12 
He lifted up his eyes and hands, and his words were : “ Sweet, sweet, 
sweet ! I know Him, I know Him ! I love Him, I love Him ! I bless Him, 
I bless Him ! ” and, laying his head on the pillow, he never raised it again. 
May we be able to say the same at our dying hour. These remarks are not 
altogether impertinent to our object, for why do we want to clear away the 
mist that men cast on the Bible ? Is it not that we may see clearly that 
that blessed book is the word of the living God, which speaks to us 
and tells us that there is a loving Saviour, a glorious Heaven, and a great 
Atonement, and that there is a bright and a heavenly rest for those who 
look in all simplicity to Jesus. 
Rev. W. B. Boyce. — I rise to second the resolution, which has been so 
ably proposed, and am happy to find that the labours of this Institute have 
had the effect of lessening the assumptions of excellent, but, as I think, mis- 
taken men, — who are too much attached to materialistic and pantheistic 
philosophy. They now speak with less confidence, and they speak, too, with 
some respect of this Society. When the Victoria Institute was first formed, it 
was sneered at as a very ridiculous thing, — as something which was only 
founded for clergymen to play with, and to keep a few women and children 
in intellectual bondage. But the tone is altered now. You will see in 
the Transactions, papers of a most important character. The Institute has, 
by its work, compelled public opinion to change, and no member can look at 
the eight volumes of Transactions which have been published, without being 
proud of this Society. I am not in accord with everything which has appeared 
in the volumes ; I do not like the attempts which one or two have made 
to reconcile Moses with Science, for Science has not yet arrived at that per- 
fection at which it may be taken as a perfect standard of truth in the works 
of God. I believe in the opposition of this Institute to the materialism and 
pantheism of the age, and am happy to find that the Society is prospering, 
and that we publish cheap editions of some of the most important papers 
in the Transactions, such as may interest the mass of the people. I am glad 
also to hear that we are beginning to translate important w r orks, which 
otherwise perhaps would not appear in our language. I regret that my 
many duties do not enable me to attend the meetings ; but the very com- 
plete way in which the Transactions are issued, enables me to read the papers 
which are produced at those meetings, and to be well acquainted with the 
Institute’s work. 
The motion was unanimously agreed to. 
Mr. J. E. Howard, F.R.S. — I have been requested to return thanks, on 
behalf of the Council, for the very kind way in which you have responded to 
the vote of confidence in the doings of the Council during the past year. 
I feel that our position, as a Council, is one requiring much wisdom, delicacy, 
discernment, and tact ; and that we really do deserve much of your sympathy 
in the sometimes difficult and laborious duties which we have to perform in 
connection with the examination of papers offered for discussion. We all of us 
are united in the one desire to fulfil the responsibility thrown upon us in the 
best way we can ; and are thankful for having our hands upheld in the 
