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Roman emperor. I am sure you will not feel less indebted to Dr. Burnett 
for the great mass of information he has given us in his paper, than gratified 
by the noble love of truth which pervades it from beginning to end. (Hear 
hear.) 
Captain Fishbourne. — I was very much struck by the observations which 
Dr. Burnett has made with respect to the disorganization of the human mind 
which had resulted from the fall of Adam. Those who disputed the truth of 
the events related in the Bible, ignore the fact that something had taken 
place with respect to the mind of man which constantly caused him to run 
contrary to his whole reason. How was this accounted for ? The opposition 
of science to revelation appeared to him to proceed in a great measure from 
ignorance on the part of those who raised the objections— ignorance of science 
and ignorance of Scripture. An instance of that was afforded in the objec- 
tion to the passage in the Bible with regard to the serpent. Here was a very 
complex question, a very difficult passage ; and the scientific man putting his 
own construction upon it, and bringing in his science to his aid, rushed at 
once to the conclusion that the Scripture was all wrong. He did not descend 
to the question of exegesis ; he read the passage in the sense which he 
thought proper to put upon it himself, and, without waiting for further in- 
quiry, he pronounced it to be all wrong. He added, that having examined 
the serpent, he found that it was never adapted for walking ; but he had no 
right to presume that the serpent had walked. There was not a word in the text 
about its having been previously erect. But he assumed too much, and he 
failed to give any proof in support of his assumption. It would be necessary 
for him first to prove that there was a pre- Adamite serpent ; secondly, that 
the interpretation which he put upon the passage in the Scripture was the 
correct one ; and thirdly, that the curse pronounced by God had reference to 
the serpent, and not to the devil. But instead of doing that, what did the 
scientific man do ? Why, he simply told them he had examined the physical 
organs of the serpent, and found that serpents never walked. He might 
as well have examined the dumb ass of Balaam, and told them it did not 
speak. (Hear.) He passed entirely out of his province when he entered into 
these questions ;■ he was not in a position to deal with them. They were 
things supernatural, which he could not investigate. With a miracle once 
granted, they could afford to make the man of science a present of all such 
arguments. (Hear, hear.) Now, it was only necessary to observe the effect 
which Christianity produced on those who practised its teachings, in order 
to be convinced of its truth. With such demonstrative evidence in favour of 
the Scriptures, I think we have very good grounds for not accepting the 
deductions of simple reason, when we find them in opposition to the doctrines 
taught by the Bible. . But what was the position which men of science took 
up with regard to this question ? They said, “ Oh, you have so many different 
orms of belief. When you are as much agreed on the subject of religion as 
we are with regard to science, we will be prepared to listen to yon.” This 
was the most monstrous assertion I ever heard in my life. What is the 
act . Let us take, for instance, the Apostles’ Creed : Christians of all ao-es, 
