The Essays of "George Eliot": CompleteEliot, George
History
The Essays of "George Eliot": Complete
Eliot, George
Literature -- History and criticism
“How is it that Moses, with no greater education than the Hindoo or
the ancient philosopher, has written his book, touching science at a
thousand points, so accurately that scientific research has
discovered no flaws in it; and yet in those investigations which have
taken place in more recent centuries, it has not been shown that he
has committed one single error, or made one solitary assertion which
can be proved by the maturest science, or by the most eagle-eyed
philosopher, to be incorrect, scientifically or historically?”
According to this the relation of the Bible to science should be one of
the strong points of apologists for revelation: the scientific accuracy
of Moses should stand at the head of their evidences; and they might urge
with some cogency, that since Aristotle, who devoted himself to science,
and lived many ages after Moses, does little else than err ingeniously,
this fact, that the Jewish Lawgiver, though touching science at a
thousand points, has written nothing that has not been “demonstrated to
be exactly and strictly true,” is an irrefragable proof of his having
derived his knowledge from a supernatural source. How does it happen,
then, that Dr. Cumming forsakes this strong position? How is it that we
find him, some pages further on, engaged in reconciling Genesis with the
discoveries of science, by means of imaginative hypotheses and feats of
“interpretation?” Surely, that which has been demonstrated to be exactly
and strictly true does not require hypothesis and critical argument, in
order to show that it may _possibly_ agree with those very discoveries by
means of which its exact and strict truth has been demonstrated. And why
should Dr. Cumming suppose, as we shall presently find him supposing,
that men of science hesitate to accept the Bible, because it appears to
contradict their discoveries? By his own statement, that appearance of
contradiction does not exist; on the contrary, it has been demonstrated
that the Bible precisely agrees with their discoveries. Perhaps,
however, in saying of the Bible that its “slightest intimations of
scientific principles or natural phenomena have in every instance been
demonstrated to be exactly and strictly true,” Dr. Cumming merely means
to imply that theologians have found out a way of explaining the biblical
text so that it no longer, in their opinion, appears to be in
contradiction with the discoveries of science. One of two things,
therefore: either he uses language without the slightest appreciation of
its real meaning, or the assertions he makes on one page are directly
contradicted by the arguments he urges on another.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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