnings, and promises of the gospel; shine forth in the most clear and satisfying manner: and their certainty is not diminished by philological inquiry into the interpretation of words, or by discussing the relations to history and antiquities, and other collateral bearings of the Scriptures. For example; the recent discoveries in the monuments of Egypt have cast

I.

much light upon the history of the phraseology LECT. 1. of the Old Testament, by bringing to our knowledge facts and usages which were before imperfectly or not at all known: but these accessions of knowledge, and the more correct interpretation of particular passages which we hence obtain, take nothing from us in any other respect, but add materially to the proofs and the right understanding of the whole system of revelation. The more firmly we stand upon the rock of evidence, the more completely we possess the "assurance of faith."

Truth.

TRUTH, therefore, is our object: Truth, in Nature of religion, in morals, and in natural science. The more completely we attain it, if we faithfully apply it to its proper purposes, the more we shall bring happiness to ourselves and our fellowcreatures, and reverential honour to our God.

All men admit and act upon the value of Truth. Even those who practically disregard its obligations, pay to Truth an implicit homage; for they plainly manifest that it is only wicked selfishness which leads them to violate it.

Truth in sentiment is the agreement of our conceptions or belief, with the real nature and circumstances of the things which are the objects of those conceptions: and conventional Truth is the agreement of the signs by which we express our conceptions, with the conceptions themselves.

That our conceptions may be thus in accord

LECT. I. ance with the reality of things, is to be secured

by the due consideration of Evidence: and we believe that God, the Fountain of all truth and goodness, has furnished us with means for the obtaining of evidence, sufficient for a rational satisfaction, upon all objects which it concerns us to know.

All Truth must be consistent. Let the objects contemplated be never so different in their nature, and remote from each other in the connexions of their occurrence; the facts concerning them cannot but be in mutual agreement; for to say that one fact is contradictory to another, is to say a manifest absurdity. But our conception of a fact may fail of being in accordance with the reality; from the variety of causes which, we are aware, are the sources of frequent error among mortals, and of which the chief are, the not being possessed of adequate means for acquiring the knowledge requisite as the basis of our deductions; or the want of giving due attention to the means which we do possess for acquiring the necessary data; or a want of correct habitude of mind in drawing our conclusions. If we have done our best and fail, we have not forfeited moral truth; we are sincere, though mistaken: but, if we have not done our best, we cannot be blameless. For the consequences of our indifference, or negligence, or prejudice, we must be responsible to the divine tribunal, according to the nature of the object

EVIDENCE.

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proposed for investigation, its circumstances of LECT. 1. greater or less importance to the well-being of mankind, our obligations to possess accurate knowledge, and our profession to communicate it.

The criterion of truth is Evidence: and, though Evidence; evidence is formed of different materials in different departments, the effect of real evidence, upon a mind sincerely desirous of knowing the truth, will be satisfactory, however different the kind or form of the materials which constitute it.

In Physical Science, the evidence of truth is Sensible : obtained by drawing inferences from the observation of facts made known by our senses; and confirmed in many cases, and those the most important, by the application of Mathematics, which indeed derive their certainty from reducing all propositions to the plainest evidence of sense.

Truth, in matters of history, and in all that relates to the good or evil conduct of rational beings, their dispositions and motives, their dependence upon the Supreme Sovereign, their obligations to HIM, and their expectations from him; can be attained only by what is usually called Moral Evidence. This kind of evidence arises from our consciousness of the manner in which we feel and act in given circumstances; and our observation of the manner in which other men act under similar conditions. We hence deduce conclusions: these are confirmed by universal experience: we feel a perfect confidence, that, whenever the conditions are similar,