The Relation of Science and Religion.pdf - Online Christian Library

34 SCIENCE AND RZLTGION.lations of things, or by logical inference fromsuch observations. This field of study is fullof interest, and practically inexhaustible. Thetrustworthiness of the method admits of nodoubt, whether we consider direct observation,or guarded and careful inference fromthings observed. To trust our powers of observation,and to rely on our reasoning faculty,are the fundamental conditions of allknowledge. Through these avenues religiousknowledge must come, as well as scientific.The risk of conflict is thus excluded here.Nor will any one dispute the inherent valueof scientific knowledge." Least of all couldsuch a challenge come from a religious basis,for the book of nature is to the religiousmind the revelation of God in its own placeand form, just as the Bible is in a differentand higher form. The reverence belongingto religion will not derogate from the dignityof science. The natural and genuine tendency of religious thought must be to exaltscience, in its proper sense, as a verified explanationof the facts of existence. A contrary tendency can arise only in one of twoways, either when religion is driven back onthe defensive on account of scientific theorySee Appendix L