151 
. In the firsfc P lace 1 win advert briefly to a few of the most 
important physical discoveries, chiefly astronomical, which have 
been made during the last few years, being careful to avoid 
details, and to consider them only with relation to their 
bearing on religion. 
I wiU then make a passing allusion to two books recently 
published, which exhibit perhaps the lowest stage of religious 
bebef which has been given in this century as the result of 
the final and sober conclusions of two very deep thinkers 
devoted the one to the study of philosophy, and the other to 
that of biblical criticism; and I hope that a few minutes will 
not be wasted in considering what is meant with regard to 
our religious and social prospects by the sad conclusions 
arrived at m both these works. 
finally, I will devote the remainder of the Address to the 
consideration of the Atomic Philosophy, with reference, of 
course, but not exclusive reference, to the Belfast Address. 
And, m this assembly, I am neither ashamed nor afraid to beg 
from our Almighty God and Father, in whom we all believe, 
a blessing on the results of our present inquiries. 
Astronomical discoveries have been chiefly made in the 
descriptive and physical branches of the science ; they have 
been very brilliant, and have attracted the attention of lar^e 
numbers of people. It is therefore very desirable that clear 
notions of the extent and nature of these discoveries should 
be gained by all who wish to understand how they affect 
religion.. It will be convenient to consider separately those 
discoveries which have been made, chiefly by means of the 
spectroscope, with regard to the solar system ; and secondly 
with regard to the fixed stars and nebulae. 
Let us take the sun first, about which the amount of dis- 
covery is, thanks to the unwearied researches of Mr. Lockyer, 
Monsieur Janssen, and others, very great indeed ; and, first, 
with regard to his parallax or distance from us, the researches 
for the determination of this element will show, perhaps 
better than anything else, the activity of science in the pre- 
sent age. It had been suspected for some time that the solar 
parallax, as deduced by the famed astronomer Encke from the 
transit of Venus of 1769, was considerably too small, and ob- 
servations made of the planet Mars in the northern and 
southern hemispheres in the year 1862, gave a result which it 
18 j 16V a differs from the truth by a very small quantity in- 
deed. . At about the same time experiments made to deter- 
mine independently the velocity of light in connection with 
