Religion and science : their independence of each other and their mutual relations / by a Physician.

Date:
1851
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Religion and science : their independence of each other and their mutual relations / by a Physician. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    kingdom of nature, the form, function, and habits of every tree, fruit, and flower on the surface of the earth, may be known and classified by the botanist — all declaring to him the grandeur, richness, beauty, and beneficence of nature, and yet he will not be able to specify the “ Tree of Life,” for to sit beneath its shade, when his feet are weary and his heart begins to fail. Such being some of the isolated positions and functions of true religion and science, we naturally wish to bring such noble and dignified objects of man’s attention, study, and interest into harmony with each other; for we rest convinced there is no natural nor essential antagonism between them, however separate and independent their objects and aims may be. Truth secular can never be in opposition to the truth divine; though the ambitious, yet impotent reasonings of some minds, will prematurely bring them into a forced agreement, or put them into a gratuitous state of repulsion. True religion being founded on faith and tradition, is one while made to yield, in the case of any apparent incompati- bility, to science, which is based on the evidence of the senses and experiment, and therefore held uncontrollable; while science, on the other hand, is feared or discouraged, lest its facts and deductions should impugn the truths that are revealed. Others, on the side of science, more confident and metaphysical in their views, assert the ascendancy of science, not only from Avhat is seen but from what is not seen, to con- tain sufficient evidence of the existence and attributes of a God, worthy of our wonder, adoration, and praise. As was formerly remarked, all of these vieAvs are too con- strained or too arbitrary; they serve to fetter or disturb the study and pursuits of both religion and science, or else they lead to unprofitable presumption; for we hold it as true in theory and experience, that religion is not intended, nor will it teach a man science, — neither will science, however pure and exalted, teach him religion. What is called natural reli- gion may be deduced, upheld, and refined by the researches
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