AND THE PRESENT STATE OF CRITICISM. 



281 



Tabernacle, things which are elaborate fictions, if it describes 

 the religion of the Jews at the time of Moses as being what it 

 really became some centuries later, if, in a word, its history 

 cannot be trusted, can it still be considered to possess the sacred 

 and authoritative character to which our Lord and His Apostles 

 appealed ? Can it be accepted as that " Word of God " on which 

 the whole life of the Christian Church has been founded ? These 

 are the momentous practical issues which are involved in modern 

 critical contentions. I do not appeal to them to prejudice the 

 decision ; it is of the highest importance that that decision 

 should be reached on the independent ground of true criticism 

 and sound history. But it must be a matter of profound satis- 

 faction to Christian men and women when a leading German 

 critic like Dr. Konig, and great historical and archaeological 

 authorities like M. Naville and M. Jullian, f{ive an independent 

 support to the ancient traditions. 



Discussiox. 



A vote of thanks was then proposed to Dr. Wace by the Chairman. 



The Rev. Prebendary Fox, M.A., in seconding the Chairman's 

 proposal of a vote of thanks, said he desired to express the cordial 

 appreciation of the meeting of the very able and convincing paper 

 they had listened to that afternoon. 



Prof. H. Langhorne Orchard, in supporting the vote of thanks, 

 felt sure that he was voicing the unanimous sentiment of the 

 audience. 



They had been listening to a most valuable paper which, marked 

 on every page by the well-known ability and scholarship of the 

 learned author, set forth clearly and judicially the present state 

 of Old Testament controversy between sceptical downgrade critics 

 and their opponents. 



The position of downgrade critics was pitiable. 



Their frequent boast of having on their side all scholars, or at 

 least all eminent scholars, was not likely (in view of pp. 274-275 of the 

 Paper) to be quite so noisy ; nor would their " assured results " be 

 much longer permitted to masquerade as facts. It had been shown 

 that scholarship was on the side of The Traditional View," and 



