THE 543KD OKDINARY GENERAL MEETING 



WAS HELD IN THE ROOMS OF THE INSTITUTE ON 

 MONDAY, 7th APRIL, 1913, AT 4.30 p.m. 



The Rev. Caxon Girdlestoxe, M.A., occupied the Chair. 



The Minutes of the preceding Meeting were read and confirmed, and 

 the Secretary announced the election of the Rev. C. G. Monro, M.A., 

 M.B., as a Member, and Messrs. R. Gladstone, R. Macgregor, and E. A. 

 Benjamin, as Associates. 



Referring to the Gunning Prize Essay read at the last Meeting, 



The Chairman said : The paper we are here to-day to consider 

 is one of very general interest : we are all keen to discuss the 

 historical aspect of the New Testament. It may be with animus on 

 one side and prejudice on the other. I confess I have some prejudice 

 in favour of the old conservative position. It is essential that we 

 discuss these questions ; they cannot be ignored. The case of 

 Christianity may be argued philosophically, as Bishop Butler did ; 

 experimentally, as D. L. Moody did ; historically, as Dr. Lardner 

 did ; or archseologically. In Dr. Lardner 's time little was known of 

 the last subject, but since then it has grown in interest and import- 

 ance owing to modern discoveries, which bear testimony to the firm 

 position of the books of the New Testament. Bishop Lightfoot, for 

 example, shows in his examination of Rom. xvi how the names given 

 there among the Salutations are confirmed again and again by the 

 names recorded in the catacombs near Rome. Dr. Orr again in 

 his Xegleded Factors in the Study of Early Christianity throws 

 considerable light upon the position of things there ; and Sir William 

 Ramsay has of recent years done much to confirm the accuracy of 

 the Book of the Acts and the Epistles of St. Paul. 



The Bible as a whole presents a large field for criticism, it exposes 

 a wide front to the bullets of the enemy, but it stands fire well. 



Dr. Thirtle, in opening the discussion, said: The "bearing" of 

 archaeological and historical research on the New Testament may 

 be twofold — (1) as to the integrity and truthfulness of the writings ; 

 (2) as to the meaning or interpretation of the constituent books. 

 Dr. Flournoy has confined himself to the former aspect of the 

 subject. In view of modern tendencies of thought, he acted wisely in 



