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the Manichee, became at last Augustin the Christian Father, 
and he leaves us the sum of his varied experience in that one 
short, pregnant Confession to his Heavenly Father, “Inquietum 
est cor nostrum, donee requiescat in Te ” — Our heart is 
restless till it rest in Thee.” 
Charles Brooke, Esq., F.R.S., V.P. — After the able and eloquent Paper 
we have just heard, I am sure I shall have the hearty concurrence of all 
present in moving “ that the thanks of the meeting are hereby presented to 
the Rev. Dr. Thornton for his valuable address, and that it be printed in the 
Journal of our Transactions , and also published separately.” 
Admiral Halsted. — I beg to second that motion. I am quite sure that 
all who have heard Dr. Thornton’s address will feel with me that this Society, 
in sending forth such papers to the civilized Christian world, is doing a work 
which will redound to its honour and credit ; and at the same time that there 
will be few of those papers which will excite more universal interest and be 
more acceptable and better regarded than the one we have just heard read. 
I only wish our Institute was better known and more widely appreciated 
than it is ; and I wish also that more members of my own profession belonged 
to it ; for there are times and seasons, in the intervals between the exciting 
work of our immediate duties, which would be well occupied by a considera- 
tion of the serious subjects, on which this Institute not only puts forth papers 
and discussions, but on which it clears the way for the discovery of truth, and 
combats those who are so anxious to cloud God’s word with scepticism of 
every sort and description. There is no Institute which has yet been founded 
which has so deeply, so clearly, so distinctly, and yet with the utmost 
moderation and with the utmost amount of Christian forbearance, done 
its work towards clearing away those clouds, and giving men’s minds the 
fullest and clearest information upon the subjects it is intended to illustrate, 
and for the purpose of meeting and removing false views and false science. 
The Chairman. — I think I need scarcely call upon you to pass this motion 
by acclamation. The paper of our learned and excellent vice-president has 
indeed shown that there is a unity in our proceedings. It is a very valuable 
paper, coming in on our third anniversary, because it gives admirable ideas of 
the kind of work we are endeavouring to do. The greater part of our papers 
will be found to bear out most fully the thesis of Dr. Thornton— namely, 
that those who oppose the Holy Scriptures show the greatest amount of 
credulity, while those who maintain the unity and truth of Revelation are 
those who have the greatest amount of reason and of reasoning on their side. 
We have been banded together, some have said, only to maintain a foregone 
conclusion ; but, in fact, we have come together to defend the Bible, believing 
that Bible to be true, and we have no wish to deny this. But, while 
we have our own feelings with regard to the antiquity and authenticity 
of that book upon other grounds than mere external evidence, for we 
most of us believe in that book not only upon external evidence ; not only 
from philosophy ; but from the teaching of the Spirit within our hearts, and 
