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E. WALTER MAUNDER^ ESQ.^ F.R.A.S., ON 



country, without nobles or parliament, without army or navy, 

 without revenue or exchequer. Its ambassadors are not found 

 at the courts of the nations ; treaties are not made with it ; " 

 yet it lives a nation still. How is it, then, that it hves ? It 

 lives by hope. It still observes the four fasts of the Captivity, 

 observes them as fasts, but remembers the words of Zechariah, 

 " the fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the 

 fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth shall be to the house 

 of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts " (Zechariah viii, 

 19), though 2504 years have already gone by since the catas- 

 trophe which those fasts commemorate. 



If Israel could look forward for tw'enty-five centuries, as we 

 know it has done, to the fulfilment of the prophecy of Zechariah, 

 why should not their forefathers have been able to look forward for 

 the few weeks which intervened between their muster on the 

 plains of Moab and their entry into the Promised Land ? 



And have the events of the past two years given no encourage- 

 ment to them to hold yet more firmly to their Passover hope : — 

 " This year here, — next year in Jerusalem " ? 



Discussion. 



Harold M. Wiener, Esq. — Professor Margoliouth, Mr. Maunder, 

 ladies and gentlemen. As I have no astronomical knowledge, I 

 regret that it is impossible for me to add anything to the discussion 

 of Mr. Maunder's admirable paper in its narrower aspect. But it 

 also has a wider aspect — that of an attack on the current critical 

 position and a defence of more conservative views against a so-called 

 consensus of scholars ; and since you have been kind enough to 

 invite me here and to give me an opportunity of addressing you, I 

 think that perhaps I can best show my gratitude by indicating 

 briefly how his general attitude is being supported from other sides. 



While it is true that outwardly the position with regard to the 

 Pentateuchal question is more or less the same in this country as 

 it has been for many years, it has undergone a great change abroad. 

 Kuenen was one of the greatest leaders of the critical school ; yet, 

 by an irony of fate, his old review, now edited by the Leyden faculty 

 of theology, is the only technical journal in Europe that will publish 

 English conservative work. Here the wheel has gone full circle. 

 Holland possesses three state universities ; in two it is taught that 



