The lecturer classed the present opposition of the Catholics to the Free School system in this country among the long list of battles between science and theology and concluded his lecture as follows:
"But, my friends, I will not weary you with so recent a chapter in the history of the great warfare extending through the centuries. There are cheering omens. The greatest and best men in the churches--the men standing at centers of thought--are insisting with power, more and more, that religion shall no longer be tied to so injurious a policy--that searchers for truth, whether in Theology or Natural Science, shall work on as friends, sure that, no matter how much at variance they may at times seem to be, the truths they reach shall finally be fused into each other. No one need fear the result. No matter whether science shall complete her demonstration that man has been on the earth six thousand years or six hundred thousand. No matter whether she reveal new ideas of the Creator or startling relations between his creatures--the result, when fully thought out, will serve and strengthen religion not less than science. The very finger of the Almighty has written on history that science must be studied by means proper to itself, and in no other way. That history is before us all. No one can gainsay it. It is decisive, for it is this: There has never been a scientific theory framed for the use of Scriptural texts, which has been made to stand. This fact alone shows that our wonderful volume of sacred literature was not given for any such purpose as that to which so many earnest men have endeavored to wrest it. The power of that volume has been mighty indeed. It has inspired the best deeds our world has known. Despite the crusts which men have formed about it--despite the fetters which they have placed upon it--Christianity has blessed age after age of the past, and will go on as a blessing through age after age of the future. Let the Warfare of Science, then, be changed. Let it be a warfare in which religion and science shall stand together as allies, not against each other as enemies. Let the fight be for truth of every kind against falsehood of every kind--for justice against injustice--for right against wrong--for beauty against deformity--for goodness against vice--and the great warfare which has brought so many sufferings, shall bring to the earth God's richest blessings."