OKDINARY GENERAL MEETING* 

 Professor , Lionel S. Beale, V.P., F.R.S., in the Chair. 



The Minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed. 



A paper on "Biblical Astronomy" was read by Lieut. -Colonel G. 

 Mackinlay, late R.A. 



BIBLICAL ASTRONOMY. 

 By Lieutenant-Colonel G. Mackinlay (late R.A.). 



THE present seems a good time to consider the subject of 

 Biblical Astronomy, on account of the recent advances in 



(1) Biblical Scholarship. 



(2) Discoveries and decipherment of ancient inscrip- 



tions, etc. 



(3) Astronomy. 



Scholarship. — It must be remembered that the languages of 

 the Bible are comparable to a tool used by the divine Author ; 

 those languages are foreign ones to us, and a mere literal 

 translation cannot in every case give the full meaning. During 

 a residence in Spain, I found that even a certain mastery of 

 the Spanish language was not in itself sufficient to bring me 

 into real contact with the people. I had also to study the 

 Spanish character and the Spanish attitude of mind. The 

 difficulty of rendering the exact meaning intended by the 

 writers of the Bible, with their ancient Eastern methods of 

 expression, is certainly greater than that which exists at the 

 present moment in translating a modern European book into 

 English. 



* Monday, 20th February, 1905. 



