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Reflections on the Scheme4

"The owlet Atheism,
Sailing on obscure wings across the noon,
Drops his blue fringed lids and shuts them close,
And, hooting at the glorious sun in heaven,
Cries out, Where is it?" [Coleridge].

I gladly confess that my ruling wish has been to feel my own ignorance deeply, and to trust to the Divine Teacher that my eyes might be opened to see more and more the wonders which may be drawn from the Scriptures, when scientific minds are led to the belief that Creation and Revelation explain each other. As this conviction gains ground, scientific truths will make a more rapid progress, and "the generalisation of Science will no longer be doubtful, but assured."

"Our aim is to promote that agreement by showing the correspondence between truly scientific conclusions and Holy Writ; by making it plain that scientific truths, like spiritual, have for ever been descending from heaven to man."— [J. W. Reynolds, M.A.]

"In Him we live, and move, and have our being,"—Acts xvii. 28.

Spontaneous life has no existence: whatever is developed below, derives its life from the laws which regulate it from above.

Among the many subjects which excite interest at the present time is the question whether the doctrine of Evolution is true or false. Milton had evidently some glimpse of its truth, as we see in the following lines:—

"Air and ye elements! the eldest birth
Of Nature's womb, that in quaternion run
Perpetual circle, multiform, and mix
And nourish all things; let your ceaseless change
Vary to our great Maker still new praise!" [Paradise Lost, Book V.]

If the foregoing harmonies of sound and of colour have been rightly developed from the Scriptures, I trust they will be considered as steps gained towards the belief that Evolution is the law of the Almighty for the continuance of activity throughout the universe, and towards an increasing study of Creation and Revelation as mutually explaining each other. According to my belief, the Scriptures must be based on the principle which is explained of keyed instruments at the conclusion of Chapter II. In the development of musical harmonies the beginning and the ending are unfathomable. It is the same in the Scriptures. No musical note or colour can be separated from those below and above it. Neither can any portion of the Bible be separated: every part embraces the past,

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Created by Dale Pond. Last Modification: Saturday April 3, 2021 05:22:24 MDT by Dale Pond.