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Faithfull, on what she calls “ Unconscious Cerebration.” In that paper the 
authoress says, among other things : — “ I am sitting at the piano; I am going 
to take part in a duet. A gentleman takes the seat beside me, and uncon- 
sciously I note the way in which he does it.” She then goes on to describe, 
in her own characteristic way, how she has her attention fully occupied by 
the notes of the music — the crotchets, the minims, the demi-semi-quavers — the 
marks for piano and forte and pedal, and so on. She has all that before her, 
and never misses a note or inflection, but all the while she is remarking the 
movements of her companion, and catching snatches of the conversation of 
two people who are behind her. Her mind and fingers are fully employed by 
the music, and yet she is unconsciously noting all else that goes on, still 
it is upon the mere surface and a matter of unconscious cerebration ; for what 
absorbs her is the faculty of delight in the music . Let me now say, with 
your toleration, that what concerns us especially is the outcome of this paper. 
Is it not simply that religion is a rational thing per se, and that the Chris- 
tian religion, as contained in a revelation Divinely given, and as distinguished 
from all others, is emphatically a reasonable thing ? The Christian religion 
especially claims that position, and the Christian service above all things 
claims to be a reasonable service. The Christian is always required to be 
able to give a reason for the hope that is in him : “ you may of your own 
selves judge what is right .” Reason itself asks us to accept the revelation 
which has been given to us, and in the profounder mysteries of that revela- 
tion, such, for instance, as the nature of God and of the Trinity, my belief is 
sustained by reason from analogy with the facts of the material world. I 
cannot take a pebble off the path without finding in it a Trinity — there is 
the force that keeps its parts together, the order in which those parts are 
arranged, and the law according to which that order operates ; and when 
I see that trinity of force, order, and law in all things — in a pebble on the 
seashore, or in a drop of water — I cannot help being struck with the analogy 
that is thus presented to my mind. In the same way I see a trinity in my- 
self — there is the material and visible element, the intellectual element, and 
the religious element — and since every man bears within himself that triad, 
and every pebble is stamped with the mint mark of the same currency, we 
should receive even that most mysterious doctrine of the Trinity with the 
feeling that reason is not lacking as the endorsement of the profoundest 
Revelation. (Cheers.) 
Mr. C. R. MacClymont. — I trust you will not think it unpardonable 
presumption on the part of a new member of this Institute to speak upon 
such a paper as that now before us. I will not say anything of the character of 
the paper : but perhaps I may be permitted to say a few words on the 
subject with which it deals, especially as I come fresh from a place where 
these questions are treated, not as mere abstract matters, or as matters for 
the display of ornamental rhetoric, but as questions of vital importance and 
interest. So far as we ourselves are concerned, I think that our presence 
here to-night is a testimony and proof that we have accepted these things 
