The Lost Faith, and Difficulties of the Bible, as Tested by the Laws of EvidenceChilds, Thomas S. (Thomas Spencer)
Religion
The Lost Faith, and Difficulties of the Bible, as Tested by the Laws of Evidence
Childs, Thomas S. (Thomas Spencer)
Bible and science
By the side of this utterance of Mr. ---- let me put the words of
that king in the realm of science, Professor Joseph Henry. They are
found in the last letter that he ever wrote, and may be taken as the
final summing up of all those vast researches that have made his
name the heritage of the world. They are entitled to some weight
as against the statements of men who, if they can follow in his
footsteps at all, must follow afar off. These are his words: "After
all our speculations and an attempt to grapple with the problem of
the universe, the simplest conception which explains and connects
the phenomena is that of the existence of one spiritual Being
infinite in wisdom, in power and all divine perfections." That is,
the simplest and the best explanation of the facts of the universe
is found in the existence of God. This is testimony accepted by the
highest scientific authority both in this country and in Europe. I
do not say that it proves there is a God, but it does prove that
belief in God is consistent with the highest intellectual power. To
disbelieve is no proof of a great mind.
Mr. ---- eulogizes Thomas Paine as one of the greatest and best men
of his age--a man "whose writings carry conviction to the dullest."
Now, Paine, though a bitter enough infidel, as we all know, never so
parted from his reason or his reverence as to deny the existence of
God. He says with a force that, according to Mr. ----, must "carry
conviction to the dullest:" "I know I did not make myself, and yet
I have existence; and by searching into the nature of other things
I find no other thing could make itself, and yet millions of other
things exist; therefore it is that I know by positive conclusions
resulting from this search that there is a power superior to all
these things, and that power is God." Paine believed in God; he
believed in a future life; he believed in the person of Christ, of
whom Mr. ---- so far takes leave of all historic judgment, and even
of all respectable infidel judgments, as to say we do not know that
he ever existed!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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