551st ORDINAEY GENEEAL MEETING, 



HELD IN THE ROOMS OF THE INSTITUTE ON MONDAY, 

 FEBRUARY 16th, 1914, AT 4.30 p.m. 



Mr. William J. Horner took the Chair. 



The Minutes of the preceding Meeting were read and confirmed. 



The Secretary announced that Mr. H. C. Hogan had been elected 

 as a Member, and Mr. Swinfen Bramley-Moore nnd Mr. A. Montague 

 Newbegin had been elected as Associates. 



The Chairmax then called upon the Rev^ J. J. Lias, M.A., Chancellor 

 of Llandatf Cathedral, to read his paper. 



IS THE SO-CALLED " PRIESTLY CODE'' OF POST- 

 EXILIC DATE? By the Eev. Chancellor J. J. Lias, 

 M.A., Chancellor of Llandaff Cathedral. 



BEFORE entering into a critical examination of the portion 

 of the Pentateuch, called of late " the Priestly Code," it 

 seems necessary to preface my analysis by some preliminary 

 observations. 



First of all, we have heard a great deal from some quarters 

 about the final results of modern scientific criticism. But is criti- 

 cism oneof the exact sciences ; and if not, can the word" scientific" 

 be properly applied to it ? Science is knowledge, but if know- 

 ledge be not exact, at least as far as it goes, it is not knowledge. 

 The value of physical science lies in the certainty of its results 

 when once reached ; and this certainty, be it observed, is attained 

 by the practice of testing theories by comparing their results 

 with observation. A vast number of observations, combining a 

 number of various factors in the result, produce practical 

 certainty. This is the inductive method, so often misunderstood. 

 It does not, as some have supposed, consist in taking guesses 

 for granted. The guesses are, it is true, assumed as a basis of 

 reasoning ; but only when the results of this process have been 

 found to agree with observation are those results accepted as 

 true. The apparent failure of some physical sciences to secure 

 exact results is due to the premature publication of those 

 results. Until all the conditions of a problem of vast range 



