333 
which it is not entitled, not only tyrannizes over the human 
mind, and makes it a slave to unrealities, but is in the 
highest degree irrational ; and though the slave of the senses 
is no doubt the meanest of all, the condition of the slave of 
law is of all the most hopeless. If the one is the publican, 
the other is the Pharisee of humanity, indeed a Pharisee 
beyond all others ; for he not only believes that he is “ not 
as other men are,” but he thanks himself, not God, for his 
fancied superiority. 
The Chairman. — I beg, in the name of this meeting, to tender our thanks 
to the author of the paper for his very able and valuable disquisition.* We 
shall now be glad to hear observations upon it from those present. The 
subject is a very important as well as a very comprehensive one. 
[After a pause ;] 
Eev. Preb. Irons, D.D. — I should have preferred it had some other 
member been first to speak upon the subject which the Right Rev. Prelate has 
brought before us with such remarkable power. There is always a danger that 
the opener of the discussion should fasten upon some points which are only 
obiter dicta, and which do not involve anything vital to the whole view of 
the question brought before us. There is some difficulty in avoiding this on 
the present occasion, but I will endeavour to do so, because the main subject 
which has been so strikingly exhibited is that which ought to engage our 
attention. Nevertheless, I shall say, at the outset, that there are one or two 
points in the latter part of the paper to which I would more fully refer, 
if I were sure that there was no danger, by so doing, of losing the interest of 
the principal subject. 1 will but intimate what these points are, and then pass 
on. In sec. 35, this statement occurs, — “ while we conclude from various 
indications that law without will could not have created the universe as it is, 
we are further assured that since that will, from the nature of the case, 
must be the will of Him who is infinite in power and in knowledge, and 
who fills all space and time with His presence, therefore the Divine will 
must be the ruler of law in all its manifold operations, so that no single 
event in heaven or earth can be other than the fulfilment of that will.” 
Literally understood that would, it appears to me, be found to make moral 
responsibility an impossibility. Other indications of the same idea will 
be found in §§ 13 and 14, but I am quite sure that the Right Rev. Prelate 
will say something upon that subject that will save us from any conclusions 
of so perilous a kind.— And now, as to the paper itself. It seems to me 
* Letters in regard to the paper were received from the Bishop of Man- 
chester and Canon Cook ; the former “ was much struck by the ability of 
the argument”; the latter said, — “I consider it a paper of the highest 
excellence ; I am wholly mistaken if it does not deal with the deepest 
questions in a way that will carry conviction into the minds of candid and 
perplexed inquirers, and shake deeply-rooted prejudices which have long 
obscured intellects of high order. It is a noble discourse.” 
