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has personally revealed Himself to His creatures, the chimerical hypotheses 
put forward by that ingenious writer necessitate the conclusion that the 
world is an inexplicable riddle ; that everything great and noble in human 
life is a dream ; and that, for man, there is but one creed, with one funda- 
mental article , — nil cerium here or hereafter. Such a state of mind as this 
seems to me to be the precursor of intellectual suicide. Possibly some good 
may arise from such dreary speculations, for Divine Providence is ever 
educing from evil the good that is hidden in it. It may be necessary thus 
to arouse from their indolence and sleep the mere routine teachers of 
hereditary opinions. As remarked by Dr. McCann, religious teachers in 
these days of free thought too often minister to their hearers as if 
they were addressing boys instead of men. The way to a solution of the main 
difficulties which cluster around the first chapters of Genesis, lies in obtaining 
a true idea of the peculiar style in which they are written. Into this subject 
it is impossible to enter. To indicate the difficulties which beset attempts to 
explain these portions of Scripture, let us take, for example, the apparently 
simple words, “ God said.” Now this is an historical fact, but the problem is 
to grasp the true meaning of the phrase, and to conceive how speech can be 
really, and not figuratively, attributed to Deity. On this point St. Augus- 
tine has written profoundly and beautifully in his Genesis ad litter am ; but 
his sublime speculations are not satisfactory. Before I sit down, permit me to 
refer to an article which appeared a few years ago in Fraser's Magazine, from 
the pen of Professor Owen. It deserves the special attention of the clergy who 
are members of this Society. The design of the article is to show that physio- 
logical science is in direct antagonism to certain statements made in the Book 
of Genesis, as commonly understood. Here is an instance, if ever there was 
one, in which this Society ought to feel itself bound to come forward with a 
“ reconciliation.” The Professor, writing in refutation of an assertion made 
by a living Anglican bishop, demonstrates that no human being ever did or 
could live on this earth 969 years, the age assigned in Genesis to Methuselah. 
An utterly futile attempt at reply was made in a succeeding number of the 
same Magazine. Swedenborg, to my mind, has given a good explanation ; 
but here is an alleged incompatibility between the definite conclusions of 
science and a clear statement of Holy Scripture. An unmistakable 
issue is raised on a matter of fact, the consideration of which falls fairly 
within the range of those objects which this Society was instituted to 
promote. 
Dr. E. Haughton. — 1 should be very sorry to prevent any educated man 
from studying any work which was written with a good purpose, however erro- 
neously,— not even excepting those from which I most emphatically dissent, — 
as I do from the writings of Swedenborg. They will find much to interest them 
in the writings of that philosopher ; but at the same time (as Mr. MeCaul has 
said), with regard to authority, we have to choose who is to be our authority. 
Some scientific men, holding a high position in the world of science, wish to 
diminish the weight of the Word of God, as being a thing of no authority ; and 
some of them desire to substitute in its place their own authority. In the 
