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seems destined to prevail from east to west, and from north to south, as that 
of the commerce, the law, and the literature of the world, a real knowledge 
of the sacred Scriptures, the inspired Word of God. (Hear, hear.) This, 
then, is a sign of the progress of our Society, and another evident sign of 
your growth and stability is to be found in the fact that many old 
members who had left you have rejoined the Society, regretting that for a 
time, even, they had turned from it, and anxious to help forward the great 
work in which they were so deeply and strongly interested. Let us not 
fail to observe, likewise, how this Society is attracting the attention of 
scientific men in other countries, — men of the highest character and intelli- 
gence, and the highest scientific repute. What name is there at the present 
day in the circle of scientific society in Europe which stands higher than that 
of Pasteur ? And I am thankful to see the evidence which he, in the great 
French capital, has given of his deep appreciation of religious truth. Then, 
let us look abroad at our own possessions. First of all there is India, that 
enormous country which the providence of God has placed under the 
dominion of England, not merely in order to add to her imperial greatness, 
but that the people of that territory may be instructed in the great truths of 
Christianity. There we have the Brahmin and the Buddhist, and the great 
basis of a literature and a priesthood, with literary writings going back for 
3,000 years, founded on a materialism of a most subtle character. We find 
that the sceptical writings of the present day are so much spread abroad by 
Englishmen, that they are being translated by the native press of India and 
by the native priests among the Indian population, in order to counteract 
the effects of the religious teaching of the Christian missionaries. In Madras 
there is an association formed for the purpose of meeting this evil, and by 
translating into the native languages the papers furnished by your Society, 
and the facts which they supply in opposition to the spread of this 
sceptical science, it will, of course, be combating what is one of the 
greatest possible hindrances to the reception of religious truth. And, if 
this be true of India, let us look further and see the extent to which 
Buddhism prevails in the Eastern world. We find it pervading Burmah, 
Japan, and China, and wherever that religion prevails there will be need of 
the counteracting influence of Christian philosophy in order to pave the way 
to the removal of the objections which exist in the native mind to the recep- 
tion of the simple truth of the Gospel of the grace of God. Here you see 
what a field is opened for the exertions of this Society ; you see the value 
that must attach to its labours ; and I can bear testimony that they are 
needed in our own colonies, where, for years, there has been a secret spread 
of an infidel tone of mind, and where writings have been issued against the 
Gospel of St.John, wherein the Jesus of history has been put forth as 
against the Jesus of inspiration and of the Gospel of truth. In Melbourne, 
too, there is a vast body of scientific unbelief, against which the great and 
noble Bishop Moorhouse (one of our members) is contending with a pure and 
striking efficacy in defence of the Holy Scriptures. W e hope that this spirit of 
Christian zeal will spread, and that the means of helping to refute these errors 
