church." "Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, but that is not Christianity, but the principles on which the Kingdom was to be set up. It is important to remember that during our Lord's mission, Israel had not been set aside nationally, the true branches had not been severed from the olive tree (see Rom. xi.). They were still in the place of national privilege. Christianity, which recognizes no national preference, is incompatible with the Jewish position of most favoured nation. The two cannot co-exist. Christianity depends on the ascended Christ and a completed Pentecost. Every intelligent Jew of our Lord's time would be familiar with the prophet Daniel. They had no higher critics" among them to explain that Daniel was a forgery! They knew that of Daniel's four world-empires, three had fallen, that they were under the fourth, and that what would follow would be the Kingdom which the God of Heaven would set up, which would break in pieces and consume all the other kingdoms. What else could the "Kingdom of the Heavens announced by the Baptist, by Christ and His Apostles, be than that fifth Kingdom.

It was only when they rejected the Kingdom on the King's terms that the testimony was modified, and works of power-the miraculous signs of the Kingdom-were largely replaced by words of power-prophetic parables expounding the mysteries of the Kingdom. What are these mysteries? That a Kingdom should be set up in the hearts of the disciples in the absence of the rejected King. This is the present aspect of the Kingdom, "not meat and drink," that is, consisting of outward rules and rites; but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, an attitude of heart to the absent Lord.

Mr. AVARY H. FORBES expressed a doubt as to the ignorance of Greek east of the Euphrates, which the lecturer assumed. After the defeat of the Persians by the Greeks, the latter mixed largely in Persian affairs, as enemies, allies or partisans. Many of these Greeks remained in Persia. Alexander's invasion, later on, was not that of a vulgar conqueror. He sought to spread Hellenic culture in Asia, and amalgamate the East and the West. He founded towns along his route, he encouraged his soldiers to marry Asiatic wives, and set the example himself; and he induced many Asiatics to enlist under his banner. At Persepolis, he found many hundreds of Greeks, who, for some offence, had lost an eye, a hand, a foot or an ear- -according to the cruel Persian laws. These he offered to send back to Greece, and support them himself. But, ashamed of their mutilated condition, they preferred to remain in Persia. In the Persian armies which Alexander encountered, moreover, there was often a phalanx of Greek mercenaries. These facts suggest that Greek was more widely understood east of the Euphrates than assumed in the paper.

The AUTHOR'S reply:-I would begin by thanking the Institute

for its kindness in receiving my paper in my absence, and in providing one to read it.

To begin with Mr. Roberts, the Chairman. I do not think that any reason in favour of the chronological primacy of Mark can be deduced from the opening sentence of his Gospel-it only means that the prophecy of John the Baptist was really "the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." According to Papias, the early preachers in the locality in which he lived interpreted the Hebrew Matthew as best they could. As he belonged to Asia Minor, his evidence applies to the West. His evidence in date may be regarded as relating to a time which he remembered, but was long past when he wrote, therefore probably not later than A.D. 70. At that time, the Christians had Matthew as a written Gospel, the quotations cf. in the Didache. The alleged special accuracy of Oriental Memories is to me more than doubtful. Sir William Muir's account of the special selected traditions Mr. Roberts has concerning Mohammed is evidence of this. not advanced any evidence that "in Christian circles Rome was "known as Babylon." Clement writes from Rome. not from the Corinthian Church. Babylon, to Ignatius, a so years later, writes to "Rome," not by the pseudonym of Babylon." There is an ambiguous phrase in "the ascension of Isaiah," which, while capable of being understood as identifying Babylon with Rome, is susceptible of another and more logical interpretation. Moreover, is "the Ascension of Isaiah apocalypse," while the first Epistle of Peter is not. Dunedin is a poetical name for Edinburgh. Were I dating a letter so, my correspondent would think I had emigrated to New Zealand, unless the letter were in verse. Peter, in his epistle, is not an apocalyptist. While the Sinaitic palimpsest is older than the M.S. discovered by Dr. Cureton, it represents the same recension, as indicated by the use made of it by Dr. Burkitt in his Evangelion Da-Mepharreshe. St. Matthew's Gospel was only Jewish" in this respect, that it was directed to meet the prejudices of the Jews.

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I agree with Dr. Schofield's remarks on the Matthaean account of our Lord's birth. Personally, I think Mary must have had no brothers, else they would have taken notice of her condition before marriage. She probably was an heiress, whose residence was in Bethlehem, but came to be betrothed to Joseph in Nazareth. As an heiress, she would be obliged to marry into her own family, hence it was necessary that she should accompany her husband to Bethlehem. Thus, it was needless to show her connection with Davidic stem. The relation of the Lucan genealogy with the Matthaean has already been wrought out in the article on that subject in Smith's " Dictionary of the Bible," by Lord Arthur Hervey. Luke's gives the natural actual genealogy, whereas Matthew's is the legal, in which are combined the natural and the adopted descendants.

With what Rev. J. J. B. Coles says I am in agreement.

I value the agreement which Col. Mackinlay expresses to some extent with my thesis, from his careful study of the Gospel of Luke. However, it is the points in which we differ that I have at present to consider. My acquaintance with bi-ligualism is with it as it appears in the Scottish Highlands. The example of our Premier is very pertinent. I may have been unguarded in my statement in regard to the book of Esther, but my reference was to Haman's statement (Esther iii. 8), in which he calls the Jews certain people scattered abroad and dispersed in all provinces of thy kingdom." One need not be anxious to maintain Haman's accuracy. I venture to doubt Col. Mackinlay's statement that the Magi were probably Jews. The Jews would not desire to be

reckoned Magians, nor would the Magians receive them. were a hereditary priesthood.

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In Rev. Mr. Marsh's remarks, I am interested, but do not find anything to answer.

To Mr. Sidney Collett's objection that there is too much hypothesis and tradition about my theory, I would recall him to what I say on page 178, that Papias' evidence really makes the view that Matthew wrote in Hebrew and was the primary Gospel as much history as is the belief that Marathon was a Persian defeat, In regard to my saying that St. Peter corrected Matthew, I do not know how Mr. Collett would explain how Matthew (x. 10) represents our Lord forbidding "staves" rabdous in Receptus (Shabta, Peshitta), while Mark says, "Save a staff only." Again, Matthew says our Lord forbids shoes, sandals," that is, whereas in Mark the Apostles are bidden to be shod with "sandals.” These differences have all the appearance of being corrections. There are many other cases of similar phenomena. If Paul might correct Peter's conduct, (Gal. ii. 11) surely Peter might correct Matthew's statements.

I welcome Mr. Hoste's testimony in regard to the authenticity of Daniel. It is glaringly unlikely that the Jews of our Lord's day would accept as ancient a book forged so recently as the days of the Maccabeans.

I am afraid I cannot agree with Mr. Avary Forbes in believing that Greek was generally known east of the Euphrates. I have in this matter the authority of Dr. Burkitt on my side. He declares that the barrier of language is the main reason why we know so little of the history of the Eastern Church. It is quite true that Alexander wished to cause an amalgamation of races when he promoted marriages between his soldiers and Persian women. This would not tend to spread Greek. The children of such marriages would speak Persian. A case in point is to be found in Canada. Early last century, a number of Scotch Highland soldiers were placed in lower Canada as colonists. They married French-Canadian wives. Their descendants now all speak French, and are Romanists.

645th ORDINARY GENERAL MEETING.

HELD IN COMMITTEE ROOM В,

THE CENTRAL HALL, WESTMINSTER,
June 12th, 1922, at 4.30 p.m.

on Monday,

LIEUT.-COLONEL G. MACKINLAY in the Chair.

The Minutes of the previous meeting were read, confirmed and signed, and the HON. SECRETARY announced the election of Mr. John C. Procter as an Associate.

Lieut.-Colonel Mackinlay, as Chairman, said: Miss Hodgkin has been an Associate of the Victoria Institute for several years, and she is a constant attendant at the reading of the papers, but this is the first time she has read a paper here herself. She is not, however, unversed in literary matters, as she has written an excellent book, "Christ in all the Scriptures," which not only has a wide circulation in English, but has also been translated into Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, French and German; she is also co-Editor of the " Friends' Witness," which is valued by Bible students, containing many articles which combat the false teachings of Modernism: this periodical frequently quotes the papers of our Institute, and Miss Hodgkin has written a good article in the last issue, which draws very favourable attention to Our "Tracts for New Times," a service which only an Editor is able to render. We thank her warmly for this help. I will now ask Miss Hodgkin to read her paper.

THE WITNESS OF ARCHEOLOGY TO THE BIBLE.

By Miss A. M. HODGKIN.

The little land of Palestine has for centuries been an isolated country. Now a network of railways is fast linking it up with East and West, and it is once more becoming the centre of the world. Before long it will be easier for all mankind to visit Jerusalem than any other place on this earth. Its importance from a military and from a commercial point of view is realised by politicians, but the Bible student sees in all this a fulfilment of prophecy. A great future awaits this land.

In ancient times Palestine was likewise the centre of the world. Dr. Masterman writes: "It was in no out-of-the-way corner of the earth that the race, through whom revelation came, was located by the Divine purpose, but in the very turmoil of the strife of nations, buffeted between the smaller nations in the immediate neighbourhood-the Philistines, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Edomites, the Syrians, and the restless children of the Desert, and ground betwixt the interchange of blow upon blow between Assyria and Babylonia, or the Græco-Syrian Empire of the Seleucidæ and Egypt. How small and how weak a race they were in almost all their history we realise as they appear as two small states, among many others, in the monuments. And yet God prepared this race, as He moulds the choicest individual characters of His saints-in the furnace of

affliction. . . . All light thrown on Orientai ancient history has made it increasingly evident how important was Palestine as a meeting-place of all the great civilisations and races of the ancient world.

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This is Jerusalem. I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her. Ezek. v. 5.

Geographically, Palestine occupies a central position between the three continents, Europe, Asia and Africa. Draw a straight line from Jerusalem to Rome; then describe a circle with Jerusalem as the centre and this line as the radius. You will find that circle includes all the great nations of the ancient world; the four world-empires of Nebuchadnezzar's dream-Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome; the great nation of Egypt, and all the lesser kingdoms of the world as known to the ancients." †

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every point,

When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.” Deut. xxxii. 8. The little nation of Israel was set in the midst. It touched the life of these nations at and was continually coming in contact with them. Its history, as contained in the Bible, is full of allusions to each of these other nations. Such allusions are a challenge to the truthfulness of the Scripture record. If we find them proved true by the contemporary records of those nations the evidence goes a long way to establish the integrity of Scripture; for the work of an impostor is not likely to be accurate in its details.

The lands inhabited by the ancient nations of the world contain priceless archæological treasures bearing upon history as recorded in the Bible. But till quite lately these treasures were inaccessible, from the fact that the inscriptions were written in languages which no one living could read. They might be compared to precious archives hidden in a locked casket of which the key was lost.

In most remarkable ways one after another of the keys has been found, and found at the moment when the archives were most needed as witnesses to the accuracy of the Scripture record; found, moreover, in such a manner that we cannot but regard the discoveries as providential, rather than accidental.

Foremost among these keys stands the Rosetta Stone, now in the British Museum, discovered in 1798 by a French engineer named Broussard, near the Rosetta mouth of the Nile and Institute, Vol. XLIX., p. 218.

Land of Palestine," by Dr. E. W. Masterman, Journal of Victoria See an article by Rev. Andrew Craig Robinson, in Friends' Witness," Vol. X., p 5.