98 



VISION, IN SACRED AND OTEER HISTORY. 



Indeed we know it was the coveted hope of practically every woman 

 in Israel. 



After referring to other points touched on by previous speakers, 

 he continued : — 



Then, on page 83, the Author tells us that " the Lucan story of the 

 Annunciation has round it airs of fancy and folklore " ! I should 

 like to ask on what authority he makes such a statement 1 



A hearty vote of thanks to the Lecturer for his paper was then 

 put to the meeting and carried unanimously. Dr. Serine acknow- 

 ledged the vote and replied to the discussion. 



Author's Eeply. 



In his reply (as revised) Dr. Skrine said he had no desire to 

 leave the meeting under any misapprehension of the position he 

 took as to the interpretation of Scripture. While unable to take 

 his stand, as some of the speakers seemed to do, upon a theory of 

 inspiration at one time generally accepted, he claimed to stand where 

 the best authorities of the Church stood, as his own Archbishop and 

 Bishop. He wished also to urge on some present, who seemed to him 

 to express a somewhat external theory of what constitutes belief in 

 the Creeds of the Church, that in a right view of the function, belief, 

 the merely mental apprehension of a truth is one factor, but rather a 

 minor factor, in the act of faith. The act of faith consists essentially 

 in a movement of the total consciousness — mind, heart, and will 

 together, a movement in which the man makes surrender of his 

 whole self to the Divine will as expressed in the particular truth for 

 which belief is asked — such was the nature of the act of faith in the 

 Virgin Mary, and such was the faith of Joan the Maid. 



