420 
the words of God. But they will find it not much easier o be- 
lieve that either the Bible or its Divine Author is indifferent to 
the duty of scientific accuracy, and has offered to mankind t e 
most precious and weighty spiritual truths in a setting very mainly 
composed of physical errors and falsehoods. 
46. Man is composed of body and soul. God s messages o man 
are also twofold, containing facts that appeal to the bodily senses 
of mankind, and truths that speak more directly to their heart and 
conscience. And these two elements are as closely conjoined in the 
message, as soul and body in the person to whom the messagesare 
<nven° It is a strange and groundless fancy, that we can rejec 
the facts of the Bible, and stab to the heart its historical veracity, 
and still retain the authority of its truths unimpaired. The words 
of St. John apply here by a very close analogy. He who 
loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love Hod 
whom he hath not seen ? ” He who believes that the Bible is 
mistaken in all its notions of the physical universe,— that in 
Astronomy it follows vulgar errors, in its Cosmogony contradicts 
the clear teachings of science, and in its history of man s origin 
is wrong both in time and place, and in almost every other par- 
ticular,— how can he possibly believe that it is an inspired message 
from Heaven, on which we may rest our souls for time and tor 
eternity ? , , . . , c - 
I believe all such concessions to be as baseless in point ol science 
as they are mischievous and delusive in their moral aspect. 
Whether they are held by sincere Christians or open unbelievers, 
I think they ought to be resisted and opposed with all that depth 
of conviction which springs from a firm reliance on the teaching 
of our Lord and Master, the incarnate Son of the Most High. 
Science, and especially Geology, is now passing through an imper- 
fect and transitional stage. The time will come when all recent 
discoveries, freed from spurious additions, which have no ground 
but the rashness of premature guess-work, will be lit up with 
clear sunlight, and open out a wider and better defined landscape ; 
and while we gaze upon it, the truth, wisdom, and harmony of the 
Divine message will stand revealed to us with a completeness and 
grandeur never known before. 
o 
The Chairman.— It is now my pleasurable duty to convey our thanks to 
the Eev. Canon Birks for his admirable paper. 
The Hon. Secretary. — Professor Birks has asked me to lay before you 
the following letter, which he has received from Professor J . Clerk-Maxwell, 
F.B.S., Professor of Experimental Physics in the University ot Cambridge. 
