Page:Science the handmaid of religion.djvu/10

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
6
The Ends of Science

nature, they have done so from a love of knowledge for its own sake, from an enthusiasm for the marvel and mystery and beauty of the world around them; from an insatiable craving of the intellectual faculties to comprehend the facts of the visible universe, even if they have surrendered the hope of discovering its cause. Science, then, in this point of view, is engaged in a spiritual work. Her office is not to make steam engines, but to investigate the laws of heat and motion, in order that the human mind may find an intellectual expression to these laws. The knowledge of these things is an end in itself; and when a new discovery is made, the human mind is conscious of having reached a further point in its history, of having gained a new joy, a fresh source of satisfaction and peace.

In claiming for science these spiritual functions, we consider her as engaged in a work analogous to that discharged by religion, for religion undoubtedly concerns the souls of men. In its subjective aspect the office of religion is to reveal to the mind the knowledge of God, to arouse in the heart emotions worthy of the nature of the Supreme Being, and to subdue the character to a condition proper to a dependent being, bound to the Creator by innumerable ties of gratitude and obedience. It is the belief of the Christian that the Supreme Being has revealed Himself to mankind chiefly in the person of His Son, the