THE RELATIONS BETWEEN SCIENCE AND RELIGION, ETC. 287 



fore truth. There is, of course, room for reconciliation between 

 scientists' opinions and the Word of God, and we are very glad to 

 welcome that reconciliation in the name of Science as well as in the 

 name of true Theology. 



The Dean's Eeply. 



I do not feel that I have anything to which to reply, except to 

 acknowledge the very great generosity with which the audience has 

 been kind enough to listen to my observations, and to acknowledge 

 the vote of thanks. I am very thankful indeed that what I have 

 said commends itself to the mature judgment of an audience like 

 this. 



With respect to the Chairman's observation about criticism, I 

 should like to say that, all through these discussions, I have felt that 

 since the disappearance of those great men Lightfoot and Westcott, 

 criticism has been altogether on the wrong basis, and simply because 

 it has departed from the rules which they as members of the great 

 scientific University of Cambridge learned from their rulers who in 

 Newton's Principia are strict adherents to facts. It is not my busi- 

 ness to frame hypotheses, but that has been, I may say, the sole 

 business of German critics. If you begin that process, there is really 

 no end to it. I have never been opposed to criticism in any way what- 

 ever, because criticism is the legitimate province of the human mind ; 

 critical theories, however, are another thing. You are bound to 

 criticise, but you must do it upon the basis of facts. The predomi- 

 nant theory with respect to the Old Testament involves the 

 supposition that the Jews were a people ignorant and mistaken with 

 regard to their own religion, and to suppose that one of the ablest 

 and most tenacious nations in the world had a false account of their 

 religion imposed upon them, seems to me to be preposterous. 



There is one observation of Lord Bacon's which seems to me to 

 apply to a great deal of criticism. Lord Bacon says : The faster 

 runner a man is, the further he goes wrong if he once gets off the 

 course." One observation has, I confess, amused me, and that was 

 Mr. Maunder's deprecation of his sphere as a limited one. I was 

 under the impression at Greenwich that his sphere was the stellar 

 universe, and I think that must be large enough for anyone. I am 

 very grateful for his observations, because he is living among the 



