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one would have liked to have said a word about. This is a feeling in which 
most hearers of so elaborate a paper will entirely sympathize with me. We 
have after-thoughts which remind us of what the French call Veloquence de 
Vescalier , — that is, a man often recollects, when going down the pulpit stairs, 
a capital thing he had intended to say in his sermon. (Laughter.) The points 
to which I should perhaps be disposed to take exception will be in all proba- 
bility more likely to raise debate than any other, and therefore I may as well 
mention them at once. One of the points on which I should differ from 
Mr. Row is as to the mode in which the infinite was regarded. I must 
confess that I deprecate altogether the dealing with this present world as 
though it were made up of nothing but phenomena. If you altogether elimi- 
nate general ideas, and what people call abstractions and transcendentalism, 
you would find it a very difficult world to manage, and the common sense of 
mankind would soon be altogether stranded 
Mr. Row. — I have not been led into metaphysics. 
Dr. Irons. — No, you have not ; but there is some divergence between 
your views and mine ; though perhaps it is only a different way of putting 
the same thing. The relation of faith to reason was another point where I 
somewhat differed from the general view of Mr. Row. I do not think it is 
a wholesome or a right thing to lay down that faith is a distinct faculty — 
a something to be resorted to altogether apart from the domain of reason 
Mr. Row.-— That is the very thing I assert and maintain. 
Dr. Irons. — Y ou do so, but still not in the way that I am now desiring 
to bring out. I understand you to speak of the human reason as making its 
conclusions independently and by itself, and then leaving faith to take its 
own course afterwards entirely apart from it. Now I, for one, am a perfect 
rationalist myself. (Laughter.) I am made so ; I cannot help it. I feel that if 
anything is put before me contrary to my reason, or in collision with it, I shall 
be a downright hypocrite if I accept it. If any man tells me I must submit 
my reason to authority, I am as uncomfortable as possible. I believe the 
God who gave me faith gave me reason also, and somehow or another they 
must always go together. It is our bounden duty nowadays to come into 
collision with the opponents of revelation on their own ground. There has 
been a great deal too much flourishing of late. The attitude hitherto taken 
on both sides reminds one of the old rhyme : — 
“ The Earl of Chatham, with sword drawn, 
Stood waiting for Sir Richard Strachan ; 
Sir Richard, longing to be at ’im, 
Stood waiting for the Earl of Chatham.” (Laughter.) 
There has been a great deal of that sort of thing between the supporters of 
revelation and the opponents of revelation. The one is afraid, and the other 
dare not ; and they therefore do not come to an issue. I am most anxious 
that the Victoria Institute should bring matters to an issue. Do not let 
any one on any side suppose that Christian men are afraid of taking up any 
