54 EEV. W. ST. CLAIR TISDALL^ M.A., ]).D., ON THE INFLUENCE 



furnished by the epoch from which we dated our chronology ; this 

 year is " 1916 Anno Domini," the "Year of our Lord," and that era 

 is adopted even b}^ heathens and unbelievers. So Christianity had an 

 effect upon the social conventions of the world as well as on its religions. 



The Rev. J. J. B. Coles, M.A., expressed his great indebtedness 

 to Dr. Tisdall, and desired to ask whether, in reading the sacred books 

 of the many religions with Avhich he had dealt, he had ever come 

 across any statement as to the deity of the Person of Christ, or as to 

 the Atonement which He made. Referring to the section of 

 Dr. Tisdall's paper on Neo-Judaism (p. 50), the Targumic doctrine 

 of the Memm wsiS there derived from Philo, and through him from 

 Plato. Dr. Inge, in his history of the Doctrine of the Logos, traced 

 it further back, namely, to Heraclitus, the Ionian philosopher of 

 Ephesus, who flourished about 500 B.C. Professor Margoliouth, on the 

 other hand, gave it an earlier source : he claimed that the " Wisdom 

 of Solomon," now placed in the Apocrypha, was really due to Solomon, 

 and was his commentary upon Holy Scripture as it existed in his 

 day. The doctrine of the Logos, if this were so, was traced back a 

 thousand years before Christ, for it was clearly set forth in the 8th 

 chapter of the Book of Proverbs. Dean Inge, in the book referred 

 to, expressed surprise that St. Paul did not use the word " logos " ; 

 might not the explanation be that St. John, in the opening of his 

 Gospel, was referring to the introduction of the Divine action into 

 this world, but St. Paul's philosophy took a wider range and embraced 

 all the works of God 



Professor H. Langhorne Orchaed, M.A., B.Sc, desired to move 

 a hearty vote of thanks to the Author for a paper that was compre- 

 hensive, critical, impartial, and fair. He had pointed out that where 

 Christianity and a false religion both possessed a common truth, it 

 did not necessarily follow that one was derived from the other; 

 both might be derived from the primal revelation. The Author's 

 criticisms upon the theories of Avatdra^ Trimurti, and Krishna were 

 of great value. He wished that Dr. Tisdall had not omitted to define 

 " Christianity " ; in some passages he had spoken of it as " the 

 Gospel," in others as " Christian teaching." These terms were not 

 always synonymous. He concurred most heartily in the concluding 

 words of the Essay : " No ^veapon forged against Christianity had 

 prospered." 



Mr. M, L. RoLSE, B.A., B.L. ; Might not the idea of The Logos 



