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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES
55
THIRD LECTURE.
SCIENCE.
(A) The subject of this evening's lecture is the Religion of Science. The expression Religion of Science is a somewhat misleading one since what is understood nowadays by the term science is a body of materialistic doctrines that subscribe to no religious belief. What is meant here is Religion as a science rather than a set of doctrines or tenets of any particular body or class of men.
The term science is the opposite of nescience, and implies accurate kuowledge of existing substances and their properties together with that of the true principle of causation of things,--a knowledge that is free from error, doubt and ignorance and that may be tested by experiment. Exact knowledge is what is signified by the term, and, apart from reliable testimony, exact knowledge is obtained only after observation and experiment by finite man.
The first axiom of science is the constancy of nature. This means that substances and their attributes are eternal and unvarying ; they never cease to be and are never produced from nothing. This is proved by the experience of men, both in the present and the
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