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RIGHT REV. THE BISHOP OF DOWN, D.D., ON 



The Chairman in closing the discussion said : With regard to 

 the contradictions among modern critics I should like to refer to 

 The Quest of the Historic Christ by Schweitzer, where these 

 contradictions are admirably shown in historic detail. The author 

 criticizes each but seems to think that there has been some genei al 

 result from the investigations. That result seems to me to be puiely 

 negative, and that it leaves us in the position of rejecting or accepting 

 anything that Christ said or did, according as it suits any precon- 

 ceived theory, until nothing is left at all. 



We cannot get away from three facts : The fact of Christ, the 

 fact of His teaching, and the fact of the results. 



And in this connexion it is clear we must expect something 

 unique in the circumstances of His earthly history. 



He then called upon the Bishop to reply. 



The Bishop of Down in reply said : Mr. Chairman and friends, 

 I have to thank you very warmly for listening to my paper 

 with such close attention and I have to thank the speakers for their 

 kind words of appreciation. 



Though certain criticisms have been made, I feel that I need not 

 detain you long with any reply. A few words will suffice. Dr. Woods 

 Smyth seems to me to underestimate the volume and amount of the 

 unbelief which bases itself on the ideas and principles due to modern 

 science. We must take account of things as they are. As regards 

 modern criticism, I do not think it can be dealt with in the way he 

 proposes. Criticism must do its work and do it thoroughly. Only 

 thus can the truth emerge. 



I cannot agree with his estimate of Bergson. There never was a 

 great thinker, but people said of him, " We have heard all this 

 before." But it- is one thing to put forward an opinion, it is another 

 thing to open up a path by which that opinion may be justified. 



Some speakers have mistaken what I said about the laws of nature. 

 A law of nature is, of course, only a statement of the way in which 

 things are found to happen. Its constancy is a witness to the 

 trustworthiness of the power which is manifested in nature. My 

 point is that our experience shows that this constancy, instead of 

 limiting man's freedom, gives to that freedom its great opportunity. 



In connexion with the remarks of Mr. Drawljridge, while I agree 

 with him that we should ever seek truth for its own sake, we must, 

 T hold, consider that we prize our Christian Creed not merely because 



