420 
and we must bear that in mind always, and I am glad to have an opportunity 
of expressing my conviction of it here ; but, granted the capability of under- 
standing the Bible, which comes from the Holy Spirit teaching the individual 
heart ; granted, too, the capability of understanding natural science : then we 
start on parallel roads, we must have the honest mind and the clear intellect, 
and I believe the canons of interpretation in the two cases will be found 
analogous. It has been objected to my essay that it is not complete, and here 
I fully agree with what has been said. The subject is very large. If, indeed, 
I have only taken up some particular lines of thought, why, I have left other 
lines of thought for other persons to pursue. I have dwelt more upon that 
analogy between the methods of interpretation, because it is one very little 
written upon or spoken about, and I thought it better to treat of it at greater 
length. I trust we shall find our efforts will be of service to natural science, 
and natural science helpful to theology. I believe it is so, and the argu- 
ments of others this evening convince me still more that we must enter on 
the study of theology in the same way in which we enter on studies of 
natural science, in order to arrive at full comprehension of the truth. There 
are other points that have been stated by some of the speakers, which, if 
I had time, I should like to enter upon ; but I must conclude, again thank- 
ing you for the friendly spirit in which you have considered my paper. 
The Meeting was then adjourned. 
Note. — The asterisks on pp. 397, 398, and 400, indicate that certain pas- 
sages in Dr. Gladstone’s original Paper were omitted at the request of the 
Council, as trenching upon purely theological and controversial points. 
