161 
[The Hon. Sec. having read the Annual Report, remarked that the “ Flint 
Implement” controversy, which had been initiated at the great meeting of May, 
1873, to which the Institute invited all leading English geologists {Tram., 
vol. viii.), had since included an inquiry into the flints of Brixham Cavern, 
one result of which was that the flints discovered there were now properly 
classified at the Christy Museum. The Royal Society’s report had been pub- 
lished, and many erroneous views and statements had been corrected, even 
some in Mr. Evans’s celebrated work {Trans., vol. xi.). As regards the bear- 
ing of this and other questions upon that of the antiquity of man, a remarkable 
conference had been held last month, at which the Chairman, Professor 
Evans, P.R.S., ex-President of the Geological Society, alluding to the geo- 
logical evidence that had been gathered from time to time, mentioned that 
much was uncertain, and three words should be their watchword, “ Caution, 
Caution, Caution.”] 
Rev. Professor Wace. — I have been asked to move the first resolution, 
“ That the Report now read be adopted, printed, and circulated amongst the 
members.” It must be extremely gratifying to us all to see that the 
Institute maintains its numbers in a manner which must be considered so 
satisfactory at the present time, because we find that, in spite of those events 
which have more or less affected all societies this year, the actual number of 
our members and associates has increased, and this is more, I think, than 
might reasonably have been expected. As the objects and nature of the 
Institute come to be more generally understood, I believe its prosperity will 
increase as regards, what I may call, its main object. So far as I know, it 
occupies a unique position in the country at the present time, its main object 
being to endeavour to vindicate for the Christian faith a direct interest and 
concern in every philosophical discovery of every kind that may be made, and 
therefore it brings Christianity and Philosophy into the closest possible contact 
at all points and at all times, and in this respect, so far as I know, it is the 
only Institution in the country — except the Universities, which have their own 
special educational work to perform — that vindicates for Christianity one of its 
greatest glories. There is a foolish, or rather an ignorant, notion abroad, that 
Christianity has been more or less opposed to human learning — a notion 
which is absolutely contrary to the most patent facts of history. A very 
remarkable circumstance in illustration of this is the very simple fact, 
familiar to every student of Church history, that the first great Christian 
writer after the Apostolic age — Justin Martyr — is also distinctively known as 
“ the Philosopher.” He is the philosopher and martyr, and the precedent 
which was set by that illustrious name was continued through the subsequent 
centuries of Christianity, until all learning was for a time submerged by a 
wave of barbaric invasion. But every great Christian divine and father of 
those early centuries was distinguished by his devotion to all human learning 
known at that time, and endeavoured to utilize it and to bring it within the 
sphere and control and illumination of Christianity. This Society, then, 
practically exists for the purpose, if I may so express it, of criticising all 
VOL. XII. * 
