ANNUAL MEETING. 11 



I need not inform this large meeting that there is not merely 

 bold infidelity, but that which is far more pathetic, a manifest 

 unrest, which falls on thousands in the present day — that a very 

 decided unsettlement of thought extends to the furthermost parts 

 of the earth ; and in the great city of Shanghai, with which I have 

 been most concerned during the last eight years, it is not so much 

 bold outspoken infidelity that I have in my humble efforts to 

 contend with, as the free thought that pervades the place. We 

 have not to meet so much the open and bold attacks on revealed 

 truth and the inspiration of the Bible, as a spirit of Agnosticism; 

 and I have turned to the Transactions of this Society as a treasure 

 of untold wealth and importance, and have been quite sure that I 

 should find there, not what is fallaciously called science, but 

 what is rightly so-called — the result of a careful investigation of 

 the economy of nature and science in all its branches ; not a hasty, 

 but a calm and impartial investigation accompanied by a serene 

 faith and trust in the Bible. I suppose it is generally thought that 

 the firmer your faith in the Bible may be the more cramped will 

 be your interest in and investigation of science : that is a mistake. 

 The more unwavering our belief in the truth of the Bible and 

 the more firm our faith in the Bible, the more free will be our 

 investigation of science. Surely that is the truth that we find in 

 the investigations of the Victoria Institute. 



We have been told that some of our Papers have been translated 

 into different languages. Now a remarkable change is coming over 

 China at the present time. A great system of competitive exami- 

 nations has prevailed there for more than a thousand years, by 

 which the lowest in the land can rise to the highest position. This 

 is carried on within a certain definite circle of knowledge — we 

 should consider it a very limited circle — divination, philosophy, 

 poetry, history of China and subjects of that kind. Now this 

 circle has been broken into and is being expanded before the 

 investigations of western science ; questions of geology, electricity, 

 mining, and western history are being put, and the Chinese are 

 now scrambling almost for books of science, and books of science 

 are being translated largely by missionaries and largely also by 

 members of official bodies, the customs service and the consular 

 service in China, for the use of the learned Chinese. Now I ask 

 what better books on science can we place in the hands of these 

 eager and thirsty Chinese than the Transactions, or Extracts 



