NO CONFLICT.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 954, 22 October 1910, Page 14

NO CONFLICT.

RELIGION AND SCIENCE. BRITISH ASSOCIATION ADDRESSES. In the. Sheffield Parish Church on Sunday morning, September 4, the Archbishop of York preached a notable sermon on tho rolations of religion and science. Many leading scientists assembled in Sheffield for tho meeting of tho British Association were present .'at 'the service, including Professor T. G. Bonnoy,. president of the association; Sir J. J. Thomson, expresident; Sir ■ AVilliam-White. ■ Sir William Crookes; Sir Oliver Lodge, Sir A. Rucker, Sir Archibald Geikie/'and Sir H. L. Smith. The ■ congregation also included the Loi'd ; Mayor, Earl Fitzwilliam, and the Common Council of the City, the University Chancellors and officials, who, with' many, members.of the association in their regalia, and scarlet and sabje robes, and academio gowns, walked in procession to St. Peter's Church from the Town Hall. .'• , CALL FOR A TRUCE. ■': THE SENSE OF MYSTERY. In the course of.his sermon the Archbishop said: "Those who may be called the camp followers of science and religion are apt still to break out into quarrels, but the highest and best men on either side are conscious that. there is a call for a truce—a truce.of God—a time to adjust misunderstandings, .to ■ retreat from, rash and hasty claims, to. think, out their own positions more clearly, and to understand the'positions of those who seemed to differ from them with greater sympathy.: On the one hand science seems to'nave become aware of its neces-sary-limitations. In its. own several departments it is compelled to' limit its outlook. It must never' be deterred in the; pursuit•.of .truth, by tbe thought of the consequences "which v in some -.other region may bo ■ involved;.-' This, is the very, condition of its success, but it must not/as once 'it tended to do, take the further- step of- declaring that there is nothing outside, its own limitations, that the postulates and methods. which. arej appropriate, .and indeed necessary, to' its own inquiries, i are tie .only ..measure of all- truth, aiid'reality; ,' This danger, of making' a necessary, method of working an' exclusive: test: of- truth.:is '•■ one which' science.is learning to recognise and ovoid. 'Even .within, its own domain,' it is ..more conscious than it was of. the • gaps still unbridged, of. the'' mysteries' still unexplained. :. It: has. conie.'. to a stage in which it is rather, occupied with patience and .faith in-, testing "its own : .hypotheses than in'proclaiming that they give a full and final explanation -of, man ■ and things. Science is :'more. impressed-, by. the.Vcpn-; sciousness of -the mystery which., still :.enfolds' the ultimate causes and constituents of the material- world/and the origin of life-4he'meaning' ; of 'the.moyoments of the human Spirit; -and"with. tliis';sense of; mystery-there always comes the:kindred /sense of 'reverence, and of : wq'rship. Materialism or naturalism as.a self-suffice ing theory of. tho universe may surely now 'be described: as" discredited by the bestscientific minds;' A ..true agnosticism, 1 -which : humbly recognises, the limits, of scientific knowledge, has .taken ,the place of. the .false .which'declared dogmatically ,'that; beyond;, those- limits 1 there .was nothing. that',, could'; be known;: On the,other hand, religion' has actually come to recognise its. own:limitations!-' In-' terpret'ed.' at-' least 'by-its: best 'mmd&riit' sees that its claims -to find in apersorial God the ultimate. Author /and.-'Worker. of all .things gives it; no right to. decide' a priori... the liiethodsiof Bis working- the world. '.-'-, Above alt;''it has' learned to reconsider, its'-own, conception of God, and ; to. look upon .Him, not as standing apart: from. Nature by asserting l His power by occasional arbitrary interference with' tho laws, He. has ordained, but as dwelling .-.within'-;it, '.revealing Himself 'through it overall;! yet in all, aid through all. working out! His will.. : Religion and! theo-' logy proclaim ithat ?He'and no,mere blind energy, ;is .the Worker. But 'it waits ;for. science to give it the tidings of the way in .which He works. , Thus through this .mutual, recognition, and;, respect of their proper spheres: there-has. come the possibility of a true friendship .between religion and.;science.-' : •'.'■' ■ ~ ■ ' ■ The; Archbishop' went on to 6ay that,. largely under- : the - influence. of science, they had come to'a greater' and'grander' conception of God, as one dwelling within ' the : world of/His, making, present j in: .its processes, arid realising His will arid purpose throygh them. 'The Archbishop appealed, to those", .who, ..were ; ' mainly, charged with .the care of religion to show a;more .sympathetic interest not only in the results but in.tho methods,of science. "To . scientists," ;; he '. ■ said,. "we,' on'. our ; part, 'have a' special plea to t urge. It is. that,'-in all., their studies -of the 'pro-: cesses'.-;of the'universe, they/will remember tHat "the standard, which alone can' keep their. studies in.a' true .proportion,, is 1 man, not at his lowest, where. he emerges from the .first'elements of nature, but'at his : highest, where-his spirit goes up :to- Him: Who .is: first. and. last, tho: Divine' Spirit Himself.",, .'.: ~• . . ;; ■ . : . In'conclusion, Dr. Lang said:,"To.lake 1 .oiir life—as it has.come to us through all the strange history of its origin and growth,- and freely to. unite -with-the perfect life of Christ, and in Him of God—this is the great achievement of Creation, tho fulfilment alike,'of truth and "of life, in which Science and Reiligion are finally at one." '.'

WHAT.IS TRUTH? v-iiDBESS;BY.ysrBf;6LiyBE--.L9DGE.; • An address by Sir Oliver Lodge, at the afternoon meeting of the Wesleynn Mission in the Victoria Hall, Sheffield, was listened to by a packed audience. His subject was- "The Old Testament:.and. its He,'too, sought, to show that ■there:' was no conflict between.,.'religion, and-Science. : L ■ :' Sir' Oliver Lodge said the question with'which'he proposed'in the first instance to deal was as to-the nature and, meaningT-tho general and most comprehensive .meaning—of truth. , Poetry,: as had" been paradoxically said, was the only thing which every age was certain to recognise as'true. 'Contrast our attitude : towards ancient science and .our attitude towards ancient arc and poetry. Tie .science of the ancients was merely curious.. Their art and poetry we could not excel. Beauty represented an ideal ; in the mind of -the creator. It was the >apotheosis, of 'truth." Truths in science were stages' on the road,towards achieve- ■ ment. Materialistic sceptics wore'abroad who saw.and emphasised only one side ■of things and denied others. 'Their assertions might be true. Their denials were often absurd. There might be a world •ot emotion', in what, .physically, was extremely' simple. He could imagine a materialistic critic saying to an audience at a concert,, "What are you crying about, with your Wagner and your Brahms? It is only horse-hair scraping upon catgut." From a narrow physical point of ■view that was so. It could all be' represented by vibrations in the air—all, thai was, except the soul. The soul' of music was in immunity.. What wo could.be quite sure of. was that human feelings were more ancient than any knowledge. The instinct for worship was ancient and. powerfuL The sunrise was described by William Blake,: that'great poet, attist, and seer, thus: "What, when the sun rises, do you see? Tho round disc of fire, something like a guinea? Oh no, no. I see an innumerable company, a heavenly host, crying "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.'" In that spirit the ' Old.. Testament had to bo interpreted and understood. That was tho kind of mood in which much of it was written. The great parts of it were msenifestly inspired. Anyone who objected to Gonesis because it did not contain tho whole truth was talking nonsense. How could the idoa of God'bo anything but imperfect? What would posterity think of presont-day ideas? There had been progress,' but the finite could not grasp the infinite. In the Old Testament there was, first, an attempt to solve the problem of existence. Existence was attribntod to tho word of God; it was represented as the outcome of a reasoned, designed purposo. Tho problem of evil and the origin of sin wero dealt with. Sin appeared as tho result of knowledge —a rise In development. It was a heavy price to pay for hnman progress, but it was inevitable unless tho aim was mero meohnnioal, compulsory perfection.. The aim. however, was higher than that; no maenine was being made but a creature af..ir-ea .will, T , . .