11 
require, I think, a perpetual succession of soldiers to encounter that crop of 
error which is always varying and shifting its ground, which is from time to 
time springing up in one place when extirpated in another, and which is in 
all instances to be pitied, and in many to be respected, especially where it is 
the product of an outspoken honesty, even if it will not accept the truth. 
Such a work does demand that the good and intellectual alike should concur 
in offering a rational solution of a rational difficulty. There is a paragraph 
in the report which speaks of the prodigons dissemination of quasi- 
philosophical and pseudo-scientific writings of an avowedly atheistic character 
that is going on, I apprehend, in India and in our colonies. I happen to 
have lived for many years in the colonies, and I confess that I have not my- 
self been struck with that prevalence or domination of atheistic publications 
which is here alluded to. {t may, however, have been of recent growth. I 
do not think that the clergy are the best men to remove the intellectual doubts 
that are started at the present day. Even granting that they are qualified 
for the task, I am not at all certain that they are the men to perform 
it. A certain degree of suspicion attaches itself to their advocacy. A 
society secular in its constitution, such as this Institute, embracing 
men of every profession, of every kind of experience, and belonging 
to every sphere of life, is what is really needed to meet the ever-varying 
and shifting forms of error which arise around us. The Victoria In- 
stitute has of late enjoyed several years of success. It is, however, far 
less known than it deserves to be, and I think we must all very greatly 
reoret that many men of science, eminent in their respective walks, and un- 
doubted believers in Revelation, have not already given it that support, which, 
nevertheless, they do give to the cause this Society represents. (Hear, hear.) 
It has been the most ardent desire of the Council to bring into its ranks men 
of this kind; and various men of eminence bave been induced to join the 
Society and assist in the work it undertakes. Nevertheless, there is still a 
large clientéle from which other eminent advocates might be drawn for 
the purpose of strengthening our hands (Hear). Ishould like to mention 
iu book which fell into my hands not long ago. It is written by a 
French judge, and is evidently the outcome of a judicial mind, being 
characterised by that brilliancy of logic which is so often displayed by 
French authors of that stamp. It is called Religion de Jésus Christ, and is 
the work of M. Auguste Nicolas. It is directed against a vast number of 
errors traceable to the writings of Renan, to whom is attributable many of 
the forms of infidelity that are now widely circulated. There is one thing 
from which we may take consolation, and that is, that, if this Agnosticism 
now prevails among us, so also are the efforts of the Christian advocates 
reviving, strengthening, and extending every day. As we sée in that as 
yet mysterious science of electricity, resistance is the parent of light, so do 
we find that these various forms of error cause an illumination to break over 
the sphere of Christian belief, altering its aspect and character to a sur- 
prising degree. TI have not ventured to address myself to any specific errors 
