382 
ORDINARY MEETING, January 21, 1867. 
The Rey. Walter Mitchell, Vice-President, in the Chair. 
The minutes of the previous Meeting were read and confirmed. 
The following paper was then read by Mr. Walter Brodie, in the absence 
of his father : — 
ON TEE LESSONS TARGET US BY GEOLOGY IN 
REGARD TO TEE NATURE OF GOD AND TEE 
POSITION OF MAN. By the Rey. James Brodie, 
M.A., Mem. Viet. Inst. 
M ANY seem to entertain the opinion that there is a 
natural antagonism between the study of science 
and a simple and earnest belief in the Record of Revela- 
tion. Not a few of those who take an active part in our 
philosophical societies, and who speak on the subjects brought 
before them as men who are entitled to assume the voice of 
authority, treat the Mosaic narrative as they would treat an 
idle tale, and speak as if they deemed it inconsistent with the 
character and position of savants to pay any regard to the 
statements of Scripture. Some timid theologians, on the other 
hand, draw back from the study of science, as if the necessary 
result of engaging in it would be the awakening in their minds 
of doubt and perplexity, and shrink from an investigation into 
the laws which regulate the material creation, as if that would 
prove a first step to open infidelity. 
As it is one of the special objects of the Victoria Institute 
to show that these views are altogether erroneous, and that 
the Work and the Word of God are in perfect harmony with 
each other, it is hoped that a few remarks on the lessons which 
geology teaches, in regard to the nature of God and the position 
of man, may be regarded as suitable to the times in which we 
live, and appropriate to the objects of the Society before which 
they are brought. . 
Without stopping to inquire whether the facts on which 
geologists rest their hypotheses have been ascertained with 
