The conflict of truth / [Frederick Hugh Capron].

  • Capron, F. Hugh (Frederick Hugh), 1857-1955
Date:
1905
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: The conflict of truth / [Frederick Hugh Capron]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    subjected, produced in that organ a “ callosity,” or hardening, which was fatal to the development of sight, and from which the rudimentary eye was free. Now, it is obvious that this hardening .was produced, not necessarily by any impure or contaminating properties which the objects touched possessed’. The callosity was simply the effect of “ continued pressure or friction.” No matter how innocent in themselves the surrounding earthly objects might be, the friction produced by constant contact with them would inevitably lead to the same result. A hardening, fatal to sight, was the unavoidable fate of any organ which had its conversation with “ the things that are upon the earth,” instead of ‘‘ the things above.” And is not this, again, exactly the state of things against which Religion so persistently warns her disciples ? The condition of all others to be avoided, is a “ hardening of the heart ”—a hardening of that organ, which, if kept “ clear of objects ” (KaOapo'?), will develop into an eye. “ This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye no longer walk as the Gentiles also walk (who, as we saw, are ‘ groping in the dark,’ yfrrjXacfiooai,), . . . behiff darkened in their understanding, alienated, from the life of God, because of the loant of per- ception (dyvoLav) that is in them, because of the hardening of their hearth ^ Here the word Trcop&jo-i?, which is translated “ hardening,” exactly expresses that condition of being hard and unimpressionable, which we have just discussed. It is simply the theological equivalent of what Science terms “ callosity.” And dyvoia (“ want of perception ”) exactly ex- presses that molecular immobility which necessarily results from “ callosity.” The text, in fact, explicitly alleges that, in the spiritual sphere, this “ hardening of the heart ” is fatal to spiritual vision, because it produces a “ want of perception,” which causes a “ darkening of the perceptive faculty,” which, again, results in an “ alienation ” from that “ life of God ” which, as we have seen, is “ the light of men.” Thus, according to Religion, as well as to Science, if we 1 Eph. iv. 18.