121 
ORDINARY MEETING, March 15, 1869. 
Charles Brooke, Esq., M.A., F.R.S., Vice-President, 
in the Chair. 
The Minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed. 
The Rev. Mr. Davison then read the following paper : — 
ON TEE NOAOEIAN DELUGE. By the Rev. M. Davison, 
Mem. Viet. Inst. 
I T was at the battle of Sadowa, if I remember rightly, 
and at the very moment when the victorious Prussians 
were everywhere driving back the foe, that, by an unaccount- 
able mistake, an Austrian battalion turned their weapons 
against their companions in arms, and thus contributed not 
only to the confusion of a disastrous retreat, but also to the 
sickening sights of that terrible battle-field. If such a blunder 
as this seldom occurs when hostile armies meet, it is to be 
regretted that it is of such frequent occurrence when the 
champions who occupy the field are, on the one side, the 
representatives of Infidelity, and, on the other side, the repre- 
sentatives of Science and the representatives of the Bible. 
Continually are we compelled to witness the unseemly and 
humiliating spectacle of the hosts of Infidelity resting on 
their rusty arms, while the soldiers of Science and the soldiers 
of Scripture, who should form one invincible army, are assail- 
ing each other with those powerful weapons, which, if turned 
against the common foe, would secure a speedy and decisive 
victory. Nor can we help apportioning the blame of this 
blunder pretty equally. Scientific students are to blame, in- 
asmuch as they ignore that Book which professes to give autho- 
ritative information upon many topics to the investigation of 
which they address themselves. And theologians are to blame, 
inasmuch as they look with suspicion upon natural science, 
and, as a class, reject its undoubted teachings, when these 
come into collision, not with the inspired declarations of the 
Bible, but with human interpretations of these inspired de- 
clarations. Now it cannot be too often reiterated, that God 
has revealed himself in Nature, as well as in the Bible, and 
that, therefore, the two revelations must be harmonious. The 
VOL. IV. K 
