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ORDINARY MEETING.* 
H. Capman Jones, Esq., in the Chair. 
The Minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed, and the 
following elections were announced :— 
Members :—The Rev. Canon W. Barker, M.A., London ; Professor G. 
W. Curtis, M.D., Vice-Chancellor of the University of the State of New 
York, United States; C. A. Vince, Esq., M.A., Fellow C.C. Cambridge, 
Head Master of Mill Hill School ; Rev. Joseph Wood, M.A., Principal of 
Wesley College, Nottingham. 
Hon: CorresponDENts :—Professor H. W. Parker, Professor of Natural 
History, Iowa College, United States ; Principal W. N. Willis, B.A., 
St. John’s Coll., Camb. ; Ascham School, Eastbourne. 
The following Paper was read by the Author :— 
MODERN SCIENCE AND NATURAL RELIGION. By 
the Rev. C. Goprrey Asuwin, M.A. 
HERE is always a tendency to over-estimate the personal 
and the present; and it would be presumptuous to 
anticipate the verdict of succeeding generations on the nine- 
teenth century, in which our lot is cast. But there is a 
general consensus of opinion amongst its contemporaries that 
it constitutes one of the critical periods of human history, 
leading up to some great climax, if not to the greatest, in the 
world’s history. And the question occurs, To what do all the 
mighty changes by which it is characterised tend ?—to a happier 
state of things, or to something like moral and political chaos ? 
These changes manifest themselves in three marked lines :— 
Political changes,—changes in which the constitution of 
civilised lands, brought about by home reforms, are greater 
even than the national changes which have been brought 
about by war. 
Religious changes,—Christian activity greater than in any 
previous period since the Apostolic days, so that the nine- 
teenth century is emphatically the missionary century of the 
world; but, accompanying this activity, a more wide-spread 
and open scepticism than in any previous time. 
Scientific changes,—a truly marvellous advance in the 
knowledge of nature and some of the laws by which she is 
* May 6, 1889. 
