midnight
Here we see , indeed , as ` through a glass , darkly . ' Yet I believe the day is already dawning when scientific data will not only cease to be antagonistic to Scriptural accounts , but will deepen the impress of Divinity on the pages of Holy Writ ; when ` the torch shall be taken out of the hand of the infidel , and set to burn in the temple of the living God ' ; when Science and Religion shall link hands . I revere the lonely thinkers to whom the world is indebted for its great inventions . I honor the tireless laborers who toil in laboratories ; who sweep midnight skies in search of new worlds ; who unheave primeval rocks , hunting for footsteps of Deity ; and I believe that every scientific fact will ultimately prove but another lamp planted along the path which leads to a knowledge of Jehovah ! Ah ! it is indeed peculiarly the duty of Christians ` to watch , with reverence and joy , the unveiling of the august brow of Nature by the hand of Science ; and to be ready to call mankind to a worship ever new ' ! Human thought subserves many useful , nay , noble , ends ; the Creator gave it , as a powerful instrument , to improve man 's temporal condition ; but oh , sir , I speak of what I know , when I say : alas , for that soul who forsakes the divine ark , and embarks on the gilded toys of man 's invention , hoping to breast the billows of life and be anchored safely in the harbor of eternal rest !