text:  In general owing to the very sacredness of the subject we feel disposed in all suspicious cases to pass over in silence both accusation and defence; and if in the present instance we depart for a moment from this line of conduct it is only to give expression to a conviction--which we share we believe with all who have both the interest of science and the interest of theology at heart--that the fair efforts of the scientific enquirer should never be impeded by needless objections of a theological character