DR CLARKE'S ADDRESS. 165 



had stood the winter's extreme cold unscathed, while the apparently more 

 robust whin had died under its severity ; Heliosciadium inundatum ; 

 Habenaria viridis; Hippuris vulgaris; Hydrocotyle vulgaris ; Polypodium 

 dryopteris, fringing an old earth wall ; Listera ovata ; Sphagnum acuti- 

 foliuin and obtusifolium, the latter only in fruit ; Veronica scutellata ; 

 Uredo Lini ; and several species of Carex. 



Gentlemen, Whilst the rapid progress of the sciences of late years 

 the light which they mutually shed upon each other, and the nearer re- 

 lationship which they manifest, as we trace them to their source must 

 have been contemplated with pleasure by the members of this Associa- 

 tion, they must also have observed, with pain and regret, a spirit of mis- 

 guided zeal arraying itself against the results of Physical inquiry, as if 

 the discovery of facts and laws in the material world could weaken the 

 authority or invalidate the truths of Scripture. It may not be irrelevant 

 or unimportant to advert to this subject for a moment, to shew that, 

 however well-intentioned the parties may be who maintain this contro- 

 versy, they have entirely misconceived the spirit and mistaken the ob- 

 jects of Revelation ; and rather than be drawn out of their accustomed 

 circle of thought, are willing to close their eyes to the clearest demon- 

 strations of natural truth. 



The dread of finding the Book of Nature at variance with the Book 

 of Revelation is vain and groundless. They both alike proceed from the 

 Author of all truth, and, when rightly interpreted, cannot contradict each 

 other. But there is this grand difference between them : the one con- 

 tains the moral history of our species our relation to the Deity the 

 conditions of salvation, and the great mystery of the Atonement ; the 

 pages of the other lie patent to our view, and require only the use of our 

 reason and senses to decypher them. The truths and mysteries of the 

 one are disclosed to us, because they are, from their nature, beyond the 

 reach of our faculties. We make ourselves masters of the knowledge 

 revealed in the other, by the powers of our understanding, and the evi- 

 dence of our senses. The one was freely given to us, as it embodied 

 information necessary to our happiness, yet unattainable by our reason. 

 The other was unrolled as an ample volume to be studied and decyphered 

 by successive generations of mankind with increasing wonder and delight, 

 as every page continued to disclose fresh evidences of the wise and bene- 

 ficent purposes of the Almighty Author. The one is a storehouse of 

 moral and religious, the other of physical, truths. They both concur in 

 affirming the unity of the Godhead. They both declare that this glorious 

 world is His work, and that it is neither the result of chance, nor has 

 existed for ever. They are both embodied expressions of his Will, and 

 manifestations of his Power. Further than this, they have nothing in 

 common. The attempt to strengthen and confirm the authority of re- 



