Sermon by the Bishop of Dunedin.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7066, 19 January 1891, Page 1

Sermon by the Bishop of Dunedin.

— ♦ At the morning service at the Cathedral yesterday the pulpit was occupied by the Eight Eev Dr Nevill, Bishop of Dunedin, who preached a sermon of a nature appropriate to the occasion of the meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science. There was a large congregation, and many of the leading members of the Association were present. His Lordship took as his text Genesis 11., 4to 8 — " Theße are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. And every plant of the field before it was on the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew : for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." There were people who said tbat the narrative of the creation of the world as given by the book of Genesis was not reconcilable with the deductions drawn from the facts ascertained by science. But thore were absolutely no grounds to warrant such an opinion, and the day waß coming which would witness the perfect concord of the theologian, the student of the book of God's word, and the man of science, the student of the book of Nature. He could not believe that God'a two volumes contradicted one another. Much of the attack tbat had been levelled at the biblical story of the creation was founded on theory, which, no matter how unassailable it might appear, waß only theory at best, and could not be accepted as conclusive. No chain was stronger than its weakest link, and every prominent man of science knew how some hypothesis of the greatest apparent probability had been completely upset by the ascertainment of anew fact. The theologian, also, though he knew thathisscience was one of perfeot truth, could not be sure that he comprehended the exact meaning of the Book, which contained its revelation, in every part, because of the difficulty of always ascertaining whether the translation was correct, and because of the changes the meaning of words had undergone in the course of time. The pronouncement that the version of the. creation given by the Bible and that given by science were inconsistent, if not irreconcilable, was generally made by people who did not understand what the statements of the Bible really were. His Lordship then proceeded with a comparison of the two accounts, to show that there was no conflict between the story aa told in Genesis and the facts that have been brought to light by scientific research, concluding with a few wordß as to the reasons which had led him to deal with the matter which formed the subject of hiß Bermon.

At the evening service there was a very large congregation. The sermon was preached by the Yen Archdeacon Harper, who took for his text the latter half of verse 15, ohapter iii., of the First Epistle of Sb Peter : " And be ye always ready to give an answer to every man that asketh you, a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear." The sermon was based on the argument that the advancement of science is adverse to adherence to faith. The preacher gave a very eloquent address, summing up his examination of the modern relations between scientists and theologians, with the quotation " Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive the things God hath prepared for those who love Him."