12 
which it is the duty of this Society to combat. I have rather desired to 
inculcate the doctrine of forbearance for error, and charity towards those who 
have not yet come to the light of divine truth. I am one of those who 
believe that the sphere of moral evil is narrowly circumscribed both in space 
and in time ; that there will be a time which will seem, as it were, to-morrow 
when it arrives, when moral evil will pass away from the face of God’s 
creation, and when the blessedness and light of Christianity, with holiness 
and happiness as its fruit, will be the inheritance of every intelligent 
creature. (Hear, hear.) 
Rey. Principal Riaa, D.D. (in the unavoidable absence of Professor Stokes, 
F.R.S.) seconded the resolution, saying,—It was only as I entered this room . 
that I received the request to second this resolution ; therefore, all I can do 
is to perform this duty with such obviously suggested remarks as may not 
be inappropriate to the occasion. I cannot second the resolution, that the 
report be received and thanks accorded to the council and officers of 
the Institute, without congratulating our indefatigable honorary secretary, 
Captain Petrie, on the results that have been, in great measure through 
his exertions, achieved. ((Hear, hear.) A more devoted secretary than 
Captain Petrie, one more entirely consecrated to the prosperity and 
interests of this Society, in every shape and form, or one who would 
give up his time—I may say his life—more absolutely to the duties he 
so ably performs, we could not obtain. (Hear, hear.) I am glad that, 
having had the opportunity during many years of knowing how he does 
his work, Iam enabled to take advantage of the present occasion and give 
utterance to these words as at least'a relief to my own sense of obligation 
to him. I think that we are all to be congratulated on the condition 
in which this Society at present stands. (Hear, hear.) It has of late 
years been growing in influence, and the number of its members has so 
rapidly increased, that not only have deaths and withdrawals been covered, 
but large accessions from year to year to the standing number of members 
enrolled in the Society have been realised. This, when we take into 
consideration all that it involves, is a matter for very great thankfulness. 
In this busy world, in this world of London engagements, wherein persons 
are continually solicited to embark in more undertakings than they can 
compass, and to connect themselves with more societies than they con- 
sistently ought to join, it is a great matter that we should have been able to 
keep up the number of our supporters, many of whom are from abroad. 
One would hardly have supposed that the subjects dealt with by this 
Institute would be popular, or the papers in its Journal widely read. 
Many of those papers are on topics that are more or less abstruse ; none of 
them are sensational; while the bulk have relation to an immediate and 
intimate knowledge of science, which is not yet very extensively spread 
wmong the various populations of the world, even in the case of those which 
are Christian; therefore, I think that, under all the circumstances, We 
have great reason to be thankful for the position in which the Institute 
