EDITOR'S TABLE. 



411 



teaching institution, it is prepared to do 

 full justice to tlie claims of science, in- 

 stead of making science bend to the re- 

 quirements of a stereotyped creed. The 

 reverend Principal Grant, of Kingston, 

 Ontario, one of the chief speakers on 

 the occasion in question, expressed him- 

 self as follows: "The people are be- 

 ginning to care less and less for contro- 

 versial divinity. . . . All colleges now 

 profess to study the Bible scientifically, 

 and the churches therefore must accejit 

 conclusions arrived at in accordance with 

 canons of universal validity, or perish 

 morally in the presence of the scientific- 

 ally educated world. Science is march- 

 ing on irresistibly because there is no 

 sectarianism in science. There can be 

 none, because reason is oney The Eev. 

 Dr. Burwash, President of Victoria Col- 

 lege (Methodist), which is also atfiliatf d 

 with Toronto University, spoke with 

 equal boldness. " For my own part," he 

 said, " I have long since ceased to lecture 

 on polemical theology, and have adopted 

 the historical methods of comparative 

 theology, striving from the center of 

 union of all our doctrines to work out 

 into a more perfect grasp of truth than 

 could ever be possible fi-om within the 

 Chinese wall of our own ' ism.' There 

 are men who think that in religion the 

 scientific spirit has no place, and that 

 the dogmatic must reign supreme. . . . 

 AVhat is the scientific spirit? It is the 

 simple, honest desire to get at the truth. 

 It is the candid willingness to accept the 

 truth wherever we find it, and no mat- 

 ter how it may cross our preconceived 

 opinion. Has it come to this that our 

 creeds are more precious than the truth, 

 that we must shut our eyes lest the 

 blazing light of the nineteenth century 

 should reveal some imperfection in the 

 form, or even in the matter, of our his- 

 toric creeds? "' 



Principal Grant is a Presbyterian, 

 Dr. Burwash is a Methodist, but both 

 are on the highroad of modern thought ; 

 that is to say, both believe in the effi- 

 cacy of the scientific method for the dis- 



covery of truth, and are prepared to ac- 

 cept whatever conclusions a right use 

 of reason may establish. We must con- 

 gratulate the Canadian public on the 

 support they give to such men, and the 

 liberty they allow them to speak out 

 the best thought that is in them. It is 

 needless to say that the fearless attitude 

 of mind which these two college presi- 

 dents display is the only safe one for 

 religious teachers. Young men will 

 give them their confidence and yield to 

 their influence, if they see that they are 

 dealing honestly with them, and trying 

 to open their minds to the .truth, not 

 to close them against the truth. There 

 has been too much of the latter in times 

 past, and indeed there is too much yet ; 

 but a better day is dawning in the edu- 

 cational world, and there is reason to 

 hope that before very long the old strife 

 between theology and science will have 

 worn itself out. In that day science 

 will be left free to discover truth in any 

 and every field of investigation ; while 

 religion, inheriting all of value that the- 

 ology ever possessed, will not only sur- 

 vive, but have its recognized and as- 

 sured position, as the inextinguishable 

 tendency of man's moral nature to wor- 

 ship the Source of all law, and to shelter 

 itself in the belief in an Infinite Right- 

 eousness. 



FOOD FOB THE GULLIBLE. 

 Thibet is a very distant and inac- 

 ces>ible country, and therefore we may 

 expect very remarkable things to hap- 

 pen in it. It is, as we know, the clas- 

 sic land of occultism, the favorite habi- 

 tat of ma/^a^mas and the most conven- 

 ient place from which to slide into the 

 astral plane. There the enlightened 

 ones read minds just as easily as we 

 plodding "Westerns the gigantic letter- 

 ing on our dead walls, pick up knowl- 

 edge of all kinds by a simple effort of 

 volition, and not only profess a con- 

 tempt for time and place but practically 

 prove to the satisfaction of the well- 

 disposed that, so far as they are con- 



