6 THE ROYAL SOCIETY 



' We look back with regret upon any occasion when the cause 

 of truth on any of its many sides has been compromised by the 

 attitude of its defenders ; or when the spirit of charity and 

 toleration has been forgotten in the wretched atmosphere of 

 controversy. 



' Times are changed. I believe I may claim to speak in the 

 name of the whole world of contemporary Christian thought, 

 when in this Abbey I give expression to the gratitude which, as 

 a rule, we clergy have little opportunity to render, for the amazing 

 enrichment of human thought which has resulted from the patient 

 researches of Natural Science during the past two hundred and fifty, 

 and in particular during the past eighty, years. We thank God for 

 the great and glorious work that has been done by the men of 

 science; for the widening of human thought ; for the elevation com- 

 municated to the methods and ideals of study. " Science," as has 

 finely been said by an eminent religious teacher in our own day 

 " science is truly a revelation. . . . Instead of the round world which 

 cannot be moved, every star that twinkles in the sky becomes 

 a fiery sun whirling through the deeps of space. Instead of the 

 six days of creation, we look down vistas of time to which 

 a thousand years are no more than a watch in the night. Instead 

 of repeated acts of creation, we see a mighty chain of life 

 stretching upwards from the sea- weeds and the sponges to where 

 shall we put a limit to all-enduring patience and all-sovereign 

 goodness ? " 



' With all humility we express our grateful obligation for the 

 benefits which for a quarter of a millennium have been rendered in 

 this country by the Royal Society. In no small measure it has 

 been due to the weight of wise opinion created by its studies and 

 observations, that the intellectual life of the people has emerged 

 so far as it has from the influence of the Middle Ages. The work 

 of the Royal Society has tended to elevate and purify thought. 

 It is untrammelled by party politics. Its studies overleap the 

 barriers of race and language. They make for the peace of the 

 world, as well as for the well-being of every class. They con- 

 tinually contribute to the promotion of Unity. Truth is one; 

 and however feebly our words may express it, yet we are convinced 



1 Gwatkin, Knowledge of God, ii. 275. 



