FOR THE SABBATH.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 526, 14 December 1912, Page 7

FOR THE SABBATH.

RELIGIOUS BELIEFS OP SCIENTISTS. Professor John H. Gladstone was Professor of Chemistry ;at the Royal Institution, 1874-77; President of the Physical Society, 1874-76; President of the Chemical Society, 1877-79. "Gladstone has," said Sir William Dewar in 1898, "worked out his long and brilliant scientific career as a labour of patient love. Futhermore, he has created an entirely new department —that which is in modern ties regarded as Physical Chemistry. For half a century he has worked on this side of chemistry." He was presented in 1897 with the Davy Medal on the ground of the "great extent and value of his chemical and physical researches extending over a period of forty-nine years." The professor was a member of the Committee of the Christian Evidence Society. Professor Gladstone, in reply, sent a report of a speech delivered at the annual meeting of the London Banks Prayer Union, from which this paragraph is taken:—"We begin with Christ at Bethlehem. The first who came to Him were poor peasants; but the next were the scientific men of the age. . . - Coming to later

ages we find such men as Copernicus, Tycho, Brahe and Kepler, who were men of a Christian spirit and ready to ascribe to God all their faculties, and to give praise to Him. Turning to our country, we find such men (I will only speak o F those of the first character, as Lord Bacon. Ido not say that he was a godly man in every way, but we know not only that he was a believer, but that he wrote as a Christian, and that his writings contain not only the highest philosophy, but a good deal of religious advice. Well, sir. we go on and find Newton. No higher name could we mention—a name great in many departments of science, the greatest, perhaps, I may say; and at the same time a devout Christian who was not ashamed to write religious works. 1 might proceed to such .men as Robert Boyle, the "Father of Modern Chemistry," or Cuvier, one of the greatest anatomists. Then again there is Michael Faraday, a man who was a humble Christian and who in various ways endevoured to do acts u± Christian kindness. And may I mention Herschel, Sir David Brewster, and the late Clerk Maxwell —all men known as Christians by their words and by their writings? If you ask whose name stands the highest in physical , science among living men, some will probably answer Professor Stokes, of Cambridge, and others Sir William Thomson (Lord Kelvin, of Glasgow—both believers in Christ. If we turn to the biological side of science and ask which is the highest name, we shall probably be reminded of the veteran Richard Owen, whose contributions to the study of natural theology are well known. Twelve days ago, at the anniversary of the Royal Society, the four English savants to whom medals were distributed were Professor Flower, Captain (now Sir William) Abney Professor, Cayley, and Lord Rayleigh—nu slight proof that among those who are taking a high place in science are to be found good disciples of Chist."

• QUESTIONS ABOUT THE OLD TESTAMENT. 1. "Can the reading and study of the Old Testament, with its plete revelation of God, be of real value to Chistians?

You cannot do without the Old Testament you cannot understand the New Testament without it. When you come to quote "Blessed are the pure in heart, blessed are the mprcifui," it takes for granted that strong, many righteous character which the Old Testament has taught and as it were the two together make up the perfect character of the Christian man. I cannot dwell mure on that, but I am certain that, perhaps more than anything else, to-day, we want the Old Testament. I remember in a mission a man saying to me once, "Oh I quite understand, Bishop,"—

it was at the end cf a mission sermon which he had heard some one preach—"the more a man sins the better God likes him." That is what he carripd away from the parable of the Lost Sheep in the New Testament, whereas here is the Old Testament preaching that "with the clean thou shalt be clean"; and it is not until we know ourselves sinners that we want a Saviour, and therefore the Old Testament is much needed today.

2. "Ought not the imprecatory Psalms to be withdrawn from regular use by Christian congregations? I think it is quite a question whether they ought not. I think they are often misunderstood. Personally I find no difficulty in using them, because I think I understand in what spirit they were written. Even God can only get out of any age the morality of which that age is capable, and the" cursing Psalms belong to a certain state of morality out of which, please God, we have already, in Christian atmosphere, grown. But the good element which they embody is a desire for a kingdom of righteousness. The man who wrote them was made for the righteousness of God. God's enemies are his enemies, and he was full of a desire that God's justice should be shown. He called down the curse, as it were, upon the common enemy of God and man in a way which was quite natural in that state of morality, and when I use these cursing Psalms I read them in the light of the ideas of the times in which they were written. —The Bishop of London.