LECTURE VII.

Man's Place in the World.

Human organism modelled on the same plan as lower organisms — Prevailing opinion opposes an attempt to refer all human activity to organism — Religious thought not directly involved — Science must include the study of human life — Science by discovery of the structure and functions of the nerve system has explained many phases of action formerly regarded as voluntary — The contrast remains between muscular action and human conduct — Acquired aptitudes — Intellectual superiority — Hæckel's suggestion of "mind cells" — Adverse evidence — Nerve cells, varied sizes, the largest found in the spinal canal, as well as in the brain — Government of human conduct — Man's application of a higher law — Benevolence, as an illustration — Contrast with struggle for existence — Man's ideal law, constituting the ought in human conduct[239]

LECTURE VIII.

Divine Interposition for Moral Government.

Summary of recent scientific conclusions with which religious thought is to be harmonized — Religious conceptions as to divine interposition, in their relation to fixed law — Miracle — Its place as evidence for the Messiahship of Jesus Christ — Credibility of miracles — Our Saviour's miracles — Their benevolent purpose as bearing on their evidential value — How related to the laws of nature — Incapable of explanation by these laws — They do not conflict with these laws in any intelligible sense — Meaning of the old formula, "a violation of the laws of nature" — Importance of the scientific position that violation of natural law is inconsistent with our knowledge of the government of the world — Method and result in miracle-working, as related to natural law — Explanation of the antagonism of scientific thought to the conception of miracle — Prayer — How its answer stands related to natural law — The cruder thoughts concerning the province of prayer — All law, fixed law, whether physical, intellectual, or moral — These laws a harmony — It is in recognition of this, with subordination of physical to moral, that the spirit of prayer lives — Fixed law is concerned with varying conditions, and with varying results — Interpretation of "fixed law" — Dependence of physical results on moral action — That there are two spheres is no help out of difficulty — Nothing in scientific teaching to warrant denial of the doctrine that God interposes for moral ends — Warrant for prayer rests on a divine promise, involving moral conditions — To ask evidence of its answer, irrespective of these conditions, is to seek evidence in neglect of that which is essential for the result — The answer of prayer must be in all cases more an evidence of divine righteousness than it is of divine power[275]

APPENDIX.

I.Relations of Science and Religion[313]
II.Spontaneous Generation[313]
III.Energy and Force[314]
IV.All Organized Existence is Constructed on a Common Plan[314]
V.Embryology[316]
VI.Non-advancement of Lower Orders[319]
VII.Protoplasm[319]
VIII.Number of Species of Insects[320]
IX.Fertilization of Flowers by Insects[320]
X.Ants[320]
XI.Likeness of the Ape's Brain to the Human Brain[321]
XII.The Large Sized or Multipolar Cells[322]
XIII.The Conception of Duty[323]

RELATIONS OF SCIENCE AND RELIGION.