This verse and the hymn of which it is a part are never sung in church today, and I well remember as a young theological student, with strong evangelical views, pouring scorn on this eulogy to the glorious ascent of modern man. It was written at the time of the dawn of the scientific and technological revolution which was to change the face of man's life on earth. Listen to this teeth-setting verse from the same hymn:
As we near the end of the 20th century, even the most humanistic of minds must, at least, give rise to a cynical grin at Symond's idealistic sentiments. I'm not thinking of just two disastrous and costly world wars, nor of the carnage of numerous other conflicts, with their terrorism and ethnic cleansing, but the benefits and the bane of that glorious march of science and technology which so enthralled our Victorian antecedents.
Of the blessings and especially for those of us living in the Western World there can be no doubt. Life is better, safer, more satisfying, and in many respects happier than it was for the slum-dwellers of our great cities at the turn of the century. The National Health Service, celebrating its first fifty years, for all its troubles, would have been unthinkable when William Booth founder of the Salvation Army was working for the redemption and betterment of the poor of the East End of London in the last quarter of the 19th century.
But with the advance has come, if not always the doom scenario, a palpable unease and underlying fear of what the future might bring. Obviously the splitting of the atom and its consequences do conjure up the possibility of disaster if not for the whole, certainly large sections of the human race. It is no surprise that some of the nuclear scientists who pioneered the work were horrified by what they had released upon the world. And whilst the Cold War is over, the possibility of some maniac (political or otherwise) getting his hands on some second-hand warheads from the collapsed Soviet Union is very real.
But there is the greater and more immediate concern over recent advances in medical science: in-vitro sterilisation and the whole sphere of gene technology. Clearly many infertile couples have benefited enormously from the "test-tube" baby applications. But surrogate motherhood practices and the use of sperm from deceased fathers have raised intense moral questions. Not to mention the possibilities that arise from cloning techniques and the impersonal manipulation of genes to determine in advance not only the nature of animals or plants but also of human beings.
It appears, on the face of it, that God is not only pushed into the tiny corners of man's ignorance but is thrown out of the universe for ever. Yet the irony of our post-modern age is that our increased power and control of our environment and the "building-blocks" of our very existence demands from us a greater faith in the necessity for a purposeful universe and a stronger, more objective moral ability to handle the discoveries and developments of our scientific age. In short we need more, and not less of the right kind of religion on earth.
By religion, I mean basically the acceptance of the existence and authority of a higher Power than man. And by this Power, I mean the God who has revealed himself as our Creator, Heavenly Father and Redeemer in Christ. This is not to imply that other religions cannot teach us anything about the way life should be lived on earth, but that the clearest and most complete help we need is found in the Christian Faith.
However one thing is certain, we cannot put the clock back on scientific discovery and technological advance. And whilst there are in the U.S.A. and elsewhere religious sects who try to live a life of two centuries ago, cut off from the paraphernalia of modern living, most sensible people acknowledge the benefits of modern energy sources and particularly advances in modern medicine, including keyhole surgery, transplants, antibiotics, contraceptives and even in-vitro fertilisation.
Putting it crudely, man has been mucking about with nature ever since he set foot, or appeared in one form or another upon this planet. And, practically from the beginning, man has had the capacity both to advance and to regress in matters concerning his life and destiny.
In principle this is why Jesus Christ went to the Cross and rose from the dead, so that evil deeds and stupid mistakes might be dealt with and that our lives might be changed by the power of God. We need both common sense and the wisdom of God to use the powers of scientific discovery and experimentation aright, in both fulfilling God's will and bringing blessing to others.
We need to be open and honest about both the moral and practical issues thrown up by diverse expressions of human sexuality, by different life forms resulting from genetic engineering, by the ending of suffering through practices of euthanasia, by pollution of the natural environment by technological development and so on.
Quick and easy answers or solutions will not necessarily spring out of the scriptures, nor will traditional moral criteria automatically fit the bill, as it were. Simply going back to Victorian moral values, or re-asserting Reformation principles, or rediscovering primitive Christianity will not necessarily make all things right.
As Christians we have to believe that the eternal God has a word for our time, with all its bewildering change and moral confusion, that is true and consistent with all that has been already revealed, but which will ring true in the minds and hearts of those whose lives are not totally twisted by pride and arrogance and given up to self-interest.
Also we, as Christians, must recognise that we are, to some degree, trapped in a world where there rages and not always just beneath the surface, a fierce conflict between what can still only be described as good and evil. One of the main planks of evolutionary theory is the underlying contest between opposing forces - the weakest to the wall and the survival of the fittest. Nature from one point of view is "red in tooth and claw." The process of birth, growth and life alongside decay and death continues on earth and beyond, throughout the Universe.
So it isn't surprising that an easy consensus, even of Christian opinion, doesn't necessarily appear on these matters. But, in spite of the conflict and the current rebellion against Biblical and traditional mores, God in Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit of truth and of love and of peace, who if we are willing to place all before Him will lead us safely forward, will provide the spiritual and moral vision needed by the Church today.
The more secular man's life on earth opens up on every front of scientific and sociological advance, the greater the conflicts, the more feverish the solutions offered, the more we need God at the centre and the more we need the values of his Kingdom, even to make life bearable never mind safe, happy and fulfilling.
Douglas Graham