IVERSITY OF CA RIVERSipELIBRARY 3 1210 01658 7337 ■I THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE THE NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS CHICAGO, ILLINOIS Agents THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON AND EDINBCEGH THE MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA TOKYO, OSAKA, KYOTO KARL W, HIERSEMANN liGIFZIG THE BAKER & TAYLOR COMPANY NEW YORK The New Appreciation OF THE Bible A STUDY OF THE SPIRITUAL OUTCOME OF BIBLICAL CRITICISM Bv WILLARD CHAMBERLAIN SELLECK, D.D. Author of The Spiritual Outlook: A Sur-vey of the Religious Life of Our Time as Related to Progress THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS CHICAGO, ILLINOIS Si Copyright 1906 By The University of Chicago All Rights Reserved Published January 1Q07 Second Impression March 1907 Third Impression January 191 2 Fourth Impression February 1916 Composed and Printed By The University of Chicago Press Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. Zo /IDl? TIClfte COMPANION OF MY AFFECTIONS AND JOYS SHARER OF MY STRUGGLES AND HOPES THE KINDEST AND BEST OF ALL MY CRITICS IN WHOSE LIFE AND CHARACTER SIMPLE, UNSELFISH, AND SINCERE THE SPIRIT OF THE MASTER'S TEACHING HAS BEEN BEAUTIFULLY REFLECTED H f ndcribe ^bis IDolume WITH GRATEFUL AND TENDER FEELINGS PREFACE The author's aim has been to prepare a man- ual that might be distinctly helpful to those who desire to appropriate the best results of modern biblical scholarship. He has had in mind the needs of pastors, teachers, young people's classes and societies in the churches, parents, and thought- ful persons generally who really want to know the truth, but who want also a justly construct- ive interpretation and application of the truth. He believes thoroughly that the new view of the Bible is far more vital than the old; that there is no valid cause for alarm lest the essentials of spiritual religion suffer shock, through the acceptance of this view, provided the people are adequately informed and wisely led; but that, on the contrary, it may be made to promote a great enlightenment and enrichment of popular faith and devotion, if only those who are re- sponsible for the instruction of the masses shall conscientiously do their duty. He holds, there- fore, that the imperative need of the hour is in- telligent, sympathetic, and frank explanation and guidance with reference to the manifold interests involved in this whole subject. The religious use of the Bible must always be its principal use. The value it possesses for the linguist, the archaeologist, and the historian, vm PREFACE great as this has been and will continue to be, can never equal the worth of its service to the spiritual life of mankind. People may read it for literary profit, and may study it for the sake of knowledge and culture; but all this will be as nothing beside the counsel, comfort, in- spiration, correction, and direction which it will afiford for moral conduct and religious trust. But this most important use of the Bible must be consonant with the truth about its nature; and the more vital its hold upon the hearts of men, the more powerful its influence in prac- tical life, the more needful it must be that its real character should be clearly understood. Accordingly the common people, who- are fed by the Bible and are exhorted to use it dili- gently in religious ways, are entitled to know, so far as possible, what the scholars have learned respecting its actual origin and history. To withhold such information will not only deprive them of an education to which they have a just claim, but will be sure to beget distrust and indif- ference. Now a part of the work of furnishing this needed popular instruction is to be done by the biblical professor, but perhaps an equally im- portant part is to be done by the enlightened pastor. He stands close to the ordinary people; he knows the state of their minds, he can sym- pathize with their perplexities and misgivings, PREFACE IX and therefore he can break the bread of truth to them according to their needs. Himself learning from the experts or the teachers in the universities, he can in turn teach the members of his congregation who look to him for leader- ship in spiritual things; and thus he may be the mediator of a new understanding between the Divine Spirit and those yearning souls that wait for illumination "more than they that watch for the morning." The point of view here indicated is the one from which the present volume is offered. It will be seen, therefore, that the book is not in- tended for scholars, but is rather a modest at- tempt by a working pastor to popularize some of the results of scholarship. It seeks to give the general reader a clear and trustworthy account of the changed view of the Bible which is growing up in these days, and to show him that this view does not weaken the hold of the Scriptures upon our esteem, but instead truly strengthens it, while tending positively to spir- itualize and vitalize our religion. Even more earnestly does it strive to set forth the great educational value of the Bible in our modern life, as it acts upon the heart of our civilization, and to point out the ways in which it may be most helpfully used, in its new aspects, in order to render its vast service of good to the individ- ual and to society. X PREFACE Of course the author does not presume to speak for any particular scholar, except as in- dicated by quotation or reference. The facts herein set forth are such as he has gleaned in his professional study, and he alone is responsible for the form in which he has stated them ; but he trusts he has not misrepresented, in any essen- tial respect, the position of modern learning in relation thereto. As to the convictions which he has expressed regarding the nature and work- ings of religion, most fully contained in the sixth, seventh, and eighth chapters of the first part, they are emphatically his own, although the influence of many teachers has combined with his own thought and experience to produce them. The writer fervently hopes that a sympa- thetic reading of these pages will yield the net result of a quickened apprehension of spiritual truth. Believing profoundly in the immanence of the Divine Spirit, of whose active presence in our human world the Bible is a great monu- ment, he believes that a truer knowledge of the Bible must always make men more clearly aware of the reality and the immediateness of the spir- itual forces that fill the universe, thereby bring- ing them into a deeper conscious harmony with That God which ever lives and loves, One God, one law, one element, And one far-off divine event, To which the whole creation moves. Providence, R. I. W. C. S. February r, 1906 PREFACE » POSTSCRIPT The author's indebtedness to various writers is perhaps sufficiently indicated by the quota- tions and references in the text and the foot- notes. But he desires especially to acknowl- edge his obligation to one of the professors in the University of Chicago, who, after reading the manuscript for the press, kindly submitted many sympathetic and helpful criticisms. The corrections and suggestions thus recommended have been substantially incorporated in the final revision of the work, much enhancing its value. The book has been produced amid the mul- tifarious duties of a double pastorate, involving the constant care of a city church and a sub- urban village church, not to speak of many other semi-public services. On the score of this fact some allowance may be made for the lack of literary finish and technical soundness which the critical reader will undoubtedly discover. It is hoped that such defects will not be so great as seriously to impair the practical usefulness of the volume. w. c. s. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION The Bible in Modern Life i PART I. THE MEANING OF BIBLICAL CRITICISM I. The History of the Bible, Since the Com- pletion OF THE Canons of the Two Testaments n. The Tr,\ditional View of the Bible . III. What is Biblical Criticism ? . . . IV. The New View of the Old Testament V. The New View of the New Testament VI. The Inspiration of the Bible . VII. The Divine Revelation in the Bible VIII. The Moral and Religious Authority of THE Bible 19 47 68 95 1 20 156 iSo PART II. THE VALUE AND USE OF THE BIBLE IX. The New Appreciation of the Bible . . 227 X. The Bible and Spiritual Progress . 247 XI. The Ser\7ce of the Bible to Our Own Time 265 XII. How to Read the Bible in Its Modern Aspects 284 XIII. The Use and Abuse of the Bible in the Sunday School 301 XIV. The Bible in the Public School . . . 324 XV. The Bible in the Home 348 XVI. The Bible and Personal Culture . . 364 XVIL The Bible and the Spread of Western CI\^LIZATloy . , , . 380 xSI INTRODUCTION THE BIBLE IN MODERN LIFE INTRODUCTION THE BIBLE IN MODERN LIFE The place which the Bible already fills in modern life is so large and honorable as to en- title it to the profound respect of all intelligent people. The still larger place which it is both worthy and certain to occupy in the future de- velopment of our civilization renders exceedingly important a most thorough consideration of every vital question connected with its nature and influence. It is impossible to understand the history of this civilization without knowing how the teachings of the Bible have been wrought, like a beautiful pattern, into its very warp and woof. It is likewise impossible to think of this civilization extending itself among the nations, in the immediate future, without in- volving these same teachings. Therefore it is not merely in a narrow, personal way, as concern- ing the religious interests of the individual, but rather in a very broad way. as flowing with the whole stream of our western civilization, now spreading over the earth, that we are adequately to measure the significance of the Bible in modern life. A few considerations will enforce this truth. I. Beginning with ourselves, we perceive at once that our private spiritual ideals, our ethi- 3 4 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE cal principles, our religious faith and devotion, and our hopes for the hereafter have been largely shaped by the ideas and influences emanating from this sacred volume. One may not claim that they have been produced thereby, for spir- itual aspiration, the moral sense, and the reli- g"ioius sentiment are afforded by the nature of man, are instinctive and ineradicable; but it is a fact that they have taken form and direction, as they exist among us, from the molding hand which the Bible has laid upon our souls. For every man shares, consciously or unconsciously, in the heritage of the past. Now our entire western civilization, which is comparatively of recent origin, has grown up in the closest connection with those agencies and forces which the Bible has fostered and transmitted, so that our an- cestors, for hundreds of years, as well as we ourselves, have been educated in its conceptions and spirit: consequently the impression which it has made upon our habits of thought and feel- ing, upon conduct and character, is as deep, vital, and permanent as that which is produced upon a race by climate or long-established national gov- ernment. Thus the influence of the Bible is felt in our lives, both directly and indirectly, to a greater extent than the unreflecting are aware. When we think of it, however, we see that it would be about as difficult to free ourselves from its effectual sway as to take the texture out of INTRODUCTION 5 a garment; and even if we possessed the desire and the ability to do this, it is quite as difficult to imagine what should or could be put in its place. No wonder we call the book sacred! for all our most sacred interests, whether drawn from the past or subsisting in the present or per- taining to the future, are bound up witli its life- giving teachings. It is the light, the inspirer, and the comforter of our needy souls as nothing else on earth has ever been. Intelligently cher- ished, it is simply an inestimable means of spir- itual grace and power, working silently, day by day, like the sunshine, to enrich and beautify our lives. 2. Similarly the Bible has entered into mod- ern literature in penetrating and thorough ways. Hosts of the greatest writers of the last thou- sand years have fed upon the Bible as upon no other work. Innumerable are the allusions to it, the quotations from it, and the illustrations afforded by it in the literary productions of European and American authors.^ How futile, then, to expect to understand these authors with- * The late Mr. Charles Dudley Warner, shortly before his death, wrote touching this point as follows: "Wholly apart from it» reHgious or from its ethical value, the Bible is the one book that no intelligent person who wishts to come into contact with the world of thought and to share the ideas of the great minds of the Christian era can affortl to be ignorant «{. All modern literature and all art are permeated with it. There is scarcely a great work in the tanguage that ran be fully understood and enjoyed without this knowl^dRe, so full is it of allusions and illus- trations from the Bible. This is true of fiction, of poetry, of eco- nomic and philosophic works, and also of the scientific and even 6 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE out some familiarity with the Bible! In nearly all our best literary possessions originating in recent centuries the facts, thoughts, and lessons of the Bible are reflected here and there on every hand; and its general spirit is undoubtedly the most pervasive quality in the moral and intellec- tual atmosphere of our time. Hence, if we de- sire to interpret correctly the literary history of modern times, thus comprehending the inner workings of the human spirit lying behind our whole occidental civilization, we shall find it needful to put ourselves at the point of view occu- pied by so many writers through an enlightened appreciation of the Bible. 3. Again, consider how our institutional life recognizes and employs the Bible. Not only our churches with their assemblages and their cere- monies of worship, not only our marriage and funeral customs, but also most of our philan- thropic agencies, many of our schools and col- leges, and some of our civil laws and judicial proceedings have been fashioned and subserved, in no small degree, by these ancient Scriptures. It is not contended that such social institutions owe their existence primarily to the Bible, for they agnostic treatises. It is not at all a question of religion, or the- oloKy. or of dogma; it is a question of general intelligence." Emerson, too, wrote: "Shakespeare, the first literary genius of the world, the highest in whom the moral is not the predominat- ing clement, leans on the Bible; bis poetry presupposes it. If we examine this brilliant influence — Shakespeare — as it lies in our mind, we shall find it reverent, not only of the letter of this book, but of the whole frame of society which stood in Europe upon it." INTRODUCTION 7 spring out of native instincts and tendencies, and there would be something like them even if there had never been any Bible ; but the point is, that the Bible has had actually to do with their development, and so exerts its power through their far-reaching influence. But the chief fact to be noted here is that the Bible is the specific and main instrument of all our distinctively religious institutions. What a striking phenomenon it is that every Christian church, every Young Men's or Young Women's Christian Association, and every Sunday school makes use of some portion of this book as the principal implement of spiritual culture! It is the sword of the Spirit wielded by the armies of the Lord — the one mighty weapon of offense and defense, to assail the works of ignorance and sin, and to keep every warrior's heart incorrupt- ible and undefiled. It is the one great textlxx>k of righteousness and holy love used throughout onr western world for the education of old and young in the highest and most vital things in human life. No other tool ever had such honor, or wrought upon so gigantic a task, or accom- plished such wonderful results. It is unique and marvelous as an instrumentality for the main- tenance of all that is best in our modern civili- zation. 4. Furthermore, it must be observed that the Bible is now being rapidly distributed over the 8 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE earth. The vast missionary enterprises of the various churches, springing up in the nineteenth century, have been inaugurated in nearly all lands, among hundreds of millions of people who, a short time ago, knew nothing of Judaism and Christianity. Invariably the Bible has ac- companied these enterprises, without which they had never been undertaken, and by virtue of which they have constantly subsisted. As a con- sequence of this Christian expansion, aided by the growth of learning and by other important factors, the Scriptures have now attained a cir- culation among the races and languages of the globe far surpassing that of any other collection of writings. Last year, for instance, the circu- lation of the American Bible Society alone amounted to 1,723,791 copies, and during the eighty-six years of its organization amounted to 70,677,225 ; while the British and Foreign Bible Society reported a circulation last year of 5,067,421 copies, and a total since the founda- tion of the society of 175,038,965. There are other societies engaged in distributing the Bible, but I am unable to give their figures; and while it is impossible to make any accurate estimate of the total circulation throughout the world, a trustworthy authority says it would probably reach 500,000,000. This means that the Bible has been translated into many languages and dia- lects — over ^00 — and that the demand for it is INTRODUCTION 9 steadily increasing. Surely, if tlie Bible conveys to mankind a knowledge of God, it is not diffi- cult to believe in the ultimate fulfilment of the old Hebrew prophecy — "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."^ Seeing thus the remarkable place which the Bible occupies in modern life, and which it is destined to enlarge, the highest significance at once attaches to the fact that the general zn^w of the Bible hitherto prevailing is undergoing a great change in these days. The recent vast ex- pansion of learning, and the many searching cor- rections effected by it, constitute one of the most notable achievements of our civilization. Few subjects have been affected by the twofold pro- cess more thoroughly and helpfully than the Bible. Light from various quarters has been thrown upon its pages, researches in the ancient lands connected with its origin have been made, and studies in the historic circumstances attend- ing its production and transmission have been patiently prosecuted, all contributing to render the Bible a much richer book for us than it could possibly have been for our forefathers. But it is also a different book, in the sense of bearing a different nature. It is no longer regarded in so narrow and mechanical a way as formerly; it is less a mysterious oracle, and more a living * Isa, xi. 9, lO NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE voice; and if we use it less as a talisman or shibboleth, we feel it more as a throbbing en- ergy in the struggling life of our time. We do not think of it as having been written by the Almighty, or by angels, or by infallible human amanuenses; but rather as having grown out of the personal and national experiences of a peo- ple who were wonderfully fitted by racial en- dowment and by a long, peculiar discipline to feel and express profound moral and religious truths. The steps by which it came into exist- ence can be traced to a great extent, the stages of its development can be marked off with ap- proximate accuracy; and we see that whatever divine element is involved in its creation is just such as we ourselves may know something about in our purest spiritual consciousness — the pres- ence and power of the spirit of God working in and through the spirit of man "both to will and to do of his good pleasure." So the marvelous in the sense of the miraculous diminishes, and the marvelous in the sense of the natural in- creases. This fundamental change in our general con- ception of the Bible will be elucidated and am- plified. Here let me simply remark that the facts and truths involved in it are embraced in what is called the science of historical and literary criticism, and more particularly in the branch of this science known as biblical criti- INTRODUCTION II cism. This new science, which is giving us largely a new Bible, is creating a new interest among intelligent people in the study of the pre- cious volume; and I venture to hope that we are on the eve of a better and more diligent use of these sacred writings for vital purposes than has yet prevailed. To those who have eyes to see the trend of spiritual events, the inevitable im- provement that must ensue from such enlight- ening and vivifying influences is indeed a glad- dening vision. Therefore they welcome this modern science of biblical criticism as a radiant, beautiful benefactress, like so many of her pre- decessors in the sisterhood of sciences, and re- joice to receive her blessing. We are bound, however, to recognize the prevalence of a contrary judgment. There are those who are hostile to this science, deeming it a source of great evil. They hold it respon- sible for disturbing the faith of earnest Chris- tians, for undermining the foundations of reli- gious institutions, for depleting the churches, and for setting people adrift upon a sea of uncer- tainty, skepticism, and secularism. Nor can we deny that there is some truth in these allega- tions. Every great change in religious thought produces, inevitably, important personal and social consequences. To alter men's ruling ideas about the Bible, or the Church, or Jesus Christ, or God, or human destiny must affect their prac- 12 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE tical attitude toward all Christian interests. And undoubtedly the manifold changes now occurring in popular thought are having a con- siderable influence upon the conduct of large numbers of men and women with reference to public worship, the observance of Sunday, the reading of the Scriptures, and religious matters in general. But it is a mistake to suppose that these changes are due solely or chiefly to biblical cri- ticism; that is only one of the causes. They be- long to the whole intellectual and spiritual move- ment of the age; all the other sciences have con- tributed to them; the general progress of civili- zation lies behind them and is implicated in them. It is likewise a mistake to suppose that their influence is, on the whole, baneful. It is no more so than that of all knowledge, freedom, and growth. There are incidental losses in every form of human advancement — from child- hood to manhood, from dependence to self-re- liance, from simplicity to complexity of social life; but these are more than offset by the gains which a natural development yields. If the world is now learning that some of its former conceptions of divine processes have been par- tially false because imperfect and narrow, and is therefore rectifying them, there will be, indeed, some evil results; but these will be more than counterbalanced by the immense benefits which INTRODUCTION 13 must eventually issue. At any rate, the process is going on, we cannot stop it, and we must pre- pare to accept the consequences, whatever they may be. It is pleasant to be able to believe that, in the main, they are sure to be good. There is another serious aspect of this sub- ject. The friends of Christianity who are mis- takenly opposing biblical criticism are certain to alienate many thinking persons from the churches. This has been done already to a sad extent. There is good reason to believe that many bright young people, educated in our in- stitutions of learning, are turning away from the churches today because of their intellectual in- hospitality. Instead of finding them leaders of thought, they find them, too often, reluctant fol- lowers. Instead of seeing them expecting more light to break forth, more truth to be discovered, they behold them clinging to a revelation that is finished. Instead of being encouraged by them, as they are encouraged at college, to think, to examine, to investigate, and to explore with per- fect fearlessness, and to welcome the established conclusions of scientific study, they are fre- quently warned against all this, and they hear unfavorable judgments pronounced upon the work of some of the world's greatest scholars. Thus, instead of being fellow-helpers to the truth, the churches often become a hindrance to its attainment. Manifestly this is very unfor- 14 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE tunate; and the churches are the principal stiffer- ers. For no worse calamity could befall the Christian churches in our day than to lose the support of the thinking classes. And they will lose it, more or less, if this policy be continued. The hope that it will not be continued lies in the fact that, as a rule, highly educated men are increasingly demanded for the Christian min- istry. Let the demand be insisted upon, and let the ministers, after they get into their pulpits, have as much confidence in the Spirit of Truth as they had while in the university. The Mas- ter promised that that Spirit should lead his dis- ciples into all truth. Let them follow such a divine leadership, encourage their hearers to do likewise, prepare them to look for fresh dis- closures of God's secrets, and honor all who in any way are seeking to discover them. So shall they help to make the Christian Church the staunch ally of all sound learning, and thereby save to her service the lovers of truth and prog^ ress. I believe, then, that the gravest danger to be feared from biblical criticism today is, not that the acceptance of its teachings will undermine the faith of devout souls, but that the rejection of iis well-established results, together with an attitude of unfriendliness toward all its work, will do the Christian Church incalculable harm through the alienation of vast numbers of INTRODUCTION 1 5 thoughtful, inquiring people. So believing, I desire, as a reverent and glad disciple of Jesus Christ, to do what I can to avert this danger from the great institution which serves the world in his name. Accordingly, with such ability as is at my disposal, I have undertaken a candid dis- cussion of the matters here broached, in the firm conviction that the facts and truths which the scholars have brought to light, not only do not invalidate the most spiritual faith in the Bible and in Jesus Christ, but on the contrary greatly enhance such a faith. By showing how this is true, comprehensively and yet with some detail, and by such a course alone, can "the present dis- tress" which Professor McFadyen ^ depicts be ad- equately relieved; only so can the churches again be duly enriched by the fruits of the new learning, and become thoroughly equipped for the stupendous tasks of a new age; and only so can we expect our historic religion to have its full share in the supreme work of spiritualizing our modern civilization. • See John Edgar McFadyen, Old Testament Criticism and the Christian Church (Scribner, 1903), chap. L PART I THE MEANING OF BIBLICAL CRITICISM CHAPTER I THE HISTORY OF THE BIBLE In the present chapter a sketch is to be given of the history of the Bible. There is re- quired at least an outline of the story of its pres- ervation, transmission, and diffusion since the various v^rritings composing it were collected, selected, and recognized as authoritative and sacred. The long process of thus gathering and establishing them, technically known as the for- mation of the Canon, constitutes a separate theme — preliminary, indeed, and of the greatest interest — but needing to be treated by itself. For the simple purpose, however, of tracing the principal steps by which we have come into pos- session of the English Bible of our own day, it is necessary to cover only the last fifteen or six- teen centuries. Accordingly, for convenience, let us go back to that important way-mark in Christian history, 325 a. d., which was signal- ized by the adoption of the Nicene Creed; and from this point of departure, looking before and a fter, we may see the main facts which we need to notice. Back of the date here mentioned there lay nearly three hundred years of remarkable Chris- tian activity following the death of Jesus, during which the gospel had spread abroad through the 20 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE greater portion of the civilized world, and at length had won recognition and acceptance by imperial Rome in the person of Constantine the Great, who had just come to the throne of the Caesars. The new religion had produced a fresh, strong literature, the best parts of which had been sifted out, gathered together, used and ap- pealed to, in worship and teaching, by the gen- eral consensus of Christian opinion. This devel- opment had been slow and natural, and was not yet complete; in fact the final determination of the New Testament Canon, by ecclesiastical de- cree, did not occur until 495 a. d.^ Yet, at the time we are considering, the chief of these select writings were already most highly esteemed, being regarded as very precious and practically of equal rank with the Old Testament. These last-named scriptures were produced within the fifteen centuries of Israelitish history which lay still farther back, before the time of Christ — in- deed, the bulk of them within the second half of that period. They, likewise, had been sifted out and brought together — first, and gradually, into three distinct collections, and finally into a single collection; and toward the close of the period they had been translated into Greek for the use of Greek-speaking Jews, of whom there * Professor Edward C. Moore, in a lecture. See especially his volume, The New Testament in the Christian Church (Macmillan, i904)> PP- 32. 33, 160-163. Very valuable. HISTORY OF THE BIBLE 21 were many at Alexandria and the other leading cities of the Graeco-Roman world. Some of these sacred writings — possibly of both Testaments, and certainly of the Old — ex- isted upon prepared skins, but most of them upon papyrus, a material introduced among the Greeks from the Egyptians several centuries previously. It consisted of sheets made from the papyrus plant, a species of bulrush found along the river Nile and also in Syria. The interior or pith of the stalk, after removing the rind, was cut into thin strips, which were laid lengthwise, side by side, and crosswise on top, and then while damp were pressed together, being rubbed even and smooth by some hard substance like bone or ivory. Upon that crude kind of "paper" (de- rived from this very word "papyrus") those precious words of religious thought and faith were inscribed with a sort of pen called a stylus, made from a reed. Obviously copies of the Scriptures, in whole or in part, must have been made quite frequently, in order both to preserve them and to circulate them among the churches. After 325 A. D. a few events and develop- ments took place which affected favorably the course of the Bible. I. Christianity, being espoused by the em- peror, immediately became honorable and pow- erful; its friends multiplied, its churches in- creased, and wealth began to flow to its support. 22 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE All this naturally augmented the demand for copies of the Scriptures. Constantine himself ordered no less than fifty for the churches of Constantinople alone. 2. The Christian writings, which had grown in importance until they had come to be as highly esteemed ^ for spiritual uses as those of the Old Testament, were now more frequently recorded upon parchment. This had the twofold effect of rendering the Scriptures more secure, and of fa- cilitating the collection of the New Testament books into a single volume, which had been im- practicable before because of the inconvenient size of the papyrus rolls.* At least two copies, • "We have seen that it was upon the regular reading of the apostolic literature in the public services of the Christians for worship that the hallowing of this literature followed. The later generations would have said that they read these books because they deemed them inspired and sacred. So we say today. The earlier generations read them because the books told of Christ and took the place of the Apostles. They came to deem sacred and inspired, writings whkh did thus tell of Christ and take the place of the Apostles, and which they had been accustomed to read, along with the inspired writings of the Old Testament, in the services for public worship. "Whatever literature was read in the leading Christian com- munities from Sunday to Sunday in the last decades of the second century, that, after a time, men came to regard as divine Scrip- ture, being led up to that idea by the long process which we have reviewed. That high authority which they found this literature, for inward and spiritual reasons, to possess, they soon came to con- ceive in outward fashion, and to explain in the manner in which they had already reasoned concerning the authority of the Old Testament."^ Professor E. C Moore's The New Testament vi the Christian Church, pp. 136, 137, 140, 141. « "The dder of the church in Western Asia who arose in his congregation to read the letter of St. Paul which we know as the Epistle to the Ephesians, must have held in his hand a roll of white HISTORY OF THE BIBLE 23 Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus, of the New Testament made shortly after this date, that is, made about the middle of the fourth cen- tury, were destined to survive until our own time. 3. Jerome was born 340 or 342 a. d.^ and died in 420. He became the leading Christian scholar of the Western Church, and at the sug- gestion of Pope Damasus devoted his abilities to the service of the Bible. He revised the exist- ing Latin translation of the New Testament, rendered into Latin the Psalms from the Sep- tuagint, and with the aid of a few Jewish rabbis executed a new translation of the remainder of the Old Testament directly from the Hebrew. This work, notwithstanding the papal sanction, encountered prolonged opposition from the con- servative party in the Church. Nevertheless it won its way, and in the ninth century, after var- ious modifications, superseded all other versions, being adopted with the utmost unanimity and praise, and having the title "Vulgate" trans- ferred to it. It became the one authoritative ver- or light yellow material about four feet in length and some ten inches in height. The Acts of the Apostles might have formed a portly roll of thirty feet, or might even have been divided into two or more sections. Even had the idea been entertained of making a collection of all the books which now form our New Testament, it would have been quite impossible to have combined them in a single volume, so long as papyrus was the material used." — Frederick G. Kenyon, Our Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts, P- 94. 24 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE sion for all the churches of western Europe until the Protestant Reformation.* From about the middle of the fifth century onward for a thousand years, the Church of Rome was engaged in playing that conspicuous role which her bold ecclesiastical policy and the national changes occurring in Europe rendered possible. Under her administration Christianity was spread abroad with remarkable vigor and skill, and gradually won the allegiance of the great barbarian tribes — first of the Franks, and then of their German kinsmen; thus it became a powerful factor in the development of the mod- ern European nations. Moreover, amid the ruins of the Roman Empire, this mighty Church stood for whatever of culture, order, reverence, and glory the word civilisation could mean. It was not a time in which learning could thrive, for it was an era of turbulence resulting from the decay of the old paganism and the conflict of Christianity with the new barbarism. The knowledge of Greek had nearly died out, Latin was the language of the schools, the churches, and the courts, and new dialects were growing up here and there with the rise of new peoples. Yet a degree of scholarship was still main- * "There were good reasons for the supremacy of the Vulgate. The devoiions, the Canon Law, the liturgical usages of a thou- sand years, the universal value of Latin as the language of edu- cated men, worked toward this end." — Professor Henry S. Nash, The History of the Higher Criticism (Macmillan, 1900), p. 23, note HISTORY OF THE BIBLE 25 tained, some attempts were made at popular in- struction, and a few of the universities were founded that were destined to become great cen- ters of learning. Above all, in the monasteries the monks were busy transcribing the books of the Bible, in order to meet the constant demand for copies of the Scriptures. They constituted a class of scribes, who made a special business ol copying manuscripts, and they attained great skill in the art. Their work had to be done by hand, it required infinite care and patience, and at best many mistakes were inevitable. Some of the scribes illuminated and ornamented their copies, so as to render them beautiful; and occa- sionally kings or ecclesiastical dignitaries caused manuscripts to be made the letters of which, es- pecially in the names of God and Christ, were covered with silver or gold. Sometimes, in- deed, these were made with all the letters in gold, and were bound with plates of silver and gold, studded with jewels.^ This work of transcribing was not confined to the Latin language; translations were made into the various dialects with which Christianity had come into contact. A Catholic writer^ in- * "Beautiful manuscripts, finely written in golden ktters upon thin parchment, were articles of pious luxury even in the fourth century." — Eduard W. E. Reuss, History of the New Testa- ment (Houghton, MifHin & Co., 1884), p. 385; translated by E. L. Houghton. See Book III for much valuable information on the above subject. • Mr. L. A. Buckingham, The Bible in the Middle Ages, Lon- don, 1853. 26 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE stances sixteen of these translations into modern languages made between the fourth and the fif- teenth centuries. But the vast majority of the copies of the Bible circulating in the West dur- ing this long period were in the Latin — some- times made from the Old Latin version, some- times from Jerome's translation, sometimes partly from each. The process of copying the Scriptures was necessarily expensive. It required many small skins to yield sufficient parchment,*^ which itself was costly, and the task involved an immense amount of labor. In the uncial manuscripts each letter was a capital and had to be written sep- arately; and although the cursive style of writ- ing, mainly employed after the ninth century, was much more easy and rapid, still the copying of the whole Bible was a toilsome undertaking. It has been estimated that the cost of producing a complete copy of the Scriptures in this fashion at present would be at least one thousand dol- lars. Therefore only the more important books of the Bible, such as the gospels or the epistles of Paul, were extensively circulated during the Middle Ages, between the fifth and the twelfth centuries. Under the circumstances, however, these may be said to have had a wide reading, and doubtless many thousands of manuscripts, 'The size of the pages varied from 9%X6% to aoX'-l^'' inches. The number of sheets required to contain the entire Bible made a huge volume. HISTORY OF THE BIBLE 27 great and small, might have been found in the various churches, monasteries and university li- braries, as well as in private hands, throughout mediaeval Europe. Approaching the era of the Protestant Ref- ormation, we encounter a growing spirit of in- dependence among the people, along with in- creasing corruptions on the part of the priests, monks, and higher ecclesiastics. A Christian heart-hunger craved the bread of life in the form of translations of the Bible into the mother- tongues of the different peoples, especially those of Teutonic stock. Various partial attempts were made in England to satisfy this desire, reaching from Csedmon's paraphrase of the Scripture narrative, written about 670, to the work of John Wycliffe in the fourteenth cen- tury. Wycliffe rendered the New Testament into English about 1380, and the Old Testament in 1382 or a little later. This was only a secondary translation from the Latin Vulgate, but it was a great and promising achievement.^ Other in- fluences were at work which were soon to pro- duce important results. Among these was a re- awakening of interest in the study of the Greek language and literature, as an outcome of the * "This .... work was mainly executed by Wycliffe himself, but his friend Nicholas Hereford did part of the Old Testament. Afterwards the whole was revised by John Purvey, who assisted Wycliffe in his parish duty at Lutterworth, and finished his edition probably not long after the reformer's death" (1384). — Encyclo- pwdia Britannica, Vol. XXIV, p. 710. 28 NEW .\PPRECL\TION OF THE BIBLE Crusades. More significant still was the inven- tion of printing® in the fifteenth centun,', the sen'- ice of which was to disj)ense with the laborious copv-ing of manuscripts. Erasmus was bom in 1467 and lived until 1536, and in the course of his career did more, perhaps, than any other man to sow the seeds of revolution by his bib- lical labors as well as by his writings. He be- came a critical scholar, was sometime professor of Greek in Cambridge, and published the New Testament in Greek with an improved Latin translation and comments. The first edition ap- peared in 1 5 16, and several other editions, some- what re\"ised. in quick succession. The work created a furor everywhere and marked a new epoch in religious thought.^^ At the same time, over on the Continent, Luther was drawing the thunderbolt out of the sky by defying the power of Rome, and the Prot- estant Reformation was immediately inaugu- rated. In his prison-retreat in the Castle of Wart- • The first book printed in Europe was the Latin Bible, issti«d by Gotenberg in 1456, a copy of which is in the British Museum- *• "NeTcr was volanie more passionately devonred. A hun- dr«d thousand copies were soon sold in France alone. The fire spread as it spread behind Saaison's foxes in the Philistines' com. The clergy's skins were tender from long impunity. They shrieked from poipit and platform, and made Europe ring with their clamor. The more loudly they cried the more Europe perceived the justice of tkeir chastisement. The words of the Bible have been so long famitiar to us that we can hardly realize what the effect must have b een when the Gospel was brought out fresh and risiHe before the astonished eres of mankind. " — ^James Anthony Fronde, Ufe end Letters of Erarmus (Scribner, 1894), p. i*7- HISTORY OF THE BIBLE 29 burg he at once began the translation of the Bible into the German language, and, along with other arduous labors, continued indefati- gably at this great task for nearly tv\^enty-five years, comprising the publication and revision of successive editions of his work.^^ Returning to England, we approach the de- velopments which led directly to the production of the King James or Authorized Version of the Bible. We are not to think of this as the work of a single master-mind, or even as the unaided achievement of the particular group of scholars who finally gave it form. Behind it lay the labors of many toilers, covering nearly a cen- tury; indeed, if we include those of Wycliffe and his assistants, they extend over two and a quar- ter centuries. Foremost among all who contrib- uted to the great result was William Tyndale, who doubly gave his life to the cause. He was bom in 1484, was educated mainly at Oxford, but in 1 5 10 was drawn to Cambridge by the fame of Erasmus, who was lecturing there. 11 The New Testament was first iss^ied at Wittenberg in September, 1522; the first complete Bible in iS34; a revised edition, with the co-operation of Melanchthoa and other friends, in 1541; and still another revision in 1545. "Luther's Bible not only be- came the firmest support of the Reformation and the noblest monu- ment of his own fame, but it is a national German work. .... Its language, happily rising out of Old German harshness, the best that Luther wrote, and surpassed by none of his contemporaries, sounded like a prophecy of a go' den age of literature, and in manly vigor and anointing of the Holy Spirit it has ever remained a model unapproached." — EL W. E. Reuss, History of the New Testament, VoL II, pp. 489, 490. so NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE Doubtless the influence of this brilliant teacher helped him to resolve upon the undertaking to which he so earnestly devoted himself. After nearly ten years of precarious employment, and being convinced that he could not safely bring out his work at home, he left England in 1524 and went to Hamburg. Here he completed his translation of the New Testament, and the next year it was published at Worms.^^ Several re- vised editions appeared in the decade following, along with portions of the Old Testament. But he was not able to finish the latter before he was seized by order of the emperor and put to death as a heretic, in 1536.*^ The year before Tyndale died Miles Cover- dale translated the Bible from the Dutch (i. e., German) and Latin. It was printed abroad, but promptly appeared in England. While not actu- ally authorized, the work had been produced with the sanction and support of Thomas Crom- 1* "Money for the work had been found by a number of Eng- lish merchants, and by their means the copies were secretly con- veyed into England, where they were eagerly bought and read on all sides." — Frederick G. Kenyon, Our Bible and the Ancient Manu- scripts, p. 212. ** The emperor was Charles V, ruler of Spain, Austria, and the Netherlands. Tyndale was residing in Antwerp at the time of his base betrayal in 1535. Being kidnapped, he was imprisoned at Vilworde, in Belgium. Henry VIII, king of England, did nothing to procure his release, and Cromwell, though sympathizing with the unfortunate man, could not save him. He was tried, con- victed of heresy, and strangled to death, his body being burned, near Brussels, October 6, 1536. He died with the prayer on his lips, "Lord, open the king of England's eyes!" The very next year Henry permitted Cranmer to circulate the Bible in England. HISTORY OF THE BIBLE 31 well, secretary of state and otherwise chief functionary under King Henry VIII, and was dedicated to the king. It was the first complete Bible printed in English, and the Psalms in it are those still used in the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England. Two revised editions were issued in 1537, being "set forth with the King's most gracious license." The demand for the Bible grew. A work known as "Matthew's Bible," which was really a completion of Tyndale's enterprise, was pub- lished in London in 1537, though printed prob- ably in Antwerp. In 1539 Richard Taverner, an Oxford scholar, issued an independent trans- lation. In the same year the "Great Bible," so called from its very large size, was brought out under the direction of Cromwell, who ordered a copy to be put in some convenient place in every church. This work was not a new trans- lation, but a thorough revision, made by Cover- dale, of Matthew's Bible. The edition of 1540 and subsequent editions contained a long pref- ace by Archbishop Cranmer, whence it is often called "Cranmer's Bible." But a reaction against Protestantism soon set in; and in 1543 all translations of the Bible bear- ing Tyndale's name were ordered destroyed, and three years later Coverdale's New Testament was joined in the same condemnation. "The public use of the English Bible was forbidden, and 32 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE copies were removed from the churches/^ A num- ber of scholars, fleeing the country, found a wel- come in Geneva, where Calvin and Beza were in the midst of their great work. Here was pro- duced the important "Geneva Bible" which con- sisted of a careful revision of the Old Testament of the "Great Bible" and of Tyndale's last revis- ion of the New Testament. This was published in 1560, and soon came to be the Bible of the household among English people. Its superiority incited a demand for a further revision of the "Great Bible" for use in the churches. Such a work, known as the "Bishops' Bible," was pub- lished in 1568, with a second edition in 1572. In 1 582-1 609 the Roman Catholics produced the Rheims and Douai Bible, which was a transla- tion, not from the original Hebrew and Greek, but from the Latin Vulgate. But there was still a call for improvement. The marginal comments in the Genevan Bible, which were of a Calvinistic tone, were objectionable to many, while other faults were pointed out by scholars. At a conference called by King James I, in 1604, the subject was brought up by Dr. Reynolds, President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and a Puritan leader, who "moved his Majesty that there might be a new translation of the Bible, because those which were allowed in the reign of King Henry VIII and Edward VI were corrupt, and not answerable to the truth HISTORY OF THE BIBLE 33 of the original." ^^ He was supported by Bishop Bancroft of London, and the king was interested ; indeed, it was the latter who proposed the plan of procedure, namely : that the revision or trans- lation should be made principally by the univer- sities; that it should be approved by the bishops, by the Privy Council, and by the king himself; and that it should have no marginal commentary. A list of fifty-four distinguished scholars was approved for the task, and in 1607 they set to work, at least forty-seven of them. They were divided into six groups, sitting two at Westmin- ster, two at Oxford, and two at Cambridge. Taking the Bishops' Bible as a basis, they con- sulted and used to some extent the translations of Tyndale, Matthew, Coverdale, the "Great Bible," the Geneva Bible, and the Rheims and Douai Version. They were occupied laboriously for two years and nine months, the last nine months being given to the final revision by a committee of two from each of the six groups. The new translation was published in 161 1, with a "Dedication to the King," and with a lengthy preface bestowing abundant praise upon him for his royal patronage, and explaining the principles and aims of the work. It was "ap- pointed to be read in churches," and, though there is no record of any formal act of authorization, it at once superseded the Bishops' Bible and '* The Cambridge Companion to the Bible, 1893, p. 85. 34 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE grew in popular favor until it became the recog- nized Bible of the English people. The interest which these various early trans- lations into the vernacular awakened was in- tense. We in these calm, tolerant days may not easily conceive how matters then stood. Say what they will to the contrary, the Catholics did not want the common people to read the Bible. "Charles V and Philip II passed a decree which inflicted the punishment of death by burning on any in the Netherlands who presumed to read the Bible in any language which they could understand." ^^ Likewise in England, "even under Henry VIII, it was a crime punishable with death to read the Bible in a language which they understood." ^® Consequently the people had known little about its precious contents; but now that it had become possible for them to read or hear it, they were profoundly stirred. "Englishmen," says a scholar of the time, "were so eager for the gospel as to affirm that they would buy a New Testament even if they had to give a hundred thousand pieces of money for it." Bibles and pamph- lets were smuggled over to England and circulated among the poorer and trading classes through the agency of an association of "Christian Brethren," consisting prin- ** Motley's Rise of the Dutch Republic, Vol. I, pp. 73, 228; given by Archdeacon Farrar in The Bible — Its Meaning and Su- premacy, p. 212. ^' Farrar, ibid., p. 324. HISTORY OF THE BIBLE 35 cipally of London tradesmen and citizens, but whose missionaries spread over the country at large." Notwithstanding the deep feeling thus every- where manifested with reference to the Bible, the authorities opposed its popular use. When Tyn- dale's translation appeared in England, its de- struction wras promptly ordered, and thousands of copies were burned at the old cross of St. Paul's, as "a burnt offering most pleasing to Al- mighty God."^^ Bishop Tunstall and other bishops subscribed money to buy up all the copies they could get hold of; but this proceeding merely helped Tyndale to pay his debts and go *' J. R. Green, History of the English People, Vol. II, pp. 128, 129. After "Henry VIII at last permitted the English Bible to be published," says Taine, "everyone who could buy this book either read it assiduously, or had it read to him by others, and many well advanced in years learned to read with the same object. On Sunday the poor folk gathered at the bottom of the churches to hear it read. Maldon, a young man, afterwards related that he had clubbed his earnings with an apprentice to buy a New Testament, and that for fear of his father, they had hidden it 'n their straw mattress." Again he says: "Try to pic- ture these yeomen, these shopkeepers, who in the evening placed this Bible on their table, and bareheaded, with veneration, heard or read one of its chapters. Think that they have no other books, that theirs was a virgin mind, that every impression would make a furrow, that the monotony of mechanical existence rendered them open to new emotions, that they opened this book, not for amusement, but to discover in it their doom of life and death." — History of English Literature, Vol. II, pp. i66, i68. 18 " 'With six and thirty abbotts, mitred priors, and bishops, and he in his whole pomp mitred,' the Cardinal [Wolsey] looked on while 'great baskets full of books .... were commanded after the great fire was made before the Rood of Northen,' the crucifix by the great door of the cathedral, 'thus to be burned, and those heretics to go thrice about the fire and to cast in their fagots.' " — ^J. R. Green, History of the English People, Vol. II, p. 128. 36 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE on with his revision and printing- of the New Testament. Later, when the Great Bible was published, and copies were set up in the churches, six being in St. Paul's, Bishop Bonner com- plained because the people gathered about these to hear the Scriptures read, in preference to lis- tening to his sermons. Even as late as the Coun- cil of Trent (1545-63) it was decreed that who- ever should presume to read or to have a Bible without permission might not receive absolution until he should surrender the book. Doubtless this general attitude of hostility on the part of both the ecclesiastical and the civil authorities was due to several causes — to intel- lectual and moral inertia, to the instinct of self- preservation inhering in institutions as well as in individuals, to the wholesome conservatism which desires to "hold fast that which is good," and also to that distrust of the people and that dread of liberalism which have so often stood in the way of human progress. It was the age of the Inquisition ; it was the age, too, of the world's travail in the birth of the modern spirit, which was "set for the rise and fall of many." In- stinctively the reigning powers in Church and State felt the tendency of events, and shrank from consequences which were fraught with even greater danger to themselves than they were aware. Yet their antagonism proved futile, truth and right prevailed, and the Word of the HISTORY OF THE BIBLE 37 Lord found free course to run and be glorified.^' The great influence of the Authorized Version among Ejiglish-speaking people, fitly paralleling that of Luther's translation among the Germans, has been marked from the beginning. Its superi- ority to previous English renderings was quickly recognized, and its literary merits have never failed of appreciation. "It is the finest specimen ^* The historic situation is vividly portrayed by Mr. James Anthony Froude, who says: "The Christian religion as taught and practised in Wfsteni Europe consisted of the Mass and the Confessional, of elaborate ceremonials, rituals, processions, pil- grimages, prayers to the Virgin and the saints, with dispensations an4 indulgences for laws broken or duties left undone. Of the Gospels and Epistles so much only was known to the laity as was read in the Church services, and that intoned as if to be purposely unintelligible to the understanding. Of the rest of the Bible nothing was known at all, because nothing was supposed to be necessary, and lectures like Colet's at Oxford were con- sidered superfluous and dangerous. Copies of the Scriptures were rare, shut up in convent libraries, and studied only by professional theologians; while conventional interpretations were attached to the text which corrupted or distorted its meaning. Erasmus had undertaken to give the book to the whole world to read for itself — the original Greek of the Epistles and Gospels, with a new Latin translation — to wake up the intelligence, to show that the words had a real sense, and were not mere sounds like the dronings of a barrel-organ. "It was finished at last, text and translation printed, and the living facts of Christianity, the persons of Christ and the Apostles, their history, their lives, their teaching were revealed to an astonished world. For the first time the laity were able to sec, side by side, the Christianity which converted the world, and th*; Christianity of the Church with a Borgia pope, cardinal princes, ecclesiastical courts, and a mythology of lies. The effect was to be a spiritual earthquake. "Erasmus had edited the Greek New Testament and made a fresh translation. Luther, in the Castle of Wartburg, was trans- lating it into vernacular German, with the Old Testament to fol- low. Together, these two men had made accessible the rock, stronger than the rock of Peter, on which the faith of mankind was to be rebuilt." — L,ife and Letters of Erasmus, pp. 119, 120, 299. 38 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE of our prose literature at a time when English prose wore its stateliest and most majestic form," says Mr. Frederick G. Kenyon. Doubtless few good judges would dissent from this opinion. The English language reached a very high stage of development in the half-century immediately preceding the appearance of this version, for it was the age of Shakespeare and Bacon, of Lati- mer, Spenser, and Raleigh, and it is easy to see how admirably it uses the langnage, and how worthily the language fits the exalted and serious thoughts of the Scriptures.^" "No master of style," says Mr. Kenyon further, "has been blind to its charms ; and those who have recommended its study most strongly have often been those who, like Carlyle and Matthew Arnold, were not prepared to accept its teaching to the full." ^^ Coleridge and Ruskin have acknowledged the surpassing beauty and power of this splendid production, even from a purely literary point of view; and we shall not be amiss if we regard it as our greatest English classic, and therefore claim for it a place in the education of all who would understand either the course of English history or the growth of English literature. The Authorized Version is said to be "trans- lated out of the original tongues; and with the former translations diligently compared and re- ** See Taine's History of English Literature, Vol. II, pp. 169 f. •1 Our Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts, p. 233. HISTORY OF THE BIBLE 39 vised." What does this mean? That the Old Testament was rendered from the Hebrew, and the New Testament from the Greek, But what manuscript or manuscripts did the translators have before them; the very first made, those written by the biblical authors themselves? Manifestly not; for those originals had perished long before, and only copies of copies remained. These copies were all of quite late dates, they differed more or less from one another, some of them therefore were inaccurate to a considerable degree, and the best thing the translators could do was to compare the various copies closely and use their critical judgment in deciding which reading to follow in any given case. This they did, and the result was a remarkable achieve- ment of conscientious labor; but they could not produce a perfect translation of the original words of the original biblical writings,' simply because they had no perfect manuscript copy. Perhaps there can never be an absolutely perfect copy, but a great improvement in this matter has taken place since the Authorized Version was published. It can be readily seen that the oldest copies of the Bible, or of any portions of it, must be the most reliable because nearest to the original. For a serious disadvantage of the hand-copying method of transmitting and diffusing any writ- ings — and, as has been shown, such was the 40 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE only method during nearly fifteen centuries of Christian history — was the inevitable and in- creasing corruption of the text, resulting from sheer human fallibility. Hence, as a rule, the later manuscripts of the Bible are inferior to the earlier, especially before the dawn of modem critical scholarship, beginning with Erasmus. Now, some of the very oldest and most impor- tant biblical manuscripts have been found within the last two centuries, a few of them, indeed, within the last half-century. At present we have four very ancient MSS of the New Testament, two of which — Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sin- aiticus — date from the fourth century, and the other two — Codex Alexandrinus and Codex Eph- raemi — from the fifth. Of these four priceless documents the first named is in the Vatican Li- brary at Rome, the second in the Imperial Li- brary at St. Petersburg, the third in the British Museum at London, and the other in the Na- tional Library at Paris. Each of these has an interesting history, and not a little of thrilling romance is connected with at least one of them — Codex Sinaiticus. This manuscript was discovered by Dr. Con- stantine Tischendorf in the monastery of St. Catherine at Mount Sinai upon his third visit there in 1859. At his first visit, in 1844, he had accidentally found some pages of the Old Tes- tament which were about to be cast into the fire, HISTORY OF THE BIBLE 41 and had quite easily obtained permission to keep them. His second visit, in 1853, was fruitless; but returning, six years later, under the patron- age of the Czar, he was received with more favor by the monks, and was rewarded at last by dis- covering and obtaining a complete copy of the New Testament, on vellum made from the finest skins of antelopes, and in a large, clear hand- writing. He brought it home with joy and pub- lished it for the benefit of all biblical scholars, and it has since reposed securely in the archives of Russia's Imperial Library. Dr. Tischendorf assigned it to the middle of the fourth century. One of the other manuscripts mentioned — Codex Vaticanus — is generally considered older, and therefore the very oldest known to exist; but it likewise dates from the fourth century. It has been in its present home, the Vatican Li- brary, since about 1450. After being jealously guarded, and shown with great reluctance even to the foremost scholars, it was published in a complete photographic facsimile in 1889-90, by permission of Pope Leo XIII, in connection with the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of his elevation to the priesthood. Because of all the discoveries subsequent to the date of the Authorized Version, and because of the patient labors of many scholars to im- prove the text of both Testaments, it was felt, a generation or more ago, that the time had 42 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE come for another revision of the Bible. As early as 1856 the subject was broached, but not until 1870 was definite action taken. In that year a committee of English churchmen, soliciting the co-operation of scholars from other religious bodies and from America, undertook the work of producing a Revised Version. Two companies were formed. The one for the New Testa- ment occupied ten and a half years, sitting about forty days a year; that for the Old Testament fourteen years, sitting about fifty-six days a year. In 1 87 1 two corresponding companies of Ameri- can scholars joined in the task. The Revised New Testament was published May 17, 1881 ; the entire Bible, May 19, 1885.22 The principal merit of this revision is its greater accuracy. Not only is it rendered from an improved text, but it is more correctly trans- lated than any former version. It has contrib- uted much to a truer general understanding of the Bible, not merely in its literary aspects, but even more in its teachings. For example, it presents the subject-matter in proper paragraphs, instead of in single verses, and thereby conveys to the reader some sense of wholeness in his con- ception of any given passage or book; it prints such works as Job, the Psalms, and Proverbs in a form to indicate their character as poetry; it 2* For more detailed and complete information, see the pref- aces to both Testaments, particularly the New, in the Revised Ver- sion; also the Cambridge Companion, p. 87. HISTORY OF THE BIBLE 43 likewise indicates the quotations in the New Tes- tament from the Old; its marginal readings throw light on the text; and its more truthful rendering of the originals formerly translated "hell," "devil," "everlasting," "damnation," etc., dispels not a few gross errors. The educative value of these changes marks them as a notewor- thy improvement, alone justifying the work as a whole. We may expect it to win its way among those who care more for correctness than for euphony in reading the Scriptures — who believe, indeed, that the meaning of Holy Writ is too important to be concealed or misinterpreted for the sake of a smooth and pleasant rendering. The message which the Bible has for us is the message which its authors really delivered; and it is the effort to get at that actual, original mes- sage which is at once the inspiration and the glory of modern biblical scholarship. When the Revised Version was published in 1881-85, there were numerous instances in which different translations from those that were adopted were preferred by the American Revi- sion Committee. Inasmuch as the English schol- ars had taken the initiative, it was agreed that they should have the decisive vote in all cases involving diverse opinions; but, on the other hand, it was also agreed that the American pref- erences should be published in an Appendix to the Revised Version for a term of fourteen years, 44 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE and that during this period the revised Bible as thus issued by the University Presses of Oxford and Cambridge should receive the cordial sup- port of the whole body of Revisers. The Amer- ican committee thereupon decided to continue its organization, with a view to the ultimate prep- aration of still another revision which should embody the preferences of the American schol- ars, together with certain other desired improve- ments. This purpose has been at length fully carried out in the publication, in 1901, by Messrs. Thomas Nelson & Sons, of the American Stand- ard Edition of the Revised Version. There are many respects in which this Amer- ican Standard Edition is superior, not only to the English Revision, but tO' all previous versions in our language.^ ^ Not merely has it incorporated the readings published in the Appendix, as above stated, but that Appendix itself has been carefully revised. It has adopted the term "Jehovah" for "Lord" and in many instancesi "God," thereby distinctly conveying the important historic fact that Jehovah was peculiarly Israel's God. It has changed the paragraphing of the English Re- vision slightly and for the better, and has fur- nished subject-headings at the top of the page which are not only convenient guides in reading, but are also more correct than those of the Au- ** For full particulars and much valuable information the reader should consult the prefaces to both Testaments of the American Revision. HISTORY OF THE BIBLE 45 thorized Version; and in the form of footnotes it gives alternate renderings of words, phrases, or sentences, or anglicized equivalents of the ori- ginals, which afford instruction as to various plausible or possible shades of meaning. Inac- curate translations are corrected, as in I Tim. vi, lo, or Acts xvii. 22; obsolete words are dis- continued, and modern expressions employed; the term "Holy Spirit" is substituted for "Holy Ghost;" and copious marginal references are sup- plied in the larger editions. These and other features make the American Standard Revision undoubtedly the most nearly perfect version of the Scriptures ever produced in the English tongue. Still other translations of the Bible, in whole or in part, have appeared of late, but they can be barely mentioned here. The Polychrome Bible, for the studious classes, is the most important of these; while The Twentieth Century New Tes- tament, rendered into the language of today, makes its pages wonderfully vivid and interesting to the ordinary reader. Besides, there are in- structive paraphrases of portions of the Scrip- tures entitled Messages of the Bible, prepared by Professors Kent and Sanders; and there is Pro- fessor Richard G. Moulton's Modern Reader's Bible, which, using the Revised Version of 1881- 85, casts the material in a most attractive liter- ary and typographical form, issued in small vol- 46 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE umes, with introductory and explanatory notes. Nor should omission be made of The Temple Bible, in style corresponding to tlie "Temple Edi- tion" of Shakespeare, issued by the same pub- lishers, Messrs. J. M. Dent and Company, and using the text of the King James Version. An- other admirable edition is The New-Century Bible, edited by Professor W. F. Adeny, and published likewise in small volumes. This work employs both the King James translation and the English Revision, and is furnished with copious footnotes and instructive introductions embody- ing modern information respecting the various biblical books. Together these many editions have brought to a high state of perfection and usefulness the great work of translating the Holy Scriptures into the English language. Thus the present age is linked with the ages of the past by the golden chain of the history of the Bible. CHAPTER II THE TRADITIONAL VIEW OF THE BIBLE The previous chapter presented some of the main facts in the story of the way in which we came by our English Bible. We have now to look at the estimation in which it has been held since about the time of the making of the Author- ized Version, 1611 a. d. It will be necessary to state the popular view, to point out its sources, to show its practical bearings, and to pass judg- ment upon it, before we can appreciate the bet- ter conception that will be developed out of our studies as we proceed. The customary phrase in which the majority of Christians speak of the Bible is, "the Word of God." While there are, perhaps, few persons so densely ignorant as to suppose that the Al- mighty literally wrote the Sacred Volume and let it down out of heaven into this world, there are thousands whose ideas of its origin are not far removed from such a crude notion. For they consider that, even if God did not actually dictate the entire contents of the Bible to its writ- ers, who simply acted as amanuenses to record what they were bidden, he at least so fully and infallibly inspired and controlled the writers that they were mere tools, instruments, writing-ma- chines, in his hand. Accordingly every book, 47 48 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE chapter, paragraph, verse, sentence, clause, phrase, and word are the direct gift of God to the children of men, and the whole Bible is the veritable Word of God, all portions of it are of equal value and authority, and whoever denies any single part of it virtually denies it entirely, while whoever accepts any part of it is under obligation to accept it all. This is that doctrine of the so-called "plenary" (i, e., full) inspiration and absolute infallibility of the Scriptures which regards them not merely as containing, but as being, a message from God to man, which is wholly free from error, whether of historical, scientific, or moral character. Such, in brief, is the general conception of the Bible that has prevailed among most Prot- estants during the last three hundred years, scarcely yielding to even the slightest modifica- tions until within the last half-century. It has dominated the theology of nearly all the so- called evangelical churches; it has characterized the revival efforts which they have so often put forth; it has been instilled into the minds of the children who have grown up in them; and "for substance of doctrine" it still lingers in the belief of the great majority of their communicants, especially the less educated among them. The late Dwight L. Moody was wont to declare his acceptance of the Bible as "ihe Word of God from back to back;" and in 1895 he urged Sunday- TRADITIONAL VIEW OF THE BIBLE 49 school teachers to "believe the Bible, the whole Bible, with every fiber of the body." No doubt such a muscular faith was useful in moving the multitudes that Mr. Moody was accustomed to gather, and he was unquestionably sincere in his convictions; yet it is not difficult to see that it was his Christian devotion and rich spiritual ex- perience rather than his idea of the Bible that really made him the noble evangelist he was. He might have been equally devoted and successful with a very different conception of the Bible, so far as its formal origin was concerned. If, however, Mr. Moody and his faith and his mul- titudes may be considered fairly representative of modern orthodox Protestantism, I am jus- tified in saying that the view I have stated, al- though being now abandoned or qualified by progressive preachers and many enlightened lay- men in the great communions included in that designation, is still the prevalent and dominant view in the rank and file of their constituency. In support of this judgment I may cite the dis- position of the case of Professor Charles A. Briggs, resulting in his suspension from the Presbyterian ministry because he taught, among other things no worse, the probable "errancy" of the "original autographs" of Holy Scripture, supposing they could ever be recovered ; and also the opposition which manifested itself, briefly but sharply, to his ordination in the Protestant Epis- copal Church. 50 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE Not pausing here to describe the grotesque features of this conception or the absurd lengths to which it has sometimes been carried, and only remarking that it is substantially inwrought, like a pattern, into the warp and woof of nearly all our popular religious thought and work — by which I mean the hymns, the liturgies, the Sun- day-school instruction, and the every-day reli- gious conversation of the masses of Protestant Christians — let me pass to inquire how it arose and gained such supremacy. There have been three principal sources of this traditional view. I. Historically it antedates Christianity. As regards the Old Testament, the mechanical the- ory of inspiration and revelation prevailed among the Jews during the last two or three centuries before Christ; and it was naturally carried over into the Christian era, and attached itself to the New Testament writings in the gradual process of their canonization.^ In fact, similar ideas re- specting the divine source of written and spoken oracles were familiar to the gentile mind. Yet it was not until after the great rupture known as the Protestant Reformation that the general no- tion here considered assumed its rigid modern form; and then it resulted partly from the exi- gencies of the period and partly from the lack of 1 See Professor E. C. Moore, The New Testament in the Chris- tian Church, p. 6; also G. P. Fisher, History of Christian Doc- trine, p. 75; also Hcrnack, History of Dogma, Vol. TI, pp. 57 t. TRADITIONAL VIEW OF THE BIBLE 51 learning among the people. Previous to that time all Christians in western Europe had been taught to regard the Catholic church, with its head at Rome, as the infallible authority and final court of appeal in matters of faith and morals; and when the Protestants broke with that authority and court, it soon became neces- sary to have another, in order to determine de- batable questions. This they at length came to find in the Bible, To the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, they would appeal, and not to any ecclesiastical organization or power, as the supreme tribunal to settle all disputed points of religious teaching; and hence the right of every man to read and interpret the Bible for himself, without dictation from church or clergy, became the great boon which the Reformation conferred upon the liberated portion of the Chris- tian community then and thenceforward. This right, the right of private judgment in matters of faith and morals, is the very gist of Protestant- ism, lies at the basis of modem civil liberty, and is the one radical, vital, and permanent opponent of Roman Catholicism. But, at the time of which I am speaking, the masses of the people, and to a great extent the ministers of religion, and even many of the uni- versity teachers, were poorly prepared, because of deficient scholarship, to understand the Bible correctly and to use it properly. To be sure. 52 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE learning" was reviving" and making rapid prog- ress ; but the process had not gone far enough to reach more than comparatively a few of the lead- ers of thought. The Scriptures had not been in general circulation, chiefly perhaps because the art of printing had not been fully developed yet, and the Latin Vulgate was the only transla- tion that may be said to have been widely known. Even this could not be compared with the ori- ginal until Erasmus published (1516) his Greek Testament, and Cardinal Ximenes, a Spanish scholar, issued (15 14-17) his Hebrew, Greek, and Latin versions in the four volumes known as the "Complutensian Polyglot;" for the study of the Greek and Hebrew languages had not re- vived sufficiently to enable any except a very few to read the Bible in the original, and among even the best educated only a little was known about the text and the various ancient manu- scripts. Besides, there was hardly any physical science worthy of the name ; philosophy was fan- ciful, airy, eccentric, and arbitrary; and the gen- eral history of antiquity, of Greece, Egypt, Per- sia, and Assyria, was practically a sealed book because the people were but slightly acquainted with any ancient language except the Latin. Under all these circumstances it is not strange that such a belief respecting the Scriptures as has been alluded to above should have been re- vived, impressed upon the popular mind, and TRADITIONAL VIEW OF THE BIBLE 53 transmitted down to us. Yet it must not be for- gotten that it took on its extreme shape and in- flexibility in the post-Reformation period; for Luther, Calvin, and the English Reformers were more liberal concerning this subject than their successors of a generation or two later; and it was not until about the beginning of the seven- teenth century that bibliolatry, the undue, un- natural, false exaltation of the Bible, crystallized into the dogma of its plenary inspiration and absolute infallibility that has held such wide and powerful sway ever since. 2. Another source of the view referred to is the idea that the Bible is a divine revelation. In a general way this idea antedates the history which I have just sketched, and therefore helped to shape it; and, on the other hand, it has been promoted and inculcated by that history. It is an easy thing to say that the Bible is a divine revelation, just as it is an easy thing to say that the pope of Rome is the vicar of Christ; and because the multitudes of people do not think deeply or discriminatingly, especially concerning those interests that are called supernatural, it is easy, when such an idea or claim is put forth and accompanied by real and great merits, to get it popularly accepted. One may almost say that there exists among the masses of mankind an insatiable appetite for striking evidences of supernatural power; so that whoever comes for- 54 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE ward making stupendous pretensions, with any sort of show to support them, will find a host of followers; indeed, it sometimes seems as if he who can make the biggest claim, and can fur- nish forth the most imposing array of spectac- ular adjuncts, is sure of the largest crowds of adherents. In proof of this, witness the actual deification of the Roman emperor two thousand years ago; the all but universal belief of the alli- ance of exceptional men with heaven ; the idealiz- ing and idolizing of national heroes ; the throngs that gather about every truly great leader; the eager looking for signs and wonders, for mir- acles and marvels, on the part of all such; the readiness to swallow everything they say; and the remarkable eclat with which gorgeous dis- plays of power and glory, whether civil, mili- tary, or religious, are everywhere received. This is an evidence, not that they love fictitious values, although a cynic might say they do, but rather that they are blindly seeking real values; and thus it is a pathetic testimony to the natural trustfulness of the human heart, and to the need of the light of knowledge for its guidance. Now, when people have come, through what- soever influences, to believe thoroughly in any set of writings as a divine revelation, they im- mediately begin to idolize them and think to exalt them by regarding them as free from error. In this way those who have called the TRADITIONAL VIEW OF THE BIBLE 55 Bible a divine revelation have gone so far as to say that there are no mistakes or blemishes in it of any sort, whether relating to fact, to qual- ity of teaching, or to style of composition, or even to transmission; indeed, they do not see how there can be any such if it is really the "Word of God" — it must be absolutely faultless and in- fallible. Hence they cannot allow any correc- tion of its subject-matter, or even any alteration of its grammatical form. "It is impious and pro- fane audacity," said Calovius, "to change a sin- gle point in the Word of God, and to substitute a smooth breathing for a rough one, or a rough for a smooth." Indeed, when it was found out, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, that the Hebrew Scriptures were originally written in consonants alone, and the vowels were added by the Masoretes in the seventh or eighth cen- tury, a great outcry was made against this heret- ical fact as subversive of the very foundations of Christianity, and it took a hundred years to get it fairly recognized. People positively be- lieved that those vowel points were given by divine inspiration ; and thus the idea of a revela- tion from God, which they attached to the Bible, carried them to unreasonable extremes of preju- dice. So long as men continue to hold this bald idea, in this form of statement, without modifica- tion, they will retain the notion of the Bible's uniformity and infallibility. When they shall 56 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE learn to be content to say simply that the Scrip- tures ''contain God's true Word," or "contain a revelation of the character of God," etc., as cer- tain Christian bodies have already done, they will have held fast to all that is essential, and will have made an immense advance toward in- tellectual and spiritual liberty, and toward a larger and deeper religious faith. 3. A third source of the view I have de- scribed lies in the natural veneration and affec- tions of mankind. There is really so much that is great and good in the Bible, and does help so powerfully and blessedly the hungry soul that re- sorts to it for the bread of life, that it soon be- comes very dear and sacred to the hearts of all such. They take it for "the man of their coun- sel;" over it they pour out their prayers of thanksgiving and supplication, of contrition and bereavement, of peace and joy; upon its pages fall their tears like rain, as they bend above it in the trying hours of life; into the hands of dear friends they place it, as they go away out into a cold and sinful world; and from its treasure- house of wisdom, consolation, and sweet beauty, they cull sentences or phrases to send like flowers to absent ones who gather before the marriage altar, or around the funeral bier, or at the do- mestic fireside; nor does it fail to enrich and sanctify them in all these holy uses. It furnishes the language for the most impressive ceremonies TRADITIONAL VIEW OF THE BIBLE 57 of public and private occasions throughout Christendom; its words are the carrier-pigeons that bear our petitions and our anthems of praise heavenward in our services of stated worship ; its truths give us our texts for our sermons, and its pregnant utterances drive home into the depths of our souls the lessons of righteousness which we so much need to learn. No other book in all the world is so full of power, sublimity, and spirituality; no other ever came out of such depths of moral and religious experience; and no other can reach, in such varied and effective ways, the manifold needs of the human heart. Therefore those who know somewhat of its sur- passing merits, who have learned by experience to understand and appreciate its ability to help them, cannot but hold it dear and sacred. It be- comes enshrined in their affections, and while they thank God for so precious a gift, they be- seech him to guard and bless its holy mission among all the children of men. Now this veneration of the Bible, which in it- self is appropriate, beautiful, and profitable, and which no man should wantonly weaken, serves to confirm, establish, and perpetuate a false in- tellectual view of it, if such a view be prevalent and if there be but little enlightenment. If a per- son who has not been educated to think broadly and discriminatingly — and it is a bane of sectari- anism that it often educates people in just the 58 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE opposite way — conceives of the Bible as a divine revelation, which is all of one piece, fully in- spired and wholly infallible, and then comes to attach himself to it through his moral and spir- itual affections, in some such manner as I have indicated, he is almost sure either to cling to the dogma in all its rigidity, and so dwarf his intel- lect, or to shock his faith and disturb his peace in attempting to gain a more rational concep- tion of the nature, structure, and true worth of the Scriptures, More likely it will be the former of these processes that he will go through. For he cannot bear to hear anything said against the Bible, and he construes everything that does not support his view as being thus said, and he will not listen to it. So he intrenches and fortifies himself in his ignorance, shuts the light of addi- tional truth out of his mind and vainly imagines he is loyally defending the holy things of God, while others are proving themselves apostates, who are seeing higher, larger, clearer, grander things in the good old Book that is as dear to them as to him. To such a one we must say, as best we can, that the spiritual quality of a writing, no matter what that writing may be, in nowise de- termines the date and authorship of other miscel- laneous writings which are bound up with it, and may not go far in determining even its own date and authorship. The fact that so many of the Psalms help you by voicing the deeper thoughts TRADITIONAL VIEW OF THE BIBLE 59 and feelings of the soul, in exalted and beautiful language, does not decide whether David or somebody else wrote them; that is a question which other lines of evidence must settle. A true poem is a poem, even though it be utterly fugitive, so that no man can tell when it was written or by whom. So it is with the books of the Bible; they are good and helpful, and we are all justified in venerating and loving them; but our affection for them cannot pronounce as to their historic veracity, and certainly cannot prove them to be of miraculous origin. Such are some of the main sources of the traditional view of the Bible — the peculiar con- ditions of the post-Reformation period, the in- fluence of the idea of a divine revelation, and the strength of the natural sentiments of veneration and affection. Now what shall be said of this view? A can* did student must admit that it has served some good purposes. It has undoubtedly secured a degree of attention to the Bible which no other view could have obtained for it in the age and stage of culture in which it has prevailed. A more advanced conception could not be appre- ciated until a larger knowledge of many things — especially of history, ethnology, comparative language and religion, as well as the develop- ment of theology and ecclesiastical institutions — had prepared the way for it. If, therefore, this 6o NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE view had not existed, the Bible would probably have been neglected, and the mighty moral and religious energy which it has imparted to our western civilization would have been sadly want- ing. It is much to say for any idea or social custom that it has served its own time even fairly well; it is from this standpoint alone that we can judge justly of men and measures, of doctrines and institutions; and, thus regarded, we must concede that the traditional view of the Bible has been natural, or at least inevitable, and has con- tributed not a little to produce the very condi- tions under which it is now being outgrown. Nevertheless, considered with reference to the present age, it has been, or is now, an unfortu- nate view; it has been narrow, and therefore cramping to the human mind; it has been rigid, and therefore has allowed little room for prog- ress on the part of those holding it — so much so, indeed, that nearly all progress under it has had to bear the stigma of heresy ; it has begotten bib- liolatry, and therefore has made the Bible a fetich; it has fixed the attention of men upon the letter of Scripture, and therefore has shut out the influence of the spirit ; and by putting the human soul in bondage to a thing, it has kept it from the free service of the one living and true God. It may be well to supplement this general criticism with some specifications as to the bad TRADITIONAL VIEW OF THE BIBLE 6i effects which the view here rejected has pro- duced. I. It has been an obstacle to the advance of learning. Not to go back farther than the mem- ory of living men reaches, it is known to all in- telligent people that the teachings of modern geology have been opposed, and their promulga- tion resisted, because of their conflict with the account of creation given in the first chapter of Genesis — and how ludicrous have been the at- tempts to harmonize them with that account! — that for the same reason the theory of evolution, now accepted in some form by nearly all scien- tists, has been scouted, and its adherents put under ban, even to the extent of having their professional positions disturbed, if not forcibly taken from them; and that the science of histor- ical and literary criticism, of which biblical criticism is a branch, has been reproached and ridi- culed, and some of its disciples likewise driven from their honored places, because the results reached by such study have not harmonized with the traditional conception of Scripture. All these things have occurred under our own eyes, and some of them are still occurring in these opening years of the twentieth century. Yet it is nothing new under the sun; for, fifteen hundred years ago, St. Jerome had to meet much the same sort of opposition; so did Columbus, Galileo, and Copernicus, and a host of other seekers after 62 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE truth. It is simply a phase of human ignorance and bigotry, but it is a sorry spectacle.^ 2. It has sanctioned, supported, and perpet- uated erroneous ideas and evil practices. Take, for instance, the doctrine of the second coming of Christ and the end of the world ; how strangely persistent this has been, and what fantastic forms it has assumed ! yet it would have died out long ago but for this wrong view of the Bible. The same is true of the doctrine of endless punish- ment. Or take slavery, capital punishment, and the subjection of woman — all relics of paganism ; how long have these hoary evils been buttressed by quotations from Scripture, that never would have been used thus except for such an extreme notion about its divine authority as I have com- bated! In recent years the great Methodist Episcopal Church has been struggling over the question of the ordination of women to the ministry, which is strongly opposed be- cause Paul said to Timothy: "I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence." ^ Even the liquor- dealers have not scrupled to quote the words of the same noble apostle, since they happened to find out that he said to the same young man: * The reader who cares to look farther into this subject may consult with much profit Dr. Andrew D, White's Warfart of Science with Christian Theology, a vols. « I Tim. ii. t». TRADITIONAL VIEW OF THE BIBLE 63 "Drink no longer water, but take a little wine for thy stomach's sake." * 3. This traditional view involves such bond- age to the letter as to prevent spiritual growth. Paul said that "the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." When a religion begins to die, it begins to get hard and dry, like a tree that is going through the same process. Or, like an old Egyptian king, who, knowing his end was near, began to build a mausoleum to receive his re- mains ; a religion that is already moribund begins straightway to make its casket and hew out its tomb, begins to encase itself in some outward shell of rite, or dogma, or institution, or sacred book. For proof, read the history of religion in India, in Judea, in imperial Rome, in mediaeval Europe, 4. Still another fault chargeable to this view is that it disregards all progress of ideas in the Bible, and obliterates all distinctions between good and bad in the quality of its various writ- ings. By teaching that it is all of one piece, and all the Word of God, it leaves no room for thinking that the ideas set forth in Genesis may not be so exalted or true as those contained in Isaiah or the Sermon on the Mount: and it like- wise forbids us to suppose that the moral pre- cepts of the Proverbs and Ecclesiastes may not in some instances be just as noble and pure as the * Ibid., V. 23. 64 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE ethics of Jesus or Paul or John. But, as a mat- ter of fact, there are wide differences in these re- spects, both intellectually and morally; there is a progress in thought from the days of the old Hebrew patriarchs to those of the later proph- ets, and there is an advance in moral standards from the time of Solomon to that of Christ. Now what can be more important than to teach ourselves and our children to see these distinc- tions, between high and low, between good and bad, between true and false, between right and wrong, wherever they really exist, in human life, in literature, in art, in philosophy? Is not this the main object of all our teaching, to see and choose and love the true, the beautiful, and the good, as distinguished from their opposites? But the traditional conception of the Bible tends to blunt our sensibilities in this respect; and we jumble together the notions and maxims of old shepherd-kings and warriors with the sweet spiritual visions and principles of the blessed Christ, and call tliem all, indiscriminately, the Word of God ! Then we teach them to our chil- dren, as all of equal value and authority; and can we wonder that the children are confused, unenlightened, unawakened, untouched? 5. Such a view of the Bible opens the way for all the vagaries and falsehoods of an irrespon- sible exegesis. It makes the Book an arsenal oi proof-texts, by the dexterous employment of TRADITIONAL VIEW OF THE BIBLE 65 which almost any conceivable doctrine can be supported. By picking out a verse or sentence from one part of the Bible, and other verses or sentences from other parts, and then skilfully piecing them together, without any reference to their contexts or their historical origin and the real meaning of their authors, one can prove the most baseless and pernicious of theories. Then when the imagination is given free reins, and the allegorizing method of interpretation is car- ried to extremes, as was the case in the later cen- turies of Judaism and the early centuries of Christianity, and even among the Greeks,* ut- terly fantastic results ensue. For example, "when we are told that Rebecca comes to draw water at the well and so meets the servant of Abraham, the meaning is, according to Origen, that we must daily come to the wells of Scripture in order to meet with Christ." ® Another, "com- menting on Genesis 15:9. explains 'the calf, the goat, and the ram of three years' in Abraham's sacrifices to mean his soul, his sentient faculty, and his mind." "^ Innumerable instances of a similar character might be cited to show how this general idea of Scripture and these arbi- trary methods of interpretation, misleadmg even so great a teacher as the illustrious Origen, have * Consult with great profit Farrar's History of Interpretation (Appleton, 1886), Lectures ii, iii, and iv. • Ibid., p. 199. '' Ibid., p. aoi. 66 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE begotten among lesser minds a narrow dog^ma- tism that has engendered harsh, bitter, disastrous controversies. 6. Finally, such a view breaks down at length from its own weight. When you claim that the Bible is a divine revelation throughout, fully in- spired and infallible, you make a stupendous claim. In logic it is extremely difficult to prove a universal negative; but this is exactly what is undertaken when one contends that the Bible is absolutely without error. Presently the dis- covery is made that errors are actually to be found within its pages — mistakes, discrepancies, imperfections which simply cannot be reconciled with this theory: what happens? A distinct shock to faith and morals is immediately felt, from which, alas! many do not recover. The Bible seems no longer of any worth, on the very basis upon which it has stood; for it has been said to be all of one piece, and if false in one par- ticular, is false in all others. This is precisely what has frequently occurred in recent years; men have thrown the Bible and the church and religion to the winds, sometimes along with moral restraints, because they had been taught that the Bible was an infallible revelation of divine truth, not only in its spirit but also in its letter, and they have learned in the common school that its ideas on some matters — for in- stance, the history of creation — are erroneous. TRADITIONAL VIEW OF THE BIBLE 67 Here is the danger for thousands of people, that they will let go everything connected with Chris- tianity — its holy sanctions, its sublime ideals, its wonderful inspirations and consolations — when this fabric of unreasonable notions about the Sa- cred Book collapses, as it is doing and will con- tinue to do.® From the foregoing reflections it would seem evident that there must be a better view of the Bible, more rational, natural, simple, heart-satis- fying. I am absolutely sure that there is such a better view, which saves all the excellences of Scripture and frees us from all its defects ; and it will be a delight to try to set it forth in succeed- ing chapters. * It was exactly such a conception of the Bible, involving such an issue, that gave the late Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll his occu- pation as an opponent of the Christian religion. CHAPTER III WHAT IS BIBLICAL CRITICISM? At least a primary knowledge of the nature and service of biblical criticism is indispensable to a proper understanding of the better conception of Scripture of which we are in pursuit. There- fore, before we can go forward into the larger thought, the deeper faith, and the more vital spirituality which wait to reward our study, we must try to learn some simple lessons in this important matter. A brief, untechnical explana- tion of the need, the history, the methods, and the purpose of this fruitful branch of modern learn- ing may best enable the general reader to form a clear idea of the work of the scholars and of its true significance. If one Avere about to visit London, Paris, Ber- lin, and Rome, he would probably procure a gfuide-book of foreign travel, or perhaps join some "personally-conducted" excursion party; and he might like also to know in advance what- ever he could learn from history, language, lit- erature, and art respecting those places and their people. Why? Because the information thus ob- tained would so introduce those cities to the trav- eler as to prepare him to derive the most enjoy- ment and profit from his tour. It is much the same with the Bible ; it needs to be introduced to 68 WHAT IS BIBLICAL CRITICISM? 69 one's study by preliminary explanations of its origin and character. The student must wander somewhat aimlessly through its pages, bewildered by its strange and multiform contents, without previous instruction concerning the land and the people that gave it birth, concerning its structure and history, and concerning the representative opinions which have been held regarding its place and value. In other words, there is need of what is technically called "An Introduction to the Study of the Scriptures," seeking to impart the requisite information to qualify one to ap- proach the Bible with a correct preconception as to its nature and worth. Now, partly out of the attempt to meet this need, partly out of the effort to satisfy the crav- ing for accurate and complete knowledge, for its own sake, and partly out of the wish to defend cherished, sacred beliefs, there has grown up the science of biblical criticism. Actuated by curi- osity, the love of truth, or a deep piety, men have wanted to learn all they could about the Bible — its origin, language, transmission, diffu- sion, interpretation, and intrinsic merits.^ There- * "Two kinds of piety join their forces to press upon us the duty of knowing the Eib!e intimately. The first is the his- torical spirit, a true kind of piety, in that it bids us know the words and deeds of the men of the past, because of their intrin- sic worth and meaning. The second is the piety of the Christian, which bids us search the Scriptures because they have a deeper root in human experience than any other book, and because they speak home to our hearts as no other book can. The scientific motive demands the original facts and thoughts of 70 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE fore they have bent themselves to make every in- quiry that might throw the least bit of light upon the various problems with which they have dealt, some of them of the minutest character; and by all these labors, prolonged and patient, there has been built up a large department of learning which may be properly called a science because it has its specialized workers, its vast accumula- tion of facts, its definite and reliable methods of procedure, and its verified results that are of great value. As such a department, it is merely a particular field of research lying within the do- main of historical and literary criticism in gen- eral, to which we are indebted for practically all our trustworthy knowledge of the past. Thus it appears that biblical criticism is simply one of the sisterhood of modern sciences; and surely, when we understand her true mission, we shall feel that her presence is benign and shall rejoice to do her grateful and loving homage. The word criticism denotes, primarily, a judgment, or an act of judging; its derivation from a Greek verb {Kpivw) meaning to discern, or to try, or to pass judgment upon, or to determine, gives it this signification. As applied to literary matters, it conveys the idea, not of fault-finding, but of fairly and justly estimating Scripture, distinct and separate from subsequent opinion regarding Scripture. The religious motive demands the Word of God in its pristine beauty. The two motives are at one." — Professor H. S. Nash, The History of the Higher Criticism, p. 5. WHAT IS BIBLICAL CRITICISM? 71 both merits and defects. In other words, it is simply an impartial judgment, or as nearly such as the given critic can render, on whatever ques- tion is under consideration. Plainly, then, biblical criticism is merely the science and art of understanding the Scriptures. One must understand them in order to appreci- ate them, that is, to judge them in strict truth. But no one fully understands the Scriptures who does not know all he can about them ; and in this sense, of course, nobody can be said to have an absolutely perfect comprehension of them. The little school-boy who can barely pronounce the words on the printed page does not really read his book; he will read it only when he learns to grasp the thought contained in the language. But who best lays hold of the thought of a writ- er? Clearly, he who knows most about the cir- cumstances and influences that contributed to the production of the work in question, together with the truest sympathy with the author's spirit or peculiar characteristics. The same principle holds in music, in art, in oratory, in literature generally; and he who gives the most perfect interpretation of a great work, in any of these departments of human life, is hailed as a genius and becomes a real helper of his fellow-men. It is quite so in biblical matters; he is the best in- terpreter of the Sacred Writings who enters most fully into the thought and spirit of their 72 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE respective authors; and he alone can do this who possesses, among other qualifications, a large amount of accurate knowledge concerning the times in which they wrote and the interests they sought to subserve. Thus biblical criticism be- comes simply a preparation for appreciating the Scriptures.^ Such preparation requires two things: (i) a knowledge of the historical conditions under which the authors of the Bible wrote, so far as these can be reproduced to thought; and (2) a knowledge of exactly what they wrote, as nearly as this can be ascertained. Hence biblical cri- ticism naturally divides itself into two branches, called the Lower or Textual, and the Higher or Literary.^ I. The Lower Criticism has to do with the text of Scripture. A brief account has been given in the first chapter of the way in which the * "We define criticism, tberefore, as that mental process in modem Christianity whereby the historic character, the true na- ture, of divine revelation is appreciated and manifested. This his- toric spirit, the desire to know the whole past even as it was in itself, comes in as a noWe servant raised up by God to help the Church to truly know her Bible, and thus pay her debt to the Author of Sacred Scripture. .... The well-being of the Church depends upon the right interpretation of the Bible. We must seek to know it from within and along the lines of its own mean- ing and purpose. That is our most sacred obligation." — Nash, History of the Higher Criticism, pp. 14, 15. • "Criticism, in its earliest stage, took the form of text criti- cism. When, at a more advanced stage, it entered upon the inner study of Scripture, it called itself 'higher' in order to distinguish itself from the criticism of the text as a 'lower,' or preparatory form of study. The adjective is the result of a bare historical incident." — Nash, op. cit., pp. 12, 13. WHAT IS BIBLICAL CRITICISM? 73 writings of the Bible came down to us. Previous to the fifteenth century the only mode of trans- mission was that of hand-made copies. But it is evident that such copies could not be produced, by different persons, at different times, and in different countries, without a multitude of errors creeping into them. It is now known that, as a matter of fact, many thousands of such errors did actually occur, first and last; that is to say, the different manuscripts, large and small, at present known to exist, show a vast number of various readings, running all the way from a single letter, or even an accent or a breathing, to a word, a phrase, a sentence, or a paragraph. Of the New Testament alone, 3,829 manuscripts — some of them, to be sure, only little fragments — had been catalogued by the year 1901 ^ It is not surprising, therefore, to learn that the "var- iants" in all these amount to a total of 150,000 or more. Of course the great majority of such differences are extremely slight, and do not ma- terially affect any important fact or truth; but others are of more serious consequence. It is neither possible nor desirable to discuss these here, but it is well for the reader to see how such variations have arisen. Even the mechanical process of printing does not always insure the publication and transmis- * See E. Nestle, Introduction to the Textual Criticism of the New Testament (1901), p. 34, translated by William Edie. 74 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE sion of an author's exact words, as witness the various readings of many passages in Shake- speare's writings. Much more liable to variation must be hand-made copies of a literary work, es- pecially when frequently produced in the course of several centuries. The original "autographs" of the biblical books, that is, those bearing the signatures of their authors, undoubtedly perished completely long ago. They were written upon papyrus, which was both fragile and bulky, and which was subject, not only to the wear of much handling, but also to the disintegrating influences of most climates.'^ True, the dry climate and soil of Egypt have preserved to the present day many papyri far older than the Christian era, and there always remains the bare possibility that a rich biblical "find" may yet be exhumed m that region; but all hopes in this direction must be of the feeblest character. The use of papyrus for the Scriptures was gradually dis- continued, being superseded by parchment at about the close of the third century.' Now, ' For an instructive and quite detailed account of these mat- ters, see Frederic G. Kenyon's Handbook to the Textual Criti- cism of the New Testament (Macmillan, 1901), chap, ii; also Nestle, op. cit., chap, ii; also Julicher, An Introduction to the New Tts- lament, pp. 576-88; translation, Putnams, 1904. The entire New Testament on papyrus, even if written in a small hand and with narrow margins, would have made a roll about *oo feet in length; "the Gospel of St. Mark would occupy about 19 feet, that of St. John 23 feet, 6 inches, St. Matthew 30 feet, the Acts and St. Luke's Gospel about 31 or 32 feet." — Kenyon, »p. cit. • "Jerome tefls us that between 340 and 380 the bishops of WHAT IS BIBLICAL CRITICISM ? 75 parchment was an expensive material. This fact necessitated the utilization of every sheet and led naturally to the crowding of each page. In some instances different works were joined in the same manuscript, in order to avoid wast- ing valuable space; and in others, more rarely, an early writing, deemed of less worth, was erased and a subsequent production inscribed in its place. Occasionally it has been possible, by the use of chemicals, to restore the former com- position. Thus the costliness of parchment and the manner of its use opened the way for errors to creep into the successive copies of the biblical manuscripts, while the greater frequency with which the papyrus rolls had to be reproduced in- creased the liability to variations in their case. Besides, as regards the New Testament writings particularly, they were not at first considered sacred and precious, and nobody had any idea of their preservation and circulation for hun- dreds of years; therefore, no such pains were taken in transcribing them as attached to the copying of the Old Testament books, or even the Greek classics. Again, the ancient mode of writing was to run the letters and words close together, without Caesarea saved the library formed in that place by Origen and Pamphilus froai decay by laboriously transcribing everything it contained on to parchment. Thus the greater part of this library must originally have consisted of papyrus rolls, and we may prob- ably consider the period about 300 as that of the general transi- tion to the use of parchment " — Jfilicher, ep. cit., p. 576 76 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE sq>aration or punctuation. Let one imagine him- self confronted with even a printed page having no spaces between the words and no punctuation marks, and set to copy it or to translate it; would he be likely to do it without a single mis- take? Furthermore, in the case of the Old Testament, the Hebrew was originally written without vowels. Let one imagine himself, again, confronted with a printed page of English hav- ing all the vowels removed and the consonants crowded close together; would it be easy to sup- ply those vowels by simply depending upon one's own judgment as to what they ought to be, and then to transcribe or to translate the writing without error? Yet such is a true hint of the way in which our Old Testament Scriptures have reached us. In view of these facts and the possibilities of deviation which they suggest, the marvel is that the books of the Bible have been preserved and transmitted with so little corrup- tion as has actually taken place. The different kinds or classes of errors occur- ring in the process of making numerous copies of the Scriptures, under the general condi- tions thus described, may be barely mentioned here, but can hardly be illustrated by specific ex- amples.'^ Some arose from a mere slip of the ^ For a minute exhibit of some of these, the reader may con- sult the works already cited; for instance, Kenyon, Our Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts, chap, i; also his Textual Criticism of the New Testament, pp. 7 f.; also particularly Julicher, Pt. Ill, cbap. H, J 51. WHAT IS BIBLICAL CRITICISM? 77 pen, by which one letter or syllable was substi- tuted for another; some, by the accidental omis- sion of a word or a line. Occasionally margi- nal notes were later copied into the text; and parallel passages in the gospels were sometimes deliberately altered in order to bring them into harmony with one another. Still other errors no doubt owe their existence to the mutilation of manuscripts, or the dimming of words through the soiling or wearing of the material on which they were written, and the necessity thence aris- ing for the copyist to guess at the proper letter, word, or phrase to be inserted.^ Now, the problem of the Lower Criticism is * "FinaMy there are errors of which nothing can be said save that they are unaccountable. Every one who has done much writing must know that now and again he puts down words wfaicfa have no meaning in the context in which he uses them, or (if he is copying) are wholly unlike the words which he should have copied. His mind has strayed, and he has written down words which some obscure train of association has put into his head. Errors such as these are sometimes made by the copy- ists of manuscripts, and since they have no traceable connection with the true text, they do not, as some kinds of error do, pro- vide the means for their own correction. The same may be said of errors due to the defectiveness of the manuscript from which the copy has been made. A word may be defaced or obliterated, and the copyist must either omit it or guess at it; and since a copyist often has but a hazy idea of the sense of what he is coining, his guesses are often wide of the mark. Errors from mutilation would arise with especial ease during the period when papyrus was the material in use for literary purposes. The sur- face was more delicate than that of vellum, and therefore more liable to small and local injuries, which will obscure, or wholly obliterate, a word or a sentence. Here again the true reading is often irrecoverable except by guessing, and even if a guess be right, it can rarely be proved to be right; and an unverified guess can carry but little weight for practical purposes." — Kenyon, The Textual Criticism of the New Testament, p. lo. ^S NEW APPRECIATION OF TPIE BIBLE to counteract as far as possible these numerous mistakes or various readings, which were bound to occur under the circumstances attending the transmission of the Scriptures through so long a period of time. The object of such criticism is to determine, with the highest degree of prob- ability, what the biblical authors actually wrote. This, as we have seen, is a prerequisite to a true understanding or interpretation of their writ- ings. Most of the work of the textual critics has been done since the invention of printing, and by far the best part of it within the last cen- tury. It has consisted (i) in ascertaining and weighing the documentary evidence — that is to say, in discovering, examining, and appraising all the manuscripts, large and small, contained in the university libraries and monasteries of Eu- rope, or elsewhere; (2) in carefully comparing and recording their agreements and disagree- ments, however minute, and in studying the ver- sions and quotations which might throw any side-lights upon these manuscripts; and (3) in constructing from these various sources a cor- rected text. The work has naturally divided it- self into two departments for the Old and the New Testaments respectively, and the results may be best summarized separately. I. In the case of the New Testament the available materials for the use of the textual critics are of the three classes just mentioned — WIIAT IS BIBLICAL CRITICISM? 79 Greek manuscripts, ancient versions, and quota- tions from the New Testament books in early Christian writings. Such quotations are nu- merous because there quickly sprang up a rich Christian Hterature, increasing from the last quarter of the first century, in which the sayings of Jesus and the teachings of the apostles were widely repeated. These patristic quotations, as they are called, though not always accurate and, therefore, not of the highest value, are nevertheless much esteemed for the collateral evidence which they afford in judging what the original text must have been. Likewise the ver- sions that were early produced, because the new religion rapidly spread among peoples of var- ious languages, and that antedate the oldest manuscripts, are of great worth in helping to determine the still earlier source or sources from which they were made. At least one of these versions, the Syriac, dating from the second cen- tury, is of extreme importance. But the princi- pal materials are the manuscripts, of which more than 3,800 are known and catalogued, while it is believed that two or three thousand others exist which have not yet been collated.^ Among • "For no literary production of antiquity is there such a wealth of manuscripts as for the New Testament. Our classical scholars would rejoice were they as fortunate with Homer or Sophocles, Plato or Aristotle, Cicero or Tacitus, as Bible students are with their New Testament. The oldest complete manuscript of Homer that we have dates from the thirteenth century, and only separate papyrus fragments go back to the Alexandrian age. 8o NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE the chief of these known manuscripts there are, as stated in a previous chapter, two which be- long to the fourth century — Codex Sinaiticus, at St. Petersburg, and Codex Vaticanus, at Rome. Two others belong to the fifth century — Codex Alexandrinus, at London, and Codex Ephraemi, at Paris. There is still another, Codex Bezae, which some authorities place in the fifth century, and some in the sixth.^'^ All the rest are of later dates. ^^ With such materials at their service, the text- ual critics have studied them with wonderful pa- tience. The variations have been carefully no- ticed, recorded and published, along with the All that is extant of Sophocles we owe to a single manuscript dating from the eighth or ninth century in the Laurentian Library at Florence. But of the New Testament, 3,829 manuscripts have been catalogued up till the present (1901). A systematic search in the libraries of Europe might add still more to the list; a search in those of Asia and Egypt would certainly do so. Gregory believes that there are probably some two or three thousand manuscripts which have not yet been collated, and every year additional manuscripts are brought to light. Most of these are, of course, late, and contain only separate portions, some of them mere fragments, of the New Testament. Not a few, how- ever, go much further back than our manuscripts of the Hebrew Old Testament and most of the Greek and Latin Classics." — Nestle, Textual Criticism of the Greek New Testament, pp. 33, 34. 1" See F. C. Burkitt, "Text and Versions," Encyclopedia Biblica, Vol. IV; also Julicher, op. cit., p. 605. *^ A list of the more important manuscripts, indicating names, dates, contents, and character, is given by J. O. F. Mur- ray, The Cambridge Companion to the Bible (1893), article "Textual Criticism of the New Testament." He also gives an account of the ancient versions, alluded to above, and likewise of the early ecclesiastical writers affording quotations from the New Testament. Thus the ordinary reader may sec what ma- terials the textual critics have to work upon. WHAT IS BIBLICAL CRITICISM? 8i evidence supporting them. The interpretation of this evidence opens the way for differences of judgment, and the experts are not altogether agreed on many details ; in fact the work of this great department of scientific investigation is still going on. Hence a perfectly satisfactory text has not yet been constructed. Progress is being made, however, and the scholars hope to produce in the course of time a critical Greek text of the New Testament superior to any here- tofore in use, and far superior to that from which most of our English translations have been made. But it should not be inferred from the fore- going remarks that the uncertainties about the text of the New Testament are of serious mo- ment, as affecting our understanding of the es- sential purport of its various writings. The different readings are, indeed, numerous, but the vast majority of them are of trifling signifi- cance, and it may be said with emphasis that the labors of the textual critics have immensely sub- stantiated, instead of invalidating, the sources of our information regarding the teachings of the Christian Scriptures.^ ^ We know now bet- ** "Though it would not be right to pretend that the true reading can in all cases be determined with absolute certainty, or even to deny that there may be cases in which it has been lost altogether from all the available authorities, yet the materials are, beyond all comparison, more abundant, the results more secure, than is the case with regard to the text of any prose author of antiquity. The extremest margin of observed variation leaves 82 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE ter than scholars ever knew before what Jesus and the apostles actually did and said. 2. The textual criticism of the Old Testa- ment presents quite a different situation. There are, indeed, as in the case of the New Testament, the same classes of materials, namely: manu- scripts, versions, and ancient quotations; and, in addition, extensive paraphrases called Tar- gums, and a great mass of commentary notes and explanations composing what is known as the Talmud. But the extant Hebrew manuscripts are of comparatively recent date, the oldest be- ing no earlier than the ninth century of our era; and these are not in the same form, or even in exactly the same language, as those which the Old Testament Scriptures originally bore. The ancient Hebrew which was spoken and written by the Israelites prior to the Exile, and which the earliest and most important books of the Old Testament employed, was greatly modified by the breaking-up of the nation and its con- tact with other peoples through the Babylonian captivity and subsequent events. While this purer language continued to be used in writing seven-eighths of the Text untouched, and while it affects here and there a favorite proof-text it leaves the whole voice of Scripture on the main problems of life and conduct practically un- changed. And even this debatable one-eighth may be reduced by the careful application of the methods indicated, till, in the judgment of the most competent critics, 'the amount of what can in any sense be called substantial variation hardly forms more than a thousandth part of the entire Text.' " — J. O. F. Murray, Cambridge Companion, p. 75. WHAT IS BIBLICAL CRITICISM ? 83 and copying" the sacred books, so that they were all produced and preserved in it down to the Maccabean period, yet it was gradually super- seded by the Aramaic dialect, both in common speech and in ordinary writing. Hence it be- came the tendency and the practice to trans- literate the Scriptures into the Aramaic, and in the time of Christ they probably existed al- together in this language, except the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Greek translation, called the "Septuagint." The Samaritan Pentateuch, dating from the fourth century b. c, preserves the ancient Hebrew with slight modifications, while two other similar specimens of it are found in the inscription on the Moabite Stone (about 890 B. c.) and in that on the Pool of Siloam (about 700 b. c). Now, in the course of this transition of the Scriptures from the ancient Hebrew to the Ara- maic and thence to the Greek, and also by rea- son of the vicissitudes of the Jewish nation through which many precious literary works were lost, the text undoubtedly experienced some serious corruptions. The labors of the scribes became very important and were of a painstaking character; yet they exercised con- siderable editorial freedom, and introduced cer- tain dianges which remained permanently.^^ It *• See Professor Charles A. Briggs, The Study of Holy Scrip- ture (1899), chap. vii. 84 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE does not appear that an attempt was made to es- tablish an official text until after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 a. d., or at about the time of the closing of the third section of the Old Testament Canon. Thereafter this established text prevailed, during the Talmudic period, until the era of the Masoretes (between the fifth and the eighth centuries). The Masoretes were Jewish scholars who set out to determine, from the mass of Talmudic notes and comments, the true traditional text; they also supplied the necessary vowel-points, inasmuch as the writings had come down to them only in consonant form; and they recorded the traditional remarks, along with their own ex- planations, indicating various readings. The school of the Masoretes had its seat at Tiberias, but its labors were not confined to one place and could not be completed in one generation. They were performed with the most scrupulous care and fidelity, and when the work was finished the greatest pains were taken to secure its preser- vation and its use in the synagogues instead of any and all other forms of the text. It is this traditional or Masoretic text which has come down to our time, and from which the modern translations of the Old Testament have been made.^* ^* See Kenyon, Ow Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts, chap. iv; also Encyclopedia Biblica, Vol. IV, art., "Text and Versions." WHAT IS BIBLICAL CRITICISM? 85 With these and other materials — the Samar- itan Pentateuch, the Greek translation called the Septuagint, made in the third and second centuries before Christ, three minor Greek trans- lations made in the second century a. d., the Syriac Version made prior to the fourth cen- tury A. D,, the Old Latin Version made from the Greek, and Jerome's new translation of the Old Testament called the Vulgate — with all these materials, and some of less importance not here included, the textual critics seek to remove errors from the Masoretic Text by the methods of com- parison and conjecture which experience and learning enable them to use with great skill. Their work is not yet finished, and perhaps will never be perfectly accomplished; but it has re- sulted, while proving the existence of mistakes, in demonstrating the essential trustworthiness of the Old Testament Scriptures, as they have come down to us, bringing the great ethical and reli- gious messages which the servants of God so faithfully delivered in the ancient time. 11. The Higher Criticism has to do with the inner substance of the Scriptures. It deals with their literary features, undertaking to judge as to the character and origin of the biblical books, and as to their relation to one another. To this end it studies the style, structure, and thought of each particular writing, seeks to ascertain whether it is the work of a single author, or a 86 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE compilation ; analyzes and dissects it, even to the extent of scrutinizing every word and syllable, every peculiar expression, every allusion to other writings; and tries to determine its date, its re- liability, its dogmatic bearings and its spiritual worth. Above all, perhaps, it aims to understand the times and circumstances under which a given portion of Scripture was produced, because this will be likely to throw the most light upon its real purport. As Professor George T. Ladd says: "By the Higher Criticism is meant that study which tries to reproduce the influences and circumstances out of which the biblical books arose, and thus exhibit them as true children of their own time." *'^ To the same effect writes Professor W. Robertson Smith: "The critical study of ancient documents means nothing else than a careful sifting of their origin and mean- ing in the light of history." ^® And Professor Charles A. Briggs says: "The questions of the Higher Criticism are questions of integrity, au- thenticity, credibility, and literary forms of the various writings that constitute the Bible." ^"^ 1* IVhat is the Bible f p. 126. *• The Old Testament in the Jewish Church, p. 16. "Biblical Study, p. 171. But see his later work. General Introduction to the Study of Holy Scripture (1899), chaps, xi and xii. "The literary study of Holy Scripture is appropriately called Higher Criticism to distinguish it from the Lower Criti- cism, which devotes itself to the study of the original texts and versions." Similarly, H. S. Nash, History of the Higher Criti- cism, p. 15: "The lower or preparatory criticism aims at the WHAT IS BIBLICAL CRITICISM ? 87 The special reason why such a work is neces- sary lies in the fact that the Scriptures, like other literary remains of antiquity, were pro- duced in an uncritical, that is to say, an unscien- tific age, when people were not careful about keeping precise records of dates and authorities, and have reached us through many changes of circumstances and form which cannot fail to pro- voke some question as to their trustworthiness. In common with the productions of ancient his- torians and poets, the sacred literature of all the great nations of the remote past has been sub- jected to a rigid scrutiny, in modern times, to de- termine its real character and value^ simply be- cause the temper of our age is not satisfied with tradition, but wants verification; in other words, it wants knowledge wherever possible, or ade- quate reasons for its true faith. But it must not be supposed that the Higher Criticism is entirely of recent origin. Like other significant movements in the realm of thought, it is the culmination of a long preparatory develop- ment. It has been growing ever since, in the later days of Judaism in Palestine, enough criti- cal judgment was exercised to decide what writ- ings should be admitted into the Old Testament Canon. Each of the three stages of this great original text, cleared of corruptions and accretions. The Higher Criticism, the original text having been found, aims at the his- torical interpretation of Scripture." 88 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE process, determining respectively and succes- sively the Canon of the Law, and then the Canon of the Prophets, and lastly the Canon of the Hagiographa, contributed to the increasing learn- ing and discrimination lying behind what is now a noble science. In the early Christian centuries when the New Testament Canon was likewise slowly forming, criticism made a marked ad- vance. It made another notable advance through the labors of the renowned scholar Origen,^^ who, during his sojourn at Caesarea (232-254 a. d.), produced his great Hexapla, which laid the foun- dation for real textual criticism, and who became the foremost teacher of the early Church. Through the work of Jerome, too, it took an- other stride forward; a thousand years later, the Reformers promoted it still further, through their translations and their observations upon the respective merits of various biblical books; and within the last two centuries it has become a more strictly scientific method of Bible study, striving to free itself from dogmatic preposses- sion and traditionary bias, and to know the real inner structure, nature, and purport of Scripture as revealed by the historic conditions of its pro- duction. The work of the textual critics has thus been supplemented by that of the literary or "higher" critics, whose company embraces a host 18 For a word of just ai^preciation of this illustrious Chris- tian scholar, see Farrar, History of Interpretation, pp. 187, 188. WHAT IS BIBLICAL CRITICISM? 89 of brilliant names reaching from the early years of the eighteenth century ^^ down to the present time. These brief general statements are wholly in- adequate to give an account of the rise and prog- ress of the Higher Criticism, but limits of space do not allow an extended treatment, and only a few very simple examples may now be cited to illus- trate its function. They will at least afford an elementary idea of the nature of the questions with which it deals. I. Let us take the book of Isaiah. Tradition has taught us to suppose that this was all written by the author whose name it bears, who flour- ished about 739-701 B. c. But a critical examina- tion shows that there are two very dissimilar *• See Briggs, Introduction to the Study of Holy Scripture, chap, xi; also Nash, History of the Higher Criticism of the New Testament, especially chaps, v and vi. "It was in the eight- eenth century that criticism became an historical force. The mental conditions of the time diflFered profoundly from those of the early Middle Ages. If the latter was the classic age of Tradition, then the eighteenth century was the classic age of scepticism touching Tradition. The typical reasoner in the first case was a man who looked at the Scriptures through the inter- pretation of the Fathers, and who looked at the universe through such fragments of ancient knowledge as had come down to hiTa. Authority was the first word of the mediaeval man. It was also his last The typical man of the eighteenth centuiy threw Tradition upon the dust heap It was in this century that criticism was born. From the conditions and causes that gave it birth we may draw a definition of its essential nature. The main condition was the bankruptcy of Tradition, leaving the mind free to know and possess itself. The main cause was the sense of outlying facts. So we define criticism as a movement of the human mind, inspired by the consciousness of troth unknown, but knowable, and sustained by the resolutiorn to serve the truth without fear or favor." — Nash, op. cit., pp. 77, 78, 80, 81. 90 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE parts to it, viz., the first thirty-nine chapters, and the last twenty-seven. The former of these parts bears abundant evidence of having been written, with some exceptions, in the Assyrian period, long before the overthrow of Jerusalem by Baby- lon ; while the latter part bears equal evidence of having been produced, with some exceptions also, in the time of Cyrus, king of Persia, whom it mentions by name as the Lord's "anointed," who should do his pleasure. Plainly the fact of such mention proves that there must have been a Cyrus to write about at the time ; but this was more than a hundred and fifty years after Isaiah's day, as Cyrus did not capture Babylon until 538 b. c. For this and other strong reasons the Higher Cri- ticism concludes that our present book of Isaiah consists mainly of two distinct works, the author- ship of the second of which is unknown. But the fact that it is anonymous does not impair its value. It is just as truly the voice of its age — the highest, clearest, divinest voice of the generation that heard its message originally — as it would be if we were certain of the author's name. It bears the stamp of its time, and the very mood of the great prophet whose soul gave forth its inspiring word of promise may easily possess the intelli- gent, sympathetic reader who takes in the mean- ing of its glowing utterances today. 2. Take the forty-second Psalm, beginning, "As the hart panteth after the water-brooks." It WHAT IS BIBLICAL CRITICISM? 91 has been widely believed that David wrote nearly all the Psalms. But surely no one can read this, after the idea has been suggested that it was writ- ten during the Captivity, without seeing at once what a new, fresh, earnest meaning it takes on. Listen to the plaintive strain of this mournful Israelite : My tears have been my food day and night, While they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? These tilings I remember, and pour out my soul within me. How I went with the throng, and led them to the house of God, With the voice of joy and praise, a multitude keeping holyday. There is no difficulty in understanding that this Psalm must have been written at the time of the Babylonian Exile; but this was nearly five hun- dred years after David's age. 3. Take another Psalm, cxxxvii : By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept, When we remembered Zion. Upon the willows in the midst thereof We hanged up our harps. For there they that led us captive required of us songs, And they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying. Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing Jehovah's song In a foreign land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, Let my right hand forget her skill. Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, 92 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE If I remember thee not; If I prefer not Jerusalem Above my chief joy. It is clear that this could not have been written at any other time than that of the Captivity. These are some of the more simple cases in which the historical allusions easily enable the critic to determine the approximate dates of the writings under consideration. 4. A more difficult case is that of the Fourth Gospel, assigned by tradition to John the Evangelist, whose name it bears. This document is different from the other gospels. It opens with the expression of ideas belonging to the Logos philosophy prevalent in Alexandria, and these ideas color the work throughout. Jesus is not called "the Son of Man," as in the other three gospels, but "the Son of God," and the whole conception of his mission is peculiarly exalted and spiritual. The book is not so much a narra- tive of the outward events in the Master's career as it is a report of his attitude, his prevailing mood, his profound thought and feeling; and yet the report is evidently a reflection of the author's interpretation of it all. These and many other facts raise the question whether the gospel was really written by John, or by some non-Jewish Christian who was deeply influenced by Hellen- istic m)''sticism, writing in the early part of the second century, or whether, indeed, it may not be WHAT IS BIBLICAL CRITICISM? 93 a composite work, embodying- some of the mem- ories of the apostle along with the philosophical ideas and arguments of his own followers. This problem is not yet solved, but it is one which the Higher Criticism has dealt with most industrious- ly and which is still of the keenest interest. Per- haps the issue cannot be determined with cer- tainty, but the whole historic foundation of Christianity has been shown by the discussion to be more solid than it could otherwise have been known to be. The foregoing instances furnish merely a hint of the task which the Higher Criticism sets itself to perform; namely, to ascertain as exactly as possible the origin, structure, character, and pur- port of every biblical writing, with the aim solely to discover and make known the truth, in the firm conviction that the truth is of God and may be trusted to do God's work in the souls of men who are brought to understand it. As a grand result of the critical movement, the entire Bible is speak- ing to us today with a singular freshness of in- terest and power. The historic periods in which its various books were produced are brought nearer to us than ever before ; our age is put into sympathy with the remote past; our minds and hearts are quickened anew by ancient thought, aspiration, and faith; and thus, perceiving and feeling the continuity of the mighty spiritual 94 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE development running through the ages, we are en- abled by a knowledge of God's methods to put our own lives and labors more intelligently into harmony with his vast purposes. CHAPTER IV THE NEW VIEW OF THE OLD TESTAMENT Granting the legitimacy and importance of bib- lical criticism as a large and fruitful branch of modern learning, we are prepared to ascertain the principal results which it has already pro- duced. While its work is by no means finished, and we should therefore be duly cautious about accepting every dictum pronounced in its name, it has progressed far enough during the two cen- turies ^ and more of its growth, to have estab- lished certain general conclusions which neces- sarily and quite radically modify the popular con- ception of Scripture. Indeed, it is not too much to say that, to those who receive the truth which it has brought to light, the Bible becomes, again, a new book, fresh and quickening, filled with new meanings, revelations, and inspirations, that are higher, richer, more natural, and more vital than the old. This is much to claim, but the claim can be substantiated, and its substantiation means a great spiritual blessing for all who will welcome it. What these better perceptions are will appear as the changed view develops in this and the next few chapters ; and though this view can be but meagerly presented here, even a * See Professor George Adam Smith's Modern Criticism and the Preaching of the Old Testatnent, pp. 31 £. «S 96 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE glimpse of it in outline will compensate for the attention and thought required for its compre- hension. I. First to be noticed among the main features of the new view of the Old Testament is the fact that the several writings of which it is composed are to he regarded as literature. Whatever may be their intrinsic value, and whatever account we may give of their inspiration, they come to us, first of all, as literary documents, and are to be approached and studied as such. This principle is fundamental in any proper treatment of the Holy Scriptures. While it is simple and is begin- ning to be widely accepted, it is still so new or so unappreciated in many circles that we shall need to continue to inculcate it until all classes are educated to its plain implications. Nor is the Old Testament the only collection of sacred writings in existence besides the New Tes- tament. As is well known, other peoples, in other countries and ages, have had their Holy Scrip- tures, many of which are still extant — those be- longing to the Brahmans, the Buddhists, the Parsees of Persia, the Chinese, and the Moham- medans, not to speak of the ancient Egyptians and others. The truth is that the Hebrew or Jewish Bible is only one of the many bibles of the world, all of which are perhaps equally dear to their possessors. I say nothing as to their comparative merits; I merely state the fact, and NEW VIEW OF OLD TESTAMENT 97 may add that we ought to rejoice that, as Gk)d has not left himself without witness in all the world, so there have not been wanting expressions and memorials of such witness in the form of sacred literatures as well as in that of rites and cere- monies. Neither does our present Old Testament em- brace all the writings of the Israelitish people prior to the time of Christ. In some editions of the English Bible there is printed a list of four- teen books called "The Apocrypha." Protestants generally consider these uninspired, and yet worth reading and preserving ; but they have been received as canonical by the Roman Catholic Church, and were included in the Septuagint. They constitute a portion of Jewish literature just as truly as do the regular books of the Old Testament. Besides these there are now extant eighteen writings called "pseudepigraphical" (falsely ascribed), which must be classed as Jew- ish literature; and, still further, there are men- tioned in the Old Testament itself sixteen other books which have entirely perished.^ Thus it appears that there was a considerable literary activity among the Israelites the results of which are not contained in the Old Testament as we now have it. An explanation of the omission of * See Sunderland's The Bible; its Origin, Growth and Character, p. 167; also Briggs, Introduction to the Study of Holy Scripture, pp. 326 f. 93 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE those tliat survive belong-s properly in an account of the formation of the Canon, upon which I do not here enter. II. The second prominent feature of tlie new view of the Old Testament which must be fairly recognized is the truth that its various zvritings are to be studied in connection with the national history of the Israelites. It is impossible to un- derstand them correctly if this principle be ignored. Like the former principle, just consid- ered, it is very simple, but it is even more impor- tant. People have been so long accustomed to think of the Bible primarily as a supernatural communication from the Almighty to each in- dividual of their own generation, that they have scarcely realized that it had an actual earthly his- tory. Therefore we need to press this thought^ that, no matter how much or how little the Bible contains which may be called supernatural and divine, it has come to us through human channels, under definite conditions of time, place, and race, which can be intelligently traced and clearly de- picted; and that some knowledge of these facts is indispensable as a preparation for grasping the inner, spiritual purport of the Scriptures. Unfortunately, such an historical conception or attitude has been difficult of attainment by the average reader on account of the non-chrono- logical arrangement of the biblical books, to- gether with the marginal dates and the headings NEW VIEW OF OLD TESTAMENT 95 of chapters given in many editions of the Auth- orized Version. Genesis and the other portions of the Pentateuch come first, but very much in them was not written until a late date in Israelit- ish history — as late at least as the Babylonian Exile — while the work as a whole, the Torah or Law, was not put into its final, canonical shape until two or three centuries later. On the other hand, the books of Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and Micah, which are in the latter third of the Old Testament as we have it, were produced quite a time before the Exile. Again, the Psalms, the Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes are placed in about the middle of the Old Testament; but most of these writings are of still later origin than the principal parts of the Pentateuch Now there is no reason why we may not, for purposes of study at least, rearrange the writ- ings of the Bible to fit the improved chronology which modern learning has practically deter- mined. Indeed, this is being done already, to a limited extent, and with great profit to the reader.^ Besides, we can frame an outline of the national history of the Israelites that will enable us to understand the allusions which must be made to different periods and conditions in speak- ' For one example, see the series of handbooks called The Messages of the Bible, by Professors Sanders and Kent, Scribner, 1898; also Kent's The Student's Old Testament Logically and Chronologically Arranged and Translated, Scribner, 6 vols., Vols. I and II published 1905. Exceedingly valuable. lOO NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE ing of the authorship and dates of various works contained in the Old Testament.^ Such an his- torical sketch, as concise as I can well give, and without treating the origin and early migration of the Hebrews, is presented at this point as a preparation for what is to follow in the later por- tions of this chapter. 1. We will begin by accepting Professor Toy's assignment of the year 1330 b. c. as the approx- imate date of the exodus from Egypt under Moses. The Israelites invaded and conquered Canaan about 1300 b. c. The conquest was un- doubtedly gradual, and for two hundred years society was inchoate, life was rough and religion crude. Slowly the social elements united and fused, and a kingdom was established, with Saul as king, in the year 1060 b. c. After twenty years he was succeeded by David, and he by his son Solomon, each of whom reigned, it is said, forty ^ years. Outwardly this was a brilliant period, the national life was deepened and strengthened, and the temple built in Jerusalem indicated the growth of a distinctive form of religion. 2. In the year 960 b. c. a rebellion and a divi- sion of the kingdom took place, and for two hun- * Here, too, much valuable aid has been recently afforded by such popular works as Professor C. H. Toy's brief History of the Religion of Israel, Professor C. F. Kent's three vols, on Hebrew and Jewish history, and Professor C. H. Cornill's History of th* People of Israel, and his other books. * Forty is a round number, often used in the Bible, and not to be tnkcn as necessarily exact. NEW VIEW OF OLD TESTAMENT loi dred and forty years there were two kingdoms, namely, the northern called Israel, and the south- ern called Judah. This was a period of strife and trial, that naturally evoked the deeper thoughts and feelings of the people, which found expres- sion in a few noble writings and in the preaching of the early prophets. In the year 720 b. c. the Assyrian army overthrew Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom, and carried into captivity the flower of the population. Under the depress- ing influence of this calamity other prophets arose to exalt and purify the religious life of the people of the southern kingdom. But in less than one hundred and fifty years this, too, fell into the hands of a foreign power. Babylonia, and a sec- ond and a third deportation of captives took place. Then, indeed, was the whole land desolate, while the exiles were in bondage and sorrow. The Exile lasted about fifty years, to 536 b. c. ; it was a productive literary period, and in important re- spects greatly modified the national religion. 3. Cyrus, King of Persia, having taken Baby- lon (538 B. c), gave the Jews permission to re- turn to their native land. Some, but comparatively few,® availed themselves of the privilege, and in time, amid many hardships, rebuilt the walls of Jeinisalem and restored the worship of the tem- ple; indeed, they went beyond all their former zeal in developing the priesthood and elaborating • See Cheyne, Jewish Religious Life after the Exile, chap. i. LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE I02 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE a ritual. Hence this became distinctively the priestly period, lasting roughly from the Exile to the time of Christ. During it there was consid- erable literary activity, especially in the earlier centuries of it; but much of its product was shaped and colored by the priestly or ritualistic spirit. It was also a time of contact with foreign- ers, and of oppression by them — by Persia, Greece, Syria, Egypt, and Rome. This was gall- ing, but it could not crush, and in some respects it intensified, the messianic hope that now hast- ened toward its consummation. Bearing in mind these general historical facts, we shall be qualified to appreciate what the bib- lical critics mean when they assign a given work to a particular period ; and we shall do well to re- member also that, throughout the entire history from Moses to Jesus, it was the nation that pro- duced the Scriptures, and not the Scriptures the nation. III. But by far the most important feature of the new view of the Old Testament is a recogni- tion of the late dates and the composite character of most of its writings. The significance and ap- plication of this principle will become clear as we proceed to examine some of the chief portions of these venerable literary remains. We do not know when the art of writing com- menced; nor does it matter very much. It may have been practiced a long time by some peoples NEW VIEW OF OLD TESTAMENT 103 before it was known to others. For example, it is certain that the Greeks and Romans had a large body of the highest kind of literature centuries before the Teutonic tribes of northern Europe were even semi-civilized. So the Egyptians and Chaldeans may have been perfectly familiar with writing, and may have had extensive written rec- ords, before there was any Israelitish nation in existence; in fact we now know positively that this was the case;'' yet this does not prove that Moses and the early Israelites knew how to write, any more than the fact that nearly all New Eng- landers could read and write, at the middle of the nineteenth century, proves that nearly all the negroes of the South could do likewise at that time.^ And even if Moses was really "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," so that he might have written a hundred books, it does not at all follow that he wrote the Pentateuch,^ or, '' Professor Kent says: "In order rightly to understand the growth of Israers institutions it is necessary to remember that the Hebrews were among the youngest of the Semitic peoples, and therefore the inheritors of at least twenty centuries of civ- ilization. The magnitude of their debt to the nations which ante- dated them and became their teachers is undoubtedly far greater than has hitherto been imagined." — Messages of Israel's Law- givers, p. 5. So writes Professor Friedrich Delitzsch: "Now that the pyramids have opened their depths and the Assyrian palaces their portals, the people of Israel, with their literature, appears but the youngest member of a venerable and hoary group of nations." * For a similar remark see Professor G. A. Smith, Modern Criticism and the Preaching of the Old Testament, p. 59, note. " For a sane and scholarly discussion of this point, see ibid., pp. 56-67. I04 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE indeed, anything else; although we may readily enough believe that he did write down, or engrave upon stone tablets, some of the fundamental laws ascribed to him. Probably Jesus knew how to write, but we have no knowledge of any literary work which he produced. Again, we in modern times and in our western world, with our more orderly methods of think- ing and working, can hardly understand how the ancients composed their books. Today an author writes out his thoughts in continuous, logical se- quence; and if he quotes he gives references, is conscientious about using materials, and would not think of publishing his work over the name of some other and more illustrious personage. Not so, however, in the Bible times. Says Professor Driver, of Oxford : The authors of the Hebrew historical books — except the shortest, as Ruth and Esther — do not, as a modem historian would do, rewrite the matter in their own language; they excerpt from the sources at their dis- posal such passages as are suitable to their purpose, and incorporate them in their work, sometimes adding mat- ter of their own, but often (as it seems) introducing only such modifications of form as are necessary for the purpose of fitting them together, or accommodating them to their plan. The Hebrew historiographer, as we know him, is essentially a compiler or arranger of pre-exist- ing documents ; he is not himself an original author.^* Professor W. Robertson Smith wrote to the same effect, and said further: '* Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament, p. j. NEW VIEW OF OLD TESTAMENT 105 If a man copied a book, it was his to add to and modify as he pleased, and he was not in the least bound to distinguish the old from the new. If he had two books before him to which he attached equal worth, he took large extracts from both, and harmonized them by such additions or modifications as he felt to be necessary.^^ Understanding all this, we are not surprised to learn that many authors, desiring to gain cur- rency for their books, ascribed them to distin- guished persons of former times — as, for instance, the writer of the book of Daniel did, who is thought to have written his work about 168 or 167 B. c, but in the person of the Daniel of Babylonian times. Now, in the light of the foregoing considera- tions, we may take up some of the Old Testament writings and inquire about their origin and struc- ture. I. THE PENTATEUCH Naturally we begin with the Pentateuch, pop- ularly known as the "five books of Moses" — Gen- esis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuter- onomy. Tlie Jews called them, collectively, the Torah, or, as we should say, the Law; but the term Pentateuch, meaning "five-fold book," has prevailed largely since the Septuagint translation (into Greek) was made, about the second century B. c. For two thousand years or more tradition ^* Encyclopaedia Britannica. Vol. Ill, p. 638, art., "Bible." io6 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE has ascribed the authorship of these books to Moses, although they themselves make no such claim, excepting portions of Deuteronomy. Un- doubtedly there is reason for presuming that tra- dition, which is simply customary opinion, has some basis in fact, or else it would not exist ; but such reason is slight in the present instance. It may be natural to assume that the authorship of a literary work is singular, because ordinarily this is the case; yet today we have examples of col- laboration, even in the production of stories. It is natural, perhaps, to suppose that water and air are simple parts of the material universe; but modern chemistry shows us that they are not really simples at all, but compounds. It might be thought a natural presupposition that a ray of sunshine is simply a stream of pure white light, and, but for science, one might never have dream- ed that there are over half a dozen different colors in it that can be distinctly separated from one another; yet such is really the case, and we have only to pass a ray of sunshine through a prism to afford an ocular demonstration of the fact. Just so it is with the composition of the Pentateuch : without evidence to the contrary, we might accept the traditional belief that it is the work of a single author; but upon a clear proof that it is a union of several different works, we are compelled to give up the customary notion, and accept the true verdict. NEW VIEW OF OLD TESTAMENT 107 For a century and a half the Higher Critics have been toiling patiently over this problem, and they have reached, not, indeed, a unanimous, but a very general, agreement as to the following conclusions : 1. That the Book of Joshua, immediately after the Pentateuch, belongs v^ith it as an organic part of the same great work ; so that we should speak of the Hexateuch, or first six books of the Bible, as a whole. 2. That this Hexateuch is composed of four different main writings or documents, produced at different times by different authors, which were finally welded together, with editorial additions, in the early part of the priestly period of Israel- itish history, that is to say, after the return from Babylon; and that these four main writings are themselves more or less composite. 3. That these four general documents have each such strongly marked characteristics of style, phraseology and "local color" as to be easily dis- tinguishable to the trained critic, in their princi- pal features; so that they can be, and have been, separated and printed in different types, or (as in the Polychrome Bible) in different hues, with confirming results not less striking than those yielded by the prismatic analysis of a ray of sun- shine. Now it is proper to ask how these conclusions have been wrought out ; and a simple, concise ex- io8 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE planation is here given. First, it had been noticed, among other pectilarities, that there are frequent repetitions of the same things, but in different words, in the narratives of the Pentateuch; and especially that there are, in Genesis, two distinct accounts of the creation, one of them being in the first chapter, and the other in the second ; and that these vary considerably. Second, it was observed that the first of these accounts uses the word Elo- him (translated God) to represent the Divine Be- ing, while the other uses the term which we com- monly render by our English word "Jehovah." This discovery was made by Jean Astruc, a French physician, in 1753, who was the first to conjecture and demonstrate the compilation of the book from at least two older narratives. Third, this theory was shortly afterward (1779) taken up in Germany by Eichhorn, who made a list of several other words peculiar to each Gene- sis-writer, the existence of which had been in- ferred from Astruc's disclosure; and the clues thus furnished were followed up, by Ilgen (1798) and many subsequent critics, with slowly increasing results elaborating, correcting, and confirming various theories, until the present con- sensus of opinion has been established.^^ ^* A brief sketch of this development is given by Professor George F. Moore in his introduction to Bacon's Genesis of Gen- esis; also G. A. Smith's Modern Criticism and the Preaching of the Old Testament, pp. 33-41; Briggs, Introduction to the Study of Holy Scripture, pp. 378 ff. NEW VIEW OF OLD TESTAMENT 109 Today, then, it may be said that the over- whelming- judgment of critical scholarship is to the effect that the Hexateuch as we now have it originated in substantially the following manner : First, there was produced, in the ninth century before Christ, an historical work which we call the Jehovistic Writing, or, more briefly the Jehov- ist (or Jahvist), or simply J, because of its use of the word Jehovah ( Yahweh) for God (because also the author belonged to the southern king- dom, Judah).^^ Shortly afterward a second work was produced, called now the Elohist Writing, or the Elohist, or E, so designated because it em- ploys Elohim for God (and because also this writer was an Ephraimite).^* Both of these works may be said to have appeared between 850 and 750 B. c.,^° and were subsequently united. Then a third book, consisting essentially of our Deuteronomy, and hence called the Deuterono- mist, or D, was produced, somewhere between 660 and 622 B, c, and later this was joined to the two preceding works.^^ Next a Priestly Code ^' See Bacon's Genesis of Genesis, p. 21, note. 1* Ibid. ^s See Professor W. E. Addis, Documents of the Hexateuch, Vol. I, p. Ixxxii; also L. W. Batten's The Old Testament from the Modern Point of View (James Pott & Co., 1899), chap, iv; and especially Professor C. F. Kent's Tli^ Student's Old Testa- ment, Vol. I, with table giving classification of analyzed contents, and the parallel narratives in a new translation. ^^ Respecting the date of Deuteronomy, see Addis, Docu- ments of the Hexateuch, Vol. II (1S9S), for a reconsideration of the question. See also articles on Deuteronomy in Encyclopedia no NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE was written, not far from 500 b. c, in the inter- est of the temple and the ritual ; and this, giving a kind of skeleton of Israelitish history, covers it with the flesh and blood of ceremonial legislation. Authorities differ somewhat sharply as to the date of this writing, but not as to its existence. Finally, about the middle of the fifth century, all these documents were united by one or more edi- tors or redactors, who made some changes and additions, and were henceforth promulgated as the Torah of the Jewish people.^ ^ Bibltca and Hastings* Dictionary of the Bible; J. Estlin Carpenter and C Harford Battersby, The Hexateuch (1900), chap, x; and Driver's Introduction, chap, on Deuteronom}'. *^ Professor Charles A. Briggs describes the situation thus: "Looking at the facts of the case, wc note that the careful analysis of the Hexateuch by so large a number of the ablest biblical scholars of the age has brought about general agreement as to the following points: (a) An E'.ohistic writing extending through the Hexateuch, written by a priestly writer, commonly, therefore, designated by P. (b) A Jahvistic writing, also ex- tending through the Hexateuch, designated by J. {c) A second Elohistic writing in close connection with the Jahvist, designated by E^ (d) The Deuteronomic writing, chiefly in Deuteronomy and Joshua, with a few traces in the earlier books, designated by D. (e) These writings have been compacted by redactors who first combined J with E, then J E with D, and at last JED with P. Notwithstanding the careful way in which these docu- ments have been compacted into a higher unity by these suc- cessive editings, the documents may be distinguished by char- acteristic differences, not only in the use of the divine names, but also in language and style; in religious, doctrinal, and moral conceptions; in various interpretations of the same historic per- sons and events, and in their plans and methods of composi- tion; differences which are no less striking than those which characterize the four Gospels." — The Higher Criticism of the Hexa- teuch, p. 63, Elsewhere the same scholar says: " There are no Hebrew professors on the continent of Europs, so far as I know, who would deny the literary analysis of the Pentateuch into the four NEW VIEW OF OLD TESTAMENT m The discovery and elucidation of the foregoing' facts constitute one of the great achievements of modern learning. In its way, the demonstration is as important and revolutionary as was the Co- pernican theory in astronomy, or the Darwinian doctrine of "Natural Selection." Its inevitable practical bearings cannot be fully indicated here, but it may be said that it must afford us a new con- ception of the history of the Israelitish people, and must modify to no small extent our acceptance and use of the first six books of the Bible. We can no longer regard these books as a homogene- ous, continuous, orderly, comprehensive, accurate history of the origin and course of human events in this world ; or as a textbook of science ; or even as a compendium of morals and religion. We must regard them rather as an accretive compila- great documents. The professors of Hebrew in the Universitiea of Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, and tutors in a large nmnbcr of theological colleges, hold to the same opinion. A very con- siderable number of the Hebrew professors of America are in accord with them. There are, indeed, a few professional scholars who hold to the traditional opinion, but these are in a hop«!cs3 minority. I doubt whether there is any question of scholarship whatever in which there is a greater agreement among scholar* than in this question of the literary analysis of the Hexateuch." — Presbyterian Review, April, 1887. Similar testimonies from other writers might be easily aJ- duced, but would needlessly encumber these pages. Besides the references already given, see Professor J. E. McFadyen's Old Testament Criticism and the Christian Church (1903), chap, iii, for a good account of differences of opinion among the critics, with an admirable summary of general agreements. Driver's In- troduction and Kent's Student's Old Testament, Vol. I, will be likely to be most serviceable to the general reader. The Documents of the Hexateuch (1892-98), in two vols, by W. E. Addis, is a valuable work. 112 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE tion of various historical sketches, comprising an- cient fragments of story and song, legend and myth, some of which have drifted down from the time of Moses or beyond; and comprising also connected tales, ritualistic ordinances, codes of laws, and earnest religious instructions and ap- peals — all expressive of the ideas, faith, and cus- toms of the Hebrews at different periods of their national life. By this literature, with an outline of Hebrew history clearly in mind, we may trace and illustrate, with fresh interest and deep sym- pathy, the progress of the nation and the develop- ment of the national religion ;^^ without such an historical sketch, and without an understanding of the composite character of these ancient books, our reading of them must continue to produce in- tellectual confusion, however they may imbue us with an earnestly devout spirit. With the sketch and the analysis before us, we may have the bless- ing of clear information, together with the same earnestly devout spirit; and the information will be true — we shall be no longer out of harmony with modern knowledge, U. OTHER WRITINGS In a similar way we must revise the traditional opinion of many of the other Old Testament 1* For the clearer, truer insight into the natiire and pro- cess of this development which the new learning affords, see Professor Karl Budde's Religion of Israel to the Exile (Putnam, 1899). NEW VIEW OF OLD TESTAMENT 113 books. Limits of space forbid a treatment of all these, and, indeed, allow only the briefest re- marks concerning a few of them. The reader who cares to pursue his inquiries further may ob- tain instruction from some of the works already mentioned, and it is hoped that sufficient interest will have been awakened by this cursory chapter to prompt to such more extensive and particular study. The whole subject is engaging, enlight- ening, and wonderfully profitable. 1. Following the Hexateuch is the book of Judges, consisting of narratives that vividly de- pict the social conditions prevailing in Palestine between the Conquest and the days of Samuel. The work is believed to have been drawn from some of the same sources, oral and written, which entered into the earlier documents of the Hexa- teuch, and to have been compiled by an unknown writer shortly before or in the time of the Exile (650-550 B. c.)- It contains later editorial addi- tions, and gives a strongly religious interpreta- tion of the history of the remote period which it covers.^ ^ 2, The two books of Samuel (they were only one originally; the Septuagint divided them) take up the history of Israel where the Hexateuch leaves it, and carry forward the account nearly through the reign of David. They partake largely *• See Bennett and Ackney's "Introduction;" Toy's "History of the Religion of Israel;" and G. F. Moore's "Judges" in the Internatiohjl Critical Commentary, Scribner (T. & T. Clark). 114 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE of the character of Judges, but are tliought to have been composed somewhat earher. 3. The two books of Kings, constituting a single work, h'ke I and II Samuel, bring the his- tory down to the Babylonian Captivity. They refer frequently to other writings not known to us, such as the Book of the Acts of Solomon, the Books of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, and the Books of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah. The work is Deuteronomic in character, and was substantially completed before the end of the Exile, only a few portions being subsequently added. Like all the preceding works, it is com- posite in structure. 4. I and II Chronicles are a duplicate ^° and inferior history, originally constituting, with Ezra and Nehemiah, a single work. It undertakes to cover the history from Adam to the end of Nehe- miah's reign, is compiled of extracts from earlier documents, and is dominated by the priestly spirit. Dr. Driver dates all these writings not earlier than 332 B. c." Professor Toy dates them about 300;^^ while Bennett and Adeney say 300-250.^* 5. The remaining portions of the Old Testa- ment, especially the great Prophets, the Psalms, and Job, are altogether too important to be con- 2' The Septuagint title, "Paralipomena," correctly indicates the character of the work as duplicate and supplementary. ^''■Introduction, pp. 486, 511. ^'^ Judaism and Christianity, p. 55. "Biblical Introduction, pp. 108, 109. NEW VIEW OF OLD TESTAMENT 115 sidered in a few pages ; and this chapter is already long enough to have served its main purpose, which has been merely to afford a glimpse of the new view of the Old Testament resulting from modern scholarship. The salient features of this view which have been thus far presented may be taken as a hint of the changed aspects that the other books, just mentioned, may be expected to assume upon due study. The reader will learn that there were earlier and later prophets in Is- rael; that the prophetical writings, as they have come down to us, are more or less composite; that the Psalms are mostly late productions, ori- ginating in the period after the Exile, and are re- ligious poems or hymns voicing the spiritual as- piration and struggle of the Jewish nation; that the Proverbs are collections of wise sayings, be- longing to what is called the Wisdom Literature of Israel, and necessarily written by different au- thors at different times; while Job is a sublime poem grappling with the great problem of the suffering of the just man, and produced by some unknown writer, with probably later additions, shortly before the Exile, or possibly as late as 300 B. c. — it is impossible to determine the exact date of such a work.2^ Each of these subjects, in itself, is a large and instructive topic, of profound in- terest and importance to one who really cares to ** "The Book of Job may spring from any date between the Exile and 300 b c." — Professor Geo. Adam Smith, Modern Criti- cism, etc., p. 286. ii6 NEW APPRECIATION OF 'HIE BIBLE know something of the history and character of this sacred, noble, inspiring Hterature. Happily, much information respecting each is now avail- able, and those who have read this chapter to the present point are urged to go on with their study by consulting other works, more learned as well as more particular and complete. It is to be remembered that many matters of detail are still unsettled, many problems are still unsolved. The analysis of the Hexateuch, as well as that of the other composite works, is by no means perfect or fully agreed upon by scholars, especially in its minute phases; quite likely, such entire agreement may never be attained, and the precise dates of many portions of the Old Testa- ment may never be absolutely fixed. But enough has been demonstrated beyond question, in the broader aspects of the case, to call for a recon- struction of the traditional conception both of Hebrew history and of the origin of the Hebrew Scriptures. As this reconstruction comes gradu- ally to be wrought out, and shall at length become clear and familiar, first among university profes- sors and ministers, then among Sunday-school teachers, and at last in the popular mind, it will be the means of a great education regarding the place which Israel has filled in the world, regard- ing the works and ways of Divine Providence among the nations, and regarding the peculiar ex- cellences of those ancient writings which have NEW VIEW OF OLD TESTAMENT 117 served to convey to mankind the Word of Life, and which constitute so large a part of what we justly call our Holy Bible. If, under this new view of the Old Testament, the individual writer of Scripture seems to be of less importance than hitherto, the importance of the nation increases; so that the Old Testament, or almost any given book in it, becomes not merely the voice of a single soul, but rather the voice of a people, expressing its deep longing, its expand- ing life, its growing ethical and religious faith, and its intensifying devotion to the one living and true God, whose mighty providence is forever its refuge and strength.^^ CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE A Principal Events in Hebrew History Authorities. Toyi Kautzsch» Budde* (18S2) (1897) (1899) B. C. B. C. B. C. Exodus from Egypt under Moses.. 1330 31320 3125° Invasion of Canaan 1300 ai28o bi20o David made king 1040 aiooo 1000 Division of the kingdom 960 3933 933 Accession of Ahab of Israel 903 3876 876-54 Downfall of Omri dynasty 842 842 842 The prophets Amos and Ilosca.... 785 779-43 760-45 The call of Isaiah .... 740 740 Accession of Hezekiah of Judah.. 726 .... 72$ Fall of the northern kingdom.... 720 723 722 Siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib.. .... 701 701 Manasseh, king of Judah 639 — 643 696-41 Josiah, king of Judah 639 640-9 639-8 *^ After reading the above chapter a careful perusal of Budde's Religion of Israel to the Exile (Putnam) and of Chency'f Jeu-ish Religious Life After the Exile (Putnam) would prove illuminating as well as keenly interesting. , Ii8 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE Authorities. Toy' Kautzsch* Budde* (1882) ,(1897) (1899) B. C. B. C. B. C. The prophet Jeremiah 626-580 628 — 626 — Reforms of Josiah based on Dcut.. .... 622 6ai Death of Josiah at McRiddo 609 609 604 First capture of Jerusalem by Neb- uchadnezzar .... .... 597 Fall of Jerusalem, beginning of Baby- lonian Captivity 586 586 586 Babylon taken by Cyrus 539 539 538 Return of some Jews to Canaan.... 536 3536 •••• Visit of Ezra to Jerusalem 457 458 .... Nehemiah in Jerusalem 444 445 .... Building of Samaritan temple at Ger- ezim .... 3335 .... The Jews submit to Alexander the Great 332 .... Maccabaean War a 165 166 .... Jerusalem taken by Pompey 63 .... .... a — about, b — before. ^ History of the Religion of Israel. * The Literature of the Old Testament, with chronological tables (Putnam) translated by John Taylor. Especially full and valuable. See pp. 167-203. ' Religion of Israel to the Exile. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE B Approximate Dates of Old Testament Books A very brief tabulation of the more important dates, some of which are necessarily very uncertain, and are only offered provisionally, will show at a glance the main bearings of the critical reconstruction of the lit- erary history.^ B.C. Traditions, war ballads, and other songs 1200-1000 The prophetic history of the Jehovist document 850 The prophetic history of the Elohist document 750 Amos and Hosea 750-735 Isaiah 740-700 Micah 725-690 Nahum 650 Zephaniah 630 Deuteronomy (written probably in Manasseh's reign), published. .621 NEW VIEW OF OLD TESTAMENT 119 B. C. Jeremiah 626-586 Habakkuk 600 Exile 597 B. c. (first deportation) 586 (second deportation) to... 538 Ezckicl S92-570 Lamentations 5.- stantial influence in the development of our mod- THE BIBLE IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOL 337 ern civilization. Surely^ then, it were illogical to refuse a recognition of the Bible as such a litera- ture and such a powerful factor, and unjust to the young to withhold from them a knowledge of these things. The history of Israel is as deserv- ing of study as the history of Persia or that of Italy; and there ought not to be any more diffi- culty in reading the writings of Isaiah or Jere- miah, for example, in connection with Israel's history than in reading the sermons of Savo- narola, or interpreting the art of Michael Angelo, in connection with Italian history. Indeed, if we may properly decorate our public schoolrooms with distinctively Christian pictures, why ex- clude all knowledge of the Christian Scriptures which helped to produce such pictures and can alone explain them? If we relate the story of the Pilgrims, in teaching the history of the United States, how can we fail to imply and con- vey some conception of the place and influence of the Bible in the lives of those universally honored pioneers ? Or if we describe the Spanish explorations and settlements in the New World, why ignore or minimize the religious considera- tions which often had a large place in their plans? The fact is, we cannot dodge the subject of re- ligion, if we try, in the study of history, litera- ture, art, music, or any other important phase of modern civilization; and we ought not to try. But it is possible to treat religion in a large, fair. 338 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE sympathetic way; to distinguish between the re- ligious instinct or sentiment or spirit, on the one hand, and its expressions in worship, theology and ecclesiasticism, on the other hand; and to seek to quicken and strengthen this religious spirit, which underlies all forms of worship, all creeds, and all churches, without indulging any prejudices or preferences respecting dogmatic and sectarian interests. If we can bring ourselves into this generous and reverent attitude, learning to have more re- gard for the soul of religion than for its body, we shall soon raise up, in our churches, normal schools, and universities, a supply of enlightened, magnanimous teachers who shall be competent to deal with the vital interests of moral and reli- gious education as wisely, delicately, and justly as others now deal with history, literature, music, and art; and we shall find that there is ample room in the public school for such teachers, lov- ing the spiritual aspects of civilization and sympa- thizing with all the noble aspirations of the race, to make a vital, inspiring, and delightful use of the Bible purely as a great spiritual literature itv- culcating the spirit of morality and religion, with- out aiming to impart a bit of theological bias or any taint of sectarianism. Then we shall dis- cover that the influence of the Bible will be to set righteousness into the midst of life's great in- terests, and to buttress it by reverence on the one THE BIBLE IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOL 339 side and by brotherly love on the other side. Thus we shall acquaint the young with what is most essential in this precious literature, and shall powerfully reinforce the central principle of all good conduct, righteousness, to which every con- science testifies, by the hallowing spirit of rever- ence and by the unselfish spirit of brotherly love. The obstacles to the course here suggested are mainly inherent in the fact that the people gen- erally are not yet ready to regard and treat the Bible in the large and free way just indicated; nor are they prepared to be content to put the emphasis upon the soul of religion, and to con- sider its manifold bodily forms as of secondary importance. But they are progressing rapidly toward this more liberal and more spiritual posi- tion. With the advances made during the last generation in biblical knowledge and in educa- tional theory, we may reasonably expect another generation to bring us to the desired goal — to the point where we may appropriate the essential and potent spirit of the Bible to the paramount ends of true culture and of ethical-religious impres- sion, without injustice to any individual or class. The process, however, will be necessarily grad- ual and prolonged. We must all be patient, mag- nanimous, and kind while it is going on. We cannot force results or methods. We must give every interest a fair hearing; and we must wait. The public mind will have to "catch up" with 340 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE the advanced positions of biblical scholars and educational leaders ere the literary, historical, and spiritual values of the Bible can be handled in the public schools with due discrimination and appreciation to render the work acceptable to the people at large or highly profitable to the pupils. We must remember that the existing situation, in- volving the divorce between Church and State, along with the entire exclusion of religious in- struction and the partial exclusion of even the reading of the Bible from the public schools, re- sulted from certain powerful ideas and influences long operative in the past which we have not yet wholly outgrown; and we are now in the midst of the process of transforming some of these, and must patiently await the great improvement which the change will ultimately yield. A right ideal of the place of Scripture in the public school consistently followed might have prevented a woe- ful setback to real enlightenment on subjects pertaining to morality and religion. But we had first to learn what this ideal is, and how biblical science should be taught. Perhaps the reaction may come when the notion of the Bible as a compendium of standard religious doctrines, a textbook of theology, has yielded to a more reasonable faith. Perhaps the beginning may be when the public sees the right ideal maintained, and the right system of biblical science pursued, in our Christian colleges and universities." The foregoing examination of the question brings us back to the present status of affairs. * Professor B. W. Bacon, in Proceedings of the Religious Ed- ucation Association. 1904, p. 131. THE BIBLE IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOL 341 We see that this cannot be suddenly or exten- sively altered. Discussion and tentative experi- ments may bring some modifications of thought and policy, but no radical or sweeping changes can be expected ; neither would they be desirable. Meanwhile, however, we may well take to heart two or three considerations. I. It is cause for gratification that so much is being done in our colleges and universities along the very lines just indicated in Professor Bacon's words. Within the last two decades many of these institutions have established pro- fessorships and courses in biblical literature and history, which have become quite as popular as others. The fruits of this fundamental work are already accruing in two ways : sending out num- bers of soundly educated young men and women in matters pertaining to a correct general concep- tion of the Bible; and also spreading through many communities a new and more enlightened interest in the proper study of the Scriptures. Churches are benefiting by all this; and grad- ually a generation will grow up that will easily and fully share the new appreciation of the Bible, whence we may look for a wider and more vital use, as well as a more keen enjoyment, of the manifold riches of this ancient, age-lasting liter- ature. Here, again, the institutions of the higher education are proving themselves the worthy guides and sure redeemers of society. 342 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE The nature and grounds of such educational work are admirably stated by Professor Henry T. Fowler, as follows : This movement is actuated, it would seem, by the same motives that support the study of other literatures and histories, namely, an appreciation of intellectual, aesthetic, and practical value. Only thus can the results of the present development become widespread and per- manent. At best, the rapidity of the spread must be limited by the whole force of educational tendency and tradition that has emphasized other literatures rather than this one. It must be limited, too, by present popular feeling as to the true function of the Bible, by present interest of students in the modern rather than the ancient, by present lack of suitable teachers and endowments. A growing recognition, however, on the part of educators of the true claims of the Bible as a part of a liberal edu- cation will steadily overcome these difficulties." 2. While awaiting the enrichment of the pop- ular mind, thus to be ultimately derived from the work of the colleges and universities, we must re- member that we have other agencies than the public schools for educating the young in mor- ality and religion. Education is, indeed, "a uni- tary process," as President Nicholas Murray But- ler has said ; but it does not therefore follow that all phases of education must be furnished in one place or under one system. As a matter of fact, it is not so, and it cannot be so. Everything edu- cates, or miseducates — the home, the school, the church, the street, the newspaper, life, Nature. We do not expect the public school to instruct our • Address, Religious Education Association, 1904; sec Pro- ceedings, p. 136. THE BIBLE IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOL 343 children in dancing, in instrumental music, in eti- quette, in painting and sculpture, although all these are regarded as essential by thousands of people. No more should we require the distinc- tively ethical and religious aspects of education to be supplied by the public schools, much beyond the rudimentary ideas, principles and habits ne- cessary to all proper conduct, which are incident- ally yet inevitably inculcated through the ordi- nary relationships of teachers and pupils. We send our children to the dancing master for one kind of education, to the music teacher for an- other kind, and to the art school for still another. This brings us plainly to see that we are to look chiefly to the home and the church for the education of the young in morality and religion. And precisely here lies one of the points most needing to be strengthened in the life of today. The due co-operation of the home and the church with the school is an imperative requirement, but it is far from being adequately met. The home has been somewhat weakened, in many in- stances, by the increasing influence of wealth, the growth of the boarding-house habit, and, alas! the too facile disruption of the marriage bond; and it is to be feared that it has been further weakened, all unwittingly, by being relieved of the sense of parental responsibility for the edu- cation of the children through the taking-over of this task by the public school and the Sunday 344 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE schcx>l. The time has come when we need to understand as thoroughly as possible that the school and the church cannot fulfil the function of the home, but can merely supplement it; and when we must do everything in our power to create and maintain a living sympathy, an ear- nest and intelligent co-operation, between the home and the school, between the home and the church. And it must be said that the church is not at present rising to its opportunity in this respect. By inviting the family to send its chil- dren to the Sunday school for education in morals and religion, it has done much, albeit with the best of intentions, to break down the sense of parental responsibility for such eduation; but it has not done enough to counteract this evil and to secure a greater good by throwing back upon the home a spiritual interpretation of such responsi- bility, and by throwing back into the home suffici- ent helpful influences to enable the parents to do their duty. A reform or improvement in the church's ministration in this particular is urgent- ly called for; it cannot commence tooi soon; and when started, the church will find a new and most fertile field for the abundant production of the fruits of the spirit. If the home and the church can be brought into vital connection and adequate co-operation, as would appear to be one of the most natural openings or relationships for the ministry of Christian education, there will be THE BIBLE IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOL 345 little cause for complaint on account of the neglect of moral and religious interests in the work of the public schools. Let the responsibility rest where it really belongs. 3. Finally, we must not fail to appreciate the spiritual influence of the public schools under existing conditions. They are not "godless," nor are they immoral, either in the positive sense of breeding bad morals or in the negative sense of failing to inculcate good morals. To allege that they are so, implying that such is generally the case, is a gross and malignant slander; and when one sees this charge made most frequently in precisely those quarters where the effort is most sedulous to get sectarian parochial schools ac- cepted as an equivalent substitute for the public schools, so that they may receive a portion of the public funds, or so that their supporters may not be taxed for the maintenance of the public-school system, one cannot feel that the allegation proceeds from entirely disingenuous motives. Wholesale judgments are always liable to con- tain a considerable element of error; but scarcely any general judgment is safer than that the pub- lic schools of America, as a rule and on the whole, tend very strongly to produce a noble type of life and character. Their teachers, as a class, are high-grade men and women, whose personal influence is refining and elevating; they are usu- ally earnest, honest, unselfish, public-spirited, 346 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE and they diligently seek to present true ideals to their pupils, and to incite them to worthy en- deavor. If the schools do not directly and pur- posely inculcate reverence in the religious sense, they do at least, by their ordinary and necessary work, instil reverence for excellence; and this lies at the foundation of all true reverence for things divine and eternal. More than a founda- tion for the building of a good character, more than the humble beginning of a preparation for life-long growth in knowledge, usefulness, and happiness, the public schools cannot be reasonably required to furnish. By furnishing this, even to a moderate extent, in the enlightenment and training they afford, in the refining and elevating influence they exert, and in the noble ideals they present, they are fitting the children to enter upon the larger life which opens continuously before them — the reading of good books, including the Bible; the study of history, comprising its moral and religious phases as well as its economic, social, and political; the appreciation of art; the pursuit of scientific knowledge; and the cultiva- tion of the virtues and graces of Christian man- hood and womanhood. Rendering this funda- mental service, their work is of priceless worth. If thereupon the Bible and all the great spiritual interests which it represents do not make, through other avenues, an effective appeal to the minds and hearts of our American youth, the THE BIBLE IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOL 347 fault cannot be justly laid at the door of the public school^ '' Two or three references may be given for recent and valu- able discussion of the interests of moral and religious education, (i) Education in Religion and Morals, by Professor George A. Coe (Revell, publisher). (2) Moral Education, by Edward Howard Griggs (N. Y.: B. VV. Huebsch, 1904), contains extensive bib- liography. (3) VoL III of the Proceedings of the Religious Edu- cation Association (1905), especially pp. 219-71 relating to the pub- lic schools. CHAPTER XV THE BIBLE IN THE HOME In treating of the Bible in the home we are dealing with another phase of the great problem of moral and religious education. We have seen that, on account of its surpassing spiritual merits, the Bible is to be used in the Sunday school as the chief instrument of spiritual culture, especially when wielded by teachers who have been deeply quickened by its influence and have thoroughly learned some of its holy lessons. We have seen likewise that, on account of its literary excellence, and its historic interest, as well as its lofty spir- itual character, it is entitled to a place in the pub- lic school, side by side with the literature, his- tory, and art of Greece and Rome; although this kind of study should be sharply distinguished from its employment for purposes of dogmatic in- struction, which is not compatible with the genius of our American public-school system. And now in seeking to determine why and how the Bible should be used in the home, we are touching upon the educational function of the third of these principal formative institutions in our modern civilization. When we consider the home intelligently we quickly discover that it is of fundamental im- portance. The family is the primary social in- ^48 THE BIBLE IN THE HOME 349 stitution. It is based upon natural instincts of the deepest and strongest character, whose roots are in the body, but whose flowers and fruits are in the soul. Marriage and parentage blend physical and spiritual interests and influences more vitally and completely than any other hu- man relationship. If, therefore, any institution may be properly called sacred, with all the fulness of meaning that such an adjective ought to imply, it is the family, which is the cornerstone of the school, the church, the state, the nation. Sociologists everywhere are emphasizing the importance of the family; indeed, it is largely to their studies that we are indebted for a more en- lightened appreciation of this primary social group. They have shown us that society is not merely a formless mass of individuals, comming- ling promiscuously, but rather a vast tissue of families, each constituting a vital knot or nerve- center in the social organism. And those persons who have experience in the practical conduct of charitable, humane, or reformatory work are daily corroborating this testimony. One-half of the broken lives of the world are traceable to bad homes ; and we can do little for the improve- ment of society without engaging somehow the co-operation of the home. The best thing we can do for children is to make good homes for them, or to approximate this as nearly as possible. A good home is the best moral insurance that any- 3SO NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE body can have. A man without a home is as badly off as "the man without a country." What- ever menaces the homes of a nation endangers every true interest in our civilization. What- ever promotes the security and happiness of the people's homes ministers directly to national welfare and human progress. The educational function of the home is appar- ent as soon as we recognize the truth that educa- tion itself is a vital process, whose fruitage is the formation of character. Now when you reflect that the child is born into the home — at least, thank Heaven! the great majority of children are thus bom — and that the characteristic ten- dencies which are to prevail throughout the re- mainder of life are chiefly determined within the first three or four years of that child's existence, while the influences of the next ten or twelve years are very potent and lasting, you can see at once that the home really contributes more than any other agency to the education of the child for good or evil. It is here in the social life of the family, with its daily experience of toil and re- sponsibility, care and devotion, sympathy and ministry, sorrow and joy, love, hope, fear, wrong-doing, remorse, forgiveness — here in this little world of the home, half of earth and half of heaven, that a human soul is started on its eternal career; and while the baneful influence of a bad home may be largely overcome, and the helpful THE BIBLE IN THE HOME 351 influence of a good home greatly impaired, by what the after years shall bring, yet the impres- sions produced and the impulses given in this earliest of all schools are not likely ever to be wholly outgrown. After all, it is the home, more than school or church or state, that molds character in our boys and girls, our men and women. Such being a hint of the social significance and the educational value of the home, we are ready to inquire a little more closely into the relations that ought to subsist between the Bible and the home. Immediately I offer the general remark that one of the first conditions of a good home is a good spirit in the hearts of its inmates; and be- cause the Bible is a great literature that breathes such a spirit with wonderful power, it would seem that it ought to have a large place of real influence, somehow, in every household whose members want their family life to be honorable, pure, and happy. There have been thousands of such households that have thus welcomed the Bible and received its blessing. After its translation into the Eng- lish language it entered the homes of English- speaking people, along with Protestant concep- tions of religion, and was read with all the dili- gence, ardor, and devoutness which, under the conditions, that mighty spiritual awakening pro- 352 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE duced. Each home where earnest believers were found became a kind of sanctuary, domestic wor- ship was established, and into the life of no peo- ple of modern times have the ideas and spirit of the Bible penetrated so deeply as into that of the English Puritans. Some of these came to Amer- ica, bringing the Bible, with their grim accept- ance of it and their inflexible purpose to found a state upon it; and, naturally, its dominant in- fluence was felt everywhere. The custom of fireside worship, with morning and evening prayer and the reading of Scripture, was fre- quent if not general, and has descended even to very recent times. Doubtless you and I could tell of households in which these devotional exercises were a regular feature, or where they were at least occasional ; and mayhap there are still a few such family sanctuaries, that have not yielded to the rush and superficiality of these more stren- uous days, but maintain the hallowed usage of former generations. As a rule, however, it is probably true, this ancient custom of domestic worship is rapidly dis- appearing in America. Indeed, it is not easy to see how it can survive for the majority of our people, until we learn how to live more simply, leisurely, and wisely. The industrial changes which have come over American society, the growth of cities and city habits, the influx of peo- ple from countries with alien ideals of religious THE BIBLE IN THE HOME 353 life, the rise of a vast educational system, the multitudinous products of the printing press, the increase of social organizations of all sorts, and the amplification of the work of the churches — these and other influences are so invading and assailing our homes as to leave scant opportunity for fireside prayer and the reading of the Bible, and in fact are destroying thousands of homes altogether, their inmates flying to the club, hotel, or boarding-house. Consequently worship has been transferred mainly to the church service, however frequently or infrequently attended; the study of the Bible has been handed over to the Sunday school, which is not equal to the task im- posed upon it; and the Sacred Volume no longer exerts its potent influence directly in American households generally, as it did in the days of our forefathers. I do not forget the very large num- ber of homes into which the Sunday-school chil- dren have carried the Bible, for the first time per- haps, nor those in which the "Home Depart- ment" of the Sunday school has promoted a study of the Bible every week by parents or other adults. Nevertheless, what I have said remains substantially true : the Bible has lost the place of honor and power which it once had in the ma- jority of American households; at least this is my own apprehension of the existing situation. Now what can be done to improve matters? Something, surely ; much, I believe. 354 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE I. We must frankly recognize the change which has taken place, and acknowledge that in a measure it is a wholesome change. By this I mean that the Puritan use of the Bible, while sal- utary at the time, was too serious, intense, over- strained to last. The somber character of the Englishman took naturally to the solemn, sad, stern spirit of the old Hebrew prophets; and when the Bible was given to Englishmen in their native tongue, it so happened that they needed just such a resolute, rectifying, sanctifying in- fluence. This was reinforced by the Calvinistic theology, and also by the severe conflicts and struggles of the period, not less for those who sought these shores than for those who remained to fight in Cromwell's army. But the austere mood could not be permanent, the rigor of Cal- vin's teaching had to relax, and the era of strife was bound to give way to a season of peace and prosperity. The age of the Puritans is gone; new conditions have arisen; new peoples are dwelling here ; thought has broadened and molli- fied; new ideals of social life and religious duty are dawning; and the spirit which pressed the truths of the Bible into the very blood and mar- row of our ancestors is no longer in the world or the Church to do the same for us. A larger, freer, fairer, happier life has come to the teeming multitudes of this land ; and while the stupendous change has brought its incidental losses and en- THE BIBLE IN THE HOME 355 tails its great risks, yet on the whole it has been beneficial, not less for religion than for other abiding interests. Our first duty is to understand this fact. 2. Meanwhile the Bible has become vastly more interesting than it was two or three cen- turies ago. Scholars have brought a great light to shed upon its pages; the history with which it is connected and of which it forms a part has been made luminous, so that it reads like a bril- liant fairy tale; and its spiritual treasures are now seen to be so rich and varied as to have a blessing for every man, every race, every nation that may be willing to receive them. We know more about the Bible than our ancestors did, even if we do not know so much of the Bible ; and we need only to bring the two kinds of knowledge together, in order to enjoy the blessing of inspi- ration along with the blessing of information. Let us not forget to be duly thankful for the enor- mous enrichment of our intellectual life which modern biblical scholarship has rendered possi- ble to each one of us, and which we have to use as an implement for the cultivation of a distinc- tively spiritual interest in the Bible on the part of the ignorant or the indifferent. 3. We have the Bible today in a much more convenient, attractive, and serviceable form than previous generations have possessed. This is really a great gain. The fine print of the small 356 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE Bibles of an earlier day gave them a forbidding appearance, and one wonders how it was possible to read them by candle light ; surely, the fact that they were thus read attests the deep interest which Christian people had in the message of the Scriptures. But now, while small editions of the Bible, with necessarily fine print, still abound, there are so many other editions, in large, clear type, having the subject-matter suitably para- graphed, with page headings, references, and footnotes, that one need not experience any diffi- culty or incur a large expense in procuring a copy of the Sacred Volume which can be read with ease and pleasure. Some of the work of illus- trating, commenting, and explaining is overdone, perhaps, so that the Scripture is not sufficiently allowed to speak for itself ; but such is not always the case. For general uses, the American Re- vision is possibly the best; but Professor Moul- ton's "Modern Reader's Bible" is in every way admirable; while the Oxford editions and the Temple Bible, employing the Authorized Ver- sion, as well as the English Revision, are pre- sented in convenient and attractive style. No ex- cuse on the score of availability remains, there- fore, for the neglect of Bible reading. Every household that really wants a copy of the Holy Scriptures can easily obtain it in these favored times, and can likewise obtain an abundant supply of helpful supplementary material. THE BIBLE IN THE HOME 357 4. With such advantages, the urgent need is to secure the interest and co-operation of parents. Here arises a great practical difficulty, at least in many cases, and in some instances the ob- stacles may be insurmountable. Thousands of parents are too busy with the pitiless struggle for subsistence to find either time or strength, to say nothing of inclination, for Bible reading with their children; other thousands are incompetent, intellectually or morally, to teach their children concerning the Bible or to lead them in reading and studying it; while, of course, others still are hostile to all religious matters. But, for the pres- ent, let us disregard these various classes, along with others that might be mentioned. Yet there will remain great numbers of parents who could find time and strength for such reading and study, and who would be competent to lead their children in the good work. The immediate prob- lem is. How to enlist these. Some of them are church people; others, while non-attendants, are not unfriendly to the churches; and still others, who may never have thought about Christianity at all, could be interested if wisely and kindly approached. How shall they be reached? Evidently here is a field for the Christian churches to cultivate; and one of the very first things to do is to seek, in all delicacy and kind- liness, to impress upon parents a sense of their responsibility for the spiritual welfare of their 358 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE children not less than for the physical. Too often parents imagine that they do their whole duty in this respect by handing their children over to the Sunday school, supposing rather vaguely that the school will lead them into the church and make good Christians out of them. While such does, indeed, turn out, very fre- quently, to be the fortunate result, the plan quite as frequently miscarries. The work of the Sunday school, ordinarily, is woefully inadequate; and in any case it cannot absolve parents from their responsibility for the highest welfare of their offspring. Pastors and teachers need to learn, and are beginning to learn, that the better half of their work for the young consists in deepening and strengthening the spiritual life of the home. This is to be done in two ways: first, by in- creasing, rather than relieving, the sense of pa- rental responsibility; and, second, by carrying into the home the necessary practical help — sym- pathy, counsel, guidance, and copious material. Pastors and teachers must go to parents and say. substantially: "We are sincerely interested in the moral and religious education of your chil- dren; but we do not think it is right for us to seek to take this vital, sacred, delicate work out of your hands : for you are primarily responsible for their spiritual welfare, and no other agency can properly supplant the family relationship. But we want to help you in any and every pos- THE BIBLE IN THE HOME 359 sible way. What can we do for you? Let us send you an abundance of good materials, let us counsel with you, and let us together — family and church — do all we can to bring your chil- dren up to an enlightened, resolute, noble spirit- ual life and character!" Thus, in addition to bringing the children to the Sunday school and the church, there must be carried from this reli- gious center a strong, steady influence to enrich the spiritual life of the family; and no ministry which the churches can perform in these days can be more salutary or promising. Beginning on this basis, in this way, the Bible will come immediately into use as the one best instrument to serve the great end thus contem- plated. Pastors, teachers, parents, and children will all turn at once to the moral and religious treasures contained in this spiritual storehouse. Then will come straightway the need of some plain, simple guide to the right use of the Bible — something, very primary perhaps, to help the parents understand what the Bible really is, why it should be read and studied, how interesting it may become, and just how to begin with it. P'or there can be no doubt that many parents today do not really know what to do with the Bible; they themselves are not familiar with its con- tents; and the rumors of the new views regard- ing it merely perplex them. Therefore they need primary instruction and guidance. It is not best 360 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE to read the Bible through by course, and it cer- tainly is not profitable to try to read it all, es- pecially to the young: how, then, shall one proceed ? Fortunately, at this point, we now have some helpful selections from the abundant and varied materials in the Scriptures. Two works already mentioned are very valuable, viz. : The Bible for Children, published by the Century Company, New York; and Walter L. Sheldon's The Old Testament Bible Stories, issued by W. M. Welch and Company, Chicago, the subject-matter in the latter work being somewhat paraphrased. Let parents take such volumes as these and read to their children, even at six or eight years of age, and then read with them; and later, but still at an early period, read directly from the Bible itself — reading, parents and children together, very freely and very copiously, and simply talk- ing matters over without much preaching or didacticism. Let the Scriptures be read, and let them make their own impression. Such is a bare hint of a natural, wise method of procedure ; and the counsel thus given has grown out of experi- ence in just this method. In a previous chapter of this work Professor Walter F. Adeney's How to Read the Bible has been warmly commended; and justly so. But some day we shall have a "Primary Guide to the Bible," for parents and teachers, which shall be THE BIBLE IN THE HOME 361 even more simple, which shall give specific direc- tions, indicate courses of readings from the Scrip- tures, and bring the great spiritual influence of the Bible into more natural and vital contact with the life of today than the older conceptions and methods permitted.^ Meanwhile, let pastors help their people to new and fresh ways of Bible read- ing, especially in the family circle; and in time there will result a spiritually enriched home life that will prove a baptism of the nation. 5. One further counsel remains to crown all that has been said. It is that the most vital and valuable influence in connection with the Bible in the home is the sincere desire and effort to trans- late its great message into life. The living ex- emplification of the best principles and spirit ex- pressed in the Bible, the humble, honest attempt to shape one's own conduct and character by them, is the only sure way of realizing the bless- ings which the Scriptures can confer, and is the most potent means of commending them to ^ Since the foregoing was written, there has come to hand An Introduction to the Bible for Teachers of Children, by Georgia Louise Chamberlin (University of Chicago Press). The little volume, of 206 pages, admirably fulfils the requirements indi- cated above. It is the outgrowth of the new learning regarding the Bible, and of practical experience in teaching young children. It gives parents and teachers very clearly the right point of view to start with; and then it furnishes a simple, fruitful scheme of lessons, with specific directions and suggestions, which can scarcely fail to prove as delightful as they must be instructive to old and young alike. Taking this Introduction in connection with Professor Adeney's work, any thoughtful parent or teacher may be sure of finding abundant profit in the new kind of study of the Bible which has been earnestly recommended in these pages. 362 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE Others. They themselves tend directly to awaken such a desire, to produce such an effort; yet it is possible to read them very diligently, and fla- grantly to disregard their holy teachings. If this be done by parents, the children will hardly be drawn to love the Bible. But if, on the contrary, parents do evidently and sincerely try to live the noble, righteous, merciful life which the great spirit of the Bible promotes, the young people who grow up in daily contact with such an ex- ample cannot fail to perceive the sources of this high influence. The Bible will grow dear to them as the fountain of life-giving waters, whose re- freshing, cleansing, sustaining power they have seen demonstrated in the lives of their parents, amid the varied experiences of joy and sorrow, struggle and triumph, which come more or less to every household. Nothing can take the place of the living exemplification of the principles and spirit of true morality and religion — no precepts, no rites and ceremonies, no dogmas and institu- tions. The power of the Bible to beget an hon- est effort toward such an exemplification is its greatest power; and the atmosphere which is thus created in a home is the most beautiful, blessed, and far-reaching influence that may serve to shape the development of childhood in a spiritual direction. The next forward step in moral and religious THE BIBLE IN THE HOME 363 education should be — let us trust that it will be — to try to help the home to fulfil its true func- tion in this respect. Perhaps the largest unculti- vated field lying before the churches of America is the field of spiritual home-making. Every church might well maintain a ministry for this particular service, might well employ, at a good salary, an educated woman, with the heart of a consecrated pastor and the training of a high- grade teacher, to go into each and every home on this very errand, offering intelligent aid to the parents in the matter of Bible reading or study, carrying helpful books, giving sympathetic coun- sel, yet respecting (as a true pastor would do) all the delicate privacies of the household, and aiming only to enlighten and enrich the spiritual life of the family. Surely, if such a work could be done in a million homes in America — and why not in ten million ? — the moral problems that now baffle us would be in a fair way of solution within another generation. Is it possible that here lies the grandest opportunity of the Christian churches of our country today? And may not educators and ministers, with intelligent parents generally, well counsel together with reference to adequate measures for meeting this great need? CHAPTER XVI THE BIBLE AND PERSONAL CULTURE The new appreciation of the Bible which has been portrayed in the preceding chapters may fitly culminate in a fresh estimate of this great literature as a means of personal culture. How is it related to life in its broadest and best devel- opment? Is it archaic, anachronistic, out of touch with the real interests of the modern world? Or, on the contrary, has it a message, a spirit, a power of enduring charm and vitality? If soi, how may the individual avail himself of the secret which it waits to yield for the enrich- ment and glorification of his soul ? It all comes to this issue at last. We are personal beings, and the personal factor in the equation is determinative here as elsewhere. What you and I care about the Bible, what we propose to do with it, and what it will do for us if we cherish it and seek its blessing — this is the pivotal question in the whole study which we have been pursuing. Like all other treasures, whether of learning or of wealth, the spiritual riches of the Bible can neither become ours nor be given by us to others until we resolve, each for himself, to lay hold of them and acquire them by rightful conquest. We must pay a price for them in honest effort, study, assimilative appro- 364 THE BIBLE AND PERSONAL CULTURE 365 priation. It is the value of the Bible to you and me that most concerns you and me; and it is what you and I need to do in order to extract that value that ought to command our keenest attention. I shall speak of culture in a comprehensive way, as implying generally what we mean by the enlightenment, refinement, and discipline of the human spirit. Matthew Arnold's definition of culture as "knowing the best that has been thought and said in the world," though a liberal one, seems to me inadequate; while his other re- mark, that "culture is reading, but reading with a purpose to guide it, and with system," ^ appears to give a still narrower conception, although he does well to insist upon the specific idea that "true culture implies not only knowledge, but right tact and justness of judgment, forming themselves by and with knowledge." ^ A better account of cul- ture is contained in the words of Principal J. C. Shairp : When applied to the human being, it means, I sup- pose, the "educing or drawing forth all that is potentially in a man," the training all the energies and capacities of his being to the highest pitch, and directing them to their true ends But culture is not a product of mere study. Learning may be got from books, but not culture. It is a more living process, and requires that the student shall at times close his books, leave his solitary room, and mingle with his fellow-men. He must seek the inter- 1 Literature and Dogma, p. xxvii, * Ibid., p. xxvi. 366 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE course of living hearts as well as of dead books — especi- ally the companionship of those of his own contempo- raries whose minds and characters are fitted to instruct, elevate and sweeten his own. Another thing required is the discipline which must be carried on by each man in himself, the learning of self-control, the forming of habits, the effort to overcome what is evil and to strengthen what is good in his own nature.* I like this view of culture because it presents the two aspects which I conceive that real cul- ture must always exhibit — influence from others, and self-exertion; the essential result of which is character, formed upon the material afforded by nature, and consisting of intelligence, beauty, vir- tue, and strength. Now if this conception is a just one, as I think it is, there ought to be no difficulty in showing how the Bible contributes to personal culture, that is, to the enlightenment, refinement and discipline of the human spirit. I. It contributes to the intellectual element in culture in several important ways. I. It gives the reader who familiarizes him- self with its pages an increase of knowledge and an enlargement of thought. Taking up the Bible simply as literature, and perusing it, not for pur- poses of study or criticism, but for instruction and enjoyment, just as one might read Homer or Shakespeare — naturally, receptively, sympatheti- cally — one cannot fail to acquire, in the course of years, a very considerable amount of valuable • Culture and Religion, pp. 19, 20. THE BIBLE AND PERSONAL CULTURE 367 Information ; not merely that curious information about the land, climate, plants and animals of Palestine which some minds like to gather, but rather a knowledge of the history of nations and of ancient civilizations, of the character of differ- ent peoples, of the dominant ideas and the dis- tinctive achievements of those great races that filled the world with power and glory in the long ago. This, assuredly, is a part of true culture ; it makes one intelligent respecting some of the chief events of the past, and it broadens one's thought of human nature and the vast stage on which the conspicuous figures of antiquity played their var- ious roles. Thus Eg}'-pt, Chaldea, Assyria, Baby- lonia, Media, Persia, Syria, Phoenicia, Mace- donia, Greece, and Rome, along with Israel and Arabia, come before the reader, grow distinct, and present many a chapter of thrilling interest in the early history of mankind. Nor can a thoughtful person stop here. Because the Bible makes him know something of the beginnings of Christianity, he is led on to learn something of its subsequent fortunes; and so he is inevitably brought to acquaint himself, at least in outline, with the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, the rise of European nations, and those stupen- dous struggles of western Christendom which make up the fascinating, impressive story of the last sixteen hundred years. Surely, if the Bible student gets even a glimpse of such a grand pan- 368 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE orama, he obtains a wider view than any other literature can afford; and no one can read under- standingly any other literature that deals with it if he be wholly ignorant of the Bible. The Bible lies at the heart of history, and the life- blood of nations has surged through it. There- fore to know the Bible is to know, or to be led to know, the inmost meaning of history. 2. The Bible also imparts a degree of eleva- tion to the mind which gives dignity to culture, and a degree of insight which interprets knowl- edge and makes culture a joy. The loftiness of the themes with which it is occupied, the state- liness of its language, and the penetration of the views of life and character which it presents con- spire to lift the thought of the reader to a high plane, and to reveal the inner significance of hu- man conduct and national developments. 'T must confess to you," said Rousseau, "that the ma- jesty of the Scriptures astonishes me; the holiness of the Evangelists speaks to my heart and has such striking characters of truth, and is, more- over, so perfectly inimitable, that if it had been the invention of men, the inventors would be greater than the greatest heroes." ^ And Goethe wrote: "When, in my youth, my imagination, ever active, bore me away, now hither, now thither, and when all this blending of history and fable, of mythology and religion, threatened to unsettle my mind, gladly then did I flee to- * Quoted by Farrar in The Bible: Its Meaning and Supremacy. THE BIBLE AND PERSONAL CULTURE 369 ward those eastern countries. I buried myself in the first books of Moses, and there, amidst those wandering tribes. I found myself at once in the grandest of solitudes and in the grandest of societies." ^ Likewise Heinrich Heine exclaimed : "What a book! Vast and wide as the world! rooted in the abysses of creation, and towering up beyond the blue secrets of heaven! Sunrise and sunset, birth and death, promise and fulfil- ment, the whole drama of Humanity are all in this book!"^ Surely, a literature that can so exalt the mind, and so clarify and deepen its in- sight, as to draw forth such judgments from such men is of sufficient grandeur and value to be most highly esteemed merely as a means of intellectual culture. n. Not less important is the contribution of the Bible to the moral side of culture. I. The strongly ethical quality that pervades the Scriptures pours a tide of moral influence over the mind and heart of the reader which awakens, vivifies, and purifies all his moral im- pulses. Because the writers of the Bible were so powerfully possessed by the ethical spirit, their works appeal to the deepest moral instincts in us; their portrayal of character in the various personages of whom they make mention, and their interpretation of the fortunes of their na- tion, are nearly always profoundly ethical; and ' Quoted by Farrar, op. cit. •Ibid. 370 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE we cannot read their words, whether of narra- tive or of prophecy or of poetry, without experi- encing a stir of conscience, a quickening of the sense of right and wrong, which brings us to a clearer moral consciousness than we had before, and makes us feel that righteousness and wicked- ness are great, solemn realities in human life. Consequently everywhere the Bible goes among men it produces, if they be led to read it, a tre- mendous moral impression, — an awakenment, vivification, and purification of the moral sense that is the most rectifying influence which has ever been exerted upon individuals or nations. What Mr. Walter L. Sheldon says of the value of the Bible in this respect, with reference to the moral education of children, is applicable to all childlike races and to mankind in general : The beauty of the Bible tales for little ones is that the moral points are so pronounced. The lessons come out in large letters or heavy type and can be seen almost without comment These tales emphasize on a large scale the awfulness of the vices or of the evil passions. It is the evil of pride, for instance, which is brought out over and over again; or the iniquity of stealing; or the baseness of being untrue to one's home or family. In this way at the very outset, before we have gone into any subtle analysis, we can make the little ones feel the horror of evil conduct, turning their minds with a revulsion against stealing or murder, against jealousy, envy, pride, wilfulness and disobedience. Respect for life and prop- erty, regard for parents, loyalty to the family, submis- sion to the law of the State — these are the virtues which stand out so boldly in the Old Testament' ' /In Ethical Sunday School, pp. 44, 45. THE BIBLE AND PERSONAL CULTURE 37 1 2. But not only does the Bible thus impress and awaken the soul morally, it also moves the will and leads to action. Nature gives every one of us the moral sense, but in many men it is feeble, and in all it is a long time in coming to its rightful supremacy; the will is not easily brought into submission to the august authority of conscience. Now the Bible not only educates the conscience by quickening, developing, and strengthening it; it also educates the will by touching the motives, inspiring self-exertion, guiding action, and training the powers of body and mind to be in subjection to the law of right- eousness engraved upon the tablets of the soul. The Bible has been called a literature of power. It is such because it moves us, sways us, prompts, restrains, urges, checks, guides, and sustains us in our efforts to realize an ideal ex- cellence which it keeps before us. It shows us the way of duty, it reinforces our instinctive apn prehension of its solemn mandate, and it pre- sents the highest considerations which may incite us to noble endeavor after worthy ends. And, surely, there can be no true culture that does not go beyond mere contemplation, and issue in con- duct and character. I cannot regard him as justly entitled to be called a cultivated man in whom one whole side of his nature is barren. Unless the energies of one's being produce, in some degree, the fair fruits of good deeds, the 372 NEW ArPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE noblest of all qualities, virtue, I think enlighten- ment and refinement fall very far short of hav- ing their perfect work. And whoever allows this element its due place in culture will easily agree with Matthew Arnold in putting a high estimate upon the Bible as a means of moral edu- cation. "As well imagine a man," says he, "with a sense for sculpture not cultivating it by the help of the remains of Greek art, and a man with a sense for poetry not cultivating it by the help of Homer and Shakespeare, as a man with a sense for conduct not cultivating it by the help of the Bible." ^ III. Another element in culture to which the Bible renders a potent ministry is the distinc- tively religious. We are in the habit of separat- ing morality and religion, and in a measure this is permissible and perhaps needful. Yet the Bible does not divorce them, but rather unites them ; and the result is that it gives the world an ethical religion or a religious morality, to the enormous advantage of all the interests con- cerned. But, speaking here of religion distinc- tively, emphasizing its God-ward side, I affirm, and probably no one would deny, that the Bible brings us the greatest help in this respect to be found in all literature. I. It stimulates and arouses the religious in- stinct that is native to every human soul. It is so full of the religious spirit — deep, strong, ex- * Quoted by Farrar, op. cit. THE BIBLE AND PERSONAL CULTURE 373 alted — that no man can read its pages for an hour without awakening the religious sentiment from its too constant slumber, and taking new thought for divine things, and feeling that he is a subject in the kingdom of God, whose holy laws it is his business to obey. It quickens and develops, in at least some slight degree, in every soul that receives its great teachings, the beauti- ful qualities of reverence, aspiration, trust, hope, courage, along with humility, conviction of sin, penitence, a yearning for pardon and inner peace, and a gracious resignation to the will of Heaven that means, not a weak surrender or a Stoic fortitude, but a calm patience, a brave confi- dence, and an unshaken strength in the heart. Who can point to any other writings which pro- duce such an effect to so great an extent? The whole world of literature does not contain them; and were this "river of the water of life" with- drawn, our souls would be quickly parched and the religious beauty of our civilization would soon vanish. 2. The Bible also spiritualizes religion. Be- ginning with crude, anthropomorphic ideas of God, in the midst of polytheistic teachings, the stream of this literature flows along with the course of national development, and purifies it- self by dropping its sediment of gross material- ism, until in the New Testament — yes, even quite early in the Old Testament — it presents us with 374 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE a pure monotheism, and inculcates a worship that is mainly of the heart and life. To be sure, rites and ceremonies, temples and sacrifices, laws and ordinances are conspicuous, and at first may seem to be all-important; yet as one reads atten- tively and becomes familiar with the ruling ideas in this great literature, he finds that, beneath and behind all ceremonial requirements, the one thing demanded of the individual and the nation is purity of heart and uprightness of life. Obla- tions are vain without this, even In the Old Tes- tament; and in the New Testament external forms fall into complete subordination, and re- ligion is lifted into a region of wonderful vital- ity, freedom, and inspiring power. Nowhere among all the shrines, cults, and sacred scrip- tures of mankind can we find loftier spiritual conceptions of the Divine Government, or stronger influences making for righteousness and true holiness, or a sweeter spirit of grace and truth, of majesty and love, than we see and feel emanating from this Book of books. It is the most potent instrument we possess for the spiritualization of religion, the spiritualization of civilization, and the ultimate spiritualization of the world. IV. There is still one other element of cul- ture to which I must allude as benefiting by the influence of the Bible. I refer to what I may call self-discipline and social service. The Bible teaches the great, twofold lesson of self-control THE BIBLE AND PERSONAL CULTURE 375 and altruism. It maizes a man ashamed of his sins; brings him to his knees in penitence and prayer; and then lifts him up and starts him out to try to be more worthy of himself by curbing his evil propensities, by compelling his conduct, speech, and thoughts into the way of God's com- mandments, and by showing him the highest ideal of character he has ever seen. Then it drives home into his moral consciousness the duty of consideration for others — the truth that "no man liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself;" that the claims of society upon every man are solemn and divine claims, not to be put aside; that justice, mercy, and peace are obliga- tions as holy as those of worship — that, in short, "all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." By inculcating such ideas and principles the Bible tends to help men to self-government, self- direction, self-attainment, and at the same time helps them to devote themselves to every noble interest or enterprise concerning the betterment of the world. As a result strong characters are produced, and society is continually improved. Men who are free, and yet obedient to the divine behest, spring up; and they, living in the world yet above it, promote every effort to lift the world to a higher plane. Thus education, philanthropy, reform, missions, and all other hu- manitarian works are legitimate fruits of the dis- 37^ NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE cipHnmg, altruistic influence of the Bible upon men's hearts. Assuredly this is culture for the individual and culture for society. No thought has been more frequently or for- cibly expressed in college commencement ser- mons and orations, in recent years, than that of the duty of educated men to engage in social service. They have been urged to devote their talents and learning to the improvement of poli- tics, the better administration of the civil service, municipal reform, the w^ise relief of the poor, and the uplift of the lowly in general. Such an unselfish ministry is but a proper return to so- ciety at large for the advantages which educated young people have received; and the fate of many of the highest interests of our present civ- ilization depends upon the response which the intelligent, disciplined, favored classes in Ameri- can society shall make to this great demand. But how shall such classes find adequate motive for all this? What shall keep culture from be- coming selfish? Enlightenment and refinement alone will not do this; as witness the experience of Greece. It is doubtful, too, whether modern sociology, with all its economic and political im- plications and considerations, will suffice for so exalted an aim as must be cherished by those who would redeem the world from its bondage to evil. At any rate, it is certain that all other inducements and promptings in this direction are THE BIBLE AND PERSONAL CULTURE 377 powerfully reinforced by the noble moral, reli- gious, and humanitarian appeals which the Bible makes to the souls of men. Its supreme teach- ing that God is not only righteous but merciful, and requires both righteousness and mercy of his children, glows upon almost every page; and when it culminates in the two great command- ments given by Jesus, love to God and love to man, as the sum and substance of all true moral- ity and all vital religion, we begin to get a new conception of the social ought, and can under- stand Paul's word : "We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves." ^ Thus the sense of so- cial sympathy and the spirit of kindness, which are rooted in the very nature of the soul, are supplemented and strengthened by the highest ethical and religious injunctions, so that a man feels himself called of God to spend and be spent in the helpful service of his needy fellow-men. Here, therefore, is motive, ample and strong, for the most unselfish, heroic, consecrated labor that any man, however gifted, can perform. Who can measure the value of such high sanctions, reinforcing all other claims, appeals, and con- siderations, prompting talented people to throw themselves into the vast enterprise of a world's true salvation? And how shall we give social effect to all the learning of these days, to all the favors enjoyed by the educated classes, unless » Rom. XV. I. See also Gal. v. 13-iS; vi. i-io; Eph. iv., etc. 378 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE each individual thus blessed shall be moved to give himself somehow in voice and loving minis- try to human need ? If the Bible did nothing else but to inspire to such a ministry, it would be well worth all it has cost the world. And what no- bler element of culture can come to any man than the strength of character, the breadth of view, the depth of feeling, and the richness of spiritual experience which must inevitably result from such energetic, altruistic, and reverent social service as the Holy Scriptures thus lead him to render? V. In conclusion, we must not forget that the culture which the Bible imparts — the enlighten- ment, refinement, and discipline of the human spirit — is, if the hope of immortality be valid, the best preparation we can have for the Great Beyond. One does not need to preach here, in order to enforce this truth; and although the in- terest in the question of a future life may not be so keen today as it has sometimes been, partly because this present world is more comfortable than it used to be, it is nevertheless far from be- ing "a negligible quantity" for thoughtful minds. And the point here insisted upon is simply that, if we are to live hereafter, the culture which the Bible furnishes is truly the culture of eternal life. "We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain that we can carry nothing out" ex- cept ourselves and our most vital, most personal THE BIBLE AND PERSONAL CULTURE 379 acquisitions. "The fruit of the spirit" is the only fruit which we shall bear away from the fields of our earthly experience. The riches of the soul are the only enduring riches. The mo- ment comes, soon or late, when every man begins to think about these. Jesus Christ sought to confer his greatest benefit upon the individual heart by helping it to attain to "eternal life" — the life of the eternal part of human nature. His teaching and ministry in this respect are full of solemn significance to one who tries to appre- ciate the true greatness of life, who desires to realize the blessings of true personal culture. The cultivation of the heart, the enrichment of the soul "toward God," the development of the love of Gk)d, including the love of all goodness, all beauty, all holiness — this is a kind of culture that not only crowns our present existence with glory and honor, but involves (if anything does) "the power of an endless life." So the Bible, by helping us to gain this supreme wealth, this finest, purest spiritual discipline, not only fits us for our best usefulness here, but (so far as we can see) gives us the best preparation we can have for the unknown privileges and possibilities of the great, wonderful spirit world. For it is written, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." CHAPTER XVII THE BIBLE AND THE SPREAD OF WESTERN CIVn^IZATION There are three principal spheres for the in- fluence of the Bible — the individual, the social, and the universal. At least it may promote clear thought tO' distinguish such spheres, al- though of course they overlap one another and are interdependent. The primary and chief serv- ice which the Scriptures render is always a per- sonal one, consisting in the vital, spiritual im- provement of each man, woman, or child who really receives their great message. Their sec- ondary service is rendered to society within the immediate circles where they have been long and b6st known, and consists in helping powerfully to maintain the exalted ideals and the wholesome tendencies of those social institutions which have grown up, in no small degree, under their in- spiration. But beyond all this they have a third ministry to perform to the vast world lying out- side the boundaries of Judaism and Christianity, and it consists essentially in the moral and reli- gious illumination and purification of nearly a thousand million human beings who have not yet been effectually reached by their life-giving teachings. Those people who have most thoroughly ex- 380 THE BIBLE AND CIVILIZATION 381 peri'enced the helpfulness of the Bible to the in- dividual soul, and those communities or nations that have most surely demonstrated its social value, in contributing to the production of the beneficent institutions of modern civilization, must be the most keenly interested in studying the relation which this wonderful Book bears to the extension of this civilization over the face of the earth. For precisely here lies the greatest fact of the present age, namely, that our modern civilization is now spreading throughout the world. Accordingly it will be highly profitable to glance at the developments which have brought about the existing situation, so marvel- ous and so promising; to look somewhat closely at the character of the civilization referred to; and then to consider the peculiar function of the Bible as a factor in universal human progress. I. The dominant note in the public affairs of the world today is internationalism. All coun- tries are open, all races are flowing together, travel and commerce extend everywhere, and in- tercommunication is rapid and constant. The so-called Great Powers have been recently ex- panding, or striving to expand, in every possible way — acquiring control of new regions, increas- ing their military and naval equipment on a gigantic scale, seeking likewise to increase their wealth, and also augmenting their educational 382 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE resources. While this expansion presents one of its most notable instances in the case of Japan, an oriental nation, and another striking example in the case of Russia, which may be said to be half oriental, it has been mainly conspicuous on the part of such western countries as Germany, France, Great Britain, and the United States of America. The result is that we now see India and Egypt occupied and governed by Great Brit- ain; South Africa largely under her control, and the rest of the Dark Continent opening to Eu- ropean colonization; Australia and her neigh- boring islands growing in population, wealth, and power; Japan surprisingly awakened to a new day and a career of marvelous promise; China opened to commerce and new industries, and apparently on the eve of momentous devel- opments; Russia pushing her interests eastward, inviting peasant farmers to her millions of acres of agricultural lands in Siberia, and just at present the scene of critical social struggles ; the American Republic lately thrust into a larger sphere of in- fluence in the Far East as well as nearer home, and undoubtedly destined henceforth to play a more prominent part in the drama of nations; and South America beginning to make her vast resources known, and likely to have increasing trade relations with the Anglo-Saxon peoples on both sides of the Atlantic. How remarkable is all this ! What a new face it puts upon the world. THE BIBLE AND CIVILIZATION 3^3 as compared with a century or even a half-century ago! And how untold are the possiblities which it portends! Many factors have contributed to these won- derful results. Scientific discoveries and me- chanical inventions have been, without doubt, the most effective. The mariner's compass, gun- powder, the printing press, paper, the steam en- gine, and the electric telegraph have been the principal agencies which have enabled the mod- ern man to overrun the earth, and have pro- duced the varied and enormous material expan- sion of the present era. The following signifi- cant facts, cited from a recent magazine article,* afford a glimpse of the vast change which is rap- idly taking place : One may now go from Glasgow to Stanley Falls, in Africa, in forty-three days. Already there are forty-six steamers on the Upper Congo, and the railroad running northward from Cape Town is being pushed so rapidly that the British Association for the Advancement of Science has been invited to meet, in 1905, at Victoria Falls. Within a few years the Englishman's dream will be realized in a railroad from Cairo to the Cape. Already the distance is half covered. Uganda is reached by rail, and sleeping and dining cars safely run the 575 miles from Cairo to Khartum, where, only five years ago Kitch- ener fought the savage hordes of the Mahdi. Japan, which, fifty years ago, did not own even a Jinrikisha, now has 4,237 miles of well managed rail- road, while India is gridironed by 25,373 miles of steel rails, which carry 195,000,000 passengers annually. ' Arthur Judson Brown, "The Opened World," The American Monthly Review of Reviews, October, 1904. 384 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE According to Walter J. Ballard, the aggregate capital invested in railways at the end of 1902 was $36,850, 000,000, and the total mileage was 532,500, distributed as follows : United States 202,471 miles Europe 180,708 " Asia 41.814 " South America 28,654 " North America (except United States) . . 24,032 " Australia 15.649 " Africa 14.187 " Telegraph lines belt the globe, enabling even the pro- vincial journals to print the news of the entire world during the preceding twenty-four hours The total length of all telegraph lines in the world is 4,908,921 miles, the nerves of our modern civilization. The submarine cables aggregate 1,751 in number, and over 200,000 miles in length, and annually transmit more than 6,000,000 messages, annihilating the time and dis- tance which formerly separated nations. Commerce has taken swift and massive advantage of these facilities for intercommunication. Its ships whiten every sea. The products of European and American manufacture are flooding the earth. The United States Treasury Bureau of Statistics estimates that the value of the manufactured articles which enter into the inter- national commerce of the world is $4,000,000,000, and that of this vast total the United States furnished $400,000,000, its foreign trade having increased over 100 per cent, since 1895. And these are only a few illustrations of the changes that are taking place all over the world. "The swift ships of commerce," says Dr. Josiah Strong, "are mighty shuttles which are weaving the nations together into one great web of life." Other influences have been at work toward the same grand end — but it must suffice merely to mention them — such as curiosity and the love of adventure and of knowledge, leading to ex- THE BIBLE AND CIVILIZATION 385 ploration and travel; philanthropy, bringing about international assemblages; scholarship, es- tablishing worldwide intellectual communions; literature; international politics and law; and, last but surely not least, religious devotion and enterprise, creating extensive inter-racial mis- sionary operations. Thus the world which lies open at the begin- ning of the twentieth century is practically the entire world, and the mighty currents of our western civilization are destined henceforth to lave the shores of all lands. No movement in the whole history of mankind was ever fraught with such stupendous possibilities. II. At this point we may properly examine the character of our western civilization, now brought to so unparalleled a juncture. A com- plete account of it cannot be given in a few pages, but its most essential traits may be indicated at least. I. Of course it is the youngest civilization, being " — heir of all the ages, in the foremost files of time." The modern nations of western Europe, mainly of Teutonic stock, together with the mixed populations of America, are still youthful as compared with the races of the Ori- ent. Fifteen centuries at most comprise th^ period of their growing prominence and power, their developing institutions, their unfolding ideas and ideals. Indeed, one-third of this 386 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE stretch of time may be said to cover all the not- able, and therefore truly characteristic, products or manifestations of our strictly modern civiliza- tion. Back of the age of the Renaissance it is the ancient order, the mind of antiquity, that still reigns. It is only since the Renaissance that western civilization may be properly said to have realized itself and to have come to anything like maturity and legitimate fruitfulness. This gen- eral fact shows how recent in the world's history are the social and political institutions, the litera- ture and art, the learning and educational enter- prise, the science and industry which belong peculiarly to the Occident and which mark so strikingly the present age. Yet, though seen thus to be young, our west- ern civilization, in the sense here spoken of, is itself the product, in large degree, of influences vastly older. That is to say, it enjoys a rich her- itage from a long past. The languages and his- tories, the mythologies and religions, the philos- ophies and laws, the arts and customs of Rome and Greece, even of Egypt and Babylon, and most certainly of Israel, have contributed won- derfully, both in letter and in spirit, to the mold- ing of this latest-born type of social life. Upon a fresh stock of race-material these ancient grafts have been made, with the happy result that the fruits thus produced are a blending of the good qualities, with less of the bad also, of THE BIBLE AND CIVILIZATION 387 lioth antiquity and modernity. It is impossible to separate, or always to distinguish, these var- ious commingling streams of influence flowing from out the past into the present ; but it is cause for profound gratitude and high hope that they are real and mighty forces in the life of our time, so making our western civilization cumulative in spiritual wealth and power. 2. Because this civilization is young and has been so enriched by older civilizations, it is full of fresh energy. It is not stagnant, it presents no signs of senility, it is rather surprisingly alert, enterprising, and progressive. It displays activ- ity everywhere, with increasing intensity — so much so, indeed, that this aspect is often the first to strike, and not altogether favorably, an intel- ligent visitor from the Orient in the western countries. Said an educated Japanese to a New England college president lately : "Can we have all these material equipments and conveniences — your railroads, telegraphs, telephones, and buildings — without your American hurry?" Undesirable as the "hurry" is, which must even- tually slow down, we must recognize the fact that it springs out of certain racial endowments, doubtless stimulated, if not generated, by cli- matic conditions, which have given strength and achievement to the peoples that most truly represent this civilization. The native Teutonic habit of mind, underlying the 388 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE English, American, and German character, represents of necessity, certain qualities — tenacity of purpose, deter- mination in the presence of oppostion, love for action, and hunger for power, all tending to express themselves through the State — which were the necessary equipment of that military type which has won in the supreme stress of Natural Selection its right of place as the only type able to hold the stage of the world in the long epoch during which the present is destined to pass under the control of the future.* The energy yielded by these natural traits — "tenacity of purpose, determination in the pres- ence of opposition, love for action, and hunger for power" — which formerly exercised itself in military directions chiefly, and later in political, is now flowing mainly in other channels, — indus- trial, commercial, educational, scientific. The result is a rapid and enormous increase of popu- lation and wealth. Mr. Benjamin Kidd, in the work just cited, says: During a brief period of some two hundred years, our western world has been transformed. The increase in natural resources, in wealth, in population, and in the distance which has been placed between our modern civ- ilization and any past condition of the race, has been enor- mous. During the last half of this period, that is to say, during the nineteenth century alone, while the population of the rest of the world remained nearly stationary, the actual numbers of the European peoples rose from 170,000,000 to 500,000,000 These figures are to be taken only as an index to the stupendous changes which have taken place, and which are still in progress, beneath the surface of life and thought throughout the entire fabric of our civilization. It matters not in what direction we look, the character of the revolution which has been effected is the ■ Benjamin Elidd, Western Civilisation, p. 372. THE BIBLE AND CIVILIZATION 389 same. In inventions, in commerce, in the arts of civilized life, in most of the theoretical and applied sciences, and in nearly every department of investigation and research, the progress of western knowledge and equipment during the period in question has been striking beyond compari- son. In many directions it has been so great that it undoubtedly exceeds in this brief period the sum of all the previous advance made by the race." 3. The fresh, abundant energy of our west- ern civih'zation, thus expressing itself in mani- fold forms of expansion and production, is sup- plemented by another characteristic element of great value, namely, liberality. It is inherently democratic, fraternal, co-operative. To be sure, this trait or tendency has not been fully wrought out as yet; and crudeness, selfishness, even vio- lence and oppression, contradicting the claim of liberality, may be all too frequently pointed out. Nevertheless at heart the whole western move- ment is essentially democratic ; it is a fruit of the rising spirit of liberty in ever-widening circles of society ; and that spirit both compels and concedes, in the last analysis, mutual tolerance and respect. It inspires the individual to fight, if need be, for his own rights; but it makes him learn by the very exigency of the contest that others also have rights. And while it is sadly true that some of the peoples who have had most to do in ex- tending western civilization into remote and alien regions — as in India and Africa, for instance — have exercised their power sometimes with a » Western Civiiization, pp. 346, 347. 390 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE ruthless disregard of the interests of weaker races, so that the march of this civilization has often been a bloody conquest, yet instinctively and on the whole the advance has meant and brought good rather than evil. Despite a host of facts which seem to give the lie to the assertion, the dominant ideal among English-speaking people is that which embraces the great princi- ples of liberty, brotherhood, equality, co-opera- tion. The ideal is far, very far, from perfect realization, save perhaps within few and limited circles; but it lives in the souls of men, it floats before the whole western world, and such progress as is actually accomplished is in the direction of its further realization. It is because of the potency of this ideal, the vital strength of the democratic impulse, grad- ually making itself felt throughout our western civilization, that there has been so remarkable a liberalizing process in the progress of the nine- teenth century. Here again Mr. Kidd's words may be fitly quoted : This vast advance has been accompanied by condi- tions of the rapid disintegration of all absolutisms within which the human spirit had hitherto been confined It has been the age of the unfettering of discussion and of competition; of the enfranchisement of the indi- vidual, of classes, of parties, of opinions, of commerce, of industry, and of thought. Into the resulting conditions of the social order all the forces, powers, and equipments of human nature have been unloosed. It has been the age of the development throughout our civilization of the con- THE BIBLE AND CIVILIZATION 391 ditions of such rivalry and strenuousness, of such con- flict and stress, as has never prevailed in the world be- fore It is not into the end but into the beginning of an era that we have been born We are living in the midst of a system of things by the side of which no other system will in the end survive as a rival in the world.* Here, then, we see the three distingtiishing characteristics of western civilization, especially as exhibited by the English-speaking peoples, to wit: first, its youthfulness, implying a rich her- itage from the long past ; second, its fresh, abund- ant energy, leading to manifold forms of ex- pansion and production; and, third, its liberal, democratic, fraternal spirit, conducing to a growing freedom for the individual, a growing equality of conditions and opportunities, an in- creasing sense of human brotherhood, and the beginning of a worldwide co-operation for se- curity, peace, and universal improvement. Al- though the last-mentioned quality may seem somewhat imaginary to many readers, and al- though it is freely conceded to be largely ideal as yet, nevertheless it is a very vital and potent ideal, which will be slowly but grandly realized as our civilization advances toward its legitimate goal. And in considering so stupendous a move- ment as the development and trend of this mighty civilization, with particular reference to its very highest traits, we shall do well to * Western Civilixation, pp. 347-49- 392 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE ponder the words of Professor Franklin H. Giddings : Every nation that has played an important part in the elevation of mankind from barbarism to enlightenment, from despotism to civil liberty, from ruthless cruelty to compassion and fraternity, has begun its career with a magnificent display of power, has continued it in the lust of wealth, has learned the lessons of restraint and sacri- fice, and at length has come to some appreciation of the infinite capacities, the immeasurable potential value of the human soul. It has begun with conquest; but it has crowned its career with mercy and beneficence." Duly Studying the history and drift of west- ern civilization in the light of this remark, and granting vast imperfections and short-comings as yet in the working-out of its inherent tenden- cies, we can scarcely hesitate to agree with Pro- fessor Giddings in his further assertion, that a prominent characteristic of the highest ideal in its modem form is its content of ardent and generous feeling. It desires the widest opportunity and the highest attainment, not merely for the few, but equally for all classes and all races. It is vital with philanthropic interest and mis- sionary earnestness. It is thoroughly democratic, and in- cludes an unbounded faith in the future of the people.* III. Now we are prepared to consider the re- lation of the Bible to these most significant facts. We have seen that our western civilization is going out through all the earth, and its words to the end of the world ; and that its three dominant * In Democracy and Empira (Macmillan Co., 1900), p. 315. • Ibid., p. 335. See whole chapter. THE BIBLE AND CIVILIZATION 393 characteristics are its youthfulness, its vigor, and its liberality. Under the figure of a gracious queen, it may be said that her feet are wet with the dew of the morning, that her countenance is radiant with the sunsh'ine of a new day, and that her soul is aflame with the essential spirit of the kingdom of heaven. How is the Bible concerned in her mission among the nations? Broadly speaking, the answer to this question will be found to lie in the influence of the Bible upon the ideals of mankind, just touched upon in the foregoing paragraphs. And here let one more word be quoted from Professor Giddings: The creation of ideals is one of the highest activities of the human mind. Into his ideals enters man's estimate of the past and his forecast of the future; his scientific analysis, and his poetic feeling; his soberest judgment, and his religious aspiration. Yet in the growth of the most spiritual ideal, as in that of the humblest material organism, we have a perfect illustration of the laws of evolution. The ideal, no less than any phenomenon of physical life, is a product of ceaseless transformations of energy, of continual re-groupings of things, of an end- less struggle for existence This continuity of its evolution is the spiritual thread of history; it is the suc- cession and combination of historic themes Egypt and Babylonia created the national ideals of power and splendor; Iran and Judea of ceremonial righteousness; Greece created the ideal of citizenship; Rome the ideal of justice. England has created the ideal of civil liberty; France the ideal of social equality. America is slowly but surely creating the ideal of a broad and perfect equity, in which liberty and equality shall for all time be recon- ciled and combined.'' ^ Democracy and Empire, pp. 339, 340. 394 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE Now we may clearly perceive the specific bearings of the great truth which this chapter is elucidating. 1. The Bible has been, unquestionably, a powerful instrument in the formation of the best ideals of our western civilization. It was a large factor in furnishing the ideas and in shaping the policy of the rising Roman Catholic Church in the early Middle Ages; it was the chief fountain of inspiration for the Reformers; and its influ- ence has entered most vitally, profoundly, and pervasively into the thought, faith, conduct, and social organization of all Protestant Christen- dom. Its stamp can be traced, not only upon re- ligious forms, dogmas, and institutions, but also upon art, philosophy, education, literature, law, politics, and domestic customs. It has reached the heart of our civilization as nothing else has done, voicing its aspiration, molding its hopes and fears, and guiding its humanitarian and spir- itual impulses; until we may justly claim that our very highest and purest conceptions of what life ought to be, for the individual and for so- ciety, for the nation and for the world, even for the present and for the future, are begotten of this ancient, mighty, and holy literature. 2. No sane man, acquainted with the best things in our western civilization, can doubt that the Bible will continue to be one of the greatest agencies available for maintaining our THE BIBLE AND CIVILIZATION 395 noblest ideals. Having been so potent in their formation, it will be further potent in their per- petuation, albeit in modified ways. Some of the dark, false, baneful conceptions and influences which have accompanied these ideals in the past, drawn from or buttressed by the Bible, because men have misunderstood and misapplied its con- tents, will fall away; but the clarified stream of its moral and religious power will still flow forth into the teeming life of the modern age, quickening every good impulse of the human heart and prompting to every good work. The task of adequately maintaining thus all that is true and valuable in our spiritual life, appreciat- ing our great heritage, our precious privileges, and our solemn responsibilities, so that the peo- ples of the western world may not retrograde, but may fulfil their sublime mission among the nations — this task is most serious and important. In the words of President Roosevelt: In the last analysis the work of statesmen and sol- diers, the work of the public man, shall go for nothing if it is not based on the spirit of Qiristianity working in the millions of homes throughout this country; so that there may be that social, that spiritual, that moral founda- tion without which no country can ever rise to permanent greatness. For material well-being, material prosperity, success in arts, in letters, great industrial triumphs, all of them, and all of the structure raised thereon will be as evanescent as a dream if it does not rest on the righteous- ness that exalteth a nation.* * Address in Lutheran Church, Washington, D. C, January 29, 1905. 39^ NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE Here is clearly indicated, not only one of the great functions of the Christian Church, but like- wise one of the great services of the Bible. For the inculcation of righteousness and the Chris- tian spirit, the Bible will continue to be, as it has been, the chief instrument wielded by the church. In the reverent, ethical, loving influence which it exerts; in the lofty conceptions which it incul- cates; in the strength which it imparts; and in the insight which it gives, we shall be enabled, if we use it intelligently and lay to heart its true lessons, to maintain the highest ideals and the most worthy tendencies of our western civiliza- tion in the countries where it has developed. 3. As this civilization spreads abroad, in and through the people who go into distant lands for whatsoever purpose, having dealings with other nations, it must inevitably bear, in one way or another, the influence of the Bible; while more and more, as Christian missions extend, the Book itself will be used, circulated, and studied among the numerous races and kindreds of the earth. In this vast, outlying field it will help to form the new ideals which will slowly grow up in the changing life of such alien divisions of the human family. Not wholly will they accept it, perhaps; certainly they will put their own inter- pretations upon it, and not ours; and undoubt- edly its messages to them will be all the more helpful when blended with, and somewhat mod- THE BIBLE AND CIVILIZATION 397 ified by, the truth and beauty which have in- hered in their forms of thought and faith. Nev- ertheless it will serve to give them new and in- spiring conceptions — of the fatherhood of God, of the brotherhood of man, of immortality; it will quicken the sense of sin and holiness; it will instil the love of righteousness and peace; it will emancipate and elevate woman; it will purify, dignify and sanctify the home; it will make for liberty, equality, fraternity, and lead eventually — far off — to the abolition of slavery and war. At least it will hold up the ideals of such sublime attainments before the various peo- ples of the earth ; and so, by degrees, it will teach them to live and labor for the establishment of the kingdom of heaven, the universal reign of righteousness and love, among the children of men. Thus it will tend to vitalize and spiritual- ize the older civilizations, to overcome barbarism and savagery, and to lift human life everywhere into the sunshine of divine love. In order that the Bible, going forth with our western civilization, and in a measure represent- ing it, may the more speedily render this exalted service and win its legitimate place of power, it must be commended and not belied by the con- duct of the people who have been reared under its influence. In the commingling of races and international interests which is to be the most distinguishing phenomenon of the immediate 398 NEW APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE future, intimately concerning the welfare of all peoples, great and small, it is of the very highest importance that the exponents of our western civilization, known as Christians and educated in the Bible, should he true to their ideals. Nothing can more efficiently help them to do this than the Bible itself, while nothing can more justly enable our civilization to win its true supremacy among the nations. Yet, in spite of all delinquencies in this respect, "the word of God standeth sure." The truth in the Bible, because it is truth, may be trusted to win its way; likewise the truth about the Bible. Evil is still powerful in our civilization and cen- tury, as it has always been; human nature is im- perfect, and error darkens much of our thought and teaching. Nevertheless the exalted spiritual ideals of the Bible still make, and will continue to make, a mighty appeal to the human soul, and constitute the surest leverage we possess for lifting ourselves and the world to a higher plane. So we may expect them, approving themselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God, to teach mankind, by degrees, through the ages, the wickedness and foolishness of wrong-doing, the futility of error, the wasteful- ness of strife; and, on the other hand, the value of the riches of righteousness, the beauty of holiness, the splendor of truth, the glory of spir- itual freedom, the blessedness of peace and THE BIBLE AND CIVILIZATION 399 brotherhood, and the everlasting worth of the human soul made in the Divine image and endued with "the power of an endless life." As we thus contemplate the vast field await- ing the Bible, the beneficent service which it is capable of rendering, and the facilities now af- forded for its rapidly increasing circulation, we are thrilled by the vision of its marvelous oppor- tunities for spiritual usefulness; and as we re- flect that at length it is being emancipated from the thraldom of erroneous conceptions of its nature and meaning, and from the constric- tion of false systems of dogma which have often surrounded it, we may rejoice with exceeding great joy to believe that this ancient Sacred Literature, far from having finished its work, is but just entering upon its largest and most glorious mission among the nations. Word of life, most pure and strong, Lo! for thee the nations long; Spread, till from its dreary night All the world awakes to light. lyord of all men, let there be Joy and strength to work for thee; Let the nations far and near See thy light, and learn thy fear. INDEX INDEX Abbot, Ezra, on Fourth Gos- pel, 144. Addis, W. E., Documents of the Hexateuch, 109, iii, 291. Adeney, W. F. : editor of Nezv-Century Bible, 46 ; au- thor of Hoiv to Read the Bible, 286 ; Introduction by Bennett and, 113. Adler, Dr. Felix, on Bible and moral education, 333. Alexandria, Greek-speaking Jews in, 21. American Standard Revision, 44, 45- Amos, Book of, 99. Apocalypse, the, 125. Apocrypha: the Old Testa- ment, 97 ; the New Testa- ment, 1 24. Appreciation of the Bible : The New, 227 f. ; the Old, 232 ; as history, 240 ; as literature, 235 ; as a reve- lation of life, 243. Approximate dates : of New Testament books, table of, by Bacon, 155 ; of Old Testament books and events, 118, 119. Arabia, mention of, 367. Armaic language, 82, 83. Asia Minor, scene of Paul's work, 132-34. Assyria, mention of, 367. Assyrian overthrow of Sa- maria, 101. Astruc, Jean, discoverer of twofold narrative in Gen- esis, 108. Augustine, mention of, 158. Authority : defined, 204, 205 ; nature of, possessed by Bible and Christ, 213 f. ; of the Bible, chapter on, 202 f. ; objective, 206 f. ; of the Roman Catholic church, 51; subjective, 208 f. ; tra- ditional view of, 51. Authorized Version, 29, 33, 37, 38; 294. Babylon, captivity in, 101. Babylonia, loi. Bacon, Professor B. W. : au- thor of Genesis of Genesis, 108 ; on anonymity of New Testament books, 127; on dates of New Testament books, table from his In- troduction, 155 ; on the Fourth Gospel, 146; on Bible education, 340. Bascom, Dr. John, on in- spiration, 162. Batten, Professor L. W., re- ferred to, 109. Bennett and Adeney, au- thors of Introduction, 113. Beza and Calvin in Geneva, 32- Bible, the: among nations, 3gS ; attitude of Catholics toward, 34 ; authority of, 202 f. ; Bishop's, the 32 ; Cambridge Companion to, 33, 42 ; cardinal excellences of, 269 f. ; discrepancies in, 165 ; divine revelation in, 180 f. ; Genevan, the, 32; the Great, 31 ; historical in- formation regarding, need- 403 404 INDEX ed in reading, 287, 288 ; how to read, in modern aspects, 284 f ; increased knowledge of, leads to re- ligious quickening, 267, 268 ; individual brought to self-realization by, 272 f. ; influence of, not due to any particular theory about it, 266, 267 ; infallibility of, 53, 54 ; in the home, 348 f. ; interpretative read- ings of, 297, 298 ; Intro- duction to, for Teachers of Children, 361 ; in public school, 324 ; in relation to personal culture, 364 f. ; in relation to social service, 374-77 ; more interesting than formerly, 355 ; power of, in shaping ideals, 394 ; large and honorable place of, 3 ; Messages of, 45 ; Modern Reader's 45, 297 ; plenary inspiration of, 53, 54 ; progress of ideas in, 64 ; service of, to our own time, 265 f. ; Rheims and Douai, 32; teaching of, on immortality, 378, 379 ; Temp!e, The, 46 ; and spread of western civiliza- tion, 380 f. Book of Common Prayer, psalms in, 31. Books, ancient mode of composing, 104, 105. Briggs, Professor C. A., 49, 83, 86, 89, no. III, 145. Brinton, Daniel G., reference, 170. Browning, Robert, quoted, J 86. Budde, Professor Karl, 112; Old Testament dates given by, 117, 118. Burns, Robert, quoted, 233, 234. Burton and Mathews, quoted, 183. Caedmon, 27. Calvin : and Beza at Geneva, 32 ; on a biblical quotation, 164. Cambridge : Companion to Bible, 33, 34 ; Erasmus as lecturer at University of, 28. Canaan, date of invasion of, 100. Canon, 19, 98 ; New Testa- ment, 20 ; E. C. Moore on, 20 ; Old Testament, com pleted, 121. Captivity : of Jews in Baby- lon, 1 01 ; "epistles of," 136. Chaldeans, mention of, 103. Character, demand for, in education, 334. Christ, his power over the human soul, 211. Christianity, distinct types of, in New Testament, 148 f. Chronicles, Books of, 114. Chronology : of New Testa- ment, 130, 155 ; of Old Testament, 117, 118. Civilization, western, char- acter of, 385. Climate, effect of, on manu- scripts, 74. Codex : Sinaiticus, 24, 40 ; Vaticanus, 24, 41. Coleridge, S. T., quoted, 167. Cone, Dr. Orello, quoted, iSS- INDEX 405 Constantine the Great, 1 9 ; ordered copies of Bible, 22. Cornill, Professor C. H., au- thor, 100. Council of Trent, decree of, respecting reading of Bible, 36. Coverdale, Miles, translator, 30. Cranraer, 31 ; "Cranmer's Bible," 31. Criticism : development of, 87 ; higher, 72, 85, 86 ; lower, 72 ; meaning of, 70-72. Cromwell, Thomas, 30. Crusades, mentioned, 28. Culture : definition of, 365 ; Bible and, 364 f. Cyprus, Paul and Barnabas visit, 132. Cyrus, 90, 101. Damascus, Saul (Paul) in, 129. Damasus, Pope, sanctioned Jerome's work, 23. Daniel, Book of, 105. Deuteronomy, 105, 106, 109, 110 ; date of, iii. Discrepancies in Bible, 165. Discrimination, need of in using Bible in Sunday school, 314. Divineness, traces of, in universe, 185. Divine revelation in Bible, 53 ; chapter on, 180 f. Divine Spirit, direct action of, upon human spirit, 195- Domestic worship : appar- ently declining, 352 ; dif- ficulty of maintaining, 357. Driver, Professor, 104 ; on date of Deuteronomy, iii; on date of Chronicles-Ne- hemiah, 114. Drummond, Henry, quoted, 327. Drummond, Principal James : reference, 144 ; quoted on Fourth Gospel, 146. Ecclesiastes, 99. Egypt, antiquity of, 247. Egyptians, their knowledge of writing, 103. Eichorn, 108, Elohist document in Hexa- teuch, 109. Elohim, name for Deity, 108. Erasmus : at Cambridge, 28 ; his Greek Testament pub- lished, 28 note. Excellences of the Bible, 269 f. Europe, races making, 249. Exodus from Egypt, date of, 100. Expansion, factors producing, 383. Expansion of great powers, recent, 381, 382. Farrar, Archdeacon, quoted on inspiration, 160 f. Fisher, Professor G. P., ref- erence, 50. Fowler, Professor H. T., quoted, 342. Fourth Gospel, 92, 123, 139, 148 f. Froude, James Anthony, on Erasmus, 28. Genesis, distinct accounts of creation in Book of, 108. 4o6 INDEX Genesis of Genesis, by B. W. Bacon, reference, io8. Genesis of Social Conscience, by H. S. Nash, 258; quoted, 327. 328. Gesta Christi, by C. L. Brace, 254 ; quoted, 255. Giddings, Professor F. H., quoted, 392, 393- Gilbert, Professor G. H., reference, i55- Gospels: dates of, 142, i5S J composite nature of, 138 1. Greece, mention of, 102. Hagiographa, 121. Hamburg, 30- Harnack, Professor Adolf, 50. Hebrew language, 82. Hebrew race, spiritual prog- ress of, 198. Hebrews, type of Christian- ity in Epistle to the, 150 t. Henson, Canon Henley, quoted, 280. Hermann, Professor Wil- helm, quoted, 219, 220. Hexateuch, 107, 109, "o. iii; analysis of, not per- fect, 116. History, deeper always spir- itual, 264. Home: the Bible in, chapter on 348 f. ; educational function of, 350 ; field for cultivation by churches, 357, 358, 363; importance of, from sociological point of view, 349- Hosea, Book of, mentioned, 99. Ilgen, early critic, 108. Individual, brought to him- self by Bible, 272 f. IngersoU, Robert G., 67. Inspiration of the Bible: chapter on, 156 f-; effects of true view of, 175^-; position of Lutheran church in relation to, 158; views of Christian Fathers on, 157; views of Luther on, 158. Internationalism a dominant note at present, 381. Interpreters, beware of seem- ingly infallible, 296. Introduction, need of, to study of Bible, 69, 286. Introduction to Bible, by Ben- nett and Adeney, ii3- Introduction to Bible for Teachers of Children, by Georgia Louise Ghamber- lin, 361. Isaiah, Book of, 88, 90 ; 99- Israel, kingdom of, loi. Israelites, history of, 100. Jackson, A. W., reference and quotation, 196. Jamnia, Old Testament Can- on completed at, ii3- Jehovah (Yahweh), term in Genesis for Deity, 108. Jehovistic document in Hexa- teuch, 109. Jerome, 61, 88, 158. Josephus, 129. Joshua, Book of, 107. Judah, kingdom of, loi. Judges, Book of, ii3- JuHcher, references, 74» 75. 76, 124. Justiu MaJtyTC- ^44. INDEX 407 Kent, Professor C. F., 99, 109, in, 291, 295. Kent and Sanders, authors, 99. 295. Kenyon, Frederick G., on manuscripts, 22, 26, 38, 74, 76, 77- Kidd, Benjamin, quoted, 388, 389, 390, 391. King, President H. C, quot- ed, 199. Kings, Books of, 114. Ladd, Professor G. T., quot- ed, 86, 143. Logia by Matthew, 141. Logos doctrine, in Ephesus, 144 ; see Fourth Gospel. Lowell, J. R., quoted, 189. Luther, 28, 29 ; on inspira- tion, 1 58. Mabie, H. W., quoted, 237. Manuscripts, 23j 40 > number known, 79. Martineau, Dr. James, 145, 188, 197. Masoretes, 58, 84. Material nature, what it reveals, 190. McFadyen, Professor John E. : reference, in; quoted at length on dates of Old Testament events and books, 118, 119. Messianic hope, 102, Micah, Book of, 99. Moabite Stone, 83. Monks, as transcribers, 25. Moody, D. L., 48, 49. Moore, Professor E. C., 20, SO. Moore, Professor G. F., 108. Moral culture, Bible means of, 333. Moses, 100, 103, 106, 112. Moulton, Professor R. G., quoted, 238, 239. Munger, Dr. T. T., 237. Nash, Professor H. S., 69, 70, 72, 86, 87, 89 ; quoted at length, 258. Nestle, Professor E., 80 note. New Testament : chapter on New View of, 120 f.; period covered by, 123. Nicene Creed, date of the adoption of, 19. Old Testament : chapter on New View of, 95 f. ; as literature, 96 ; dates com- prising, 118, 119 ; the voice of a people, 117. Opened World, The, article on, quoted, 383, 384. Origen, 65, 88, 158. Papyrus: material, 21; rolls, 23 ; perishable, 74 ; super- seded, 74. Parchment, 22, 26. Parker, Theodore, quoted, 156. Paul, dates of epistles of, 131. US- Paul's life, chronology of, 129, 130. Paul's missionary journeys, 129. Pentateuch, the, 99, 105, io6, 107, 108. Persia, mention of, 102. Philo, 120. Priestly Code in Hexateuch, 109. 4o8 INDEX Priestly period of Jewish history, 102. Printing: invention of, 28; effect of, on text, 52. Private judgment, 217-21. Proof-texts, old-fashioned use of, not valid, 65. Protestant Reformation, 2T, SI. Proverbs, the, 99, 115. Psalms, the, 99, 115. Public school : chapter on Bible in, 324 f. ; criticism of, as "godless," unjust, 326, 345 ; legal situation respecting Bible in, 330, 331 ; proper function of, in popular education, 346 ; possible advance regarding Bible in, 335, 336. Puritan spirit and domestic worship, 352. Quotations from New Testa- ment in early Christian writings, 79. Race endowment, in relation to revelation, 193, 194. Reuss, Professor E. W. E. : reference, 25 ; quoted, 29. Revelation : chapter on The Divine, in the Bible, 180 f. ; limited by man's capacity, 187. Revised Version, 42, 43. Reynolds, Dr., and English versions, 32. Samaria, fall of, loi. Samaritan Pentateuch, 83. Samuel, Books of, 113. Sanday, Dr. William : on Fourth Gospel, 146 ; on in- spiration, ifea. Saul of Tarsus, 128. Separation of Church and State, 327 f. Shairp, Principal J. C, quoted on culture, 365, 366. Smith, Professor George Adam, 108. Smith, Professor W. Robert- son, 86, 104, 105. Septuagint, the, 85, 105. Sheldon, Walter L., 296, 333 ; quoted, 370. Significant events since Bible was written, 300. Spiritua^l life, exalted type of, revealed in Bible, 244. Spiritual Outlook, The, by Selleck, reference, 251. Spiritual progress : actual, 250 f. ; chapter on The Bible and, 247 f. Spiritualization of religion promoted by Bible, 260 f. Strong, Dr. Josiah, quoted, 384. Sunday school : chapter on Bible in, 310 f.; child chief object in, 307 ; end sought in, 302 ; inadequacy of, 304 ; principles for true use of Bible in, 307 f. Syria, mention of, 102. Syriac Version, 85. Talmud, 82, 84. Tatian, 144. Taverner, Richard, 31. Teacher, function of, in Sun- day school, 321. Temple Bible, The, 46, 127. Text : causes of corruptions in, 83 ; correction of errors INDEX 409 in, 85 ; errors in, of New Testament not sulTicient seriously to affect main teachings, 81, 82; im- provements in, of New Testament, 81. Teutonic : habit of mind, 387, 388; tribes, 103. Textual criticism, 79, 80, 81. Tholuck, Dr. F. A. D., on in- spiration, 159, 160, 163, 218. Thurber, Dr. Charles H., on laws regarding Bible in public school, 330, 331. Tischendorf, his discovery of manuscripts, 40, 41. Tolstoy, Count: quoted, 281; his indictment not valid against true view of Bible, 281. To rah, the, no. Toy, Professor C. H., 100, 114. Translations of Bible into European dialects, 25, 26 ; profitable to read various, 244. Twentieth-Century New Tes- tament, The 45. Tyndale, William, martyr, his great labors to produce Englich version, 29, 30, 35. Van Dyke, Henry, quoted on Christ's teaching, 200. Variations, causes of, in text, 73-77- Veneration for Bible a source of doctrine of infallibility, 56, 59- Votaw, Professor Clyde W., on Sermon on the Mount, 140 note. Vulgate, the, 23, 85. Wendt, alluded to on Fourth Gospel, 145. Westcott, reference on New Testament chronology, 124. Wisdom literature, 115. Worms, Luther at, 30. Writing, art of, 102, 103, Writing of books, ancient mode of, 75, 76. Wyckliffe, early English translation, 27. Ximenes, Cardinal, 52. Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation, 7. Young Women's Christian Association, 7. Date Due ! DEC ? 1962 ntTf* A IQftO DEC ISIOZ 'Mi 1 inoi FFR '^ i9o3 i 197(1 '^ r L u '- JUN 2l j^/(J,3 'JUN 8 19/1 N* 4^- 'j'?.'] f) ■ 6^ ^'^1 UC SOUTHERN REGIOrjAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 000 947 499 BS^ll Sk The new appreciation of the 3ible,