First William Belden Noble Lecture.

The Right Reverend William Boyd Carpenter, D.D., bishop of Ripon, England, gave the first of the William Belden Noble lectures for the year last evening in Appleton Chapel on the subject, "The Witness to the Influence of Christ." The next lecture in the series will be given in the Fogg Lecture Room, tomorrow evening at 8 o'clock.

In his lecture last evening, Dr. Carpenter said:

No one can study life completely who does not consider both the mass of solid facts which scientists place before us, and the sea of mystery which lies beyond these facts. Scientists themselves have to confess that in spite of all their endeavors there are mysteries concerning the nature of reality which they cannot fathom. So too, treating religion scientifically, those who seek to explain it touch on mysteries which they cannot explain.

But we must be prepared in every department of religious study to admit the validity of a scientific method of study. This method never challenges religious truths, but often the grounds on which truths may be based. A man who is said to challenge the truths of Christianity, may be merely challenging the grounds on which they stand.

Religious faith must be based on facts. This is what the scientific man wants. In religious questions we must study all facts, not only the facts of history, but also those which throw light on man's religious nature.

Our subject is Jesus Christ--not a mythical Christ, but a historical person-age. He has been in the past a real influence among men, for his church left an influence on men without which there would be no civilization.

With the mystic school of the middle-ages, religion became individualism. But individualism has worked so deeply into our hearts that we are asking if we have not been selfish. Ought we not to extend our religious thought to others? With such an idea we will come to the thought that Christ is the friend of the workingman, the politician and the economist, in helping them to solve present problems. So with denominational differences. If discordant sects could get Christ's spirit, their differences would vanish.