DR. Clarke's address. 165 



Gentlemon, — Whilst the rapid progress of the sciences of late years 

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

 relationship which they manifest as we trace them to their source — 

 must have been contemplated with pleasure by the members of this 

 Association, they must also have observed, with pain and regret, a 

 spirit of misguided 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 Scriptiire. 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 controversy, they have entirely misconceived the 

 spirit and mistaken the objects of Revelation ; and rather than be 

 drawn out of their accustomed circle of thought, are willing to close 

 their eyes to the clearest demonstrations of natural truth. 



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

 of Eevelation is vain and groundless. They both alike proceed from 

 the Author of all truth, and, when rightly interpreted, cannot contra- 

 dict each other. But there is this grand difference between them : the 

 one contains 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 decipher 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 evidence 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 beneficent 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 manifest- 

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

 The attempt to strengthen and confirm the authority of revelation by 

 the aid of science, and, in turn, to frame theories in accordance with 

 pre-conceived notions of the intent and purport of Scripture, has 

 operated to the serious injury both of natural and revealed truth. For 

 some have been deterred altogether from scientific investigation, lest 

 they shoiild discover anything to shake their reliance on Scripture ; 

 others, having seen one mode of interpretation confirmed by the con- 

 clusions of science in a certain state of knowledge, have had their faith 

 shaken, and their religious feelings jarred, by the disclosure of new 



