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. It would have been well for modern civilization if
the Roman Church had done the same.

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
has ever occupied a position so imperious--none has ever had such
wide-spread 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.

As to Science, she has never sought to ally herself to civil
power. She has never attempted to throw odium or inflict social
ruin on any human being. She has never subjected any one to
mental torment, physical torture, least of all to death, for the
purpose of upholding or promoting her ideas. She presents herself
unstained by cruelties and crimes. But in the Vatican-- we have
only to recall the Inquisition--the hands that are now raised in
appeals to the Most Merciful are crimsoned. They have been
steeped in blood!