47 
I have of late sought, I shall look upon this kind gift as a memorial of many 
ha PPy years, spent in the best of labours, and under the direction and super- 
intendence of a council remarkable for its unity and its generous and kindly 
feeling to all— certainly to me on every occasion ; in fact, I feel that your 
Lordship and the council have always been too kind, too indulgent to my 
many faults. I have never had to trespass on your Lordship "but I have 
afterwards felt that I could not have asked more than has been accorded to 
me : and with the council it has been the same — ever kind in expressing their 
desires, and ready to help with the results of their mature knowledge. There- 
fore I feel that I cannot fully express how fortunate I have been. May I 
add, that one and not the least of my pleasures in receiving this gift will 
be the placing it in the hands of her who has cheered and encouraged me in 
many a difficulty. (Cheers.) 
The Rev. Professor Birks then read the following address 
TEE ANNUAL ADDRESS. 
THE UNCERTAINTIES OF MODERN PHYSICAL 
SCIENCE. 
My Lord Shaftesbury, Ladies and Gentlemen. 
The word Science, now so much in vogue, occurs once 
only in our English version of the New Testament. It is where 
St. Paul counsels Timothy to avoid “ profane and vain babblings 
and oppositions of science falsely so called ; which some profes- 
sing, have erred concerning the faith.” 
Those Gnostic heresies and speculations, to which the warn- 
ing first applied, are extinct long ago. Nothing is left of them 
but some fossil skeletons in the works of the Fathers. But 
oppositions of pretended science to the Christian faith have 
revived in other forms, and exist at the present day. In the 
name of scientific progress, faith in God, in a life to come, and 
in supernatural revelation, has been vigorously assailed. The 
chief leaders in this philosophical sect may be called Agnos- 
tics, and their creed Agnosticism. They affirm that of a Creator, 
a First Cause, a Supreme Governor of the universe, nothing 
whatever can be known. But by way of compensation they 
claim that their own advance in natural knowledge is ct all but 
infinite,” compared with their predecessors. From this lofty 
