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PHILADELPHIA:

BIBLE AND PUBLICATION SOCIETY,

530 ARCH STREET.

1872.

THE BAPTIST QUARTERLY.

THE ATTITUDE OF THE CHRISTIAN TEACHER IN RESPECT TO SCIENCE.

The following article was read before the New England Baptist
Educational Convention, held at Worcester, on May 3d and 4th
1871. The subject assigned to the writer was, "What is the
Proper Attitude of the Christian Teacher in respect to Science?'

THE discussion of the topic assigned for this hour will be indirect

in its method, for the reason that the circuitous path to the goal sought leads through a somewhat fresher field of thought than the direct one. Moreover, certain views which have for some years been subjects of occasional reflection with the writer, but which have not before been put in words, seemed to him more likely to have value than thoughts that might be regarded as more directly pertinent to the question, but which have not so naturally sprung from his pursuits.

The present relation of two of the favorite sciences of the day to their own fundamental theories seems to us to be full of suggestion to the Christian teacher as to the attitude he shall assume towards science, or rather towards the natural and physical sciences; for that is the form which the topic proposed assumes in every mind. Why is it necessary for him to take any stand in respect to them, more than to mental and moral philosophy, mechanics or the pure mathematics? The tacitly recognized limitation of our subject is significant. It points to the momentous fact that the main battle-field between revealed religion and skepticism lies no longer, as of old, in the region of metaphysics, history, or even biblical interpretation. Religious skepticism invald the territory of science in the last century, and has not since

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