246 VERY REV. THE DEAN OP CANTERBURY, ON POSLTION AND 



and method of inquiry are brought to bear upon them, was very 

 well illustrated in the paper on the Samaritan Pentateuch read by 

 Dr. Munro a few weeks ago before the Victoria Institute. 



Mr. T. B. Bishop expressed the hope that the Council could see 

 their way to send a copy of this paper to the students of the 

 country. 



Mr. Leslie asked what was the lecturer's own opinion in regard to 

 the attack on the Massoretic text ; and the Rev. J. J. B. Coles asked 

 his opinion on Dr. Ginsburg's views as to the text of the Old 

 Testament. 



Professor Langhorne Orchard, M.A., B.Sc, said : This age in 

 which we live has good points — every age has its good points — but 

 it may go down to history as an age of degradation — degradation in 

 politics, degradation in science, degradation in Scripture-criticism. 

 The present paper has directed our attention to this last. Our 

 hearty thanks are tendered to the able author, the eminent divine, 

 the competent and careful scholar, for bringing before us this 

 interesting review, succinct yet comprehensive, of the present 

 position and principles of the criticism of the Old Testament. 



The position is (I think) clearly indicated in pages 237 and 241. 

 The neo-criticism of to-day is on the horns of a dilemma. We are 

 reminded of the fact (well-known to scholars) that the Hebrews, like 

 other Orientals, were most conservative of their Scripture text and its 

 account of the development of their religion. The critics must 

 either accept the fact of this conservatism or they must deny it. 

 If they accept it, their assault upon the Old Testameat collapses — 

 cadit qucestio. If they deny it, they are convicted of most uiischolarly 

 carelessness, as is shown in p. 237, in building theories upon the basis 

 of a Massoretic Hebrew text without first critically investigating the 

 trustworthiness of that text. They are thus in either case impaled 

 by the dilemma. 



The learned author has pointed out that among the critics them- 

 selves exist discrepancies quite as pronounced as any which they 

 profess to discover in Holy Writ. This is a hopeful sign, for when 

 those who appear to aim at depriving us of our inheritance fall out 

 among themselves, probability is strengthened that we shall continue 

 to hold our own. That this is a matter of vital importance to us is 

 evident, for the Scriptures by the Spirit of Truth supply us with 

 our spiritual food. Scripture criticism is not necessarily bad. 



