UNIV. OF CALIFORNIA PROLOGUE The honor of delivering this course of lectures I sincerely appreciate, and I can show my gratitude no more genuinely than by adhering closely to the purpose of the founder. The foundation was the gift of Mr. John Calvin McNair, a graduate of this University of the class of 1849. His surname indicates that he sprang from that sturdy Scotch-Irish stock whose far-sighted patriotism and intense interest in education gave North Carolina the honor of establishing this the first university created in this country by legislative enactment. His Christian name, John Calvin, attests the stern piety of his ancestors. One born of such blood and traditions would perforce be dedicated from birth both to religion and the concerns of the mind. Calvinism was an iron system of far ranging and closely articulated logic, centered around a majestic vision of AIMHOHLIAD RELIGIOUS CERTITUDE a Sovereign Almighty Will, and wherever that mighty creed cast its gloom and its glory there sprang up strong men consecrated to truth and liberty. As Mr. McNair graduated in 1849, he was in the fulness of his intellectual vigor in 1859 when Darwin published his epochmaking book on the Origin of Species. That volume kindled a fierce controversy which was carried into every hamlet in Christendom, and caused every thinking man to examine the foundations of his creed. A vigorous, militant Orthodoxy unhesitatingly joined issue with a science so revolutionary. A graduate of this University, bearing such a name and having in his blood a strain which carries with it an inherent faith in a sovereign God, could have been no indifferent spectator of the earnest debate; the battle between the tradition of his fathers and the new affirmations must have been waged with intense energy in his own soul. I surmise that during his mature years it was a very vital problem with him how to be loyal to the faith of his fathers, and yet be openminded to whatever truths science had to teach. Doubtless he settled for himself and to his own satisfaction the relationship between the ancient creed and the new spirit abroad in the world. And I imagine that out of those years of intellectual struggle grew the purpose of this lectureship; namely, that the young men of this institution might, for generations to come, receive some help when they too should meet the same essential problem. For this debate between Science and Religion will go on to the end of time. It is more than a struggle between two rival systems of thought; it is the adjustment of two distinct tempers of mind. The conflict goes even deeper. It has its origin in the very nature of man himself. It is a debate between the critical intellect and that inner spirit which would fain believe and aspire and rest. It begins when the boy in college feels the incompatability between his new knowledge and his boyhood notions which he invariably con fuses with the faith of the Church, and it revives whenever the things which are seen appear at variance with the things which are unseen-whenever the critical understanding questions the needs of the heart and the intuitions of the spirit. As stated by the founder, the purpose of this lectureship is "to show the mutual bearing of science and theology upon each other and to prove the existence of attributes (as far as may be) of God from Nature." To draw from the material universe proofs of the existence of God, or indications of his nature, is a task quite alien to my abilities. Every shoemaker should stick to his last. Only one who has spent a lifetime in scientific research is capable of speaking with any semblance of authority on such a subject. Only he can have first hand knowledge of established facts and of their legitimate implications. It requires prolonged and diligent study in any department to form a dependable judgment upon the value and meaning of its data. Broadly speaking, |