IV AN EPISCOPAL TRILOGY 127 



to be authorised, of these sermons, among the 

 huge mass of letters and papers which had 

 accumulated during two months' absence ; and I 

 have read them not only with attentive interest, 

 but with a feeling of satisfaction which is quite 

 new to me as a result of hearing, or reading, 

 sermons. These excellent discourses, in fact, 

 appear to me to signalise a new departure in the 

 course adopted by theology towards science, and 

 to indicate the possibility of bringing about an 

 honourable modus vivendi between the two. How 

 far the three bishops speak as accredited repre- 

 sentatives of the Church is a question to be 

 considered by and by. Most assuredly, I am not 

 authorised to represent any one but myself. But 

 I suppose that there must be a good many people 

 in the Church of the bishops' way of thinking ; 

 and I have reason to believe that, in the ranks of 

 science, there are a good many persons who, more 

 or less, share my views. And it is to these sensible 

 people on both sides, as the bishops and I must 

 needs think those who agrek with us, that my 

 present observations are addressed. They will 

 probably be astonished to learn how insignificant, 

 in principle, their differences are. 



It is impossible to read the discourses of the 

 three prelates without being impressed by the 



meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, by the Bishop of Carlisle, the Bishop of Bedford, and 

 the Bishop of Manchester. 



124 



