It was always understood that plants and animals, though completely contrasted in their higher representatives, approached each other very closely in their lower and simpler forms. But they were believed not to blend.
Asa GrayFaith in order, which is the basis of science, cannot reasonably be separated from faith in an Ordainer, which is the basis of religion.
Asa GrayWe may take it to be the accepted idea that the Mosaic books were not handed down to us for our instruction in scientific knowledge, and that it is our duty to ground our scientific beliefs upon observation and inference, unmixed with considerations of a different order.
Asa Gray