No one idea has produced a greater sensation among skeptics and
unbelievers than the idea of a conflict between science and Christianity.
The history of the affair reminds us of the ghost stories that frighten
people in their boyish days. There was, in truth, no foundation for the
sensation. Mr. Draper never intended that his work entitled “Conflict
between Religion and Science,” should be construed to mean Conflict
between the Bible and Science, or between Christianity, as set forth by
the primitive Christians and science, but conflict between apostate
religion and science; or, rather, between corruptors of the ancient
religion and science.
He says, “I have had little to say respecting the two great Christian
confessions, the protestant and the Greek churches. As to the latter, it
has never, since the restoration of science, arrayed itself in opposition
to the advancement of knowledge. On the contrary, it has always met it
with welcome. It has observed a reverential attitude to truth, from
whatever quarter it might come. Recognizing the apparent discrepancies
between its interpretations of revealed truth and the discoveries of
science, it has always expected that satisfactory explanations and
reconciliations would ensue, _and in this it has not been disappointed_.”
Will all who read these lines take notice that Mr. Draper takes the
Christian’s side in the above statement. “_In this it has not been
disappointed._” In what? Answer—Its expectation that satisfactory
explanations and reconciliations would follow the discoveries of science,
by means of which apparent discrepancies between the church’s
interpretations of revealed truth and the discoveries of science would
disappear. Mr. Draper adds, “It would have been well for modern
civilization if the Roman church had done the same.” He guards his readers
by the following: “In speaking of Christianity, reference is generally
made to the Roman church, partly because its adherents compose the
majority of Christendom, partly because its demands are the most
pretentious, and partly because it has commonly sought to enforce those
demands by the civil power. None of the protestant churches have ever
occupied a position so imperious, none have ever had such widespread
political influence. For the most part they have been averse to
constraint, and except in very few instances their opposition has not
passed beyond the exciting of theological odium.” Preface, pp. 10, 11.
On pages 215 and 216, speaking upon the great question of the proper
relations of Christianity and science, Mr. Draper says: “In the annals of
Christianity the most ill-omened day is that in which she separated
herself from science. She compelled Origen, at that time (A. D. 231) its
chief representative and supporter in the church, to abandon his charge in
Alexandria and retire to Cæsarea. In vain through many subsequent
centuries did her leading men spend themselves in, as the phrase then
went, ‘drawing forth the internal juice and marrow of the scriptures for
the explaining of things.’ Universal history from the _third_ to the
_sixteenth_ century shows with what result. The dark ages owe their
darkness to this fatal policy.”
The pure Christianity, as well as Christians of 231 years, are exonerated
by Mr. Draper. Unbeliever, will you remember this? Many unbelievers, like
drowning men catching at straws, have endeavored to make it appear that
Mr. Draper’s book, entitled “Conflict Between Religion and Science,” makes
a square fight between the Bible and science. So far is this from the
truth that, on the contrary, it does not even set up a square issue
between Protestantism and science; its issue lies between Roman Catholic
religion and science. Hear him: “Then has it, _in truth_, come to this,
that Roman Christianity and science are recognized by their respective
adherents as being absolutely incompatible; they can not exist together;
one must yield to the other; mankind must make its choice—it can not have
both. While such is, perhaps, the issue as regards Catholicism, a
reconciliation of the reformation with science is not only possible, but
would easily take place if the protestant churches would only live up to
their maxim taught by Luther and established by so many years of war. That
maxim is the right of private interpretation of the scriptures. It was the
foundation of intellectual liberty.” (Did Luther say the foundation of
intellectual liberty?) But if a personal interpretation of the book of
Revelation is permissible, how can it be denied in the case of the book of
nature? In the misunderstandings that have taken place, we must ever bear
in mind the infirmities of men. The generations that immediately followed
the reformation may perhaps be excused for not comprehending the full
significance of cardinal principle, and for not on all occasions carrying
it into effect. When Calvin caused Servetus to be burnt he was animated,
not by the principles of the reformation, but by those of Catholicism,
from which he had not been able to emancipate himself completely. And when
the clergy of influential protestant confessions have stigmatized the
investigators of nature as infidels and atheists, the same may be said.
(No man should be called by a name that does not truthfully represent
him.) Now listen to Mr. Draper: “For Catholicism to reconcile itself to
science, there are formidable, perhaps insuperable obstacles in the way.
For protestantism to achieve that great result there are not.”—_Conflict
Between Religion and Science_, pp. 363, 364. Thus Draper speaks for
himself.
FACTS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS, OR WHAT CHRISTIANITY HAS DONE FOR
CANNIBALS.
The Fijians, a quarter of a century ago, were noted for cannibalism. The
following scrap of history may be of importance as a shadow to contrast
with the sunshine. It is taken from Wood’s History of the Uncivilized
Races:
The Fijians are more devoted to cannibalism than the New Zealanders, and
their records are still more appalling. A New Zealander has sometimes the
grace to feel ashamed of mentioning the subject in the hearing of an
European, whereas it is impossible to make a Fijian really feel that in
eating human flesh he has committed an unworthy act. He sees, indeed, that
the white man exhibits great disgust at cannibalism, but in his heart he
despises him for wasting such luxurious food as human flesh.... The
natives are clever enough at concealing the existence of cannibalism when
they find that it shocks the white men. An European cotton grower, who had
tried unsuccessfully to introduce the culture of cotton into Fiji, found,
after a tolerable long residence, that four or five human beings were
killed and eaten weekly. There was plenty of food in the place, pigs were
numerous, and fish, fruit and vegetables abundant. But the people ate
human bodies as often as they could get them, not from any superstitious
motive, but simply because they preferred human flesh to pork.... Many of
the people actually take a pride in the number of human bodies which they
have eaten. One chief was looked upon with great respect on account of his
feats of cannibalism, and the people gave him a title of honor. They
called him the Turtle-pond, comparing his insatiable stomach to the pond
in which turtles are kept; and so proud were they of his deeds, that they
even gave a name of honor to the bodies brought for his consumption,
calling them the “Contents of the Turtle-pond.” ... One man gained a great
name among his people by an act of peculiar atrocity. He told his wife to
build an oven, to fetch firewood for heating it, and to prepare a bamboo
knife. As soon as she had concluded her labors her husband killed her, and
baked her in the oven which her own hands had prepared, and afterward ate
her. Sometimes a man has been known to take a victim, bind him hand and
foot, cut slices from his arms and legs, and eat them before his eyes.
Indeed, the Fijians are so inordinately vain that they will do anything,
no matter how horrible, in order to gain a name among their people; and
Dr. Pritchard, who knows them thoroughly, expresses his wonder that some
chief did not eat slices from his own limbs.
“Cannibalism is ingrained in the very nature of the Fijian, and extends
through all classes of society. It is true that there are some persons who
have never eaten human flesh, but there is always a reason for it. Women,
for example, are seldom known to eat ‘bakolo,’ as human flesh is termed,
and there are a few men who have refrained from cannibalism through
superstition. Every Fijian has his special god, who is supposed to have
his residence in some animal. One god, for example, lives in a rat,
another in a shark, and so on. The worshiper of that god never eats the
animal in which his divinity resides, and as some gods are supposed to
reside in human beings, their worshipers never eat the flesh of man.”
Recent History Of The Same People In Brief.
“In the Fiji islands, where half a century ago the favorite dish of food
was human flesh, there are at present eight hundred and forty-one chapels,
and two hundred and ninety-one other places where preaching is held, with
fifty-eight missionaries busily engaged in preparing the way for others.
The membership numbers twenty-three thousand two hundred and seventy-four
persons.” _The Evangelist of January 29, 1880._ It is possible that some
infidel might have been literally eaten up had it not been for the
influence of the Bible. “According to the accounts of some of the older
chiefs, whom we may believe or not as we like, there was once a time when
cannibalism did not exist. Many years ago some strangers from a distant
land were blown upon the shores of Fiji, and received hospitably by the
islanders, who incorporated them into their own tribes, and made much of
them. But, in process of time, these people became too powerful, killed
the Fijian chiefs, took their wives and property, and usurped their
office.”
In the emergency the people consulted the priests, who said that the
Fijians had brought their misfortunes upon themselves. They had allowed
strangers to live, whereas “Fiji for the Fijians” was the golden rule, and
from that time every male stranger was to be killed and eaten, and every
woman taken as a wife. The only people free from this law were the
Tongans.
The state of the Fijians is wonderfully changed—even an American infidel
may now visit those people without being flayed and roasted and devoured.
“The Samoan islands have been entirely christianized. Out of a population
of forty thousand, thirty-five thousand are connected with Christian
churches.
“In 1830 the native Christians in India, Burmah, and North and South
Ceylon numbered 57,000. Last October there were 460,000. Facts similar in
character might be given of Madagascar, South Africa and Japan.”
_Evangelist._ What a curse (?) the Bible is to the poor heathen. It robs
them of their “long-pig,” human flesh, as well as their cruel, murderous
habits, and curses them (?) with virtue and the hope of “HEAVEN.”