250m ANNIVERSARY 7 



that the discoveries of Science discharge a truly prophetic office 

 in making known to mankind the facts of the Universe, in which 

 we believe we may read the record of the Will of the Supreme 

 Mind. And in deepest humility we express our conviction that 

 the God whose laws are discerned in evolution, gravitation, and 

 the conservation of energy is He whose laws will be no less 

 clearly discerned in love, forgiveness, and redemption, in the 

 spiritual existence and in the gift of immortality. 



' We stand, as it were, bareheaded, while you proclaim to 

 a solemnized and attentive world the wonderful mysteries of the 

 Universe. You have added sanctity to the knowledge of phe- 

 nomena ; you have laid deep and lasting the foundations of 

 accurate research ; you have quickened intellectual life with the 

 enthusiasm for the investigation of truth. You bid us not stand, 

 but go forward. 



' In conclusion, let me remind you, while I bring to an end this 

 word of welcome to our Abbey, that we revere in this place the 

 great names which are famous on your roll of distinction, and 

 which are no less famous among the memorials committed to our 

 keeping. Newton and Darwin, Herschel and Adams, Humphry 

 Davy and Woodward, Buckland, Lyell and Joule, William 

 Spottiswoode and Stokes and Kelvin, how varied, how illustrious 

 is this galaxy of men, so simple in their lives, so potent in their 

 influence ! It is not for me to speak. But I suppose we should 

 not be wrong to assume that even with the light which the work 

 of these great men has shed upon the pathway of the progress of 

 mankind, we have only so far travelled a little way out of darkness. 

 What may we not in all humility pray for and expect from 

 the discoveries of Natural Science in the next two hundred and 

 fifty years ? 



' That in the future, as in the past, the work of your Society 

 may be blessed to the increase of human knowledge, for the good 

 of our fellow creatures, and in the maintenance of just and 

 charitable opinion among all classes of the community, is, I am 

 sure, the earnest prayer of every man who has the fear of God in 

 his heart. 



' " If Reason may not command," said Whichcote, some two 

 hundred and fifty -years ago, "it will condemn." And it is 



