242 VERY REV. THE DEAN OF CANTERBURY, ON POSITION AND 



controversies ; hence we shall have an impartial statement of the case, 

 which cannot but be edifying and helpful to the scholars of 

 our day. 



After the paper had been read, the Chairman said : — 



The lecturer has, in spite of the fact that he holds his own views 

 very firmly, put before us both sides fully and fairly. One thing 

 in the paper has appealed very strongly to me, the passage 

 (p. 235) which shows that if the Higher Critical position were main- 

 tained it would be absolutely destructive of the whole position of 

 the Jewish religion. 



Although we can never be afraid to follow in whatever direction 

 Truth may lead us, yet we are bound for our own sake and for the 

 sake of others to be perfectly satisfied that it is the Truth we are 

 following ; and it will, I think, help us if we keep our eyes and ears 

 open, so as to be conscious of the goal towards which modern 

 theories may lead us, as by so doing we may be the better able to 

 judge of the correctness of these views. 



The Victoria Institute can never be otherwise than grateful to 

 those who, in dependence upon the Holy Spirit, devote time, 

 intelligence, and skill to the critical examination of the Word of 

 God, for that Word, and that Word only, gives us any assured and 

 certain hope of the life to come. 



Dr. Thirtle said : When concluding his paper with the remark 

 that, having regard to the turn of affairs in Germany and America, 

 we may well " possess our souls in patience," the Dean speaks a 

 word of timely encouragement, but he does more : by implication, 

 he justifies the course pursued by those who — himself among them, 

 we are glad to know — refused to follow the lead of scholars who 

 were in a hurry to adopt theories which, at length, have been " found 

 wanting." To-day, assuredly, we may find comfort in the fact that, 

 though Germany did much to advance the destructive views, yet, 

 with a praiseworthy devotion to scientific inquiry, some of her 

 scholars are now to the fore with suggestions that may be distinctly 

 constructive in their results. 



If, on the one hand, the radical thought of the Fatherland leads to 

 the acceptance of hurried conclusions, such as tell against the 

 credibility of the Bible, so also, on the other hand, that same radical 

 thought yields a ready criticism in demolition of theories that turn 

 out to be faulty. Adapting the familiar line of Juvenal we may 



