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? 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? Or will the rejection of the Darwinian theory be sure to free us from prejudice and cheap ambitions?
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. Their spirits are finely touched to fine issues, and they seem to have attained that splendor of expression which, Emerson says, carries with it the proof of great thoughts. Byron's "Corsair" left a name "linked to one virtue and a thousand crimes;" and perhaps even the pope would allow to these spiritual types of the same order the one virtue of an almost faultless style. It is not splendor of imagery, or mere ornament of any kind, that gives it its peculiar charm. It is the beauty of exquisite fitness, of perfect adaptation. 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. They furnish some of the best material for daily consideration and conversation. We find in them a centre and sequence of thought, and a natural cohesion of parts, which favorably distinguish them from many popular productions, both written and spoken. 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. And if, in his enthusiasm, a writer sometimes ventures beyond the limits of verified evidence, and gives one touch of imaginative coloring to the sober shades of reason and argument, can we not bear with it, when we remember with what infinite patience the world has for ages listened to baseless and useless conjectures, and sentimental fancies concerning heaven, its conditions, employments, and delights?
We are called to no decision upon these great questions, but let us study them, and draw from them all possible mental stimulus and moral force, and then be sure to give our personal influence in support of our highest convictions. The verdict rests with Time, and we know that under its slow, sure touch, all error must fall away, leaving Truth triumphant in the strength of her own immortality.
