ANNUAL REPORT. 



xiii 



12. Conclusion. 



In conclusion, the Council are persuaded that as the years go 

 by, the need for such a work as that of the Victoria Institute 

 becomes no less urgent. Our Society stands for investigation " 

 it is true, but *' investigation in a reverent spirit." If . as one of 

 our Vice Presidents, the late Dr. Haiidley Moule of Durham, wrote,''' 

 these conclusions {i.e. the negations of Modernism) arc demanded 

 by irrefutable fact let them be made and accepted. But not (I 

 repeat) light-heartedly, and as if we were the freer for them and 

 could talk glibly about them in the best modem style. Let us make 

 them with a groan and take care to carve no more unauthentic 

 promise on the tomb of our beloved . . . The matter is one, 

 where, while the fairness of controversy must be guarded, as ever, 

 its mere courtesies may not always be in place. For the question is 

 of tremendous urgency. " We are contending for our all." These 

 weighty words apply to other phases of contemporary thought, 

 besides the theological. We share the faith of the learned bishop 

 that the victory lies, not with those who would destroy faith, but 

 with those who would establish it, " For we can do nothing 

 against the truth but for the truth." , 



Signed on behalf of the Council 



H. WACE, D.D., 



President. 



* Preface to " The Bible and Modern Criticism " p. x, by Sir Robert 

 Anderson, K.C.B. 



