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(Published by the Enstitute, 1, Central Buildings, Westminster, S.W.)

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

1916.

LONDON:

HARRISON AND SONS, PRINTERS IN ORDINARY TO HIS MAJESTY,

ST. MARTIN'S LANE.

THE

PREFACE.

HE present Volume of the Transactions of the Victoria Institute is one of the smallest which has been issued. This is due to the influence of the War, which has seriously diminished the resources of the Institute, and has increased the cost of printing, paper, and binding. The Council, therefore, considered it advisable, for reasons of economy, to depart this year from its old-established practice of circulating in advance proofs of the papers to be read; but, as the lack of such advance proofs has been felt to be a loss to the discussions, it has been resolved to revert to the old practice during the forthcoming Session.

The record of the past Session gives deep cause for thankfulness. The liberal response made to the appeal for a Special Fund has relieved for the time the serious financial difficulty in which the War placed the Institute. The attendances at the Meetings have been very good, remarkably so when it is remembered how closely everyone has been occupied. The interest in the papers has been fully maintained, and the tone and spirit of the Meetings have been most encouraging.

The subjects discussed include two papers dealing with questions of physical science :— -"The Tides" and "The Movements of the Stars," and a third paper, that on "The Spectra of Stars and Nebulæ," a brief abstract of which appeared in Vol. XLVII, is given here in full. Six papers have dealt directly or indirectly with Holy Scripture. Two of them supplement each other in striking fashion, the one treating of "The Principles of Bible Translation," the other of "The Connection between the Vulgate Version and the Theology of the Western Church." "The Unity of Isaiah" has been maintained by a minute analysis of the words

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and phrases of that great prophecy; and an analysis of "The Psychology of St. Paul" has shown him to be a trustworthy witness to the event which he recorded as having taken place on his journey to Damascus. "Inscriptions and Drawings from Roman Catacombs" illustrate the faith and hope of Christians in the first four centuries of our era; and in its Twentieth Century our own faith and hope are stirred up anew by the study of "The Fulfilment of Prophecy."

Two papers were directly concerned with the Great War: the one looked backward, to ascertain, if possible, what perversion of right principles had brought the conflict about; the other looked forward, to forecast whether we might hope that the War would issue in the return of men to the true principles from which they had wandered.

The past year, the second of the Great War, has been also the Jubilee year of the Victoria Institute; and on May 24th last, it celebrated the Fiftieth Anniversary of its first General Meeting. A short Thanksgiving Service was then held, in which the Members of the Institute gathered together to worship God, and especially to acknowledge His goodness for the light which He has caused to be thrown upon Holy Scripture in these our days. At the Meeting which followed, several speakers expounded the principles and objects of the Institute-faith in One Eternal God Who created all things very good, and the investigation in a reverent spirit of questions of Philosophy and Science, especially those bearing upon Holy Scripture.

October, 1916.

E. WALTER MAUNDER, Editor.

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