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DIVINITY SCHOOL
TROWBRIDGE LIBRARY

GIFT OF
Istate of
Tim Her. OrrlUe A; Pett7

OUR BIBLE

OTHER BOOKS hy PROFESSOR
WILLETT

Life and Teachings of Jesus
The Prophets of Israel
The Ruling Quality
Basic Truths of the Christian
Faith
The Teachings of the Books
(in collaboration with James M.
Campbell, D.D.)
Studies in the First Book of
Samuel
The Call of the Christ
The Moral Leaders of Israel

OUR BIBLE
ITS ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND VALUE

By
HERBERT L. WILLETT, Ph.D.
The University of Chicago

Within this sacred volume lies
The mystery of mysteries;
Happiest they of httman race
To whom the Lord has granted grace
To read, to fear, to hope, to pray.
To lift the latch and force the way;
And better had they ne'er been born
¦Who read to slight, or read to scorn.
SIS WALTER SCQ-TT

CHICAGO
THE CHRISTIAN CENTURY PRESS
1917

Copyright, iQiy
The Disciples Publication Society

Dedicated to
THREE
H., R., AND P.
Sons, Pupils, Comrades

PREFACE

ON the Syrian coast, north of Tyre and Sidon, there
was in ancient times a city called Byblos. From this
port Phoenician traders carried to the west the
Egyptian papyrus, which was used for writing, and from
which c^me our word "paper." The Greeks spoke of the
rolls of paper on which their books were written as "bib
lia," after the name of the place from which the material
came. From this custom of antiquity has come our word
"Bible," which means literally "books." By habits of
speech which were of gradual growth the word represents
a particular collection of writings, the sacred literature of
the Hebrew and Christian religions. The increasingly
recognized supremacy of Christianity among the world's
great faiths, and its widening influence among the nations
have made the Bible the most conspicuous and impressive
of books. The story of its origin and varying experiences through
the centuries has profound interest for all intelligent stu
dents of its contents. Not without some understanding of
the manner in which these documents took form, and the
adventures of transmission and translation through which
they have passed on their way into our possession, can mod
ern readers of the Bible gain an adequate knowledge of its
character and value. This great Book comes to us in
many different forms. It is available in several hundred
7

8 PREFACE
languages, to meet the needs of missionary expansion. In
the English tongue it is offered in a score of renderings and
editions, all of which have values of their own, and among
which it is often difficult to choose. Behind these various
versions of the Holy Scriptures there lies a vast amount of
consecrated and scholarly labor, — the labor of authors,
revisers, editors, copyists, translators, archaeologists, critics,
commentators, and other scholars. To the student who
wishes to understand the meaning and value of the Bible
some competent knowledge of these labors is essential. Up
on these elemental inquiries into the origin and history of
the Scriptures, the larger questions relating to their inspira
tion, authority, influence and value naturally rest.
It is the purpose of this book to answer some of the
most obvious and insistent questions which are sure to
arise in the minds of all thoughtful people who deal with
the Bible. Alike for those who teach and those who read
with awareness these inquiries are inevitable. On themes
so vital to faith diiiferences of opinion are unavoidable.
The views presented in these chapters are believed to be in
harmony with the assured results of reverent and con
structive modern scholarship.
The literature available on the various phases of
biblical study is extensive and rich. Some of the most
usable books have been cited in connection with each
chapter, under the appropriate chapter headings in the
appendix on bibliography. The reader is urged to avail
himself of these suggested helps as fully as possible.

CONTENTS

PAGE
I. Religion AND Its Holy Books  11
II. How Books of Religion Took Form  21
III. The Makers of the Bible  33
IV. Varieties of Biblical Literature  45
V. Growth of the New Testament  56
VI. Canon of the Old Testament  68
VII. Canon of the New Testament  79
VIII. Translations and Revisions of the Bible 91
IX. Textual Criticism  105
X. The Higher Criticisii  118
XI. The Bible and the Monuments.. . ,  134
XII. The Old Testament in the New  147
XIII. The Inspiration of the Bible  164
XIV. The Authority of the Bible  177
XV. The Beauty of the Bible  191
XVI. The Influence of the Bible  203
XVII. The Misuses of the Bible  214
XVIII. Our Bible and Other Bibles  228
XIX. Our Faith in the Bible  247
Bibliography, References and Indexes . . 260

Religion and its Holy Books
THOSE who make a study of human society and
its chief interests are of the opinion that easily
the most commanding of these interests is religion.
This does not imply that it is everywhere so regarded,
but that as history tells the story, and world-wide human
activities reveal the facts, religion holds the foremost
place. Probably most people are not directly conscious of
this fact. A score of other and apparently more vital
concerns press in upon life and claim earlier attention.
Food is a necessity, and its obtaining has absorbed the
efforts of the race since the first adventures of the hunt
ing path and the fishing pool. Mating, love, the sex
impulse, and the desire for children have had their way
from the times of cave man, and before. Clothing and
shelter, and the development of family life have had
their profound significance in the making of society.
Then have spread the social activities, work, tools,
industry, herdsmanship, agriculture, social organization,
clan relationships, group interests, seasonal observances,
government, chiefs, law, custom, penalties, war, aggression,
revenge, armament, discipline, trade, barter, traffic, travel,
transportation. These are but suggestions of the long and fascinat-

12 OUR BIBLE
ing list of human interests that have given movement,
form, color and charm to the life of the race. Yet it is
not beyond proof that the greatest of the forces that has
molded the social order into its many and diverse expres
sions is religion; the sense of higher forces, awe for the
vast uncomprehended powers or beings pictured by the
religious imagination, or interpreted by prophets, seers
and sybils. It would not be too much to say that wherever one
looks, in any land or any century, there will be found
holy men, holy places, holy ceremonies, holy books. If
religion is not a universal characteristic of the race, the
exceptions make the common experience all the more im
pressive. It has not always expressed itself in lofty and
convincing forms ; but the same charge can be made against
art and law. We do not despise music because the savage
plays upon a reed pipe, nor scorn government because of
grafting officials. And religion is not to be judged by
its inadequate expressions, but by its noble and inspiring
embodiments. Moreover, there is a direct relationship between the
progress of religion toward higher levels and the enlarge
ment of civilization in general. There have been times
when men believed that the larger culture was to be
hastened by the suppression or destruction of religion as
a form of superstition. But these reactions have been of
brief duration, and have soon given way to clearer vision
of the facts. The race has found that it is a fatal error

RELIGION AND ITS HOLY BOOKS 13
to seek for the uplands of individual or social experience
without the help of religion and its literature.
It is well to keep in mind this constant connection
of religion and literature through all the centuries. Wher
ever the reverent spirit has attempted to find a way of
access to the higher powers, it has recorded its aspirations
in sacred writings. Of these some have survived, and
found embodiment in collections that presently became
classic to the confessors of the faith. Thus have the holy
books of the world been made.
SACRED BOOKS
All the important religions have been in some meas
ure related to such bodies of writing. Hinduism has its
laws of Manu, its Vedic Hymns and its great epics, like
thc Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the most popular and
authoritative scripture in India.
The teachings of Confucius, probably the most widely
revered of all systems of instruction, less a religion than
a body of moral precepts, are contained in a collection of
classics including the five Webs or Threads, and the Four
Books of Confucius and Mencius. These are the stand
ard scriptures of the Chinese world, which embraces one-
quarter of the human race.
Buddhism, sometimes called the Protestantism of
India, now almost completely banished from the land of
its origin, but the dominant faith of Burmah and Ceylon,
and the most aggressive system of religion in China and

14 OUR BIBLE
Japan, has its sacred books, the Pitikas in the Pali tongue,
the holy texts that reveal the Eightfold Way.
The Parsees, those interesting and progressive repre
sentatives of the religion of Zarathustra, hold at high value
the teachings of that Persian reformer, recorded in the
Avesta in the Zend language, whose prayers the faithful
repeat in the ancient speech no longer current, and by most
of them quite unknown save by sound.
Judaism, gathering up its comments upon the Hebrew
Scriptures, enshrined them in the Talmud, partly explana
tion and partly tradition, an amazing composite of fact
and fiction, the holy book of the rabbinical schools.
Mohammed, the prophet of Mecca, wrote his medita
tions and instructions in chapters or suras, and the col
lection of these, known as the Koran, is the authoritative
word of God to the hosts of the Moslem world.
These are but the more important illustrations of
the intimate relationship existing between most of the
world's faiths and the literatures in which they have found
exposition and defense. The list is long.
the SCRIPTURES OF ISRAEL
In a similar manner the messages of prophets, the
institutes of priestly instruction, the philosophic reflections
of sages, the hymns of saints and the dreams of apocalyp
tists in Israel were committed to writing, and some of
them, age by age, were incorporated in that growing
collection of sacred books called the Old Testament.

RELIGION AND ITS HOLY BOOKS 15
And just as the Hebrew religion gave birth to its
classic Scriptures, the Jewish church produced the Tal
mud, and the Mohammedan movement voiced itself in the
Koran, so Christianity gave to the world a group of writ
ings — epistles, memoirs, instructions, defense and con
fident hopes — some of which were gathered into a body
of documents which we know as the New Testament, and
some of which found their place in secondary and apoc
ryphal lists.
In all these instances the relation between the re
ligious movement and its classic literature is intimate. In
some cases the writings have priority over the organiza
tion with which they are associated, and constitute the
foundation on which it rests. This is in large measure
true of Confucianism and Islam.
In other and more frequent instances, the outbursting
of a new religious impulse has produced alike a body of
believers and a literature. This is true of Hinduism,
Hebraism, Judaism and Christianity. Sometimes the rela
tions have not been so intimate, as with the Greek and
Roman cults, whose influence is felt in their literatures,
but which gave rise to no distinctly religious writings.
But in general it may be affirmed with emphasis that holy
books go hand in hand with organized efforts to attain
the holy life. INSPIRATION AND AUTHORITY
Most of these writings claim some sort of inspiration
and authority. In the classic poems of Greece in which

16 OUR BIBLE
the national faith is recognized, the singer conceives him
self as inspired by deity to utter' his message. The great
ethical and religious teachers of antiquity were no less
confident that they spoke with authority. Confucius and
Socrates taught with assurance. "Thus spake Zarathustra,"
is a finality with the Parsee. The Koran goes even fur
ther. The writings of the Koriesh merchant on the leaves
of the sacred tree were embodied in a book. At first it
was sufficient to assert that Mohammed had thus spoken.
Later the tradition grew up that the angel Gabriel inspired
the words. And at last it came to be the accepted view
of orthodox Moslems that the whole was written in
heaven and handed down to the prophet by the messengers
of Allah. In the case of the Old Testament there was a similar
growth of sentiment regarding the origin and divine char
acter of the books. The prophetic writers conceived It
to be their right and duty to gather, revise and correct
the utterances of their predecessors in the teaching func
tion of Israel. In the same spirit the priests of successive
generations developed the legal institutes of the nation,
in harmony with their advancing conception of their func
tion as rehgious leaders. In fact, all the literature of
religion, prophetic, priestly and philosophical, grew up
with entire freedom among the Hebrews of the classic
period. But when these writings were gathered into a
collection by the editors of the Persian and Greek ages,
they were invested with a sanctity and authority unknown 1

RELIGION AND ITS HOLY BOOKS 17
before, and a portion of the collection, the Torah or Five
Books, was insensibly hfted by popular regard not only
into the realm of the inspired and inerrant, but the divine.
Little by little it was insisted that these writings were pre
pared in heaven, and mediated to Moses through ranks
of angels. It was a far cry from the simplicity and natu
ralness of the earlier feeling regarding the records of the
saints and teachers of Israel to this sublimated conception
of a mysterious and unearthly book.
EARLY CHRISTIAN WRITINGS
In the atmosphere of this deep reverence for the He
brew Scriptures as inspired in a very solemn and far-
reaching sense, the writings of the Christian community
took form. In contrast with the older and authoritative
Scripture, the letters and memoirs produced by the first
believers in the gospel were regarded less as inspired utter
ances than as the prized words of the friends of the Lord.
It was only by gradations that the quality of divine in
spiration was affirmed of them, and their organization into
a formal canon begun. No one in the early church thought
of imputing to these documents any of the highly the
ological qualities of inerrancy and verbal sanctity which
later centuries developed. It was enough for these first
followers of Jesus to find in the apostolic writings the
expression of the spirit of the Master, and a trustworthy
narrative of his life and teachings.
And what is the value of the claim made by these
2

18 OUR BIBLE
and the other sacred books of the various nations that
they are the inspired and authentic record of the divine
will? Is there reaHty in this belief, or are these high
insistencies only the expressioH^^of an affectionate rever
ence for books that have become classic and precious?
Is there validity in the claim which some writings make
that they are the transcript of the divine mind? Are there
holy books, in any other sense than that some of them
have secured the character of sacredness through employ
ment in connection with places and ceremonies held to be
holy? And if there is value in the claim, how may one
discriminate between the different books of religion?
What is the secret of their sanctity?
GOD-'S messages
The answer is not far to seek. All books that have
aided in the achievement of higher levels of living for
any portion of the race prove themselves by that fact
and to that extent to be inbreathed of the divine life, the
message of God to the world. The reality of the divine
element in the various religions and their sacred books
is proved by their character and results. This is the only
conclusive test.
Among these writings some are of greater value than
others, judged by their influence on the people who have
been the subjects of their instruction. Their values are
not to be measured by claims they make to inspiration
and authority, for all alike insist upon their holy char-

RELIGION AND ITS HOLY BOOKS 19
acter, and some of the least significant are most urgent
in their pretensions. The truth is only to be discovered by
observing their effects upon the lives of their confessors.
Without anticipating in too large a degree the in
quiries which are to be made in succeeding studies in this
book, it may be said here that, judged by this standard,
the Bible, particularly the New Testament, rises unique
and supreme above every other writing of the centuries.
Divested of every dogmatic presupposition, and stripped
of every adventitious help such as the church has too often
devised -for its defense, the Book simply proves itself to
be the supreme religious literature of the race, the record
of the great ideals and imperatives of the spiritual life.
the bible's SUPERIORITY
The Bible demonstrates its superiority to other books
of religion by its record of the growth of the sense of
worship from primitive and meager beginnings to its
supreme embodiment in the life of Jesus.
It is the world's most impressive record of personal
faith, sometimes in very imperfect forms, sometimes in
fuller expression in the lives of apostles and prophets, and
once in complete realization in the character of the Lord.
It is a collection of human books of greatly varying
worth, but possessed as a group of a marvelous power to
inspire human life with holy purposes.
It is a book of unique authority, incomparably more
urgent than any other book in the world. Its authority

20 OUR BIBLE
is not that of rules of conduct or of commands for obedi
ence. Rather does it possess the power of self-evidencing
principles of belief and behavior, taught and enforced by
the holiest men of history, and by the Master himself.
It is the world's permanent moral and spiritual moni
tor. With astonishing frankness it reveals the sins to
which humanity may descend. With convincing passion
it urges the attainment of such holiness and purity as the
world has seen realized but once. With supreme con
fidence it anticipates the embodiment of its ideals in a
new spiritual order, attaining slowly but certainly the
full measure of Jesus' hopes.
This is the ground of its claim to finality among the
holy books of the world. Alike to hostile charges that it
is only a collection of religious traditions, and to extra
vagant claims of inerrancy made on its behalf it remains
silent and indifferent. Its vindication is found in its
simple fidelity to its great purpose to aid in the creation
of a new and diviner humanity. And in the increasing
success with which it realizes this purpose, it finds the
growing proof of its right to be called the Book of Books,
the supreme and inspired literature of the ages, the Word
of God.

II

How Books of Religion Took Form
RELIGION is older than any writing. It seems evi
dent from what we know of the history of the race
that long before there were any books, or even the
art of writing was known, men believed in deity, and were
at pains to express their belief in some sort of service.
Some of these manifestations must have been of a
very simple type. Among the lowest of them were anim
ism and fetichism. In these cases the objects of nature,
or even the simplest of material forms, were invested with
a magical character which made them potent for good or
evil to the one who camcin contact with them.
In most of the early religions certain spots were be
lieved to be sacred, as the abode of divine beings or
demons. Such places, stones, fountains or springs, groves
or single trees, graves of holy men, river banks or moun
tain heights, were regarded with veneration, and believed
to be inhabited by beings whose favor was to be sought
and whose displeasure must be avoided.
Also, because of their relations to higher powers, as
their servants or their embodiment, particular men and
animals were believed to be holy. The members of some
of the early priesthoods, religious devotees, hermits,
ascetics, and the animal totems of many tribes, were so
honored. In some parts of the non-Christian world these

22 OUR BIBLE
strange expressions of the religious sentiment may yet
be found. Almost all religions have had certain sacred places,
like Benares, Mecca, Jerusalem or Rome, to which the
pious resorted to honor the memory of the founder of
their faith, or some saint conspicuous in its history. Such
pilgrimages were a notable feature of Old Testament
times, and a recognized factor in nearly all religious move
ments. In connection with all these and many other early
features of religion, some form of ritual, simple or elabo
rate, was devised. Wherever there are worshippers, there
something in the nature of sacrifice, confession, prayer,
expiation, or some similar attempt to hold converse with
deity, has been practiced. Oracles, shrines, and the ritual
of worship are only the efforts of human beings to pene
trate the mystery of divinity and find access to God.
WORSHIP EARLIER THAN WRITING
None of these simpler expressions of the religious
life require a scripture. Men can worship without having
any sacred book or documents of any sort. Long before
the art of writing was known, all these forms of worship,
and many others, must have been practiced. And long
after men could write, the ritual of sacred places was
probably transmitted from one generation of priests to
another, with no thought of committing it to writing. In
all the early stages of any religion, as the story of the

HOW BOOKS OF RELIGION TOOK FORM 23
Christian church makes clear, men are not concerned to
write. They make known their message by word of
mouth. It is only after a time that they take thought about
the making of books.
It is because of this fact that nearly all the early
materials which later find their embodiment in the books
of religion are handed on for a long time in oral and
traditional form. They are repeated from one to another,
and with the tenacity of a child-like memory of words,
they are preserved with only slight changes for generations.
Writing, though very old as a human achievement, is only
a late means of enjoyment and diversion. In antiquity,
few men knew the art, and the work was costly and
laborious. To-day everyone writes, and the press multi
plies the written pages with the swiftness of steam and
electricity. MEMORY RATHER THAN BOOKS
In the times when most of the world's sacred books
began to take form, including the Old Testament, it was
easier to remember than to write. Stories, poems, instruc
tions were handed on from father to son, and from teacher
to pupil. Scholars believe that the Homeric poems, the
greatest classic of ancient Greece, were unwritten for many
centuries after their composition, and yet have survived
in fairly accurate form from that dim past. It was not
otherwise with the earliest portions of Holy Scripture.
It seems probable that long before any of the books

24 OUR BIBLE
of the Old Testament were written in the form in which
we have them, there were many short and pithy sentences
in the style of proverbs, aphorisms and oracles, that had
taken their place in the common speech of the day, and
passed as the current coin of conversation. The orient
has always been fond of maxims, parables, quaint sayings
in which the wisdom of the past was believed to be stored.
Long before the Book of Proverbs was thought of, there
were many such floating bits of wit and v/isdom, as our
oldest sources, like the books of Judges and Samuel, bear
witness. Such riddles as the ones propounded by Sam
son at his wedding, such stories as the parable of the trees,
hurled by Jotham at his arrogant brother, such proverbs
as the one quoted by Zebah and Zalmunna to Gideon, were
treasured in memory.
Then there were fragments of poetry, like the Sword
Song of Lamech, the Song by the Sea, recounting the
triumph of Jehovah over the hosts of Egypt, the Song
of Deborah, and the song in celebration of David's victory
over Goliath. With them must have been treasured the
laments and elegies over famous men, like the dirges of
David for Saul and Jonathan, and for Abner. Perhaps
at some later time such fragments of national poetry were
gathered into such a collection as the lost Book of Jashar,
or The Book of the Wars of Jahveh, referred to but not
included in the Old Testament. For centuries before
there was any attempt to write down the floating poetry
of remembrance, these and many other songs probably

HOW BOOKS OF RELIGION TOOK FORM 25
passed about as the common possession of the Hebrew
bards and story-tellers. EARLIEST WRITINGS
It is impossible, of course, to be sure when the ma
terial which later went to the making of the Old Testa
ment began to be written down. If one is to judge by
the examples of other ancient people, it would seem likely
that the laws that were taking form were written out, and,
perhaps, displayed on tablets or carved on stones. Egyp
tian and Babylonian instances of this sort are familiar.
The Ten Commandm.ents, which were known as early as
the time of Solomon as a written code of instruction, and
probably go much further back as oral precepts, may well
have found visible embodiment as the recognized form of
popular direction. In the different forms in which these
first laws of Israel were cherished as the words of Moses
the man of God, they had an authority like that which
was attributed to the utterances of Confucius, Zoroaster
and Socrates by their disciples.
As soon as the interest in writing developed, and the
body of worthful tradition exceeded the ability of men to
remember, records of the poems, proverbs, parables and
stories of the past were made and multiplied. Some sort
of institutions that corresponded to the schools of later
days grew up. This was the case in India, China, Persia
and Greece, and there is no reason to doubt that it was
also true of Palestine. Groups of the Wise met for dis-

26 OUR BIBLE
cussion and instruction, and the words of the Sages were
sought and treasured by their scholars.
But much more important, from the point of view
of the growth of biblical literature, was the work of the
Sons of the Prophets. At first these were the wandering
seers, who went about in Israel, giving oracles, inciting
the people to loyalty to their national faith, and in a rude
fashion, interpreting the sanctions of religion. Gradually,
under the leadership of saner and abler men, like Samuel
and Elijah, they were localized in communities at certain
of the more famous shrines, and became the first examples
of the Schools of the Prophets, which later played so
important a role in the story of education and religion in
the land. SCHOOLS OF THE PROPHETS
In these schools the traditions regarding the great
leaders of the past — Abraham, Moses, Samuel and the
like — were preserved and used as the material of common
instruction. The story of Jahveh and his mighty deeds
in behalf of his people was rehearsed and written out.
The world traditions of divine activity in the creation and
discipline of the race were revised and adapted to Hebrew
use. For. the Hebrews were the children of the great
Babylonian civilization, and the traditions of that ancient
people were not unknown to them. To this fact is due
the striking resemblance of the Hebrew stories of creation
and the flood to those of the Babylonian cycle.
In such circles of instruction the preaching of the

HOW BOOKS OF RELIGION TOOK FORM 27
prophets of the nation was the standard of instruction.
The words of the leaderlike men whose names have
become familiar to us as the moral and religious teachers
of Israel, were carried out into the wider reaches of the
national life by the members of these brotherhoods, and
set down for the purposes of further study and later pres
ervation in the schools of the prophets. A notable and
wide-spread activity went on among these unknown serv
ants of God, only fragments of whose labors have been
preserved in the records of the Scriptures.
VARIETY OF LITERARY INTEREST
And if the prophets were busy with their task of
studying, interpreting, recording and distributing the
oracles of master spirits of their order, not less fruitful
were the literary labors of the priests, the ministers of the
sanctuaries. Each of these shrines was in some manner
a school even before the days of the great reformation
of Josiah. The growth of priestly ritual and torah began
very early, and never ceased, though its most flourishing
period came after the destruction of the national institu
tions, and the change of Israel from a nation to a church.
The body of writings that took form in the schools of the
sanctuaries and later in the schools of the scribes and was
known technically as the Law, became later on the most
revered of all the sacred books, and held in public regard
a position far more impressive than even the greatest of
the prophetic writings.
Of course, one must not forget that religious literature

28 OUR BIBLE
is by no means the earliest to take form. Men were inter
ested in much more commonplace matters before they
began to write down laws and oracles. From the days
of picture writing to the age of literature, people were con
cerned to write about a hundred different things which
pertained to the simple life of the community, and had
little to do with the subjects outside of the ordinary secular
activities. Letters were exchanged, contracts were re
corded, accounts were kept, public proclamations were
made, the campaigns and achievements of kings were cele
brated in laudatory chronicles, and inscriptions commemo
rated notable events.
In this growing mass of writing, the religious interest
had its place, in the kind of products already mentioned,
as well as the literature of omens, magical formulae, in
cantations, prescriptions for various emergencies, and
other like documents. Most of these materials have long
since perished. A few survivals and many references to
such subjects make it clear, however, that among all the
nations of antiquity possessed of a fair degree of culture,
such written materials were to be found in great abund
ance. That they should have perished almost wholly is
not surprising. It is rather cause for congratulation that
so much has survived from ages in which the interest in
the preservation of writing was so slight. And it is still
further the good fortune of our time that archaeological
research is annually adding a considerable volume of
unearthed materials to the literary treasures of the world.

HOW BOOKS OF RELIGION TOOK FORM 29
When we turn to the Hebrew people, whose writings
have proved of such value to the moral and religious life
of humanity, we discover that out of a large quantity of
writings of many sorts a few have come down to us in a
unique collection which we call the Old Testament. The
books found in this list give clear testimony that they are
but a small part of all that was once extant. The books
named in various parts of the Old Testament as once in
existence but now lost would make a considerable volume.
It is a sad misfortune that so many have perished. But
this is the fate of much of the writing of the past, and
we may feel a degree of confidence that in the providence
of God, and by the working of the principle that the most
valuable things tend to survive, we have in our possession
the writings the world could least afford to lose.
SURVIVING HEBREW BOOKS
These Hebrew writings in the amalgum which we
know as the Old Testament, appear to have taken form
between the tenth and the first centuries before Christ.
For the most part they were written in the Hebrew lan
guage, during the period when that was a current speech.
There are a few fragments of Aramaic, a kindred but later
dialect. But the books as a whole are Hebrew. This was
doubtless the foremost reason for their inclusion in a
special collection from which later writings, in the Greek
of the subsequent period, were excluded. The simplest
definition of the Old Testament is that it is the total sur-

30 OUR BIBLE
viving literature of the Hebrew people during the centuries
when their language was a living tongue.
Bible students have often supposed that there was
something sacred and marvelous about the Hebrew lan
guage, because the Old Testament books were written in
it. This is not the case. It was merely one of the many
dialects into which the great family of Semitic languages
was divided. It seems to have been the speech of the
people inhabiting Canaan at the time the first Hebrew
emigrants reached the Mediterranean coast from their
Aramean and Babylonian fatherland. They took the lan
guage of their new neighbors in Canaan, in so far as it
differed from their former Babylonian tongue, and this
in time became known as the Hebrew language. Though
this is by no means the most finished of the Semitic dia
lects, it is a wonderfully expressive language, and the
sacred writings of the Hebrews owe much of their pic
turesque and expressive character to the dialect in which
they were recorded. LATER GREEK WRITINGS
There were later books of religion, such as Maccabees
and the Wisdom of Solomon, closely related to this body
of writings, and in many ways differing from it only in
the fact that they were set down in the Greek tongue,
which became the vehicle for literary work in Palestine
in the second century B. C. These books have merited a
much larger measure of attention from biblical students

HOW BOOKS OF RELIGION TOOK FORM 31
than they have received. But because of the secondary
position to which they were relegated on account of then-
form, they have usually taken their place merely as
"apocrypha," and lost their rightful treatment at the hands
of a large portion of both the Jewish and the Christian
communities. The New Testament .is the collection of writings that
gradually became classic among the numerous documents
written in the early Christian society, between the years
50 and 150 A. D. They were of several sorts — epistles,
memoirs, travel narratives, defenses of the new faith, and
apocalyptic manifestoes. They were all grouped about the
life and ministry of Jesus, and the work of his first inter
preters. They are but a small part of the large body of
literature produced by early Christianity. It was an age of
remarkable literary activity, and the volume of writings
that grew up around the person of the Lord was very great.
A much larger proportion of these have survived than in
the case of the older literature of the Hebrews. But much
the same process of selection took place, and out of the
total mass of Christian documents there gradually emerged
the small list of books which are now included in the New
Testament. Many others found their places in that extra-
canonical collection generally known as the New Testa
ment apocrypha.
In some such manner as this our Bible came into
being. Its character and value prove that a book does
not need a supernatural origin in order to be the vehicle

32 OUR BIBLE
of the Spirit of God to the soul of man. This marvelous
collection of documents, so simple in form and so human
in the making, has taken a place occupied by no other in
the regard of the race, and is increasing by wider and wider
diameters the scope of its influence. These books are our
most valued possession. Their sound goes out into all
the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

Ill

The Makers of the Bible
THE books of the Bible are windows through which one
may look in upon the world's most unique religious
history. To the experiences of the Hebrew people and
the early Christian church all the generations have gone
for moral and spiritual suggestion and direction, just as
they have gone to the story of classic Greece for inspiration
in art and education, and to the life of ancient Rome for
ideals of law and government.
One cannot say that the national and group experi
ences recorded in the Bible are the only ones which dis
close a deep interest in ethics and religion. God has not
left himself without witness in any people. Several of
the ancient civilizations reveal notable concern for the
higher interests of life. But in comparison with the ideals
progressively reached by the Hebrew and Christian com
munities, under the leadership and inspiration of the
prophets and our Lord, they must be given a lower place.
The Bible is the record of religious aspirations higher and
more nearly realized than may be found elsewhere in the
story of the race.
It is always interesting to recall the men who have
helped to produce great literature. The books of the Bible
furnish the material for absorbing study. The men behind
3

34 OUR BIBLE
the books are of equal interest. To be sure they are not
so easily studied, because many of them are wholly un
known except as they reveal themselves in their utterances.
Yet it is impossible to read any important work without
attempting to form some picture of the man who wrote it,
and the circumstances in which it was produced.
FREEDOM OF BIBLICAL WRITERS
One of the first impressions one gets from the reading
of the books of the Bible is that they were not written by
people who conceived themselves to be making formal doc
uments, or materials that were regarded as sacred when
written. Rather they wrote with the freedom and enthusi
asm of eager advocates of the truth, whose chief concern
was to persuade others to see things as they did, and share
with them the values of the life of good will. Only once,
and that in perhaps the least intelligible book of the New
Testament, does the writer assume the oracular air of one
whose words are a finality.
Nor were these books, either of the Old Testament or
the New, written with the thought that they were to find a
place in a sacred collection of books, or to be preserved for
the reverent study of future generations. They appear
rather to have the character of tracts for the times, of
urgent and impassioned protests against the sins of their
age, and appeals in behalf of timely and needed virtues.
Many of the writers did not believe the world was to last
long. This was as true of prophets as of apostles. They

THE MAKERS OF THE BIBLE 35
were not speaking to the future, but to the present. Theirs
were voices, cries, complainings, against a present evil age.
For reasons like these it is always interesting to get as
vivid an impression as possible of the men behind these
books. It is a great thing to know something of Deuteron
omy, the Psalms, the Book of Isaiah, the Epistle to the
Galatians, and the Book of Acts. But it is still more inter
esting and important to have a just appreciation of the
character and service of Moses, David, Isaiah, Paul and
Luke. For in them the messages first had their expression
— in their character, their thinking and their daily speech —
before they were put into the form of books.
THE MEN BEHIND THE BOOKS
In order then to have some adequate conception of the
manner in which the familiar phrases of the Bible had
their origin, one must think of the men who framed them,
and of the environment in which they were first uttered.
Into that interval of time that lay behind the writing, in the
personal give and take of daily life, one must penetrate if
he would gain a true impression of the making of the
Scripture. There were the market places, the caravan groups, the
busy crowds in city gates, where eager discussions were
held, questions of moment were considered over the com
monplaces of barter and exchange, and the trite proverbs
so dear to the oriental soul were made a part of the traffic.
There were the circles of the Wise, who sat in the gate or

36 OUR BIBLE
deliberated in sheltered spaces of the streets over the prob
lems of success and failure, the misfortunes of good men,
or the folly of yielding to the seductions of wine and the
strange woman.
There were occasions of great significance in the
national life out of which came hymns of celebration, odes
of gratitude for deliverance and victory, songs in honor of
heroes, or laments over public tragedies, and dirges for
the dead. In all the tribes and throughout the history there
was the utterance of the devout spirit in hymns of the faith,
prayers for direction, outpourings of thanksgiving, medita
tions upon the mystery and pathos of life, and pilgrim
songs of the devout as they went up to the house of God.
Such fragments of poetry are scattered through the narra
tive portions of the Old Testament, and are partly found in
such anthologies as the Psalms and Lamentations.
THE GREAT LEADERS
Of still greater moment was the preaching of those
men, the prophets, who did more than all others to give to
Israel's career its unique ethical and religious curve. Moses
is heard instructing his people in the wastes of Paran, or
giving farewell exhortations beyond Jordan. Samuel coun
sels with pilgrims as they visit Ramah for his advice, or
journeys about the land as a circuit preacher, spending a
few days at each of such sanctuaries as Gilgal, Bethel,
Carmel and Jericho, in the celebration of one of those "sac
rificial feasts" that must have been a sort of combination

THE MAKERS OF THE BIBLE 37
of a term of court and an evangelistic mission. Elijah, the
fiery defender of the national worship of Jahveh, de
nounces the tolerant Ahab in the public highway, or routs
the priests of Baal and Astarte in a fire test at Mt. Caimel
Amos, a herdsman and fruit seller from Judah, uses the
opportunity of his market journeys to Bethel and Samaria
to warn the people of Israel of impending judgment upon
the royal house of Jehu. Isaiah, the cultured and high-
souled statesman of Jerusalem, wherever he can gain a
hearing in the city, preaches the holiness of God and de
nounces the social evils of the time. And Micah, living
among the oppressed tenants of the shephelah, makes elo
quent protest against the merciless exactions of greedy
landlords in the capital.
Some fragments of these and other public messages
of the moral leaders of Israel have come down to us, either
in quotations in the prophetic narratives, or in the books
that contain small collections of prophetic sermons. We do
not know just how they first came to be written down,
whether by the speakers themselves or their disciples and
helpers. We only know that they are among the most pre
cious and inspiring portions of the Old Testament.
EARLY CHRISTIAN MESSAGES
In much the same manner, though -with greater accu
racy of report, we have come into possession of some parts
of early Christian sermons. The discourse of Peter on the
Day of Pentecost, the sermon of Paul at Antioch of Pisidia,

38 OUR BIBLE
and other apostolic addresses, have been reported in at
least their outlines. To this material must be added the
inexpressibly precious words of Jesus, either assembled in
small collections, as in the First Gospel, or more generally
distributed through the narrative, as in the Third.
Nor must it be forgotten- that all three of the Synoptic
Gospels were the material of apostolic preaching virtually
in their present order, some time before they were com
mitted to any written form. It appears, then, that a consid
erable part of the Bible was originated in the delivery of
moral and spiritual teachings, warnings and exhortations
by prophets and apostles, and by our Lord. The literary
impulse was later than the spoken word, and subordinate
to it. Out of the crises of the religious life of those event
ful centuries came the most impressive sections of the
Bible. Out of human experiences of the same urgent sort
came the laws of Israel and the guiding instructions for the
primitive church. Tradition affirmed that Moses gave to
the nation in the wilderness the simple institutes needed
for the age. Priests in their ministries at the various sanc
tuaries, elders of towns and villages administering justice,
soldiers and kings making rules for their followers, groups
of sheiks and wise men deliberating upon the welfare of
their people, gradually added to this torah through the
years. From time to time it was collated, revised and
reorganized, as in the case of the Deuteronomic reformers,
and the scribes of Ezra's age, and took form in successive

THE MAKERS OF THE BIBLE 39
bodies of law, like the Book of the Covenant, the Deute
ronomic Law, and the Priest Code, which seem to have
taken their place in the national life in the early royal
period, the reign of Josiah, and the Persian age respect
ively. THE LAWS OF ISRAEL
Sq this great body of Hebrew legislation, which has
served so admirable a purpose as the basis of later national
constitutions, was not so much the output of one lawmak
ing mind as the expanding legislation of a people with the
basic principles of whose religious and social life it was
impressed through the centuries of its growth. As a torah
for the habitual regulation of community life it deals with a
multitude of details that may seem trivial to the men of
today, and it cannot be doubted that it encouraged that
elaboration of ritual and ceremonial precision which was
the prevailing quality of later Judaism. But fundamentally
the Hebrew laws enforced the religious truths for which
the; prophets stood, and the austere morality which lifted
the tone of Israel's normal conduct far above that of con
temporary peoples.
The intelUgent study of the Bible demands the use of
the creative imagination, which, upon the warrant of the
facts we know, can look in through the windows of these
books upon their makers, the men in whose lives the prin
ciples of Hebrew and Christian faith held sway. One must
see the unknown author of the Book of Job, deeply con-

40 OUR BIBLE
cerned to sustain the wavering confidence of his fellow
Jews in days of national ruin, using the story of an ancient
saint suffering incredible afflictions without apparent cause,
as a means of present explanation in the effort to justify
the ways of God to man.
One must go with Jeremiah into the vile dungeon into
which he was thrust because of his unbending opposition
to royal folly, or watch his fiery indignation when he
learned that Jehoiakim had slashed to ribbons and burned
to ashes the laboriously written roll from which he had
hoped so much. One must follow Ezekiel about the streets
of Tel-abib, and listen to his fierce denunciations of the
sins that were making the fall of Jerusalem inevitable.
With Peter one needs to travel down the hills to Joppa, or
along the sandy shore to Caesarea, and hear his conversa
tions with Simon the Tanner and Cornelius the Centurion.
And one must take ship with Paul, when he started,
depressed and misunderstood, to return to his own province
in Asia Minor, where he was to spend half a score of unre
corded years before his familiar ministry really began ; or
tarry with him in prison at Caesarea or Rome, while he
chafed at the frustration of work he was never to complete.
In such moments of companionship with the writers of
Holy Scripture one obtains an insight into the meaning of
their books which can be gotten in no other way. More
than this, one comes to understand that the Bible was
written in the spiritual experiences of these men long be
fore it took form under their hands.

THE MAKERS OF THE BIBLE 41
Something like this may have been in the thought of
Jeremiah when he recalled in later days the hour in which
he determined that he would cease his prophetic task
which had proved so difficult and expensive. But when he
tried to withdraw from his vocation as a preacher of right
eousness, he found he could not do it. The word of God
was like a fire shut up in his bones, and he could not keep
silent. Behind every written oracle that came from
prophetic hands there were volumes of the spoken word
which never took written form. And behind all utterance
of the lips there was the man himself, and this living mes
sage was the most important of all. No prophetic sermon
heard in Palestine, no page from the book of Hosea or Hab
akkuk is as important as the prophet himself.
THE GREATER MESSAGE OF CHARACTER
It is conceivable that if no word of the Bible had ever
been written, the power of those forceful personalities who
first made known the truths of our faith, particularly the
Master who wrote no word that has survived, might have
been sufficient in the providence of God to found and direct
the greatest religious movement in history. But no one
who gives thought to the problem can fail to perceive how
immeasurably the Scriptures have assisted in the enter
prise. They are the living oracles they have shown them
selves to be, however, by reason of the characters and expe
riences that lie behind them.
And how did they come to be written at all ? And by

42 OUR BIBLE
whom were they written ? We may be assured that none
of the books in the Bible was prepared by anyone who was
conscious of having a part in the preparation of a sacred
volume. We have traditions regarding the writing of some
portions of the early laws. Samuel is said to have written
out the rules for the king he helped to choose. Elijah
was reported to have written a letter to a king of Judah,
and Jeremiah wrote one to the exiles, which is preserved.
The same prophet's book of messages probably originated
in that roll, which, destroyed and renewed, contained the
body oi the sermons dehvered by him up to that time. Hints
of the circumstances in which certain portions of the bibli
cal material was written are found in books like Ezekiel,
the epistles of Paul, and the Book of Revelation.
WHO WROTE THE BOOKS?
Probably in many instances the documents were pre
pared by the men whom tradition has associated with
them. In other instances the words of the prophet or
preacher were set down by friends or disciples, as we
know to be the fact in the cases of Isaiah and Jesus. In
still other instances the messages of great moral leaders
were doubtless gathered up orally and preserved in the
schools of instruction, and there committed to writing as
occasion required.
And the purposes for which the writing was under
taken are sufficiently obvious. The letters were sent as
vehicles of advice and instruction. Some of the writing

THE MAKERS OF THE BIBLE 43
was for the preservation of important oracles and their
use in the schools. But no doubt in most instances the
words of prophets and of Jesus were written out as the
means of a wider dispersion of the truths it was deemed
necessary to make known.
Much of the human interest that attaches to the
Bible is due to the simplicity and naturalness of the
book as a collection of brief tracts or pamphlets which
took form in the most unpremeditated manner at various
times during a thousand years of intensely vital history.
These documents individually and as a collection have
had much the same literary experience as other human
writings. Only there is a certain romantic interest attach
ing to the Bible as a book with such an appealing and
adventurous career and such a marvelous influence upon
humanity. A great deal of its impressiveness is due to these
elements of naturalness and frankness. It is not a book
making supernatural claims for itself, like the Koran or
the Sibylline Oracles. It reveals the presence of the
divine Spirit not by magical tokens, but by the reality of
the religious experiences of the men whose story it tells.
The moral and spiritual levels which it discloses and to
which it summons all to whom its message may come are
the proofs that it is inbreathed of God. The marks of
its human makers are upon it. It is not perfect, either
in its workmanship, its historical or scientific state
ments, or its moral ideals. It is not a level book. It

44 OUR BIBLE
exhibits great variety of sentiment regarding ethics and
religion. Yet this variety is the token of a constantly
growing sensitiveness to spiritual ideals. And in the end
of the day it presents as its final word the life and char
acter of our Lord, between whom and our highest con
ception of God no acutest criticism has ever been able to
detect the least cleavage.
The Bible has everything to gain and nothing to
lose from a candid and insistent recognition of its human
qualities and its human experiences as a collection of
writings. No theory that robs it of these simple and
appealing values under pretext of paying it reverence
can be other than erroneous, and in the end, self-anni
hilating. Frankly received at its own valuation as the
record of the world's most illuminating spiritual experi
ences, and especially as the disclosure of the life and
program of Jesus, the Bible proves itself to be God's
word to man, first revealed in flesh and blood, and then
transmitted in divers forms and fragmentary ways in a
book of inestimable value, a book in which the illumina
tion and urgency of the Spirit of God forever abides.

IV
Varieties of Biblical Literature
ONE of the first impressions made upon a reader
of the Bible is that of its wonderful richness and
variety. In this, as in more important respects,
it differs from all other sacred books. It is not like the
Koran, a series of exhortations and directions on the
common level of one man's thinking. It is not like
the Rig Veda, limited to a collection of hymns of the
faith, however noble and aspiring. It is not a com
pendium of moral instructions like the Confucian
classics. It is not a perplexing labyrinth of commenta
tion, midrash and fable, like the Talmud.
It includes the best of all these qualities, but in
addition many others that give it value and charm. As
might be expected in a collection of writings that em
braces all the rich survivals of a great and purposeful
people like the Hebrews, and the first eager outpour
ings of a new and mighty religion like the Christian, the
Bible contains in the Old and New Testaments the
most varied, opulent and inspiring literature ever
created. When to these impressive features one adds
the peculiar sense of the divine which impregnates
these documents, nothing is lacking to make the Bible
our most precious possession.
The Jewish people into whose hands the Hebrew

46 OUR BIBLE
Scriptures came as an inheritance, made an effort to
classify them. They devised a three-fold order of values.
First, there was the Law, the five books of Moses.
Then on a somewhat lower plane were the Prophets,
including the Earlier Prophets, the books that recorded
the prophetic accounts of past events, like Judges, Sam
uel and Kings ; and the Later Prophets, the books that
bore the names and contained the oracles of particular
leaders, from Amos to the end of the prophetic period.
These last named books they arranged in a rough ap
proximation to their order of size, quite indifferent to
their chronological sequence, and in that unfortunate
condition we have them today.
JEWISH CLASSIFICATION
All the books that were left over from these two
groups were gathered into a quite miscellaneous list,
which for the lack of a better name they called the
Writings. Here fell such varied materials as Chron
icles, Job, Daniel, Ruth, Canticles, Esther, and the rest
of the twelve volumes excluded from the first divisions.
And because the Psalms were usually placed first in
this miscellany, the entire group of the Writings
usually passed by the name of the Psalms. Our Lord
alluded to this three-fold classification of the Scriptures
when he spoke to the disciples of the things "written in
the law of Moses, and in the Prophets and in the
Psalms" concerning himself.

VARIETIES OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE 47
Later efforts have been made to give a satisfactory
classification to the books, both of the Old and the
New Testament. A favorite division of the former
separates them into historical, legal, poetical and
prophetic. But this is quite unsatisfactory, because
prose and poetry are found in many parts of the Old
Testament in the same books. Moreover the term his
torical is unsuitable for any book of the collection, for
while there is much use of historical material, there is
no writing whose purpose it is to set forth the history
of the Hebrew nation.
DIVISIONS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
A much more logical and satisfactory division of
the Old Testament sets it into five sections : Prophetic,
Priestly, Wisdom, Devotional and Elegiac, and Apoca
lyptic. Under such headings as these it is not difficult
to make a fairly correct classification of that rich and
varied literature which includes narratives of personal
and national achievement, sermons, hymns, medita
tions, dramatic re-enactment of victories, legal insti
tutes, proverbs, parables and fables, national and relig
ious romances, mythological traditions, apocalyptic
dreams, and prophetic hopes for the coming of the age
of righteousness, holiness and peace in all the world.
Similarly in the New Testament there was for
merly a tendency to classify it as History, including
the Gospels and the Book of Acts ; Epistle, including all

48 OUR BIBLE
the letters ; and Prophecy, meaning the Book of Reve
lation. It would seem that a much more satisfactory- divi
sion would result in five groups : The Gospels, divided
into the Synoptic three, and the Fourth Gospel; Acts,
which does not profess to be a history of the early
church, but a record of a few events in the ministry of
two of the apostles, especially Paul ; the Epistles of
Paul ; other Epistles ; and the Apocalypse, which is, in
deed, a book of confident expectations for the early
triumph of the church over the empire, but is hardly
to be called prophecy in the biblical sense of the term.
In any attempt to set the books of either Old or
New Testament into divisions, it must be kept in mind
that no grouping that has yet been made covers all the
phenomena of this marvelous literature. Each of the
many books is a law unto itself as to the bounds it shall
keep or the forms of writing it shall embrace. Writers
pass from prose to poetry and back again -with the free
dom of Shakespeare. Legal enactments tend to find
their context in a setting of historical narrative.
Hymns of praise break out from the midst of tribal
records. Genealogical tables interrupt the recitals of
priests and evangelists. Visions of composite monsters
or of dreamlike cities mingle with passionate exhorta
tions to fidelity and courage. The books of the Bible
elude precise classification by reason of their rich and
varied messages. It is this which makes them the

VARIETIES OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE 49
despair and delight of the student, and the treasure of
the church. THE PROPHETIC WRITINGS
The first and most important section of the Old
Testament is the Prophetic books. This name does not
refer to any predictive functions on the part of their
writers, but rather to the task of religious instruction.
Prophets were not mere foretellers of future events.
They were preachers of righteousness, interpreters of
the will of God. The Jews of Jesus' day put these writ
ings in two orders, the Earlier and the Later Prophets,
as already noted. This is not an undesirable arrange
ment, though perhaps a better description would be
Prophetic Narratives, and Prophetic Messages. The
former would include the records made by prophets to
interpret past events in the light of the religion of
Jehovah. They did not attempt to recount the history,
either as to individual effort or national experience.
They only chose from the rich store of ancient memo
ries and writings those incidents that seemed most
convincing regarding the character of the God they
worshipped and his will for his people. These accounts
are found in their fullest form in the books of Judges,
Samuel and Kings. But the compilers of Genesis,
Exodus, Deuteronomy, and Joshua, made use of them
as well. The Prophetic Messages correspond properly to

50 OUR BIBLE
what the Jews called the Later Prophets. They are the
utterances of particular moral leaders from the age of
Jeroboam II to the Persian period. They include all
the books from Isaiah to Malachi, with the exception
of Lamentations and Daniel, which were placed by the
editors of the Jewish canon in the third division, the
Writings, or miscellany. These prophetic discourses
are among the most precious portions of the Old Testa
ment. They interpret the religion of Jehovah at its
most exalted level. They are not all of the same value,
but taken as a whole they are the most inspiring body
of writings outside of the New Testament.
THE PRIESTLY WRITINGS
The Priestly books are also of two sorts, the
Priestly Laws and the Priestly Narratives. The former
include those collections of torah which took form
through the centuries of Hebrew history from the days
of Moses to those of Ezra and Nehemiah. These priestly
institutes are found in the later portion of Exodus, in
Leviticus, in Numbers, and in Deuteronomy. When
carefully studied they fall into three considerable
groups of laws: the Book of the Covenant, the Deu
teronomic Torah, and the Priest Code. When put to
gether by their final editors in the post-exilic time they
made the impressive body of legal enactments known
as the Law of Moses.
The Priestly Narratives cover very much the same

VARIETIES OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE 51
ground as those of the prophets, but in quite a different
spirit. They recount the story of the past with empha
sis upon its priestly and liturgical features. The books
of Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah are of this class.
Their chief concern is with the place of the ceremonial
of religion in the national life. According to their in
terpretation of Israel's past, the kings and other leaders
who gave due regard to the liturgical elements of the
national faith were the ones who prospered. The same
point of view is presented in those portions of Genesis
and Joshua which come from the priestly writers, and
the framework in which the laws of the middle books
of the Hexateuch are set is from similar sources.
THE WISDOM WRITINGS
The third division of Old Testament literature is
the Wisdom Books. It is, perhaps, too much to say
that the Hebrews were interested in philosophy as a
formal discipline. But many of their teachers thought
over the problems of experience, and taught what they
regarded as sound wisdom for the.ir fellowmen. From
such mentors, either as individuals or in groups, there
came fragmentary utterances, collections of wise say
ings, and books of philosophic and speculative char
acter. There was a tradition that Solomon, the wise
king of Israel in days gone by, had founded this school
of wise men, and was the author of much profound ob
servation regarding nature and human life. For this

52 OUR BIBLE
reason some of the books of that sort were attributed
to him. Such traditions are attached to Proverbs and
Ecclesiastes. The Book of Job, which is the chief
product of this type of thinking, and the noblest poem
in literature, discusses the problem of unmerited suf
fering. The Hebrews were a religious people. Prayer and
song were the joy and consolation of many devout souls
throughout the history. Out of such experiences came
hymns, composed by all sorts of folk, as is the case
today. These songs of praise and other utterances of
the religious life were gathered into several small col
lections and later joined in a larger anthology of wor
ship known as the Book of Psalms. Ancient report
affirmed that David was a singer of such songs, and his
name, as the most conspicuous in the field of devotion,
was associated with the collection. This book of the
prayers and praises of Israel was probably the hymn
book of the second temple.
Another form of poetic composition was the dirge,
a mournful hymn iu commemoration of some national
hero. David honored the names of Saul and Jonathan
in the "Song of the Bow," that became familiar to the
youth of Israel, and was included in the lost "Book of
Jashar." A fragment of an elegy of Abner, murdered
by Joab while on a friendly visit to David's court, is
preserved. But the best known group of threnodies is
the little Book of Lamentations, recalling the fate of

VARIETIES OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE 53
Jerusalem soon after its overthrow by the Babylonians.
Popular tradition ascribed this series of poems to Jere
miah, but they appear to have been anonymous and
diverse in their origin.
These two books, Psalms and Lamentations, may
be grouped together as the fourth division. Devotional
and Elegiac. They have in common merely their
poetic form and their deeply religious character.
APOCALYPTIC WRITINGS
Apocalypse is a somewhat peculiar type of writing
that became common in the later period of Old Testa
ment history, prevailed extensively through the early
days of Judaism and Christianity, and has continued to
be a sporadic product of the Jewish spirit in later cen
turies. It was the utterance of days of persecution. It
was the appeal from a hostile world order to a super
natural and instant deliverance. It despaired of the
prophetic and apostolic voice as an effective instrument
for the overthrow of evil, and put its trust in the aveng
ing power of God manifested in catastrophe. It em
ployed the cryptic language of vision and portent. It
dealt with current political events under the forms of
living creatures, often composite, after the manner of
Babylonian art. The best illustrations of this form of
v/riting are the Book of Daniel and the Book of Reve
lation. The former came out of the tragic and heroic
period of the Maccabees, and was designed to sustain

54 OUR BIBLE
the hearts of the faithful in Judah with the promises of
speedy deliverance from the Syrian persecutor. The
second was a Christian defiance of the power of Rome
in the latter part of the first century. Other apocalyp
tic materials are to be found in both Testaments, in such
books as Ezekiel, Zechariah, Joel, 2 Peter and Jude.
Contemporary Jewish and early Christian literature
showed many examples of this sort of writing.
PERPLEXING QUESTIONS
From the foregoing statements it will be seen that
most of the books of the Old Testament issued from the
activity of the three teaching orders in Israel, the
prophets, the priests and the sages. Other portions,
like the Psalms, probably owe their origin to members
of all these groups, and to others beside. In some cases
classification is difficult. Is the Song of Songs a dra
matic discussion of the problem of human love, or only
a collection of wedding songs? Is the Book of Esther
a priestly romance of the late Persian period, with its
motive the explanation of the Feast of Purim, or is it
merely a vindictive outpouring of Jewish hatred of the
heathen? Is the Book of Ruth a charming idyl of the
distant past, or is it, like the Book of Jonah, an earnest
prophetic protest against the growing insularity and
egotism of Jewish feeling in the third century B. C?
These questions and many others that arise when
the attempt is made to impose a precise and formal

VARIETIES OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE 55
classification upon the writings of the Old Testament,
merely illustrate the freedom and spontaneity which
characterize these books. One sort of utterance min
gles with another in such manner as to elude severe anal
ysis. The writers had no norms of composition to
which they -were obligated to conform. They spoke as
they were moved by the Spirit of God. Their purpose
was not the creation of a literature, but the utterance of
their deep convictions. In the proclamation of these
truths, whether in the form of sermon, hymn, discus
sion, parable, law, romance or glowing hope, they were
obedient to the urgency that pushed them on, and made
them eager to speak the things that were upon their
hearts. It is this quality of sincerity which makes the He
brew Scriptures the most amazing and inspiring book
of the pre-Christian age. Its writers spoke out of their
own lives to the people of their time. They were no
cloud-land dreamers, no unearthly voices. They were
men of like passions with ourselves. Their messages
were not of equal value, and they did not all agree. But
the best of them perceived in some true sense the direc
tion in which God was moving, and tried to get things
out- of his way. The result is this great collection of
documents that has done so much to give the world a
truer conception of the divine, and to assist in the fuller
realization of the program of the holy life.

Growth of the New Testament
THE friends of Jesus were not interested in the writing
of books. They were not writers, they were preach
ers. The Master himself was not a writer. He
left no document from his own hand. The first disciples
were too busy with the new joys and activities of the
Christian society to give thought to the making of records.
At the beginning and for some time they were all
Jews. The Master himself was a Jew, and all his earliest
friends were of that race. Most of them lived in the
vicinity of Jerusalem. It was only slowly that the news
about the recently formed movement made its way into
wider circles. For this reason most of the writers of the
first Christian documents were Jews.
Even when the word was taken into Samaria, it was
not quite regarded as a departure from the easily formed
habit of thinking of the good tidings regarding Jesus as an
essentially Jewish enterprise. The Samaritans were con
sidered as a part of the ancient people of Jahveh, though
on a distinctly lower plane of religious and social tolerance.
Nor did the acceptance of the gospel by proselytes like the
Ethiopian official invade the field of Jewish privilege, be
cause in becoming an adherent of Judaism such a man had
proclaimed his break with his former non- Jewish life.

GROWTH OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 57
None of this early activity which carried the move
ment into Judea, Samaria and Galilee, required written
documents. There seems to have been no literary impulse
in the church for years. There was no need for it. The
believers wer; closely associated. The furthest of them
could be reached in a few hours with instructions from
their leaders. The story of Jesus, which was the substance
of their preaching, was known to all. There was no need
to write it down. THE NEED OF WRITINGS
It was the extension of the gospel into non-Jewish
communities which widened the field of early Christian
operations, and gradually called for the use of writing.
Particularly was it the ministry of the apostle Paul which
awakened Christians to the importance and value of writ
ten communications. To one who opens the New Testament without pre
vious reflection upon the manner in which it took form, it
seems surprising to be told that the Gospels, the books
with which it begins, were by no means the earliest of its
writings. Would it not seem natural that they should be ?
Yet. a careful reading of the collection makes it apparent
that such was not the case. Why should the books have
been arranged on a plan which is so at variance with our
modem way of putting things in something like chronolog
ical sequence? The answer is that the order of the books was probably

58 OUR BIBLE
no important consideration to the men who gathered them
into a collection. They were not sensitive to the spirit of
historical arrangement, which makes people desire to set
documents in the sequence of their dates. Probably they
were far more impressed by the relative value of the
Gospels as the chief material of the collection, and so they
were placed first.
It would be a valuable aid to the student if he could
have a New Testament arranged on this plan of chronolog
ical succession. And now that the work of biblical criticism
has so far advanced that the dates of practically all the
books have been determined, one can use such admirable
works as Moffatt's "Historical New Testament," Lindsay's
"Chronological New Testament," Robertson's "Student's
Chronological New Testament," or the common speech
version known as the "Twentieth Century New Testa
ment." THE EPISTLES OF PAUL
Apparently the earliest writing in the New Testament
is the First Epistle to the Thessalonians. Twenty years had
passed since the end of Jesus' ministry. The Christian
society had extended its membership from Jerusalem to
Antioch, and from Antioch to Asia Minor and Europe.
The chief worker in this extension of the movement was
Paul. After a considerable period of unrecorded preaching
in his own home country, he had been called to Antioch,
and from there had gone out with Barnabas and Mark on

GROWTH OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 59
a mission to Cyprus and the northern mainland. Later a
second journey was made in company with Silas and others,
in the course of which the apostle crossed to Macedonia,
and visited the cities of Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea and
Athens, going on presently to Corinth.
From that city he wrote this epistle, on the arrival of
Timothy with good news regarding the Thessalonians. In
it he expresses his joy at their constancy, cautions them
to avoid immoral and indolent behavior, and tells them
that they need not fear that their loved ones who have re
cently died have lost out in the event of the Lord's return,
which was eagerly expected. Soon after Paul sent a second
letter to the same church, telling its nervous and excitable
members not to think of the day of the Lord as at hand,
but to maintain calmness and a worthy deportment.
The Epistle to the Galatians was written to the
churches in Antioch of Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe,
which Paul founded on his first missionary tour. It was
a powerful protest against the doctrines of Jewish teach
ers, who were attempting to persuade the Christians of
those towns to add the familiar forms of Jewish legal
observance, such as circumcision, to their program of
Christian life. It is the most intense of all the apostle's
writings. Paul had already written one letter to the church at
Corinth when our First Epistle to the Corinthians was
sent by him from Ephesus. He had learned of factious
and questionable conduct in the church, and had received a

60 OUR BIBLE
letter from some of the members asking a number of
questions. The Epistle rebukes their divisions, and gives
instructions on many matters of importance such as mar
riage, the Lord's Supper, spiritual gifts, and the resur
rection. Later on Paul heard that conditions at Corinth were
worse than ever. His authority was defied, and evil con
duct increased. He sent a third letter, probably to be
identified with the last four chapters of Second Corinthians.
The tone of this document is very severe. In deep anxiety
as to its effect the apostle waited at Ephesus for a time,
and at length journeyed to Troas, and on to Macedonia
before he met Titus and learned that his letter had resulted
in great improvement in the church. He thereupon wrote
a fourth epistle, the first nine chapters of Second Corinth
ians, expressing his satisfaction at what he had heard, and
exhorting them to faithfulness, and particularly to generous
contributions to the poor members of the church in Jerusa
lem, for whose benefit he was gathering offerings from all
the churches. When Paul had finished his work in the familiar re
gions of Asia Minor and Greece, he planned to go further
into that western world to which he had made his first
approach at the time of his vision of the man of Macedonia.
He would go to Rome, the capital of the world, and then
on to Spain. He waited only to complete the offering for
the Jerusalem church. In the meantime he wrote the
Epistle to the Romans, telling them of his plans, and out-

GROWTH OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 61
lining his great thesis of justification by faith. To this
Epistle there seems to have been attached at some later
time a brief letter of Paul's to the church at Ephesus,
recommending Phoebe of Cenchrea, and conveying his best
wishes to many of the Ephesian brethren.
The journey of Paul to Jerusalem to carry up the offer
ings of his western churches resulted in his arrest, impris
onment for two years at Caesarea, and transportation as a
prisoner to Rome. From his place of confinement in that
city he sent four letters : To the good frifends at Philippi,
who had been so thoughtful of his comfort he wrote to
express his gratitude. To Philemon, a friend at Colosse,
whose slave had escaped and found refuge with the
apostle, he wrote in affectionate terms, sending back the
refugee, and commending him to the regard of his master
as a Christian. To the church in Colosse he sent a mes
sage of admonition regarding certain questionable teach
ings to which they had given credence. And to the
neighboring church at Laodicea he also sent an epistle by
the hand of the same messenger. It is not unlikely that
our Epistle to the Ephesians is this otherwise unknown
document. It seems difficult to realize that with these epistles the
words of the great apostle close. No phase of early
Christianity is more pathetic than the abrupt frustration
of all Paul's plans for further evangelism. So far as it is
possible to judge from the evidence presented by the New
Testament, the writing and the life of Jesus' first and great-

62 OUR BIBLE
est interpreter ceased with his Roman imprisonment.
Probably, by this time, the sword of persecution had shed
the blood of the Apostle Peter as well.
THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS
No one of the Gospels had as yet come info being. But
there was a man, who, as a youth, had known the members
of the Jerusalem church, where his mother lived, had been
the companion of Paul on a part of his first missionary
tour, and had acted as Peter's helper in later years, prob
ably at Rome. This was John Mark, the son of Mary of
Jerusalem. Sometime after Peter's death, and before the
fall of Jerusalem, he seems to have written down the story
of Jesus' life as his master, Peter, was accustomed to tell
it. The Gospel of Mark is a brief, vivid narrative, empha
sizing the power of the Lord in miracle and ministry. It
was well adapted to convey to Roman readers a suitable
impression of the character of the Master.
The fall of Jerusalem was an event of tremendous
significance to the Jewish people. It appeared to put the
seal of condemnation upon their conduct. A part of that
conduct had been the rejection of Jesus. At first and partly
in consequence of that rejection, he had seemed to fail.
Now the nation itself had fallen, and Jesus' followers were
multiplying everywhere. A writer of the period, convinced
that Jesus had really brought to its consummation the ex
perience of the nation, gathered the materials for another
memoir. It is based on several sources: The work of

GROWTH OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 63
Mark, a collection of the teachings of Jesus attributed to
the Apostle Matthew, and other materials. The book thus
produced came to be known as the Gospel of Matthew. In
it the person and message of our Lord as the fulfillment of
Hebrew hopes for the kingdom of God are set forth. It is
in an important sense the Gospel of the Jewish people.
So far as we know the entire group of New Testament
writers was Jewish, with one exception. That was Luke,
the friend of Paul. He was a Greek, and a physician. His
acquaintance with the apostle brought him into contact
with the leaders and scenes of early Christian history. The
story of the greatest life ever lived was being told in many
ways. Oral narratives and fragments of written memora
bilia were floating about. For the benefit of a friend, Theo
philus, Luke wrote with painstaking care a record of
Jesus' acts and sayings. He brought to his work the broad
sympathies of a cosmopolitan. His narrative is the Gospel
of humanity, of brotherhood, of womanhood, childhood
and Christian song. It is the Gospel for the Greek world
of culture and humanitarian interest.
ACTS AND REVELATION
From the same writer there came also the Book of
Acts, a brief account of some of the events which marked
the growth of the Christian community from the close of
Jesus' ministry to the end of Paul's career. As the friend
of the great apostle, Luke had personal knowledge of much
of the narrative ; from Paul he could learn other portions ;

64 OUR BIBLE
and the remainder could easily be secured during his resi
dence in Jerusalem, Caesarea, and Antioch. This book
supplies most of the information we have concerning the
early days of the church in Jerusalem and the ministry of
Peter, and puts an interpreting background behind the
epistles of Paul.
The first generation of Christians, including Paul,
counted much upon the protection of the Roman empire
against their persecutors. It was therefore a bitter dis
appointment when that empire itself turned persecutor, in
the days of Nero and later under Domitian. The martyr
doms of those periods thrust the iron deep into the souls
of the saints. They were called upon to adore the image
of the emperor, or suffer the horrors of the stake and the
arena. This is the situation which is made evident in the
Book of Revelation. Its author was a Christian teacher
named John, probably of Ephesus. He had suffered banish
ment, and perhaps torture for the sake of the faith. To
encourage his fellow-believers he wrote a series of letters
to seven of the churches of that vicinity, and in the figura
tive language of Jewish apocalypse he added a vehement
denunciation of the Roman empire and its head. The
Christ who had gone about in mild friendliness and
sympathy was soon to return as the Lord of the world, to
take vengeance on his foes and establish his kingdom in
the earth. This Christian apocalypse must have been of
great value in maintaining the courage of the church in
those hard times.

GROWTH OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 65
The Epistle to "the Hebrews was probably written to
the church at Rome by someone unknown to us, but fami
Uar with the dangers that menaced that group. The breth
ren there had endured bitter persecution. Now there -was
danger that the lengthening time, the delay in the realiza
tion of the Lord's return, the appeal of the. more spec
tacular Jewish services of religion, and the death of their
leaders, would lead to apathy and even apostasy. The
Epistle is a plea for loyalty to the gospel as in every way
superior to the Jewish institution, and the means of direct
access to God through the redemptive ministry of Jesus,
the great High Priest. OTHER EPISTLES
Another document closely connected with Rome is the
First Epistle of Peter, written by a Christian leader in
the capital to the disciples of Jesus in Asia Minor, en
couraging them in the difficulties they were facing. It was
probably sent out during the days of the Domitian perse
cution, and the writer's reference to Rome as "Babylon"
reveals the sentiment of detestation for Roman tyranny
which had permeated the church.
In the Epistle of James, there is given an example of
the sort of Christian exhortations of which there must
have been great numbers in the first two centuries. It is a
work of practical counsel. It has been thought that the
author was a brother of Jesus, but this tradition is based
upon nothing in the writing itself.
5

66 OUR BIBLE
In many respects the most impressive book in the New
Testament is the Gospel of John. It is less an attempt to
narrate the events in the life of Jesus than to interpret that
life as a whole, and mediate the message of the gospel to
a world which had little use for Jewish forms of speech,
such as filled much of the earlier Christian writings. This
Gospel probably took form early in the second century, and
it may owe its origin to that John the Elder, of Ephesus,
of whom tradition had much to say. The difficulties that
confront the view that it was written by a personal fol
lower of Jesus are apparent, though the expressions in the
epilogue indicate that it was early regarded as the work
of the disciple whom Jesus loved. It is the Gospel of the
incarnation. Professor Goodspeed, in his recently issued
"Story of the New Testament," says : "Its great ideas of
revelation, life, love, truth and freedom, its doctrine of the
spirit as ever guiding the Christian consciousness into
larger vision and achievement, and its insistence upon
Jesus as the supreme revelation of God and the source
of spiritual life, have given it unique and permanent re
ligious worth." THE JOHANNINE EPISTLES
The Epistles of John probably come from the same
hand. The First Epistle was in all likelihood a circular
letter sent to the churches of the Asian district, emphasiz
ing the great ideas of the longer work, particularly the
reality of Jesus' human life, and the necessity of conform-

GROWTH OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 67
ing to his commands. The two shorter epistles may have
been personal messages to friends and comrades in the
faith, to whom the more general writing was sent.
The Epistles to Timothy and Titus appear to be late
directions regarding church organization and efficiency.
It is not unlikely that they are based upon short and gen
uine epistles of Paul, some portions of whose word have
survived in these admirable churchly counsels. But the
Pauline note is almost wholly wanting.
LATER BOOKS
A still later fragment of early Christian writing is
found in the Epistle of Jude. It was a stinging rebuke of
scandalous thinking and conduct in the churches, and
draws much of its symbolism from the lurid pages of
Jewish apocalyptic, like the Book of Enoch. Some time
afterward another writer made use of much of this docu
ment in probably the last book of the New Testament, the
Second Epistle of Peter, another example of that large
body of early Christian literature which grew up around
the name of the apostle.
Already there was a rapidly growing body of writings
issued in the names of apostolic men, and it was the task
of later years to gather into a collection those books which
were thought worthy of that honor, and to exclude all
others. But in that recognized group or canon these
tweiuty-seven books gradually secured their place and
became the Christian Scriptures as we now have them.

VI

The Canon of the Old Testament
CHRISTIANS and other people who use the Bible in
its present form are accustomed to refer to its two
divisions as the Old Testament and the New Testa
ment respectively. This form of speech is based upon the
frequent biblical references to God's covenants with man,
and is a familiar idea with the priestly writers of the
Hebrew literature and some early Christian teachers, such
as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews.
A covenant sometimes has the character of a testa
ment or will. Perhaps it would have been easier for our
generation to understand the names of these two portions
of the Bible if they had been called the Old Covenant and
the New Covenant. But the word testament was formerly
in common use in that sense, and passed into current
employment to designate the two collections. Of course
the Jews, having little interest in the early Christian writ
ings, do not refer to the Hebrew books as the Old Testa
ment, but rather as the Scriptures.
But all of these terms imply that someone at some
time made selection of the documents that comprise these
two venerable collections. The result of this process we
call the Canon. The word means a measuring line, and
was first used by writers of the fourth century A. D. to

CANON OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 69
describe the recognized books of the two groups forming
the Bible. There are no precedents for such a restricted
body of sacred literature among "any of the peoples with
whom the Hebrews and early Christians came into rela
tion. Neither the Babylonians nor the Egyptians had any
such body of religious books distinct from works of a
more general order. The Greeks and Romans had works
of religious poetry and ritual, but nothing in the nature
of a canonical collection. Perhaps the nearest approach
to the biblical grouping is to be found in the case of the
Vedic hymns, which from a period as far back as the days
of Moses, or even earlier, were recognized by the Aryan
Hindus as a collection of songs of the faith. Hebrews
in exile in Persia may also have come to some knowledge
of the Avestan writings. But in all essential features, the
formation of the canon of the earlier and the later biblical
books is unique.
ROMAN CATHOLIC AND PROTESTANT VIEWS
Who was responsible for the beginnings of this pro
cedure, and upon what principles was it conducted? The
question is of interest, as it bears upon the sentiments of
the Hebrew people and the first Christian communities at
various periods in reference to their increasing literature.
Moreover, it is one of the questions upon which Prot
estantism has maintained outstanding opposition to the
theories of the Church of Rome. The latter takes the
ground that the canon of Scripture was determined by

70 OUR BIBLE
the church in the decisions reached in the various coun
cils, particularly the Council of Trent in 1546, confirm
ing the verdicts of previous assemblies. These decisions
asserted the canonicity of the sixty-six books of the Bible
as we now have them, and placed the apocrypha of the
Old Testament upon an almost equally valid basis of
inspiration and authority.
The question was one of the moot points in the
memorable disputation held by Luther with the Roman
Catholic scholar, Dr. Eck, at Leipsig in 1519. In the
course of the discussion the professor from Ingoldstadt
quoted a text from the Second Book of Maccabees in
support of his position. Luther at once challenged this
procedure, on the ground that the passage was not Scrip
ture. Eck maintained that the authority of the church
supported its validity. Then it was that Luther uttered
his notable declaration, "The church can give no more
force or authority to a book than it (the book) has in
itself. That cannot be made to be Scripture which in its
own nature is not Scripture."
LATE BEGINNINGS OF A CANON
On this ground Protestantism has taken its position.
It maintains the claim that there must be in the biblical
books a certain self-evidencing quality which makes its
appeal to the discerning soul quite apart from any external
authority such as the church can contribute by its sanc
tion. No doubt it is of value to know that the Roman

CANON OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 71
Church has recognized the unique character of the docu
ments which compose the Bible. But it is equally impor
tant to understand that the verdict of the church itself
rested upon the practically unanimous conviction of the
entire Christian fellowship, expressed in many forms
through the centuries. The Roman Church merely rati
fied a judgment already reached by the Church of Christ
throughout all the world.
It appears that any thought of a special collection of
Hebrew books must have arisen quite late in the his
tory of the nation. At such a time the total body of
writings from which choice could be made must have
been very considerable. This aggregate consisted of many
different sorts of documents. There were state records,
legal institutes, prophetic narratives like those of the
Judean and Ephraimite sources, biographical sketches, col
lections of hymns and national poems, anthologies of epi
grams and other wisdom materials, fragments of prophetic
preaching, and masses of more popular and perishable
literature, such as an active and successful people pro
duce day by day.
But the first trace of a deliberate effort to place a
particular writing upon the level of approved sanctity and
reverence is observed in connection with the discovery of
a book of laws, in the process of renovating the temple,
in the reign of Josiah, 621 B. C. The code thus brought
to light was made the basis of a drastic national reforma
tion, and was adopted by the people in a sort of solemn

72 OUR BIBLE
league and covenant as the law of the land. Already the
Book of the Covenant, embodying the older legislation of
Israel, had been in circulation for generations as the
authoritative constitution of the state. But from this time
on the new code, which both embraced and superseded
the familiar legal corpus, held the place of power.
The law thus canonized by royal edict and popular
approval is now recognized to have been our Deutero
nomic legislation. It came into Israel's life in a dramatic
manner and at an opportune moment. It possessed the
sanction of the venerated name of Moses; it claimed the
authority of God; and furthermore, it manifested those
inherent qualities of high moral tone, lofty religious pur
pose, and searching appeal which have made it a most
valuable portion of the Hebrew Scriptures.
THE CANON OF THE TORAH
A second stage in the selection of a body of writings
as the norm of the nation's life is witnessed in the days of
the two great reformers, Nehemiah and Ezra. The for
mer probably arrived in Jerusalem as the volunteer gov
ernor of the unhappy province in 445 B. C. The latter
came at the head of a little company of priests and Levites
a few years later, probably in 397 B. C. The item of chief
interest in connection both with Ezra's commission and
his journey is that he brought from the richer and m.ore
highly organized centers of Jewish life in the east a copy
of a document so important that it is frequently referred
to as "the law of God."

CANON OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 73
This nev/ code of law, revising and superseding the
Deuteronomic legislation, appears to have grown out of
the assiduous labors of priests and scribes in the Jewish
schools of the east, whither the exile had driven their
fathers. Since the days of Josiah the nation had fallen.
Its hopes of restoration to political power, tried out in
the melancholy efforts to revive Jerusalem, had all but
failed. Its future success must lie in the effort to observe
with rigorous minuteness the divine will as embodied in
rules of conduct. Ezekiel had outlined such a state and
the laws by which it ought to be controlled. A priest, the
author of the central chapters of the Book of Leviticus,
had produced the "Law of Holiness." On the basis of
these materials the Priest Code took shape. And soon
after, the Books of Moses, as they were called, reached
their present form, including the prophetic laws and narra
tives of the Judean and Ephraimite sources, the Deutero
nomic material, the "Holiness" institutes, and the Priest
Code. This body of writings, fitted into the matrix of
the priestly narratives, became the recognized "Book of
the Law of Moses."
In an assembly like the one in Josiah's day, this vol
ume was read, adopted as "a sure covenant," and sol
emnly sealed, with a curse upon the indifferent. In this
impressive manner a part of the extant Hebrew literature
become Holy Scripture. From that day forth this group
of writings was the Torah, the Law of Moses, the will of
God. Nothing ever compared with it in sanctity. Grad-

74 OUR BIBLE
ually it rose from one level of veneration to another
through the years, till it was confidently affirmed, first
that Moses wrote the whole of it, and then that it was
penned in heaven, and delivered to the immortal law
giver through ranks of angels. It is possible to say with
assurance, then, that this first section of the Old Testa
ment to be recognized as Scripture, became canonical soon
after the year 400 B. C.
THE CANON OF THE PROPHETS
At that date the second group of our Old Testament
books, the Prophets, had not attained the rank of canonic
ity. We know this by two tokens. The first is the fact
that the Samaritans, who at some period subsequent to
the reformation of Ezra separated themselves forever
from all relationship with the Jewish community, adopted
the Five Books of Moses, almost in the precise form in
which we have them, as their canon of sacred Scripture,
but rejected all the other parts of the Old Testament.
That Torah of Moses they keep to this day in a highly
revered and very ancient scroll. The second fact is the
exalted regard in which the Books of Chronicles, written
about 300 B. C, hold the Law of Moses, while they employ
with the utmost freedom, and alter without hesitation,
the prophetic books.
But by the year 200 B. C. the eight Books of the
Prophets — Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jere
miah, Ezekiel and the Roll of the Twelve (meaning the

CANON OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 75
twelve Minor Prophets, from Hosea to Malachi) — were
accorded canonical recognition. The author of The Wis
dom of Jesus the Son of Sirach lived about that time.
He refers to the Law and the Prophets as acknowledged
Scripture in his time. This provides a satisfactory assur
ance of the inclusion of this second group in the canon.
There still remained the miscellaneous books, more
or less concerned with religion, but far less revered than
those already mentioned. By the time the prophetic list
was organized, no doubt a large portion of the abundant
literature of previous generations had yielded to the vicis
situdes of time, and disappeared. The nation had passed
through such tragedies as might well dissipate all but the
most highly prized and carefully preserved of its literary
treasures. Certain it is that a large part of the total body
of Israel's writings have perished. There were, however,
at hand the great works of poetry like the Psalms, Prov
erbs, and Job, each the result of patient gleaning and
revision; the Five Rolls comprising Canticles, Ruth, La
mentations, Ecclesiastes and Esther ; and two other works,
the pseudonymous apocalypse of Daniel, and the priestly
record of national events, Chronicles, with its continu
ations in Ezra-Nehemiah.
Some of these books were quite late. In Jesus' ref
erence to the sweep of events from the death of Abel to
that of Zachariah he seems to imply the very late date
of the Books of Chronicles in which the second of these
incidents is recorded. Daniel was probably written about

76 OUR BIBLE
164 B. C, and the Book of Psalms may have received its
final editing as late as 150 B. C. It is not unlikely that
the Maccabean struggle created the desire to preserve as
much as possible of the national literature from destruc
tion. There are evidences that not all of the books in
cluded in the canon were admitted without debate, for
Esther, Canticles and Ecclesiastes were held doubtful by
some. The Greek translation of the Old Testament, made
for use in Egypt, was begun about two hundred and fifty
years before Christ, but not completed till long afterward,
and certain portions of the material were supplied from
other sources. So that the Septuagint, or LXX, as it is
usually called, is not a sure index of the time at which
the canon of the Old Testament was completed.
THE CANON OF THE WRITINGS
In the year 132 B. C. the grandson of Jesus ben
Sirach, whose work has been mentioned, made a trans
lation of his ancestor's Hebrew writing, into Greek. In
a prologue prepared for this edition he mentions three
times over "the Law, the Prophets, and the Other Books."
In this phrase there seems to be a reference to three groups
of writings, although one cannot be sure that the last was
a definitely fixed list. It is known that as late as the first
century B. C. the schools of Shammai and Hillel, con
servative and progressive respectively, debated the ques
tion as to whether the Book of Ecclesiastes "defiled the
hands" (i. e., was canonical).

CANON OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 77
In the New Testament it is assumed that the three
sections of the Old Testament canon were accepted and
understood. The Master referred to the things written
in the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms (i. e., the Writ
ings, whose first book was the Psalms) concerning him
self. In much the same manner Philo, the Jewish histor
ian, who lived in the first half of the first Christian
century, referred in frequent quotations to the Old Testa
ment as a work well known and of fixed content ; and the
same is true of Josephus, who wrote early in the second
century. By the time of the Jewish Council of Jamnia
in 113 A. D., the canon of the Hebrew v/ritings had passed
beyond debate. In general, then, it may be said that the
canon of the Law was fixed in the days of Ezra; that of
the Prophets by 200 B. C, and that of at least the major
portion of the Writings as early as 132 B. C.
If it be asked what was the final criterion by which
a book was judged, it may be responded with a fair degree
of assurance that those books which were written in the
Hebrew language were at last recognized as canonical.
And if the work above referred to, the Wisdom of ben
Sirach, seems to be an exception, it must be remembered
that it only became current in its later Greek form, though
in recent years portions of the Hebrew original have
appeared. It is not easy to discover what other ground
of decision there could have been that would admit books
like Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs and exclude the
Wisdom of Solomon and ben Sirach. But by the time the

78 OUR BIBLE
final verdicts were reached, the Hebrew tongue was so
far a thing of the past as to be classic, and for that reason
sacred. It seems reasonable therefore to accept the view that
in the last issue the canon of the Old Testament was deter
mined by the fact that certain works survived in the
ancient language of the nation, and were therefore held
to be sacred; and that the collection as we have it is the
total surviving literature produced by the Hebrew people
during the period when their speech was still current.

VII
The Canon of the New Testament
THE process of making a collection of early Chris
tian writings which should serve the same pur
pose as the Hebrew canon for the Synagogue, was
so gradual, and in a manner so unconscious, that no
definite account of it can be given.
The Hebrew Scripture, which we now call the Old
Testament, formed the acknowledged sacred writings
of the first Christian communities. It is probable that
these Scriptures, even included the apocryphal books.
Because of the fact that most of the first generation of
the followers of Jesus were Jews, the older books of
their race, generally used in the Greek version called
the Septuagint, or LXX, were to them inspired and
authoritative. They searched them for hints of the
Messianic hope. The Book of Psalms was their hymn-
book. They needed no other holy books in the begin
ning of the movement.
But when their own literature began to take form
and multiply, it was inevitable that they should face
the problem as to the kind of writings suitable for read
ing in the public worship. This was an entirely simple
and practical question, and did not at first involve the
broader inquiry as to the canonical value of such books.

80 OUR BIBLE
Nonetheless, those writings which gained recognition
in the churches as profitable for use in the worship held
the priority as candidates for any subsequent inclusion
in a reserved and canonized group.
Aside from the Old Testament, which was employed
in the Septuagint translation, those churches which
received letters from men of apostolic standing would
be sure to employ them in worship. Epistles like those
of Paul to the Thessalonians, Galatians and Philippians
would be held in great esteem by those congregations,
and preserved for frequent use in the public service.
In like manner those epistles, like the ones to the
churches in Colosse and Laodicea, which Paul directed
their recipients to exchange, would certainly be pre
served in copies by both groups, and employed as of
lectional value. Hardly less important were the cir
cular letters, like Romans, 1 Peter and perhaps Ephe
sians. These also would find a place in the list of
writings held sacred by those churches. But by the
Christian communities at large the epistles did not come
into general esteem until after the Gospels were recog
nized as in some sense authoritative.
EARLY LISTS
The first reference to a body of books used for read
ing in the public worship is found in the writings of
Justin Martyr (died 165 A. D.), who speaks of the three
Gospels (the Synoptic group) along with the Prophets

CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 81
of the Old Testament as having this rank. Soon after
ward Tatian, a disciple of Justin's, prepared a composite
narrative of the life of Jesus for the use of the church
at Edessa. This was woven together out of the four
Gospels, and was called the Diatessaron, or narrative
"according to the Four."
The list of books named by Marcion (about 140 A. D.)
does not throw light on church usage, for he had a
special purpose in directing attention to the teaching of
Paul, which he thought was falling into neglect. His
canon consisted of a modified Gospel of Luke, and ten
epistles of Paul, the Pastorals being excluded. Here
for the first time epistles take rank with the Gospel
records. The thirty years from Justin Martyr to Irenaeus of
Lyons (177-202 A. D.) witnessed a rapid but unrecorded
growth of opinion regarding the right of most of our
present New Testament books to a recognized place in
a canon of Scripture. In the writings of the latter the
Epistles take rank with the Gospels (though Hebrews is
not mentioned), and the entire list is lifted from casual
use by the churches to the plane of authoritative Scrip
ture. Who was responsible for this development is un
known. Perhaps Irenaeus himself. At any rate, the
dangers to apostolic teaching from the inroad of hereti
cal, particularly Gnostic, opinion, rendered it necessary
to possess some standard of appeal in a body of books
vested with apostolic character.
6

82 OUR BIBLE
Passing over Marcion's partial and biased Hst, the
earliest known canon of New Testament writings is
found in the Muratorian Fragment. In 1740 an Italian
scholar named Muratori found in the Ambrosian
Library at Milan, in a monk's notebook dating from the
seventh or eighth century, a mutilated extract of a list
of New Testament books made at Rome before the
close of the second century. The fragment starts in
the middle of a sentence, referring to Peter's connection
with the Second Gospel, and proceeds to name Luke as
the third Gospel and John as the fourth. Presumably
it dealt with all four of the evangelists as we have them.
It speaks of Acts as the work of Luke. It mentions
thirteen epistles of Paul, thus including the Pastorals,
but excluding Hebrews. It recognizes Jude, two epis
tles of John, and the Book of Revelation. It includes
also the Wisdom of Solomon and the Apocalypse of
Peter, though with reserve in the case of the last named.
This document thus includes most of our New Testa
ment books ; but it is noticeable that Hebrews, 1 and 2
Peter, James and one of the epistles of John are not
named. The Shepherd of Hermas is referred to as
profitable reading.
At the opening of the third century there is an
anonymous writing- which has been attributed by some
to Victor of Rome (200-230 A. D.). Reference is made
in it to the three divisions of Scripture: Prophetic
writings— the prophets of the Old Testament, the

CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 83
Apocalypse, and Hermas; the Gospels; and the Apos
tolic writings — Paul, 1 John and Hebrews. It will
be noticed that this list omits Acts, James, 1 and 2 Peter,
2 and 3 John, and Jude. Neither this nor the list in the
Muratori Fragment can be regarded as a certain guide
to church usage in that period, for their authors are
unknown. But they are valuable as throwing light
upon the growing process of selecting a list of authori
tative books to which appeal could be made in the
refutation of heresy. THE EASTERN CHURCH
In the eastern church, Clement of Alexandria (165-
220 A. D.) acknowledges the four Gospels and Acts,
and fourteen epistles of Paul, thus including Hebrews.
He also quotes from 1 and 2 John, 1 Peter, Jude and
Revelation. He does not refer to James, 2 Peter or 3
John. But it is difficult to determine his views regard
ing the authentic list of sacred writings, for he also
quotes in much the same manner from Barnabas, Clem
ent of Rome, Hennas, the Preaching of Peter, the
Apocalypse of Peter, and the Sibylline Writings.
According to Eusebius, he had a collection of New Tes
tament books in two volumes which he called "The
Gospel" and "The Epistle" respectively.
Somewhat more conclusive is the testimony of Origen
(184-253 A. D.), the greatest of the Greek church fathers.
He mentions as authoritative the books of the Old Tes-

84 OUR BIBLE
tament as we have them, and portions of the apocrypha,
particularly 1 Maccabees. He includes in the canon of
the New Testament the four Gospels, Acts, thirteen
epistles of Paul, Hebrews, 1 Peter, 1 John and Revela
tion. He does not directly mention James or Jude.
He speaks of 2 Peter and 2 and 3 John as in dispute,
and in more doubtful words refers to the Gospel of the
Hebrews, the Gospels of Peter and James, the Acts of
Paul, the Shepherd of Hermas, and Barnabas. But all
his commentaries are upon books in our New Testa
ment canon.
An important contribution to the settlement of the
question of canonicity was made by Eusebius of Caesarea
(270-341 A. D.), the eminent church historian. He
made three lists of books: First, those that were ad
mitted by all, including the four Gospels, Acts, the
Epistles of Paul, reckoned to be fourteen in number,
1 Peter, I.John and (with some hesitation) Revelation.
Second, those books that were widely accepted, though
held doubtful by some; these included James, Jude, 2
Peter, 2 and 3 John. Third, those regarded by him as
spurious, including the Acts of Paul, the Shepherd of
Hermas, the Apocalypse of Peter, and the Teaching of
the Twelve Apostles. At the order of the Emperor
Constantine, Eusebius had fifty copies of the Scriptures
prepared in elaborate form for the use of the churches
of Constantinople. These copies naturally conformed
to his rule of canonicity, and assisted in fixing it.

CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 85
From this time onward the eastern church continued
to hold much the same view. Athanasius (246-273 A. D.)
gives a list of New Testament books which agrees with
our own. So also does Epiphanius (315-403 A. D.).
Cyril of Jerusalem (350-386 A. D.) differs from them
only in omitting Revelation. A little later (395 A. D.)
appeared a versified list of the books of the New
Testament by Amphilochius of Iconium, in which are
found all the books as we have them excepting the
"Revelation. Chrysostom, the famous Patriarch of Con
stantinople (died 405 A. D.) gives no formal list of the
books, but in his voluminous writings makes no men
tion of Revelation, or 2 Peter, or either of the three
epistles of John. In an appendix to the eighth book of
the Apostolical Constitutions there is a document which
may go back to the fourth century A. D., which places
ben Sirach after the Old Testament, and follows it with
the four Gospels, fourteen epistles of Paul (including
Hebrews), the two epistles of Peter, the three of John,
James, Jude, the two epistles of Clement, the eight
books of the Apostolical Constitutions, and Acts. This,
like some of the others, omits Revelation.
THE WESTERN CHURCH
In the western church at this period Augustine (354-
430 A. D.) discussed the canon in a lengthy treatise,
dividing the book into two lists, those which all received,
and those regarding which there was some question.

86 OUR BIBLE
In the case of the latter group he thought the usage of
the churches, particularly the more important ones,
should decide. His final verdict agrees with our own
New Testament. Jerome (346-420 A. D.), whose Latin
version, the Vulgate, did more to fix the canon than
any other single influence, accepts the same list as his
great contemporary, noting that there have been ques
tions regarding James, Jude, Hebrews and Revelation.
He remarks that 2 and 3 John have been attributed to
a certain presbyter John, of Ephesus.
None of the early church councils seem to have given
pronouncement on the subject of the canon, if a pos
sible decision of the Council of Laodicea (about 360 A.
D.) be excepted. This approves the Old Testament,
Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah, and all the New
Testament with the exception of Revelation. But this
testimony is questionable. In the west, the Third Coun
cil of Carthage (397 A. D.) ordered that nothing be read
as Scripture in the churches except the Canonical Scrip
tures, which are named as the Old Testament, the entire
apocrypha, and the New Testament in its present
form. It -waa probably but small effect which these
consiliar decisions had upon the growing verdict of the
church. It was rather the immense influence of Augus
tine, and the wtdespread use of Jerome's Vulgate which
put an end to the discussion for centuries.
During all this time, if there had been question as to
why these particular 'books were included in the received

CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 87
canon, the reply would doubtless have been that tradi
tion and usage accepted them as the work of the
apostles, or at least of apostolic men. But the Revival
of Learning, and the Reformation which followed it,
turned attention to the subject afresh. The reformers
appealed to an authoritative Scripture as over against
the authoritative Church of Rome. But this appeal
necessitated careful inquiry into the nature and validity
of the Bible. Were these books which had been ac
cepted for centuries as apostolic actually the writings of
the first interpreters of Jesus?
THE REFORMATION VIEW
Erasmus doubted that the Epistle to the Hebrews
was either by Paul or Luke; he did not think 2 Peter
could have been the work of that apostle; and he dis
believed that Revelation was from the hand of the evan
gelist John. He did not question the worth of these
books, nor their right to a place in the canon ; he only
denied their apostolic origin. But this was also to
invalidate the familiar criterion of apostolic genesis.
Luther was equally bold in his challenge of the tradi
tional views of biblical authorship. In this he held
ground similar to that taken by some of the Roman
Catholic scholars of his day. Cardinal Cajetan, in the
Augsburg disputation with Luther, questioned whether
Hebrews was either Pauline or canonical, and doubted
whether 2 and 3 John and Jude should be included.

88 OUR BIBLE
The reformers insisted that the contents, not the
authorship, of New Testament books must determine
their canonicity. Luther's criterion was the conformity
of a book to his great principle of justification by faith.
He held, therefore, that the epistles of Paul — especially
Romans, Galatians and Ephesians — 1 Peter and the
Fourth Gospel were the most important books of the
collection. He placed Hebrews, James, Jude and Reve
lation at the end of his translation, as having a some
what different tone. He was very free in his discussion
of the relative merits of the various books. But he
included them all in his translation. Calvin had a dif
ferent rule, regarding the testimony of the Holy Spirit
within the books as the test of their canonicity. He
passed over 2 and 3 John and the Revelation without
notice, and expressed doubts regarding 2 Peter, James
and Jude, Luther's friend Carlstadt arranged the Bible
in three divisions. The Pentateuch and the four Gos
pels ; the prophets of the Old Testament and the Epistles
of the New, including thirteen of Paul, 1 Peter and 1
John; and the Writings, or Hagiographa, of the Old
Testament and the seven disputed books of the New.
Thus in spite of wide variety of opinion regarding the
origin of the New Testament books, the reformers did
not alter the canon.
The first official and general pronouncement made
upon the question was the declaration of the Council of
Trent (1546 A. D.), which uttered anathema upon any-

CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 89
one refusing to accept as canonical all the books con
tained in the Vulgate version of the Scriptures. This
fixed the apocrypha along with the Old Testament as
an accepted part of the Roman Catholic Bible. In the
New Testament, Romanists and Protestants hold the
validity of the same books. The many versions of the
Bible issued in various languages by the Protestant
churches have made familiar their collection and ar
rangement of the various portions of Holy Scripture.
LATER OPINIONS
In recent years the problems relating to the canon
have given way in large measure to the more important
inquiries suggested by biblical criticism. This disci
pline has gone afresh into the matters of authorship and
date with valuable results for biblical study. But the
canon remains unaffected, for the reason that it rests
today mainly upon tradition and usage. If the apos
tolic authorship once affirmed of practically all the
books cannot longer be claimed, at least a certain apos
tolic atmosphere and feeling is discoverable in all. To
this is to be added their place in the church through
the years, which invests them with a veneration not to
be questioned; and, above all, their inherent value, as
aids to the interpretation of the early Christian ideal
and character.
It must be borne in mind, however, that, valuable as
the opinion of the early church may have been in regard

90 OUR BIBLE
to the canonicity of certain books, and important as the
confirmation of that verdict by the church through
the centuries may be for belief and comfort today, yet
it is the conviction of the individual mind at last which
must determine what for itself shall be the limits of
Holy Scripture. In reality our Bible, the Bible we know
and reverence, consists of just those books we actually
use, and which have proved their power to find and in
spire us. It is useless for anyone to insist that his
Bible has in it a list of books which the church, or the
beliefs of his fathers, or any other validation, has
approved. In the final issue the canon of any Christian
is the group of books he uses as the Word of God. We
are the makers of our own individual canons, just as
the Christian world has always chosen deliberately and
perhaps half unconsciously its Scripture.
And if that historic process of canon fixing were to
begin all over again, and were to be submitted afresh
to all classes of people, and if there were to be added
to the material available for choice all the books writ
ten in all the lands since the Bible took form, the result
would be the same. These sixty-six books would emerge
once more from the process, a new, yet venerable aggre
gation of writings upon the high themes of God and
religion. They have proved their worth through the
ages. And to the end of time they are destined to go
on proving themselves to be the divine word to men,
the supreme literature of the race.

VIII
Translations and Revisions of
the Bible
NINE days southeast of Suez by caravan, in a cleft
of the mountains is the Greek monastery of St.
Catherine. Tradition, rather late and not par
ticularly convincing, located here the scenes of impor
tant incidents in the life of Moses, and on the neighbor
ing mountain the place of the dispensation of the law.
In the monastery there is a library containing many
old and precious manuscripts. During the two or three
hours daily in which light penetrates the obscure spaces
of the library, those who have made the long journey,
and have the proper official permission, may examine,
and even, for a consideration, copy the documents here
treasured, for neither lights nor fire are permitted.
Here, in 1844, Constantine Tischendorf of Leipsig
discovered in a basket of refuse some leaves of a very
old Greek manuscript of the Bible. He was not permit
ted to see the remainder of the material, and two sub
sequent visits were necessary before he was able to
secure, by the authority of the Czar of Russia, the
entire document, containing the complete New Testament,
portions of the Old, and in addition the books of Barna
bas and Hermas. In this same library two sisters from
Cambridge, Mrs. Lewis and Mrs. Gibson, found in 1892 a

92 OUR BIBLE
palimpsest of the Syriac Gospels. On three later visits
these ladies photographed the entire manuscript, which
is now published and available to scholarship.
In such places the various ancient versions of the
Scriptures were preserved. Hundreds of such reposi
tories have yielded up their secrets in modern times to
afford students of the Bible the means of comparing
and correcting the text of the two Testaments and the
extra-canonical books. For wherever the religion of
the Hebrews went, there copies of the Scriptures were
in demand and had to be supplied either in the original
language or in some translation. And wherever Chris
tianity has gone in its world-encircling expansion, there
versions of both New and Old Testaments have been
sure to take form in due time.
NEED OF TRANSLATIONS
The Old Testament, as already noted, was written
in the Hebrew tongue, all save a few chapters of
Daniel, a portion of Ezra, and a single verse of Jeremiah.
But the wars of Alexander carried the Greek speecli
out into the East, and made it the language of culture
in all the Levant. There were many Jews living in
Egypt in the third century before Christ. About 250
B. C, a Greek translation of the Old Testament was
projected. Tradition affirmed that it was prepared at
the order of Ptolemy Philadelphus by seventy-two
translators. It was probably undertaken by the Jewish

TRANSLATIONS AND REVISIONS 93
community as the only means of access to the Scrip
tures. The work was accomplished by various people
through a period of a hundred and fifty years. It was
a free and not very accurate translation of the Old Testa
ment books. But it was the form in which most Jews
of Jesus' day knew their Scriptures, and the writers of
the New Testament nearly always quoted from this
version. The official language of the Roman empire was
Latin. It was almost inevitable that this speech should
in time displace the Greek, as the Christian church
developed its liturgies and literature. Accordingly,
Latin versions of the Bible, including both Testaments,
were in circulation as early as the first half of the third
century. These are variously known as the Old Latin
and the Itala versions. But the most important edition
of the Scriptures in the language of Rome was the
Vulgate, made by Jerome, an accomplished scholar and
churchman, the later years of whose life were spent in
Bethlehem. Here in fourteen years (390-404 A. D.)
he brought out a complete translation of the Bible, in
cluding the apocrypha, which has remained ever since
the accepted text of the Roman Catholic Church.
Many popular translations of the Scriptures into
the various languages of the East were made in the
early Christian centuries. There were many communi
ties of Syrian Christians, and for them Syriac transla
tions were made both of the Old and New Testaments.

94 OUR BIBLE
The Jewish people, who had entirely lost the use of
their classic tongue by the beginning of the Christian
era, made for synagogue use versions of the Old Testa
ment called Targums, which were sometimes fairly
accurate renderings of the Hebrew text into the Aramaic
of common speech, and sometimes free paraphrases
which made no effort to be literal. For the Christian
population of Egypt several Coptic versions of all or
portions of the Bible were made in the fifth and sixth
centuries. At the southern end of the Red Sea in
Abyssinia, the Sheba of the Hebrew writers, there were
likewise Christian influences at work early in the his
tory of the church. There in the fifth century appeared
a version of the Bible in the Ethiopic language. In the
region which we now know as Serbia and Bulgaria,
Ulfilas, the apostle of the gospel to the Goths, lived
and wrought in the latter part of the fourth century.
He translated the Scriptures into the Gothic language,
the speech of the barbarians who had raided the districts
of Cappadocia and carried off his parents a generation
before. A contemporary naively says that he trans
lated "all the books of the Scripture with the exception
of the books of Kings, which he omitted because they
are a mere narrative of military exploits, and the Gothic
tribes were especially fond of war."
A Slavonic translation was made in the early cen
turies for the Slavic peoples, particularly the Bulgars.
For the Armenian communities of Asia Minor a version

TRANSLATIONS AND REVISIONS 95
of the Bible seems to have been made in the fifth pen-
tury. Among the Christians of Syria and Egypt who
were overwhelmed by the Arab wave of conquest in
the seventh century, there appeared translations of the
Scriptures into Arabic. It will be noticed that in these
instances the effort was made either to supply a Jewish
or Christian community with the Scriptures for pur
poses of study and worship, or to provide the material
for missionary extension of the Christian faith.
Similar activities have produced the hundreds of
versions of the Scriptures now available for Christian
education in all the lands to which the gospel has been
carried. One of the most remarkable collections of
books in the world is the library of the British and
Foreign Bible Society. Hardly less interesting is that of
the American Bible Society. There are gathered copies
of all the attainable versions of the Scriptures since
printing was invented, and many manuscript editions
are shown. There are books of the curious and fascinat
ing tongues to which only specialists have access. There
are the copies of the Old and New Testament such as
one sees on the shelves of the Bible dispensaries in
Tokyo, Shanghai, Singapore, Rangoon, Bombay, Co
lombo, Cairo and Constantinople. There are the Bibles
which have had romantic and fateful personal histories,
as the possessions of soldiers, sailors, explorers and
adventurers in various parts of the world, Bibles with
bullet holes and sabre thrusts, Bibles stained with the

96 OUR BIBLE
blood of missionary martyrs, and Bibles blotted with
the red ochre of official censors. And besides, there are
the quaint and curious Bibles in the early forms of our
own speech; Bibles representing all the stages of our
English Scripture; Bibles with grotesque errors, like
the "Wicked Bible," the "Breeches Bible," and others
whose printers were punished for their mistakes.
THE ENGLISH BIBLE
And that leads naturally to the story of the Bible
in our own mother-tongue. This story is illustrative of
what has been done, or must be done, in every language
in which the Scriptures are presented. For language is
a fluid thing. It does not remain fixed for a day. There
is therefore constant need of retranslation and revision,
lest the Word of God be left in archaic and outworn
form. Fifty dictionaries of the English language have
been issued since the King James Version of the Bible
made its appearance in 1611. And if the ceaseless labor
of Bible translatiah and revision has been the price of
the measure of biblical knowledge we possess, not less
essential has been the same process in all other lands
where biblical studies are to be kept fresh and timely.
And a similar future of splendid labor awaits the grow
ing Christian communities in the mission fields, where
the first partial or imperfect versions of the Scriptures
are now appearing.
Two impressive names gather to themselves the

TRANSLATIONS AND REVISIONS 97
values of the story of the English Bible. Of all the
work which preceded the art of printing, John Wyclif
is the common denominator, and of that which has taken
form since, William Tyndale is the representative.
In 597 A. D. the missionary Augustine landed in
Kent, on the southern shore of England. His preach
ing was not the first Christian message that Britain
had heard, for from the second century there had
been confessors of the faith. From his day the
growth was rapid. But culture was rare, and the
need of copies of the Scripture was little felt. Caedmon
of Whitby set some of the stories of the Bible into
poetic paraphrase as early as 670 A. D. A little later,
about 700 A. D., Aldhelm, bishop of Sherborne, pre
pared a version of the Psalms partly in prose and partly
in verse. The best known Christian scholar of that age
was Bede, a monk of Yarrow on the Tyne, who died in
735 A. D. The last book of his version of the Bible to
be translated was the Fourth Gospel, and he finished it
in the closing hours of his life.
King Alfred of England, justly called the Great
(849-901 A. D.), did much to revive the Christian
religion in the realm. He translated portions of the
Scriptures into the vernacular, particularly the Psalms.
He prefixed to the laws of the kingdom a version of the
Ten Commandments and parts of Exodus. The earliest
known appearance of the Gospels in English is a para
phrase by a priest named Aldred, who about 950 wrote
7

98 OUR BIBLE
it between the lines of a Latin copy of the Gospels.
Aelfric of Peterborough about 1000 A. D. made a copy
of the Gospels, and later added several books of the Old
Testament, as well as Judith and Maccabees from the
apocrypha. Soon afterward William the Conqueror came with
his Normans to crush the Saxons. The Battle of Hastings
in 1066 was the beginning of a total change in language,
manners and customs. Little was done to promote
Bible translation in the first centuries of Norman rule,
but two or three versions of the Psalms in the new
language served ten make it familiar and acceptable.
John Wyclif.
Out of the stormy period which prevailed in Eng
land from the Conquest till the Reformation there rises
the impressive figure of John Wyclif. He was an Oxford
man, a scholar of distinction, and one of the "morning
stars" of the new era of enlightenment and religious
reform. They were restless times in which he lived.
Political and social troubles made the reign of Richard
II memorable. Wat Tyler's rebellion was a sign of the
times. Famine and plague were frequent. Chaucer
was singing the first songs of English poetry. Men
were eager for a better order, but church and state were
unawakened. Wyclif saw that one of the greatest needs of the
hour was a Bible that the people could use. He there-

TRANSLATIONS AND REVISIONS 99
fore planned a translation of the entire Latin Vulgate
into the English tongue, which was now settling itself
into a combination of the older Saxon and the Norman-
French which had come in at the Conquest. This
translation appeared about 1382, and was soon popular
ized by the traveling preachers whom Wyclif organized
and sent out through the country. They were known
as "Lollards," and performed a very great service in
awakening the public mind on religious themes. .
Soon afterward, as early as 1388, a revision of
Wyclif's Bible appeared, probably the work of his friend
and pupil, John Purvey. This became more popular
than Wyclif's own work, and largely superseded it. On
the foundation of biblical knowledge laid by these ver
sions of the Scriptures the English Reformation was
built. It must be kept in mind that as yet no printed
copies of the Word of God had appeared. All the Bibles
were in manuscript form, and therefore expensive. More
than this, the practice of reading the Bible was under
the ban of the state. Men were fined for possessing or
distributing any part of the Scriptures, and even worse
penalties were at times inflicted. This was the usual
method of suppressing heresy.
tyndale's work
About a hundred years after the death of Wyclif,
whose bones were dug up and burned as a mark of royal
condemnation of the reforms he had set going, William

100 OUR BIBLE
Tyndale was born in 1484. In the meantime Gutenberg
in 1455 had printed from movable type the first com
plete Latin Bible, and the study of Hebrew and Greek
had made great advances under the influence of the
Revival of Learning. The printing press, which began
its work in Germany in 1454, was brought by Caxton
into England in 1470. Tyndale studied both at Oxford
and Cambridge, and was so deeply stirred by the intel
lectual and religious needs of the time that his rejoinder
to a churchman of his day has become classic, "If God
spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that
driveth the plow shall know more of the Scriptures than
thou doest."
Compelled to seek refuge in flight from England,
he went to Germany, and with the help of friends, pub
lished two editions of the New Testament in 1525, which
were smuggled into England, and met instant accept
ance. Henry VIII used every effort to suppress this
work, and many copies were publicly burned. But its
popularity increased with the efforts made to suppress
it. Tyndale himself, still in exile, in 1530 set about the
completion of his work by the translation of the Old
Testament, which, however, he did not live to complete.
For in 1536, in spite of all the efforts of his friends to
keep him safe in his retreat in Antwerp, he was be
trayed into the hands of imperial officers, tried, con
demned, strangled and burned.
The last words of Tyndale were, "Lord, open the

TRANSLATIONS AND REVISIONS 101
king of England's eyes." Miles Coverdale, the next in
the illustrious list of translators, did much to realize
the martyr's prayer. He published the first complete
Bible in the English language about 1535. It was
printed on the continent, but seems to have won the
favor of the authorities, including the king, Thomas
Cromwell and Bishop Cranmer. From this time onward
Bible translation and publication became the order of
the day. The work of Wyclif and Tyndale came to its
fruition. A friend and co-worker of Tyndale's, John Rogers,
brought out the so-called "Matthew Bible" in 1537.
This was really the continuation of the work of Tyndale
and Coverdale, and yet it received the sanction of Henry
VIII hardly more than a year after Tyndale's martyr
dom. In 1539 Coverdale published a revision of his
Bible, which because of its larger and more sumptuous
form was called "The Great Bible." Several editions
of this book were published, and it was scattered
widely among the churches of England for the uses of
public worship.
In the reign of Mary, the persecuting daughter
of Henry, many of the reformers were compelled
to take refuge on the continent. A company of
these in Switzerland prepared a revision of the
Scriptures which was known as the Geneva Bible,
and became very popular. This was completed
in 1560. In 1563 Archbishop Parker began with the

102 OUR BIBLE
aid of other churchmen a revision of the Great Bible.
This appeared under the title of the Bishop's Bible, and
soon superseded the other work in the usage of the
established church. About the same period, other work
ers than the Geneva exiles produced upon the continent
the Douai and Rheims Bible, an English edition for
Roman Catholics. This work appeared in 1609.
THE AUTHORIZED VERSION
King James I, the successor of Queen EHzabeth, came
to the throne in 1603. The multitude of editions of
the Scriptures which had taken form since the days
of Wyclif, differing as they did in many features and
based upon many different sources, demanded the prep
aration of a standard English edition of the Scriptures.
In 1611 a royal commission, representing the two Uni
versities and the City of London, completed the work
which has for the past three centuries been the
"Authorized Version." It represented the best scholar
ship of the time. Its stately and beautiful literary style
has made it an unfailing source of satisfaction to the
English-speaking world. Though its reception into
popular favor was slow, it won its way, and has
remained until our own time the familiar and cherished
version of the Bible.
But it is a far call from 1611 to our day. The changes
which have come over our language have been revolu
tionary. Words do not now mean what they did in

TRANSLATIONS AND REVISIONS 103
King James' reign. More than this, much new material
for the correction of the original text of the Bible has
come to hand through the discovery of other -texts and
versions, and the light thrown upon the Bible by archaeo
logical science. Textual and literary criticism have made
their contributions to the study of the Word of God. A
new edition of the Book became imperative. The pub
lication of numerous private versions added force to
this demand.
In 1870 a beginning was made by the organization
of two Commissions, one of English scholars, and one
of Americans. The work was prosecuted with diligence
until in 1881 the New Testament was published. On
the morning of May 20 of that year, the entire New
Testament, cabled from London, was printed in the
New York Herald, and two days later it was printed
entire in the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Times.
Three years later the Revised Old Testament appeared,
the work of these two Commissions.
In various points the judgment of the English
revisers differed from that of the American group. It
was therefore arranged that the separate readings of
the latter should appear in an appendix, and that, after
the expiration of the copyright period of fourteen years,
an edition should be issued giving the American read
ings in the text itself. During the years that followed,
the American Committee continued its labors, in prep
aration for the publication of the American edition.

104 OUR BIBLE
But just before the expiration of the time limit set, the
Oxford and Cambridge Presses published an American
Revised Version, giving in the text the readings of the
American Committee fourteen years before.
This action was regarded as most unwarranted by
the American Committee, as it failed entirely to repre
sent the status of biblical scholarship at the time of its
appearance in 1899. Accordingly in 1901 the American
Committee published the American Standard Bible,
under the imprint of Thomas Nelson and Sons of New
York. This is the latest, and by far the best, of the
Revised Versions, which have in informed circles of
Bible study largely displaced the archaic readings of the
King James Version of 1611.
Many other versions have appeared in recent years,
attempting to render the Bible more intelligible by
means of modern forms of speech or such arrangements
of the text as will serve to illustrate its literary features.
Of the former sort, the Twentieth Century New Testa
ment, now being expanded to include the Old Testa
ment, is an admirable example. Of the latter. Dr. R. G.
Moulton's "Modern Reader's Bible" is a convenient and
excellent illustration. But in the nature of the case,
the Revised Version of thc Bible is destined to hold the
popular place. Like the Authorized Version, its gen
eral acceptance will be a matter of growth, but its
superiority for general use is a commonplace of informed
biblical study today.

IX
Textual Criticism
THE Hebrew of the Old Testament books was a
speech closely related to the other Semitic languages,
like the Babylonian, Phoenician and Arabic. It was
written in an alphabet much more archaic than the square
so-called Hebrew letters of our common Hebrew texts,
which are in reality Aramaic, the sort which superseded
the classic form some centuries B. C. Examples of the
older writing, such as that in which most parts of the Old
Testament were written, are to be found in the Moabite
inscription of King Mesha of the period of 800 B. C,
in the Siloam inscription of the reign of Hezekiah, and
in Phoenician inscriptions.
No portion of the Old Testament has survived in
original documents. The earliest specimens of biblical
Hebrew are found in certain fragments whose date is not
earlier than the tenth century A. D. From later times
great numbers of such manuscripts of the Old Testament
text are extant. They owe their preservation to the care
with which they were handled in the synagogues of the
Jewish people. But examination of their character shows
that they all go back to a single edition of the text, pre
pared by Jewish scholars in the second Christian century,
at which time the variant readings were eliminated and

106 OUR BIBLE
imperfect manuscripts suppressed, after the manner fol
lowed by the editors of the Koran in later days.
The labor of unifying and preserving the Hebrew
text was begun about 250 A. D. by Rabbi Aqiba and his
disciples, and continued for many centuries in the various
rabbinical schools. Elaborate rules were devised for the
careful transmission of the text, and the exactitude with
which this was accomplished is shown by the fact that
the errors of that established codex have been perpetuated
with the same zeal as its proper readings. This was done
in the belief that the inexplicable forms, like abnormally
small or large letters found in the text, were in some
mystical manner significant of the divine will, and not to
be disturbed. THE MASSORAH
These scholars of the Jewish schools have received
the names of Massoretes from the fact that the product
of their labors was called the Massorah or tradition, the
thing that was handed on. One of the devices used to
perpetuate the interpretation as well as the form of the
text upon which they came to agree was the invention
of the vowel points for the Hebrew text. As written at
first, and, in fact, more commonly through all the history
of the language, Hebrew had only consonants. The vowels
were supplied by the reader. But, as in our own language,
this would naturally lead to great ambiguity. In English,
for example, the consonants FR, unaccompanied by vowels,

TEXTUAL CRITICISM 107
might be pronounced far, fur, fear, free, afore,' afire, and
in several other ways, to the despair of the reader, unless
the context made the meaning plain.
In most instances, fortunately, such is the case. But
in a sufficient number, doubt is sure to remain. A Hebrew
example is afforded by the fact that a word written with
the consonants corresponding to WYSB might represent
correct forms of at least three different verbs, and might
be translated variously, "and he dwelt," "and he returned,"
"and he brought back," "and he took captive." To obviate
such danger of confusion, the Massoretic scribes devised
a system of points and other marks, to be used above,
below and within the various consonant letters. This was,
no doubt, of great advantage. But at best it only served
to make permanent the interpretation which had met the
approval of the Massoretes.
As matter of fact, very serious changes had been
wrought in the Hebrew text between the days in which
the various portions of the Old Testament took form and
the time of the unification of its text in the second century,
A. D. This is proved by the variations from that text
shown in the LXX, in the Targums and in the New Testa
ment. But perhaps the most convincing proof of errors
in transcription is found in the differences between two
sets of parallel narratives in the Old Testament itself, as
in the comparison of Kings with Chronicles, of 2 Sam. 22
with Psalm 18, and many other instances. It is well-nigh
impossible to copy a manuscript correctly. Errors of all

108 OUR BIBLE
sorts are likely to creep in. Such errors are due to failure
to understand the passage copied, or to a mistake of the
eye in reading one word or letter for another, or to a
misunderstanding of words when several copyists follow
the voice of a reader, or failure of memory to carry
properly several words in a series. These and other types
of scribal mistake are abundantly illustrated by the ordi
nary Old Testament text.
THE WORK OF CRITICISM
It is, therefore, the task of one who undertakes the
study of the text of the Old Testament to recognize the
fact that the original writers used a form of Hebrew letters
different from those now in use, that they did not employ
vowel points, that their words were, in many instances,
not separated one from another, and that the divisions of
their material were not marked off in any way. From
all this, it follows that the sort of criticism which yields
the most satisfactory results is that which secures from
the materials now at hand the meanings most in harmony
with the current of biblical teaching throughout the He
brew Scriptures. This would seem simple and obvious.
But it does not take account of Jewish and even early
Christian tradition, which at times obtrudes itself in the
path of the plain meanings of the writings.
With the weight of this ancient tradition clearly felt,
it is not strange that most of the translations should have
been content to go back to the Massoretic text. This has

TEXTUAL CRITICISM 109
been true from the days of Jerome and the Vulgate.
Through all the centuries since that time the immense vol
ume of material slowly collected from the many versions
has been given small attention until our own day. Even
yet the spell of the Jewish tradition is strong. In most
cases in which students attempt to study the Hebrew text
of the Old Testament they content themselves with such
editions of the Massoretic reading as those of Baer and
Delitzsch, or Ginsburg. As might be expected, the Re
vised Version, which took form before the searching crit
ical work of the last twenty years came to light, relies
almost as much as the King James version upon the Mas
soretic text. The special labors of an army of independent
scholars in the field of Old Testament textual criticism is
now available. But as yet the work of each covers only
a small portion of the material. Beginnings, however, have
been made in the direction of a thoroughly revised text.
Perhaps at the present moment, the student who wishes a
complete Hebrew text of the Old Testament cannot do
better than to use Kittel's, which follows the Massoretic
readings in the text, but presents in convenient notes a
large am,ount of suggestive material from the field of
wider-going research into the versions, and the newly
opened world of comparative philology and history.
The work of finding the most nearly perfect text of
the Bible or of any other book is called textual criticism.
A m,ore common name for it is the Lower Criticism. This
term is not employed to signify a lower grade of importance

110 OUR BIBLE .
attaching to this process than to some other, but to indicate
the primary, fundamental character of these inquiries as
contrasted with those of the historical and literary investi
gations which follow. These latter have to do with author
ship, integrity, historicity and chronology. They are com
prehended under the term Higher Criticism.
NECESSITY OF CRITICISM
Criticism means separation. It is the attempt to dis
criminate between the genuine and the spurious, the orig
inal and the superficial. All students of the Bible recog
nize the invaluable nature' of the labors of such textual
critics as have been named above, together with a con
siderable company beside. Upon the foundations they
have laid and are laying, the structure of historical studies,
Hebrew and Christian origins, and the theological disci-
pHnes is now taking form. There was a time when all
types of biblical criticism were viewed with disquietude
by the uninformed. Now the vital necessity of such re
searches as have been made both by the lower and the
higher critics, and the value of their results both to scholar
ship and to faith, are the comrr^onplaces of intelligent Bible
study. If the work of the textual critic has been of great
value in the field of Old Testament study, even more
romantic and not less significant has it been in the case
of the Christian documents. And as these are the literary
materials upon which rests the religious assurance of the

TEXTUAL CRITICISM 111
most progressive nations in the world, their importance
as sources and the necessity of their complete investiga
tion are at once apparent.
As in the case of the older Scriptures, there are no
autograph copies of the New Testament extant. The most
ancient copies we possess go back no further than the
fourth century. It is probable that the books were mostly
written and copied upon papyrus, a perishable material
at best. It was not until Christianity became a recognized
and powerful influence in the Roman empire in the fourth
century that the multiplication and preservation of its
books became a matter of widespread concern, and papyrus
was superseded by vellum or parchment as the material
on which its documents were reproduced.
THE GREAT MANUSCRIPTS
Of these manuscripts there were two sorts, an earlier
and a later. Frpm the fourth to the tenth century they
were written in Greek capital letters, and were for that
reason called uncials. From the tenth century a smaller
and more running script was used. This is called minus
cule or cursive. Of the uncials about one hundred and
sixty are known, containing the entire New Testament, or
parts of it. Of the cursives there are upwards of three
thousand. There are five of the great uncials that are most
famous. Mention was made in the last chapter of the dis
covery by Tischendorf of a manuscript of the Greek Bible,

112 OUR BIBLE
in the library of the monastery of St. Catherine at the
traditional Mt. Sinai, in 1844. This was secured by him
in 1859, and is now in the Imperial Library at Petrograd.
It is known as Codex Sinaiticus, or Aleph, the first letter
of the Hebrew alphabet. It dates from the fourth century.
Then there is in the British Museum a manuscript of most
of the Greek Bible, given to Charles I in 1627 by the
Patriarch of Constantinople. It is known as Codex Alex-
andrinus, or A. In the Vatican Library at Rome there
is probably the oldest and most valuable manuscript of
the Greek New Testament. It is of the fourth century,
and is called Codex Vaticanus, or B. In the Bibliotheque
Nationale at Paris there is a manuscript of the Greek
Bible dating from the fifth century. In the twelfth cen
tury a Syrian Christian named Ephraem washed or scraped
the vellum in order to write some of his own compositions
upon it. It is, therefore, a palimpsest, nearly illegible in
portions. It is called Codex Ephraemi, or C. In the
University Library at Cambridge there is a Greek and
Latin codex of the Gospels and Acts, which was presented
by Theodore Beza, whp obtained it from the monastery
of St. Irenaeus at Lyons. It is believed to come from
the sixth century, or perhaps even the fifth. It is named
Codex Bezae, or D.
It is the task of the textual critic of the New Testa
ment, in the effort to approach as near as possible to
the authentic text of the Christian sources, to compare
these and the scores and even hundreds of other manu-

TEXTUAL CRITICISM 113
scripts of the Greek New Testament, or of parts of it;
to secure in addition all the information furnished by
the many ancient versions, some of which were mentioned
in the last chapter; and to compare with these the many
quotations found in the early Christian fathers, which
show what readings they found in the texts they used.
THE RECEIVED TEXT
The Greek text of the New Testament which was
best known to scholars until recent times, is called the
Textus Receptus, or Received Text. It is practically the
same as that published by Stephens in 1550 and by the
Elzevirs in 1624. These in turn were based upon the
two earliest printed texts of the New Testament, that
of Erasmus, published in 1516, and that of the Compluten-
sion Polyglot, printed in 1514, and issued in 1522. They
were representative of the kind of Greek manuscripts
accessible in the middle ages. « Upon the Received Text
the Authorized or King James Version of the New Testa
ment was based. A very large proportion of the material
with which the textual critic of the New Testament is
concerned has become available during the past two cen
turies. Much of this evidence goes far back of anything
Erasmus or his contemporaries had at hand. For example,
the Vatican Codex, the oldest and best of the texts, has
become fully known only within the last half century,
and Tischendorf's great discovery was not published until
1862. 8

114 OUR BIBLE
The Hst of men who have worked at the task of
compiling the facts and applying them to the reconstruc
tion of the text of the New Testament books is long.
Among the notable names are Bengel (1734), Wetstein
(1752), Semler (1767), Griesbach (1774), Lachman
(1831), Tischendorf (1869), and Tregelles (1870). But
the most eminent contributors to a satisfactory text have
been the two English scholars. Bishop Westcott and F.
J. A. Hort. Their joint labors upon the Greek text be
gan as far back as 1853, but their finished product, ac
companied by an explanatory -introduction, came fr.om
the press in 1881, five days before the publication of
the English Revised Version.
RULES OF TEXTUAL CRITICISM
In the long years during which the science of textual
criticism has developed, many recognized rules for the
prosecution of the task have taken form. These are now
familiar to all scholars. Among them are the necessity
of gathering all the facts, historical, geographical and
linguistic, regarding a manuscript before its evidence is
estimated; the danger of relying upon numbers, since
twenty manuscripts might be copied from an inferior text,
and be of less value than two whose ancestry is older and
more satisfactory; a shorter reading is preferable to a
longer one, because a text is more likely to be changed by
additions than by omissions; a more difficult and obscure
reading is to be preferred to one simple and easier, because

TEXTUAL CRITICISM 115
a copyist has a tendency to explain a seemingly difficult
passage; and, a reading which indicates a controversial
bias is less likely to be genuine than one to which no such
suspicion adheres.
The application of these and numerous other criteria
has given us our comparatively modern and authenticated
text of the New Testament, although the Westcott and
Hort material was not available for the English Revision.
But even so, in many places the Revised Versions show
the value of careful critical work, as compared with the
Authorized Version. Among the changes in the reading
which are most noticeable, are the following: The best
texts omit Matt. 17:21, "Howbeit, this kind goeth not out
save by prayer and fasting," and the last verses of the
Gospel of Mark, from 9 to 20 of Chapter 16 ; the account
of the woman taken in sin, in John 7:53-8:11 is not found
in the oldest MSS., and is probably spurious, though
the incident itself may be true; in Acts 8:37 there is
the record of a portion of the conversation between
Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch in the words, "And
Philip said. If thou believest with all thine heart, thou
mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God," which appears to be
an addition to the original, and is omitted in the later
texts ; and in 1 John 5 the section which reads, "For there
are three that bear witness in heaven, the Father, the
Word and the Holy Spirit ; and these three are one," and
which is verse 7 in the Authorized Version, is no part of

116 OUR BIBLE
the original text, as biblical students now agree, and is
omitted in the revised readings, the last portion of verse
6 being counted as verse 7.
One who is interested in the new readings which have
resulted from the work of textual criticism has only to
compare the Revised Versions with the Authorized, and
more particularly, to observe the marginal readings in the
former, which often suggest changes which the revisers
were too timid to include in the text. These differences
will be found to run into the hundreds, and many of
them are of profound significance in their bearing upon
the meaning of the Bible. In this manner by the slow
but steady processes of trained and expert examination
of every line of the Scriptures, both of the Old and the
New Testaments, the world of biblical study is brought
nearer to the original documents as they left the hands of
their writers. These writings were not supernaturally
produced in the beginning, and they have not been pre
served to us in any miraculous manner. They bear the
marks of human workmanship, both in their production
and transmission. But with all the limitations under
which they have come into our keeping, they vindicate their
right to a unique and transcendent place in the regard of
mankind, and they abundantly justify the long centuries
of labor bestowed upon them.
It is probable that in spite of all that critical research
may be able to accomplish in the future, some portions of
the sacred text will always remain obscure. But these

TEXTUAL CRITICISM 117
imperfections are negligible in comparison with the wealth
of inspired and inspiring material whose meaning is quite
clear, and whose vindication has been achieved by the
processes of criticism. To the men who have labored
in these industries of scholarship, the church owes a debt
which no mere mention of names can ever discharge, an
obligation which only the accumulated gratitude of the
centuries to come can reward.

X

The Higher Criticism
DURING the past century the books of the Bible
have been subjected to searching examination as
the result of what is known as the critical
method. That activity arose as the result of the gen
eral scientific movement with its appeal to fact and
its rejection of tradition. The discovery of glaring
errors in historical or semi-historical documents relat
ing both to political and religious history, sharpened the
interest of inquirers to apply some method of discrimi
nation to a wide range of ancient writings. The dis
covery by Valla of the false decretals and the spurious
donations by which validation was apparently secured
for ecclesiastical pretensions, stirred the scholarly
world to further research. The nature and trustworthi
ness of many types of literature inherited from classic
periods came under scrutiny.
It was inevitable that soon or late this process
should be applied to the Old and New Testaments.
The purely scientific concern for the correct tradition
was intensified in the case of the Scriptures by religious
considerations. It was to be expected that such activity
would arouse apprehension on the part of those who
.had no reason to question the familiar theories of

THE HIGHER CRITICISM 119
biblical authorships, dates and values. The form in
which the Bible was received by the church in the
eighteenth century, and the views then held regarding
its literary history, were considered authentic, authori-
'tative and final. To only a few biblical scholars had
there occurred such questions as are today the com
monplaces of careful Bible study. Something of the
work of the textual critic has been indicated in the
last chapter. Upon that foundation it was necessary to
set the task of literary and historical investigation. To
some this seemed unnecessary and irreverent. But it
becomes increasingly evident upon study and reflection
that in the Bible the student is dealing with a human
literature which has the common characteristics of all
literary work. NECESSITY FOR INQUIRY
It is clear, then, that inquiry into the structure and
peculiarities of this literature is inevitable. Only timid
ity and submission to traditional opinions could inhibit
from such a task. The merest reading of some books
of Scripture shows that they are made up of two or
three wholly unrelated parts which were probably at
one time separate books; and others are seen to be
compiled from various sources by editorial activity
which has in turn become responsible for additions to
the original material. The frank recognition of these
facts is in no way disturbing to the faith of any believer

120 OUR BIBLE
in the value of the Scriptures as the highest literary
expression of the will of God. Since these qualities of
combination and expansion are evident in other kinds
of writing, why should they discredit a set of docu
ments which have proved their ethical and religious
value, not only in spite of, but, in some considerable
degree, because of these very qualities of human work
manship ?
The Old Testament came into the possession of
the Christian church carrying certain assumptions and
traditions regarding its origin and structure. Jewish
opinion asserted that its books fell into three groups of
distinctly different value and inspiration. There were
the five books assigned to Moses; the authoritative
standard of doctrine and conduct, and the object of far-
reaching and luminous labors of commentation. There
was the body of prophetic writings, highly valued,
though not to a degree approaching the reverence in
which the torah was held. The traditions regarding
the authorship of such books as Samuel, Isaiah, Zecha
riah and the like were regarded as authentic and satis
factory. Then there was the collection of miscellaneous
writings which included all the books left over from
the two previous lists. Here again tradition was free
to insist upon certain sacred names as those of recog
nized authors. The Davidic origin of the Psalms, the
Solomonic authorship of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, the
exilic date and authenticity of Daniel, were not ques-

THE HIGHER CRITICISM 121
tioned, either in the later Jewish community or in the
early Christian church. It was not painstaking inquiry
on the part either of Jews or Christians that validated
these documents ; it was only the fact that no one ever
suspected any occasion for question regarding these
matters. If there still remained in scribal schools the
echoes of recent controversies over Ecclesiastes and
Canticles they were soon forgotten in the multiplying
labors of Talmudic commentation and Christian evan
gelism. FREEDOM OF THE REFORMERS
There was little effort to question these early
opinions for centuries. It should be noted, however,
that the obscure spaces of both Jewish and Christian
history, lying between the first and fifteenth centuries,
were not without fruitful work in the field of biblical
scholarship, and now and then there were voices raising
casual but not insistent questions regarding the ancient
traditions. This process of inquiry was greatly stimu
lated at the period of the Reformation by the light into
which the Bible was thrown as the Protestant source
of authority over against the papal claims of the Roman
Church. The reformers used the Bible with the utmost
freedom, giving little heed either to Jewish or Christian
notions regarding dates and authorships. One is
astonished to see how radical were some of the views
advanced by Luther and his contemporaries as com-

122 OUR BIBLE
pared with the timid conservatism of the second gen
eration of reformers, with their favorite doctrine of
verbal inspiration. But still the modern discipline of
the literary and historical criticism of the Bible was
yet to be born. It could only come to birth as the child
of the new spirit of scientific and historical inquiry that
sought to test all the facts in these fields, and to hold
fast only to that which could prove its worth.
The modern method of literary criticism of the
Bible arose first out of the unrelated but similar in
quiries of such investigators as Astruc, Colenso, Simon,
Spinoza and others. The attention of these men was
attracted to certain literary phenomena in Genesis and
other portions of the Hexateuch. The variations noted
in the use of the divine names in the early chapters of
Genesis, the apparent presence of two different narra
tives of such events as the creation, the deluge and
many incidents in the patriarchal stories, led to the
gradual adoption of the documentary hypothesis,
though not without ebbs and tides of opinion, and the
rise and fall of other theories such as that of the "frag
ment" hypothesis. These workers, and those who fol
lowed them in this field, men like Ewald, Kuenen,
DeWette, Stade, Vatke, Wellhausen, Hupfeld, Budde,
and a distinguished company besides, attacked the
various problems that arose when once the spirit of
inquiry was fully released. They did not come to their
task for the purpose of challenging and discrediting the

THE HIGHER CRITICISM 123
traditional views, nor, on the other hand, with the
motive of their defense. Rather they came to seek the
facts, knowing that whatever were the results obtained
by a process carried on in that spirit, truth and religion
would profit thereby. Already discredited in its very
beginnings is the labor of any man who undertakes the
work of criticism merely for the purpose of establishing
a preconceived opinion, no matter whether it be con
servative or radical. It is only in the atmosphere of
free and unbiased research and with the conflict of
opinions which is sure to follow any new proposal that
the best values of Scripture and theology emerge.
FEAR OF CRITICISM
Thus criticism is both destructive and constructive.
It signifies the removal of those things which can be
shaken, that the things which cannot be shaken may
remain. In all of its earlier stages it is sure to be de
structive and alarming. It appears to be an audacious
digging around the roots of the tree of life. In the
Christian church it has brought dismay to multitudes
of souls firm in the belief that their inherited and tra
ditional views of the Bible were identical with the very
nature of the divine revelation, and that any modifica
tion of such views was heretical and inexcusable. But
that sentiment passes away as the discovery is made
that the critical inquirers have no personal ends to
serve, but are only searching for facts. And in the end

124 OUR BIBLE
of the day it becomes clear that as the result of the
critical process the Bible has gained immeasurably
larger values, and is shown to rest not on heaps of
sand, but on mountains of rock.
If it has been proved in the process of critical in
quiry that the book of Joshua is a part of a six-fold
unit called the Hexateuch, which has taken the place
of the former five-fold Pentateuch; that Moses is only
a common denominator for the legislation of Israel,
rather than the lawgiver which later Hebrew tradition
made him to be; that there are four documents in the
Hexateuch almost as clearly differentiated as are the
four Gospels of the New Testament ; that the prophetic
and priestly histories are compilations made up from
various sources and with differing values; that the
Psalms are Davidic only in the sense that the first king
of Israel was believed to be a musician and a patron of
the music of the sanctuary; that it is questionable
whether we have any literary material which directly
represents Solomon; that the Book of Isaiah is made
up of at least three different bodies of prophetic ma
terial from different ages of the national experience,
and manifests in addition the results of editorial work
to a marked degree; that the Book of Daniel is in no
sense a work of prophecy, and that it assumes, for pur
poses of apocalyptic persuasion, the name and character
of Daniel; that the four Gospels are anonymous, and
give clear evidences of the usual literary relationships;

THE HIGHER CRITICISM 125
that the common authorship of the fourth Gospel and
Revelation cannot be maintained; that the Pauline au
thorship of Hebrews is no longer defensible, and the
relation of the Apostle to the Pastoral Epistles is im
probable; if, let it be repeated, it has become evident
that these are among the conclusions to which pains
taking and accurate scholarship has been led, the re
sult is not the discrediting of these portions of the
Bible, but rather a closer approach to their true origin
and purpose. No part of the Bible gains in value merely
by being assigned to some distinguished moral leader of
the past; its value lies wholly in its own message and
urgency. It is the function, then, of the literary criticism of
Scripture to raise inquiries regarding the integrity, au
thenticity, credibility and historical value of the docu
ments which make up our collection of sacred writings.
One wishes to know whether a book like Nehemiah or
Matthew is a single document written by one author, or
is an amalgamation of different works, a composite of
various strata of writing. It is also natural that one
should ask whether it seems probable that the name
attached to a given book like Samuel or the Song of
Songs or James is the name of the author, or the hero,
or is a mere literary device. One makes inquiry, fur
thermore, whether the statements made in a biblical
narrative can be trusted, as in the cases of the healing
of Naaman, the Syrian, and the recession of the shadow

126 OUR BIBLE
on the dial of Ahaz. These are not inquiries which are
devised for the purpose of discrediting any document,
biblical or otherwise. They are the inevitable questions
which any thoughtful reader raises regarding the objects
of his study. Criticism, therefore, is judgment, discrim
ination, investigation, and when properly pursued it has
always the value of eliciting the kind of knowledge
desired regarding the materials under examination.
BIBLE WRITERS AS HIGHER CRITICS
It must not be supposed that the process of literary
criticism is wholly new and unprecedented. As a matter
of fact, the Old Testament presents an amazing amount
of critical work on the part of the men who were con
cerned, though unconsciously so, in its literary prepara
tion. In the ninth century before Christ the schools of
the prophets in the Judean sections of Palestine pre
pared and circulated a prophetic narrative of the early
days of the world and of their own Hebrew people, set
ting forth certain conceptions of God and certain ideals
of the moral life. A century later the prophetic group
in the northern kingdom, apparently fully acquainted
with the document which their earlier brethren of the
south had published, issued another narrative covering
much the same ground so far as period and incidents
were concerned, but correcting the earlier views in a
number of important details. They were dissatisfied
with the anthropomorphic character of God in the Judean

THE HIGHER CRITICISM 127
record, and with certain types of morality which had
there passed without criticism. They made free use
of their undoubted right to revise and alter the previous
interpretation of the ideals and institutes of their nation.
They performed — these Ephraimite prophets — the high
and impressive task of literary criticism. They had the
advantage of the contemporary teaching of great spir
itual leaders like Amos and Hosea, and just as these
prophets did not hesitate to call in question the moral
standards complacently accepted by previous teachers
like Samuel, Elijah and Elisha, so these writers of the
Ephraimite group laid emphasis upon the new ethical
principles which awoke in their souls and emerged in
their preaching.
In the next century there came the long days of
darkness in Judah under the rule of Manasseh. Priests
and prophets were almost entirely cut off from the privi
lege of public ministry. The times were evil. It was
clear that the older religious customs and standards were
insufficient. In the light of the hard experience of their
time these consecrated men seem to have undertaken
the task of restating the institutional forms of Israel's
life. They had before them the prophetic documents of
their earlier brethren, both of the Judean and the Ephraim
ite schools. They had in hand the laws of the Book
of the Covenant. But manifestly these were insuffi
cient, and to that extent they were wrong. With a
diligence and zeal that win the highest admiration from

128 OUR BIBLE
the student of that period of Hebrew history, they set
themselves the task of criticism and revision, of ex
pansion and elimination. The document which they
produced and which later became the authoritative
standard of the Josian reformation was a drastic criti
cism of the former ethics and religion of the nation.
The most interesting feature of this Deuteronomic docu
ment is the fact that it claims and everywhere assumes
the sanction of the Mosaic spirit, with the conviction
that if the classic lawgiver were at hand these were pre
cisely the strictures he would make upon current
theory and practice, and these the new institutes he
would issue for public guidance.
THE PRIESTS AS CRITICS
Nor did the process of criticism end here. The
exile dispersed the most intelligent and resourceful
Hebrews through the east. In the downfall of their
government and institutions they saw the chastising
hand of God. It was a natural inference that some
thing was wrong with the previous religious life of
their people, and that a more extensive and far-reaching
scheme of religious activities was essential to their
national revival. The years of the exile could not have
been far advanced when this process began. It is seen
some distance on its way in the ideal code of Ezekiel.
It is still further developed in the "Holiness Law,"
though on somewhat different lines. It came to its

THE HIGHER CRITICISM 129
full expression in the great Priest Code which radically
revised and corrected all hitherto accepted standards of
religious practice. Here was criticism in its final legal
form, so far as the codes of the Old Testament witness.
Those workers of the fifth century B. C. not only re
vised and changed the laws of their nation, but they
rewrote its history, evidently regarding the prophetic
narratives of earlier times as entirely insufficient and
misleading. And no one who compares the priestly
narrative with its prophetic predecessors need be told
how much more dignified and authoritative is its in
terpretation of the divine character, and how much
more satisfactory its ethical standards than those of the
Judean and Ephraimite writers.
And if one wishes to see this critical process in its
final form he has but to study the work of those later
editorial workers, who combined with skill and dis
cretion these various strata of material into one con
tinuous story, which everywhere emphasizes by ad
mirable arrangement of details the supremacy of the
priestly ideals of ethics and religion.
There are many evidences of the like spirit and
activity in other sections of biblical literature. They
may be seen in that anthology of devotion, the Book
of Psalms, whose various editions and editorial re
visions are plainly marked in our present Psalter. A
similar work of criticism was performed by the Hebrew
collectors and editors of such books as Isaiah, Jeremiah,
9

130 OUR BIBLE
and Zechariah. One need seek no further for ample
justification of literary criticism in the domain of bibli
cal literature, even long before the scientific and his
torical motives had emerged to expression. And one is
always interested in the air of freedom with which
all these biblical workers exercised their function. Each
generation regarded itself as the sole judge of what was
wisest and most expedient in the handling of the sacred
writings of the past. And each regarded this freedom
as in no way inconsistent with that high sense of loyalty
to the writings themselves which were in part taking
form under their hands.
THE METHOD OF JESUS
It is not without value to note the attitude of Jesus
toward the Scriptures and his superb freedom in their
use. He was nourished upon those books which we
call the Old Testament. He quoted from them as if
they were the ever-present background of his thinking.
Yet he used them as if they were plastic to his touch.
He did not hesitate to show their limitations while he
pointed out their value. He contrasted the laws of
Israel with his own ideals, and maintained that the lat
ter were permanent and complete. To be sure he did
not discuss nor question the traditional dates and au
thorship of these documents. If he knew more of the
facts than his contemporaries, he wisely applied the
law of accommodation, or purposely declined to raise

THE HIGHER CRITICISM 131
questions which had no value for religion or conduct.
But in all other regards his was the attitude of a rev
erent critic of the sacred Scriptures, and under his in
terpretation of those ancient documents men's hearts
burned within them as they talked with him. The pur
poseful criticism of the Bible in all its parts may justly
claim the example and authority of the Master himself.
It would be a most interesting study to pursue step by
step the path of biblical inquiry during the past century in
the company of those devout and scholarly men who
have labored nobly to disengage the Bible from the cere
ments of traditional views. Against these men and
their published results a volume of protest was raised
by those who were disturbed in their comfortable bib
lical ideas. It was charged that these critics were dis
turbers of the peace, that they undermined the citadel
of religion, that they spread the spirit of skepticism,
and that they denied the divine character of the Bible
and of Jesus. No doubt, all these charges could be
sustained in individual cases. But time has greatly
reduced the spirit of opposition to literary and historical
criticism. Today the voices of antagonism are grow
ing fainter, and are for the most part reduced to the
circle of provincial theology and a futile section of the
religious press. The process has vindicated itself by its
results. The work of criticism has made human and
convincing the story of the Old Testament. The
prophets and apostles no longer look at us from the

132 OUR BIBLE
dim, unworldly heights of the Sistine Chapel in Michael
Angelo's portraits, but from the nearer and more sym
pathetic levels of Sargent and Tissot.
THE VALUE OF THE HIGHER CRITICISM
The work of the Higher Criticism is not completed
as yet, though the main lines of its affirmations have
been established. It is rather in some of the details
that work still remains to be done. Along the broad
frontiers of biblical literature its results are accepted,
and the great Christian public is well on its way toward
complete conviction of its outstanding results and a
calm and assured employment of its findings. It is diffi
cult any longer to stir up controversy over the process.
The odium once attached to those concerned with it has
largely receded. On the foundations laid by the work
of devout scholars in this field are building the im
pressive structures of a rational theology and religious
education. The age of apprehension is passing. Our
children will not have to fight the battle for freedom
through which the present generation has been passing.
'.rhe critical spirit that has given reasonable and con
vincing explanation of the physical universe has pro
vided us with an equally satisfactory interpretation of
the Word of God.
The Higher Criticism has forever disposed of the
fetish of a level Bible; it has destroyed the doctrine
of verbal inspiration ; it has set in proper light the par-

THE HIGHER CRITICISM 133
tial and primitive ethics of the Hebrew people; it has
relieved the church of the responsibility of defending
ancient social abuses which received popular and even
prophetic sanction in Old Testament times; it has
made faith easier and more confideiijy; it has helped the
world to turn from the imperfect views of an ado
lescent stage of the race to the satisfying ideals of our
Lord; it has enabled us to understand the varying
testimonies to the life of Jesus and the different tend
encies of the apostolic age; and most of all, it has ex
plained the seeming contradictions and conflicts of
biblical statement which were in former periods the
target of captious and often successful attack.
The work of the Higher Criticism has its pur
poses and its limitations. It is a means to the belter
understanding of the Word of God. If it can make more
vivid and convincing the pages of the Old Testament
and the New it performs an admirable and gratifying
service. Whatever helps to the intelligent apprecia
tion of the Bible is of undoubted value, for, as Mr.
Gladstone has said, "All the wonders of Greek civiliza
tion heaped together are less wonderful than this book,
the history of the human soul in relation to its Maker."

XI
The Bible and the Monuments
tt y^^N MARCH 13 we received a telegram saying
ii that our friends were on the way up the Tigris,
but as the boat was not allowed to stop at Kut-
el-Amara they would be obliged to continue to Bagdad.
Since my last report the excavations have been carried
on but four days, on account of severe sand storms,
religious feasts, trouble with an Arab sheik, and my
absence in Kut-el-Amara." This is not a military report,
familiar as are the two places mentioned as scenes of
recent stirring events in the Mesopotamian campaign of
the great world war. It is an excerpt from the letter
of an excavator who was working some years ago on one
of the most ancient sites in Babylonia, a few miles from
the former location of Babylon.
The writer of that report was one of the men who
have devoted their efforts to the discovery of ancient
remains in the lands where biblical history transpired.
The science of archaeology is one of the later outgrowths
of the spirit of investigation. Its object is the discovery,
description and classification of whatever materials throw
light on ancient civilizations. The excavators have dug
in many parts of Greece, in different sections of the city
of Rome, in Asia Minor, in Phoenicia, on the island of

THE MONUMENTS 135
Crete, and in Cyprus. But most interesting of all to the
biblical student have been the discoveries made in Pales
tine, in Egypt, and in Assyria and Babylonia.
Until recent years the Bible stood comparatively alone
in the midst of the world's literature. It told the story
of earlier civilizations around the eastern end of the Med
iterranean Sea. There was a sort of traditional history
of these civilizations of Egypt, Babylonia and Assyria,
but historical and archaeological science had not yet con
firmed the biblical statements regarding them. How can
one be sure that the biblical statements are true? Were
there such places as those referred to in the Old and New
Testaments? Did cities like Ur, Haran, Pithom, Gezer,
Megiddo and Gath actually exist? Were there such kings
as Rameses, Ahab, Jehu, Menahem, Sargon and Senna
cherib ? KEY TO BABYLONIAN LANGUAGE
Today the student of the Bible and its contemporary
history has at hand a mass of confirmatory details yielded
up by the mounds and ruins of the oriental world. Cities
long buried have given up their secrets. Rulers believed
to be half mythical have emerged into the light of veri
fiable knowledge, and incidents told in the Bible are now
vouched for by the narratives of the Tigris and the Nile.
The results achieved by archaeology are the more impres
sive when it is remembered that until within recent years
the early stories of Egypt and the Assyrian peninsula

136 OUR BIBLE
were locked in the mysterious grasp of unknown lan
guages. Nothing more romantic has been accomplished
by the scientific researches of scholars than the opening
of the secret doors that admitted the modern age to a
knowledge of the literatures of those two great civil
izations. For a long time it was known that old Persian in
scriptions were to be seen upon the ruined walls of Per-
sepolis. As long ago as Niebuhr's day the three-fold
character of these inscriptions was perceived. But not
until Grotofend in 1802 hit upon the secret that these
were actually three languages, the old Persian, the Median
or Susian, and the Babylonian, was the significance of
the inscriptions perceived as a key to the cuneiform, or
wedge-shaped, language of Babylonia, as yet unde-
ciphered. The next and most decisive step was taken
in 1835 by Henry C. Rawlinson, an English officer with
the Persian army in the Zagros mountains. He discov
ered a great inscription cut on the side of the Behistun
Rock in western Persia, near the old Median highway
betweeen Hamadan and Kirmanshah. The former of
these towns is the ancient Ecbatana, and both have fig
ured in recent reports on the advance of the Russians
toward the Tigris.
This mass of mountain rock towers seventeen hun
dred feet above the plain. On a smooth surface more
than three hundred feet above the base, Darius placed
his own image in heroic size in has relief, and before him

THE MONUMENTS 137
nine captive kings, while prostrate at his feet was placed
the Magian usurper, Guamata. Below and beside the
sculptured group there are carved in three languages, line
after line of wedge-shaped, or nail-shaped, characters
arranged in columns telling the prowess and achievements
of the great king. Rawlinson copied and translated five
columns, including some four hundred lines. Later, these
were sent to Europe and published in 1847. The tri
lingual inscriptions at Persepolis gave the key, and Raw
linson using it opened to the world the treasures of Baby
lonian and Assyrian literature.
From that time onward the science of Assyriology
made rapid progress through the excavations and de
cipherments of Botta, Place, Layard, Rassam, DeSarsac,
George Smith, Ward, Peters and many others. The great
sites of Kouyunjik and Khorsabad, parts of the location
of ancient Nineveh, the excavations at Warka, Senkere,
Nuffur, Mugayyer, Birs, Tello, Bismya and numerous
other places have given to the world an increasingly ade
quate picture of the most ancient of Semitic civilizations.
Among the objects found in these regions and now
available in the museums of the world for the study of
biblical archaeology a few only can be mentioned. Near
the site of Nineveh, Rassam found an obelisk of black
marble set up by Shalmaneser II. On one of its panels
there is a scene representing Hebrews offering presents
to the Assyrian king. The inscription reads, "The trib
ute of Jehu the son of Omri, silver, gold, basins of gold.

138 OUR BIBLE
bowls of gold, lead, a royal sceptre, staves, I received."
In the inscriptions of Tiglath Pileser III record is made
of the capture of Hamath and Arpad in 738 B. C, of the
appeal made by Ahaz of Judah against the allied kings
of the north in 734 B. C. and the fall of Damascus in
732 B. C. Sennacherib's inscription
The inscriptions of Shalmaneser IV tell of the siege
of Samaria in 722 B. C, and those of Sargon II recount
its fall in the following year. A remarkably interesting
inscription is that of Sennacherib telling of his expedi
tion against Judah and Jerusalem in 701 B. C. The fol
lowing narrative by the king's own scribes may be com
pared with the biblical story contained in 2 Kings 18, 19.
After recounting the earlier events of his third campaign
to the Mediterranean coast, with his victories in Phcenicia
and Philistia, Sennacherib proceeds: "But Hezekiah of
Judah, who had not submitted to my yoke, forty-six of
his fenced cities and fortresses, and small towns in their
vicinity without number, by breaking them down with
battering rams and the blows of (illegible), and the strokes
of axes and hammers, I besieged and took: 200,150 per
sons, small and great, male and female, horses, mules,
asses, camels, large cattle, small cattle, without number, I
brought forth from the midst of them and counted as
spoil. As for Hezekiah himself, like a bird in a cage in
Jerusalem, his royal city, I shut him up. I threw up forts

THE MONUMENTS 139
against him, and whoever would come out of the gate of
the city I turned back. His cities which I had spoiled
I cut off from his land, and gave them to Mitinti, king
of Ashdod, Padi, king of Ekron, Zil-bel, king of Gaza,
and so made his territory small. To the former tribute,
the gift of their country, the presents due to my sover
eignty, I made an addition and imposed it upon (them).
As for Hezekiah himself, the fear of the glory of my
sovereignty overwhelmed him, and the Arabs and his other
allies, whom he had brought to strengthen Jerusalem, his
royal city, were seized with great fear. Thirty talents of
gold, and eight hundred talents of silver, * * * great
stores of lapis-lazuli, couches of ivory, arm-chairs of
ivory (covered) with elephants' hide, ivory tusks, ussu
wood, ukarinu wood, and the like, an immense treasure;
and his daughters, his palace-women, men-singers, women-
singers, to Nineveh my royal city I made him bring; and
for the delivery of the tribute and rendering homage he
sent his ambassador." EGYPTIAN INSCRIPTIONS
The most fruitful region with which the biblical
student is concerned is Egypt, for here the kindly sand
and the warm climate have combined to preserve enor
mous quantities of pictorial and inscriptional material,
which in other regions would have perished. The hiero
glyphics or priestly writings, the monumental records
made by the sovereigns of Egypt, are more or less famil-

140 OUR BIBLE
iar. But their secret had to be secured by precisely the
same means as those employed in the case of the cunei
form text. One of the prized possessions of the British
Museum is the celebrated Rosetta Stone, a large block
of black granite, with three inscriptions, one in hiero
glyphic, one in the shorter or demotic writing, and one
in Greek. This stone was discovered near the town of
Rosetta east of Alexandria by a French artillery officer
at the time of Napoleon's invasion of Egypt in 1799.
Several attempts were made to decipher the inscription,
but the work was not accomplished with satisfaction un
til 1822, when Francois Champollion began his work which
lasted for ten years and resulted in the publication of an
Egyptian grammar and vocabulary.
The Greek inscription on the Rosetta Stone was
identical with the other two in substance and revealed
their secret. It was a decree in honor of Ptolemy V
Epiphanes (205-181 B. C). From this time it was sim
ply a question of securing ampler material and extending
the field of Egyptology. Among the famous names in
the history of this science have been Lepsius, Marriette,
Maspero, DeMorgan, Naville and Petrie. The light which
the labors of Egyptologists have thrown upon biblical
literature may be illustrated by two or three examples.
On the south wall of the temple of Amon at Karnak, a
portion of the ancient Thebes, the capital of Upper Egypt,
there is a large inscription of Sheshonk I of the twenty-
second dynasty (the Shishak of the narrative of 1 Kings

THE MONUMENTS 141
14: 25-28). The gigantic figure of the god towers above
that of the king himself, who boasts that on an expedi
tion to the northeast he had taken many cities in Pales
tine, the names of several of which are quite familiar,
including Gaza, Abel, Bethaneth, Beth Horon, Aijalon,
Gibeon and Shunem. This was the invasion which spoiled
Jerusalem in the fifth year of Rehoboam, and pushed on
with its ravages into the northern kingdom.
There is but one reference to Israel on the Egyptian
monuments. This is found in an inscription of Merneph-
tah of the nineteenth dynasty, the successor of Rameses
the Great. It was discovered by Petrie in the ruins of
that king's mortuary temple at Thebes in 1896. The
inscription is a hymn on the victory over the Lybians,
and its concluding strophe reads: "The kings are over
thrown, saying 'Salaam.' No one holds up his head among
the nine bows. Wasted is Teheme, Kheta is pacified,
plundered is Canaan, carried off is Askelon, seized upon
is Gezer, Yenoam is made as nothing, Israel is desolated;
his seed is not. Palestine has become a widow (i. e.,
unprotected) for Egypt."
Two other important finds have come from the soil
of Egypt. One is the celebrated collection of the Tel-el-
Amarna letters. These were reports made in the cunei
form language by governors and other officials in Pales
tine to Amenophis IV of the eighteenth dynasty, about
1400 B. C. These show that Babylonian was the official
language of Palestine at that period. The second of these

142 OUR BIBLE
bodies of material was found at Oxyrhynchus, not far
from the Nile, by Grenfell and Hunt, and comprised a
considerable collection of the logia of Jesus written on
papyrus. They probably represent literary activities of
the second Christian century.
PALESTINE DISCOVERIES
But naturally the keenest interest attaches to archaeo
logical work in Palestine and Syria. It was the land of
the Lord. BibHcal history,' both in the Old and New
Testaments, was concerned directly with it. To Palestine
the pilgrims went in vast numbers in the early centuries.
And the number of those who have journeyed there for
purely biblical reasons in days since then has been a
great host. Yet it has thus far yielded fewer returns for
the labor of the excavator than either Babylonia or Egypt.
The reasons for this are many. It is a much smaller
country. It has been desolated again and again by war,
earthquake and other disturbances. Its soil is shallower,
and its mountains are washed down by the heavy rains
of the winter. Objects of interest from ancient days
have little chance of survival in such conditions. At the
same time the beginnings of work in Syria have yielded
some interesting results, and some have come to hand by
pure accident. For example, in 1868 a missionary living
in Dibon, in ancient Moab, came upon an archaic inscrip
tion on a stone built into the wall of a native house.
When finally secured in rather mutilated form, this proved

THE MONUMENTS 143
to be a record of King Mesha, of Moab, a contemporary
of Ahab. The stone is now called the Moabite Stone,
and is preserved in the Louvre, in Paris. It is in praise
of Chemosh, the god of Moab, and dates from about
850 B. C. Its contents form a remarkably interesting
commentary upon the biblical record in 2 Kings 3 :4-27,
the story of the war with Moab.
The Bible mentions as one of the acts of King Heze
kiah the construction of a rock conduit, or tunnel, under
the city of Jerusalem. This was long ago discovered as
one of the interesting rock cuttings under the city. It
extends in an irregular course from the Virgin's Foun
tain, the ancient Gihon, southward to the Pool of Siloam,
something like a third of a mile. It was dug by work
men who worked in two parties from either end of the
cutting, and after much difficulty met half way the course.
A few years ago Dr. Schick, a German teacher who lived
for many years in Jerusalem and was a careful investi
gator of all its archaeological features, discovered in the
opening of this tunnel near the Siloam end an inscription
in archaic Hebrew characters, like those of the Moabite
Stone. This interesting object has now been removed
to the imperial museum at Constantinople. It tells the
story of the meeting of the two groups of workmen after
they had made many unsuccessful efforts to find each
other through the rock. It is called the Siloam Inscrip
tion, and is the most important archaeological object yet
found in Palestine.

144 OUR BIBLE
On the site of the ancient temple, now called the
harem area, M. Clarmont-Ganneau found, a few years
ago, a stone with a Greek inscription warning all non-
Jews against approach beyond a given point in the temple
court, on pain of death. This is known as "the Warn
ing Stone," and is also at Constantinople.
JERICHO AND SAMARIA
The site of ancient Jericho has been excavated by
Dr. Sellin under German auspices in recent years. Few
objects of particular significance were discovered. But
the walls of the ancient town were uncovered, and the
general character of the streets and buildings disclosed.
The work of Mr. Macalister at Gezer was notable. For
three seasons he excavated that ancient, historical site,
the city given by the king of Egypt to his daughter as a
marriage portion upon her arrival in Canaan as the wife
of Solomon. The diggings revealed the structure and life
of the place from pre-Israelitish to Maccabean times, and
many interesting objects, such as images and pottery, were
found, but no inscriptions of significance. Still more re
cently Harvard University has excavated a portion of the
hill of Samaria. During the years 1908-1910 Dr. Reisner
conducted these operations, uncovering an enormous stair
way with a well preserved altar at its foot, a mutilated
marble statue of heroic size, probably representing Au
gustus, a paved platform at the top of the stairway, and
massive walls of buildings beyond the platform. A

THE MONUMENTS 145
Herodian temple erected in honor of Augustus was. un
earthed south of the platform. The remains of private
houses of the Greek period were removed and below them
were found the massive walls of a large Hebrew building,
believed to be the palace of Omri and his son Ahab. This
is the most important building yet discovered in Palestine.
Nearby have been found fragments of pottery with pen
and ink writings in the Hebrew character dating from
about the period of Ahab, and written in the same kind
of script as that found on the Moabite Stone.
Excavations have also been undertaken at Taanach,
Megiddo, Lachish, Gath and other places. Only a begin
ning has been made, however. With such changes as
time is certain to bring in the unhappy government of
the country, the work of the explorer will be made easier,
and the materials discovered will be of greater service.
Thus far the inscriptional finds have been very meager.
Besides those mentioned, only the calendar and certain
Assyrian tablets from Gezer, a tablet from Lachish, a
lion seal from Megiddo, ostraca from Samaria, and
stamped jar handles from a few other places have re
warded the labors of the investigators. But there is no
reason to doubt that much material of equal or greater
value lies undisturbed in the soil of Palestine, and that
the future will add rich treasures to the increasing stores
of archaeology. Such remains are of the utmost service in the illu
mination of the biblical books. The uncovering of the
10

146 OUR BIBLE
ruins of ancient cities, walls and towers, the exploration
of wells, tombs and graves, the unearthing of tools, uten
sils, coins, statues and idols, and the aid which they afford
in the interpretation of ancient civilizations, all help to
make clearer the life and character of the Hebrew people,
and the nations with whom they came into the most
intimate contact. And it is only in the light of all attain
able facts regarding these neighboring nations, their cus
toms, culture and religions, that the deeper facts of He
brew life emerge to view. It is no longer possible to
claim any competent knowledge of the Old Testament and
the people who produced it without a comprehensive ac
quaintance with the other nations of» their world. And
to this knowledge nothing has contributed more helpfully
than the monuments and the related archaeological ma
terial.

XII
The Old Testament in the New
As the Iliad finds its sequel in the Odyssey, and
Paradise Lost in Paradise Regained, so the New
Testament forms the essential conclusion to the
Old. Without it the Hebrew Scriptures are like a story
without a final chapter, a torso without a head. But
the parallel with the other writings named is not com
plete. For the Iliad is greater than the Odyssey, and,
as Macaulay eloquently pointed out, the Paradise Re
gained did not compare in majesty and impressiveness
with its great predecessor. With the Bible it is not so.
Wonderful as is the Old Testament in literary beauty,
in moral urgency and religious passion, the New Testa
ment towers above it in solemn grandeur like Lebanon
above the sea.
Nor can they ever be divorced. Numbers of read
ers delight in the rich treasures of the Iliad who never
look into Homer's later work; and probably few of the
admirers of Milton's great epic have ever completed
its sequel. But the two Testaments are hnked together
in an indissoluble unity. One cannot know the one
without the other. As the cord to the bow, or the hand
to the harp, these collections of religious documents
are essential to each other, Tertullian phrased this idea

148 OUR BIBLE
in the lines familiar to the fathers of the church:
Novum Testamentum in Vetere latet;
Vetus Testamentum in Novo patet.
In the Old Testament the New is concealed ;
In the New Tfstament the Old is revealed.
The most casual reader of the Christian Scriptures
is impressed with the familiarity of the writers with
the books of the older collection, and their frequent use
of them for purposes of illustration and enforcement.
There kre about two hundred and fifty references, either
direct or implied, to the writings of the Old Testament
on the pages of the New. And some of the books, such
as Matthew, Luke, Romans, and Hebrews, seem, in
parts, like an anthology of Scripture texts held together
by the framework of the argument. Other books, like
John, the Corinthian and Galatian epistles, and 1 Peter,
fall not far behind in this regard. If Philippians, Colos
sians, the Thessalonians, Philemon, Titus and the three
Johannine epistles show little or no trace of this in
terest, the difference is not difficult to explain. And in
the other books the references are noticeable.
SATURATED WITH THE OLD TESTAMENT
This dependence of the Christian writers upon the
Old Testament was inevitable. They were nearly all
Jews, and their education and experience were in the
atmosphere of the great classic of their race. It formed

THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE NEW 149
their historical and literary background. Its stately
sentences were the warp and woof of learned discus
sion, and colored the talk of the street. To Jesus and
his first interpreters the people, places, incidents and
figures of speech of the Old Testament were so well
known that they formed the most usable material of
common speech. And when to this fact one adds the
reverence in which the Scripture was held, and its
weight when cited in argument, it is evident that the
disciples found it of the highest value in the preaching
of the new faith. Particularly did they searcVit for
utterances which could be construed as referring in
even the most remote manner to Jesus and his min
istry. ,
It would not be venturing too strong a state
ment to affirm that the writers of the Now Testament
were literally saturated with the ideas, /incidents and
phrases of the Old. Quite apart from their conscious
efforts to use its language in citation and argument,
they fell naturally into the habit of employing its words
and sentences in their writings. The instances in which
Paul reveals the influence of the Scriptures upon his
thinking and utterance are beyond computation. A
glance through the epistle to the Romans will show
the extent of this in a single document. The authoiT
of the Epistle to the Hebrews is likewise indebted to
them for almost numberless terms of speech such as
"Our God is a consuming fire," or "Hereby some have

150 OUR BIBLE
entertained angels unawares." Even in a less con
spicuous writer like the author of 1 Peter one finds
such reminiscent expressions as "A living stone, re
jected indeed of men, but with God, elect, precious;"
"which in time past were no people, but now are the
people of God;" and "who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth," which, without being exact quo
tations, carry the reader back at once to the pages of
Isaiah and Hosea. Furthermore, that the story of
Israel as a nation was familiar as the background of
all the thinking of these disciples of the Lord, one
needs only to recall the summaries of that history pre
sented in the speech of Stephen (Acts 7:16f), the ad
dress of Paul at Antioch of Pisidia (Acts 13:16), and
the splendid review of the heroes of faith in the
eleventh chapter of Hebrews.
JESUS' USE OF THE SCRIPTURE
Deeply impressive is Jesus' familiarity with the
Old Testament, and his frequent use of its material.
His references to Moses, Isaiah, Naaman, David, Jonah,
Solomon, Noah, Lot, Daniel, the Queen of Sheba, Tyre
and Sidon; his frequent citation of favorite passages,
such as the words of Hosea, "I desire mercy and not
sacrifice," and his reliance on the great sanctions of
Deuteronomy in the days of his temptation, show some
thing of the value found in the oracles of the nation,
and the strength he derived from them.

THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE NEW 151
In studying the citations of Old Testament pass
ages by the writers of the Gospels and the Epistles, one
is compelled to note the freedom with which the older
words are used. While most of the passages quoted
are easily traceable to their source, and, in many in
stances, the authors are named, yet in several cases the
citation is erroneous, or mixed, as when in Luke 3:4-6
the writer has added to the oracle of Isa. 40:lf, a
phrase from Exodus 14:13; in Mark 1:2, 3 reference
is made to Isaiah, but the passages are from Mal. 3:1
and Isa. 40:3; in 1 Cor. 14:21 a passage from Isa. 28:11
is spoken of as found "in the law," while a few, like
those quoted in Rom. 9:15 and Matt, 2:23, are not
found in. any portion of the Old Testament, and are
either quoted from unknown sources or are more or
less expressive of general sentiments found in the Scrip
ture. Moreover, there seems to have been no particular
effort to quote with nice exactness. In comparing such
passages as Matt. 4:14-16 with its original in Isa. 9;1, 2;
or Acts 2:17 with Joel 2:28-31 ; or Rom. 9:25 with Hos.
1 :10, 11, or scores of such quotations, it is obvious that
the New -Testament rendering is not verbally exact.
This is due to two causes. First, there was an almost
universal employment of the Greek translation known
as the LXX, instead of the original Hebrew, which very
few understood. The LXX was at best an inexact
translation, in many places hardly more than a para
phrase. Yet few of the early Christians knew any other

152 OUR BIBLE
text of the Old Testament. For example, the author
of Hebrews appears not to quote any other than the
LXX text save in one passage, Heb. 10:30, and there
he seems to follow Paul in Rom. 12:19. And second,
most writers and speakers were willing to permit a
fairly accurate rendering of the passage to satisfy the
occasion. They did not appear to be scrupulous in pre
senting a precise rendering.
In like manner the facts of Old Testament pass
ages are often used with as much freedom as the lan
guage. In the speech of Stephen (Acts 7:16) there is
found a curious misstatement regarding the burial place
of the patriarchs, due, perhaps, to the speaker or his
chronicler. In 1 Corinthians 10:18 Paul speaks of the
23,000 who fell in one day, while in Numbers 25 :9,
24,000 is the number. In Hebrews 9:4 the altar of
incense is mistakenly placed within the second veil of
the temple. Other instances of free handling of Old
Testament facts are familiar. They merely illustrate
the unstudied approach which the writers of the Christ
ian oracles made to the classics of their race.
But even more interesting is the manner in which
at times the statements of the Old Testament are
changed from their obvious meaning to make them
serve the purpose of the writers. A few examples out
of many will illustrate their method, which was in no
sense due to any irreverence, or the wish to modify the
teachings of the Scriptures. It was merely the fact

THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE NEW 153
that the words, slightly changed, fitted so well the
meaning they wished to convey that they asked per
mission of the original writers, so to speak, to make the
transfer of form and meaning. In Psalm 104:4 there
is a fine reference to Jehovah's use of the forces of
nature for his gracious ends : "Who maketh the winds
his messengers, his ministers a flaming fire." In He
brews 1 :4 the author, wishing to show that the angels
cannot compare in glory with the Son, uses the passage
in this way : "Who maketh his angels winds, his mes
sengers a flame of fire." Hosea, in a moment of fierce
indignation against the impenitent people of Israel,
confident that God would never again repent of his
purpose to destroy the rebellious nation, summons death
and the grave to do their worst : "Shall I ransom them
from the power of the grave? Shall I redeem them
from death? O, death, where are thy plagues? O,
grave, where is thy destruction? Repentance shall be
hidden from mine eyes." But Paul, in his glorious
euthanasia, using the words in precisely the opposite
sense, cries, "O death, where is thy victory? O death
where is thy sting?" and precedes this quotation with
one from Isaiah, "Death is swallowed up in victory."
Still more familiar is the bold appropriation by the
evangelists of the v/ords of Isaiah 40:3 regarding the
voice that cries to exiled Judah, "Prepare ye in the
wilderness the way of the Lord; make straight in the
desert a highway for our God." By only a minor

154 OUR BIBLE
change, hardly more than of punctuation, the entire
meaning of the passage is altered, and it is applied to
the voice of John the Baptist crying in the desert. To
the writers of the New Testament such uses of the older
Scriptures must have been not only permissible but
necessary. And for this reason they are valuable aids
to our understanding of the regard in which they held
these oracles ARE THESE PREDICTIONS?
And this leads appropriately to the so-called pre
dictions in the Old Testament, which are said to hav<
been "fulfilled" in the New. Much of the older apolo
getic of the church was concerned with the prophetic
anticipations of events in the life of Jesus, and their
striking realization in his ministry. Long lists of such
passages were cited as proofs of the miraculous fore
sight of these earlier ministers of God. The argu
ment from prophecy has largely shifted from this
ground today, and is based upon much more substan
tial foundations. Most of the claims made by eager
but uncritical exponents of the Bible require ex
amination and correction. The great forward-looking
hopes of the Old Testament saints are a luminous and
convincing feature of the Scriptures, but they move on
levels far higher than the minute and circumstantial
"predictions" formerly exploited.
One has but to study these New Testament refer-

THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE NEW 155
ences to the older writings in the light of careful com
parison to be warned away from the error of regarding
them as the realization of predictive effort. A few ex
amples will suffice to illustrate this principle, Hosea,
referring to a notable experience of the ancient nation,
says: "When Israel was a child I loved him, and I
called my son out of Egypt." The writer of the First
Gospel, feeling the appropriateness of the words to the
return of Jesus from the refuge in Egypt writes, "That
it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord
through the prophet, 'Out of Egypt did I call my son.' "
The evangelist knew that in the event those earlier
words came to new meaning, were filled out, fulfilled.
But would even a casual reader assert, in the light of
the entire message of Hosea, that the words had at first
the remotest application to Jesus?
In a critical moment in the story of Jerusalem,
when a powerful king of Assyria had invaded the north
regions of Zebulon and Naphtali, and seemed about to
march on Judah, Isaiah calmed the perturbed souls of
his fellow-citizens with the confident assurance that
Tiglath-pileser and his invading army should soon be
expelled from the land. That message is recorded in
Chapter 9 of the prophet's book. The writer of the
First Gospel perceived the appropriateness of these
words to the light and comfort-bringing arrival of
Jesus in the same regions centuries afterward, and did
not hesitate to apply them to the event, saying, "That

156 OUR BIBLE
it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the
prophet." Yet here again, and in scores of similar in
stances, no one who reads the prophet's words in the
light of their context would think of regarding them as
predictions referring to Jesus.
It is not too much to say that there is not an in
stance in the New Testament of any such incident in
the life of Jesus that holds to any Old Testament pass
age the relation of fulfilment to prediction. It will be
shown presently that the great prophetic movement of
the Hebrew interpreters of God anticipated One who
was to come and bring deliverance to his people and
the world. But none of the words which the evan
gelists so freely appropriate from the Scriptures as "ful
filled" in the incidents of Jesus' career have other value
than that of significant coincidence, which the friends
of the Lord were quick to perceive and utilize in the
interest of his wider ministry. Indeed one of these
very writers (1 Pet. 1:20) was at pains to affirm that
"no prophecy is of any private interpretation," i. e.,
refers to any one event in the life of Jesus. But many
such events were made more impressive to Jewish
minds by being connected with venerable words that
seemed to live again and complete themselves in the
life of the Lord.
It is this aspect of Jesus' exalted place in the regard
of his disciples which helps us to go a step further, and
find some explanation for their astonishing and au-

THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE NEW 157
dacious employment of other utterances of the Old
Testament as applying to him. It is clear that they
searched the Scriptures with eager intent to find in
them phrases that fitted the life or the ministry of the
Master. To their surprise and delight, they found the
Scripture full of such words. The older book was
"gravida Christi," pregnant with Christ. Statements
that originally applied to some king or saint of the
olden time now seemed to glow with a new meaning
as the reader thought of the Lord. The cries of martyrs
or the laments of persecuted souls voiced in too vivid
a manner the sufferings of the Savior not to refer to
him in some manner. The explanatory context that
warns us against the supposition that the speaker had
any other than his own griefs in mind, or could have
been interested in a distant divine sufferer, fell away
from their thoughts as they read the pregnant phrases
and reflected upon their holy Lord, the victim of out
rageous violence. They knew him to be the Servant
of God for the new day. Whatever, therefore, had been
said regarding Israel, the ancient servant of God, or
any of the saints who, through the years had lifted to
heaven the white flowers of blameless and sacrificial
lives, must also be true of him in whom all the striv
ings of elect souls were brought to completion.
With confidence born of this conviction, Peter
affirmed that the words of the Sixteenth Psalm were
spoken of Jesus (Acts 2:25, 25f.). In the same mood the

158 OUR BIBLE
writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews applied to him
the words of God to David regarding his posterity (2
Sam. 7:14) ; the appeal of a psalmist to the angels, or
the gods, to worship Jehovah (Ps. 97:7) ; the reference
to humanity in the Eighth Psalm; the words of God,
through a psalmist, to the newly chosen king of Israel
(Ps. 2:7), and the words of God giving assurance of
royal and priestly power to another king of the nation
(Ps. 110:4). These are only examples of a large group
that might be cited. The careful reader who is at pains
to study the Old Testament passages perceives at once
that their writers were thinking and speaking of mat
ters in no way connected with the life or ministry of
our Lord. The claim often made that there was a
double meaning in the prophetic words, a second sig
nificance in the thought, is a violation of every canon
of straightforward and honest interpretation. Skepti
cism has been quick to seize upon such assertions made
by Christian apologists, and to charge the entire argu
ment based on prophecy with disingenuousness and
perversion of the facts.
RABBINIC METHODS OF INTERPRETATION
But it is wholly unjust to the writers of the New
Testament. It must be remembered that they lived in"
the atmosphere of Jewish speculation regarding the
Scriptures, and that many did not hesitate to regard the
figurative and allegorical uses of the Old Testament

THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE NEW 159
as even more important than the plain statement of
fact. One sees examples of this influence in the writ
ings of more than one of the New Testament authors.
For example, Paul employs the Jewish legend that the
rock from which Moses drew water actually followed
the Israelites through the wilderness (1 Cor. 10:4) ; he
refers to the veil Moses put over his face, as a symbol
of the veil of ignorance that had fallen over Jewish
minds in the reading of their Scriptures (2 Cor. 3 :7-16) ;
he employs the two mountains, Sinai and Zion, and the
two women, Hagar and Sarah, as figures illustrating
the relations of the law and the gospel (Gal. 4:21-31);
and he uses the distinction between the singular and
the plural of the word "seed" (Gal. 3:6) in a manner
that seems to us wholly fantastic, but was quite char
acteristic of rabbinic practice. In a similar manner the
writer of 1 Peter makes the Ark of Noah a type of
baptism (1 Pet. 3:21); and the author of Hebrews
makes the tabernacle a type of the church ( Chapts. 8,
9), and Melchizedek of Christ (Chapt. 7:lf). The
intelligent reader of the Old Testament does not need
to be told that in their original setting none of these
persons or objects had the slightest connection with
the life of Jesus, or the Christian message. At the
same time it must be borne in mind that in writing to
a group of people like the first Christians, most of
whom were either Jews or acquainted to a marked
degree with the Old Testament books, there was great

160 OUR BIBLE
value in the use of the materials of that older literature
as illustrations throwing some sort of light upon the
principles of the gospel. To modern readers, unac
quainted with the dialectic of the Jewish schools, some
of these references seem remote and unconvincing. But
no doubt they had their value in the thought of the
apostles, and in no instance that we can perceive did
they employ them without full warrant of the literary
customs of their age and people. If, therefore, one is
puzzled at times to find the connection between an Old
Testament character or object and the New Testa
ment idea it is employed to symbolize, it must be re
membered that to the disciples, as to Jesus himself, the
Hebrew Scriptures were the literary storehouse from
which there could be drawn at need all weapons of de
fense and all supplies of prophetic assurance.
MESSIANIC PROPHECY
But the most illuminating and convincing feature
of the relation between the Old Testament and the
New is the forward-looking attitude of the prophetic
ministers of the older order. Israel's golden age lay in
the future, not the past. The purposes of God were
not completed in the broken and marred history of the
nation. The redemptive function of the tribes of the
Lord seemed to fail, as they went down in political dis
aster. But ever the hope of survival and success burned
in the hearts of choice and elect servants of God. That

THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE NEW 161
hope was often political and crass, but it had higher
qualities of redemptive and sacrificial passion. Isaiah
saw hints of it (Chapts. 9, 11, etc.); Jeremiah, in the
Book of Consolation, recorded some of its features
(Chapts. 31, 32) ; the Evangelical Prophet made it still
more vivid, keeping it ever true to its national rooting
in the experiences of Israel, but revealing at last the
full glory of the hope in the coming of One who should
both represent and transcend the nation, and bring re
demption to all mankind (Isa. 40-55).
It is in the atmosphere of this real expectation that
Jesus moved, and it was in the complete assurance that
these hopes were centered in him that he went forward
with his sublime task. In the Old Testament there
were^many notes of suffering and depression, such as
are found in Psalms 22 and 69. There were confident
anticipations of better days and of redemptive minis
tries from which a new nation and a new world would
emerge (cf. Isa. 61:lf). Jesus took to himself all these
prophetic words, conscious that in him alone could
they find their realization (see Lu. 4:16-21). But most
of all did he find in the sublime words of the Song of
the Suffering Servant (Isa. 52:13-53:12) the picture of
his sacrificial career. Written originally of the nation
crushed into the dust of Babylonian exile, yet animated
with the deathless hope of survival and service, Jesus
knew that the only true fulfilment of such expectations
was not in the nation but in himself. For that reason
11

162 , OUR BIBLE
he laid calm and confident hands on all such oracles,
and with complete insight into their further reaches of
anticipation, applied them to himself and his holy
labor for the world.
In the light of these facts, one understands such
deeply impressive language as that used by the Savior
again and again to his disciples, in the effort to instruct
them regarding his function as the world's Redeemer.
It was not to specific and detailed predictions of his
life that he referred when he spoke of his approaching
passion, for there are none such. But back into the
treasured records of Hebrew sufferers, of prophetic
martyrs and of patient witnesses of the truth he reached,
and gathered up their agitated phrases, their broken
cries, their tremulous hopes for better days, and made
them his own. Hosea (Chapt. 6:2) had with broken
heart besought the nation to turn from its waywardness
to God, and had said, "He hath smitten us, but he will
bind us up. After two days he will revive us, and on
the third day he will raise us up and we shall live."
So we hear Jesus saying to the disciples, "All the things
that are written by the prophets shall be done unto the
Son of man. For he shall be delivered up to the Gen
tiles, and shall be mocked, and shamefully entreated,
and spit upon; and they shall kill him, and the third
day he shall rise again." He reproved his friends for
their slowness of heart "to believe all that the prophets
had spoken," and "opened to them the Scriptures," ex-

THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE NEW 163
plaining to them that it was written that the Christ
must suffer, and rise the third day (cf. Lu. 24:25-49).
On such exalted levels do the real facts of Mes
sianic prophecy lie. If something seems to be lost in
the change of attitude which is necessitated by a frank
facing of the facts, much more is gained. Prophecy
is perceived to be no mere set of predictions regarding
events in the life of the Lord, but an onward sweep
of the divine purpose, a progressive realization of the
truths and ideals toward which the Spirit of God was
evermore leading the saints. These ideals were at last
made clear by Jesus, and in the consciousness of that
sublime fulfilment he rightly claimed all the sanctions
of the past. He knew that the portrait drawn by the
prophets of old, not in the carefully traced lines of
predictive detail, but in the bold strokes of world antici
pation, was his own. The prophets described not a
person; but an office, a function, a service to be ren
dered to Israel and the world. They did not predict
the life of Jesus, but they foreshadowed the ministry
of the Messiah. It was the task of Jesus and his friends
to make clear to the men of their time that he was that
Messiah, and that the picture they had in the Old Testa
ment was in reality his .own. So to the Jews he said
one day, "Ye search the Scriptures, for in them ye
think ye have eternal life. And little as you perceive it,
they testify of me." Then he added sadly, "But ye will
not come to me, that ye may have life."

XIII
The Inspiration of the Bible
IN the Jahvist narrative of creation there is the state
ment that the Lord formed man out of the dust of
ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of
life, so that he became a living soul. It is this impressive
figure of speech which has become famihar in the effort
to characterize men or writings, works of genius or prod
ucts of art, which make unusual appeal to the race. There
seems no better method of describing them than to say
that they are inspired. And the picture which forms in
the mind is that of a divine inbreathing, which conveys to
some a unique quality of excellence, urgency or power.
The word as applied to the Scriptures, or at least to
certain parts of them, has a warrant in the books them
selves. And yet it is so variously employed that it lacks
clearness in popular thinking, and connotes many different
things to different people. When one speaks of the inspira
tion of Dante or Shakespeare, of Raphael or Fra Angelico,
of Handel or Beethoven, the meaning is obvious. It is the
unusual gift of the men, or the significant nature of their
literary or artistic creations which is suggested by the term.
But when the inspiration of the Bible is the subject of
reflection, it is less easy to propose a definition that will
abide the test. Perhaps it is a misfortune that the same

INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE 165
word should have been employed to describe qualities so
diverse. Certainly no description that serves to set forth
the unique elements of poetry, drama, sculpture, painting
or architecture is quite adequate to characterize the quali
ties in virtue of which the Bible is called inspired. There
remains in it something else not explained.
WHAT IS INSPIRATION ?
Reference has been made more than once in this series
of studies to the fact that most of the holy books of the
various faiths claim some sort of inspiration and authority.
This is true of the Vedic Hymns, the Law of Hamnurabi,
the Avesta, the Pitikas, the Granth, and the Koran. In
each of the great religions there has been in the thought
of the worshipers the conviction that the literature pro
duced in the atmosphere of the deity or leader they revere
is divine. Nor should there be any doubt of this fact on
the part of any discerning and reverent soul. God speaks
to man by divers portions and in various ways, through
many teachers and in many writings. None of the sacred
books that have lifted any part of the race to new altitudes
of thinking and conduct has lacked something of the Spirit
of God. But such phrases as one may with complete assur
ance apply to these literatures fall short of a proper and
satisfying characterization of the Bible.
What is meant, then, by this term as it is used of the
Old Testament and the New? And what are the argu
ments advanced to assert and defend the claim? In the

166 OUR BIBLE
attempt to answer these questions it is necessary to pre
sent the arguments before attempting the definition.
The most common reasons presented for the inspira
tion of the Bible are the following :
1. We of the Christian nations have inherited our
belief in its inspiration. Our ancestors have accepted this
view without questioning, and to us it has come with the
sanction of their lives.
2. The church has through all its history affirmed the
inspired character of the Scriptures. To those who accept
the authority of the church, of whatever order, this is a
sufficient guarantee.
3. The Bible claims its own inspiration. The words
of 2 Timothy 3:16 are classic: "Every Scripture inspired
of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for cor
rection, for instruction which is in righteousness." In the
closing book of the New Testament are found these solemn
words: "I testify unto every man that heareth the words
of the prophecy of this book : If any man shall add unto
them, God shall add unto him the plagues which are written
in this book. And if any man shall take away from the
words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away
his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city,
which are written in this book" (Rev. 22:18,19).
4. There is a certain self-attesting quality in the
books themselves. When the Bible, rightly understood,
makes its appeal to mind and heart, it requires no further

INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE 167
validation. Its message comes with a sense of urgency
possessed by no other literature known to the race.
These are the most important arguments presented in
defense of the doctrine of inspiration. There are others
that might be mentioned, but they are all in some man
ner related to these or included in them. Perhaps they
should be scrutinized somewhat to determine if possible
whether they are really valid. Probably they will make
differing appeals to different minds.
STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS OF THE ARGUMENTS
The argument from the faith of our fathers has the
right to most serious consideration. It is a truth past all
doubting that much of the heroism, steadfastness and
virtue of the Christian generations behind us was due to
the faith the fathers had in the Bible and its inspiration
as the Word of God. Lacking that confidence, life would
have seemed little worth to them. Our age has learned
to revise many of their opinions and discredit many of
their beliefs. The world in which we live is a wider, freer,
world. Many of the little systems of the past — political,
social, religious — have had their day and ceased to be. But
there was something majestic and enduring about the
Christian faith and character of those grand men of the
past that we may well covet. Is this not sufficient to vali
date their view of the Scriptures? Some will think it is,
but in the changing order of our time a more certain ground
is needed. Men must have better grounds of assurance

168 OUR BIBLE
than the faith of other men, even such men as we have
known and revered.
Still less satisfactory is the argument from church
authority. To the Roman Catholic or the adherent of the
Greek Orthodox Church it might be sufficient. Even to
a Protestant it is not without deep significance that the
religious body to which he belongs has through the years
maintained a stout and unwavering faith in the inspiration
of the Bible. But it must not be forgoten that the Roman
Church which made the first formal and official declaration
of the inspired and canonical nature of the Scriptures was
the very organization that did most to keep the Bible out
of the hands of the people. After due allowance has been
made for Protestant overstatement on this theme, it must
be conceded that the Roman Church has never been favora
ble to popular use of the Bible, and that it is only today
repairing the mistake it made in other centuries, by giving
a version of the Scriptures to its people. Why should the
book have been so long withheld if it was inspired of God ?
At first glance the argument from the statements of
the Bible itself seems convincing. What more could one
wish than the reference of an apostolic writer, whether
Paul or another, to "all Scriptures given by inspiration of
God"? But a moment's study of the text shows that the
writer could have had in mind at best only the Old Testa
ment, the only Scriptures the early Christians knew ; unless,
as seems not improbable, the term as used in his day
included also the apocryphal books. And as to the strong

INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE 169
words of the writer of Revelation, no one would assert
that they refer to more than that single document; for
in his day there could have been no collection of New
Testament books. So far, therefore, as validation for the
Bible is to be sought in its own words, the argument lacks
the essential element of application to the books in which
the unique quality of inspiration is most in evidence —
the great messages of the New Testament. Moreover, if
the inspiration of a worlc is to rest upon its claim for
itself, then the Koran should far outrank the Bible. It
is apparent that elsewhere must one look for the real
grounds of certainty.
JThe last, of the arguments above named goes much
. further toward an adequate statement than_^y gf.Jhe
^^other^j,. It may seem at first that it is the least definite
of the four reasons urged. Probably this is true. Cer
tain it is that the inspiration of the Bible eludes exact
definition precisely because it differs from any quality that
bears that name in any other literature or product of human
genius. But it is not without reason that one may
urge the force of the appeal which the Scriptures make
on their own behalf to those who give them the attention
which they demand. They make real and urgent claim
to reverence and obedience. They bring near to the human
soul the sanctions of the divine life and the realities of
spiritual experience. They are self-attesting, because their
demonstration of their uniqueness is more convincing than
any arguments the theologian can frame in their behalf.

170 OUR BIBLE
If it were left to human choice to prescribe the char
acter of a book that should serve as the supreme religious
literature of the race, the fullest embodiment in lit
erary form of the divine ideal, what would such a book
be, and what would it be proper to expect of it? At first
thought it seems very easy to prescribe its qualities.
For example, it should be written by the hand of God, or
by some group of men particularly prepared for their task
by divine selection and supernatural endowments. The
book thus produced should be a clear and unvarying rec
ord of the divine mind, with no suggestion of mistake
in matters of fact, norms of conduct, or forms of expres
sion. Further than this, its transmission to the present
time, both in copy and translation, should be faithful and
inerrent, for there would be little value in an originally
perfect document that was spoiled in the "process of de
livery to the world of today. Such, one would suppose,
would be the nature of a satisfactory Bible, to which one
might with assurance attach the title of the Word of God.
WHAT WE SHOULD LIKE
Yet nothing is clearer than the fact that we have no
such book as that. Furthermore, no such book has ever
been known. The claims the Jews made for the five
books of Moses amounted almost to that, and the same
is true of the Mohammedan assertions regarding the
Koran, and of certain other religious groups in behalf
of their particular scriptures. But no such claim can be

INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE 171
maintained for a moment in the presence of the obvious
facts. The Bible makes no demand to be considered a
superhuman oracular volume. It possesses the character
istics of its various writers. Each speaks in his own man
ner. It would be impossible to attribute a sermon of
Isaiah's to Jeremiah, or a Pauline epistle to Luke.
This is one of the chief reasons why the doctrine of
verbal inspiration has been discarded as incapable of proof
and incompatible with the evident facts. If the divine
mind dictated to the writers of the Scriptures the sub
stance and form of the writings, there could not be the
individuality that characterizes these documents. There is
a striking unity of purpose disclosed in .them ; but their
style, vocabulary and point of view are as various as
their names. Each speaks out of his own experience,
and uses his own particular equipment of knowledge and
skill. Whatever definition of inspiration is constructed
must include these facts.
Nor were the writers of the Bible safeguarded super
naturally or in any other manner from the usual historical
and scientific errors to which the men of their age were
liable. Their work is not a text-book on either of these
subjects. They spoke of events of the past as they under
stood them. They referred to the facts of nature as they
were known in their day. But the themes with which they
were concerned were not in these regions. They used
them merely as illustrations of God's purposes for the race,
and the truth they were interested to affirm was of vastly

172 OUR BIBLE
greater import than any illustration by which they sought
to enforce it.
In the opening chapters of the Book of Genesis there
are two separate and varying narratives o"f creation. They
do not agree with each other, nor do either of them agree
with what scientists would now regard as a satisfactory
description of the origin of things. Yet both teach the
truth that at the beginning, whenever and whatever it
was, God was the Creator, and man was the climax of
the process. The men who put these two varying accounts
into the same book were not unaware of their differences,
but they found in them moral and religious values which
made their divergences negligible. The Old Testament
and the New exhibit many such phenomena. Whatever
doctrine of inspiration be framed, it must be hospitable to
facts like these.
The Bible is not a book whose ethical teachings are
all of the same type or value. It discloses the depths to
which human nature can at times descend, and out of
which it must be lifted. The moral levels of each genera
tion, as set down in the Old Testament, were subject to
¦
the criticism and correction of a later age. A law is not
final, a custom is not praiseworthy, merely because it is
found in the Bible. It may be cited for correction, or as
an illustration of crude and discarded usage. Such facts
must be included in the definition of inspiration.
The Bible is not a book whose main purpose is the
chronicling either of miracle or fulfilled prediction..

INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE 173
Miracle there is, and prophecy of a majestic and compelling
sort. But these are not the fundamental elements of the
book. In fact, every miracle and every prophecy could be
eliminated from the Scripture, and its supreme values
would not be disturbed. Something would be lost, it is
true, and we prefer the books as they are, when rightly
interpreted. But their purpose lies on higher levels than
these phases, however interesting they may be. And any
definition of inspiration we may adopt must meet this test.
QUALITIES OF THE BIBLE
The Bible discloses certain features in virtue of which
we have a right to call it inspired. It is a collection of
books produced by men living in the current of the great
est religious movement known to history. It was a move
ment with small beginnings, but with gradually expanding
force. It began in the tribal experiences of a small group
of people living in "the least of all lands," and culminated
in the supreme Life of the ages, and the most vital and
pervasive religious institution ever known.
The Bible is a competent record of that movement,
and it presents graphic and convincing portraits of some
of those forceful personages who contributed to the unique
religious education thus organized. In the lives of those
men and in the history which they helped to make, God
was present as in no .other experiences of the past. That
was the singular quality of Israel's life. It was no wilful
and capricious selection of a favored race. It was the

174 OUR BIBLE
employment of the best available instrument for a great
purpose. And that purpose manifests itself in the docu
ments which record that experience, and this quality in the
documents, for want of a better term, we name inspiration.
The Bible is the collection of books in which more
evidently than in any other literature there is discovered
the profoundest truths of religion. There are pictured
the lives of men like Abraham and Moses, who made sure
of the reality of God; men like Amos and Isaiah who
discovered and declared God's world-ruling sovereignty;
men who like Hosea and Jeremiah penetrated the secret
of the love of God even for the most unworthy ; and One
there was who knew the possibility and preciousness of
communion with God, and set the world in a way to a
transfiguration of life by the discovery.
In this book are found the personalities most worthy
of reverence. In loyalty to ideals, in the possession of
broadening faith and deeper insight, in the appreciation
of the supreme religious values, such men as Samuel,
David, Micah, Ezekiel, John the Baptist, Paul and Peter
take rank as the pioneers in the vanguard of the world's
progress toward the life of the spirit.
The Bible reveals to us, in glowing hope and partial
realization, that kingdom of God, that community of re
deemed souls and redemptive forces, of which Jesus was
always speaking. By its help we are able to find our way
to God. By its direction we discern his will for us as the
most worthful program of life. By the suggestions it

INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE 175
offers and the sources of power it reveals we discover that
we can actually do his will and fulfill his purposes. By
the study of this book redemption, atonement, the life of
trust, the glory of rewarding service, and the certainty of
the life eternal are brought within the circle of personal
possession. Such values as these are not to be found
in like degree in any other literature. And the quality
.of exhibiting them in such telling manner we may call
inspiration. When the demand is made for a more definite and
compact description of this strange quality, one has to
respond that it is not to be compressed into any neat and
convenient form. It would be easy to define the sort of
inspiration the Jewish rabbis affirmed of their torah, but
that is too formal and mechanical to satisfy. It would be
equally simple a process to apply the usual categories of
literary and artistic passion to the books before us. But
this is too pale a figure to meet the need. The most com
petent statement that can be made is that the inspiration
of the Bible is the total spirit and power it reveals. In
the last issue one means by its inspiration exactly those
marks of uniqueness and urgency which it exhibits, and
which make it incomparably greater than any other book
in the world.
The wonder is that the Bible shares with other books
so many of their marks of human workmanship and lim
itation, and yet possesses a spirit that sets it in a place
apart from all the rest. It is this which baffles definition.

176 OUR BIBLE
and yet is so unescapable a quality of the Scripture. The
proof that the book is^inspij^ed^is its .possieLto igsgire. It is
the sum of the elements thus made evident to the reflective
mind that warrants one in speaking of the Bible as the
Word of God, and believing in its enduring value. It is in
recognition of these unique qualities that one may apply
to the Scripture as a whole the words of the Master en
graved as a text in the walls of the building of the British
and Foreign Bible Society, "Heaven and earth shall pass
away, but my word shall not pass away."

XIV
The Authority of the Bible
VIEWED from certain points of approach, it is un
fortunate that the Bible has been called the Word
of God. The intelligent student finds no difficulty in
this title, for he accepts it in the light of all the facts freely
spread upon its pages. In comparison with any other of
the world's sacred books he finds that it contains in a
unique degree the message of God to the race. But to one
who is unwilling or unable to pay the price of a competent
inquiry into the nature of the book, the title is misleading.
It implies far more than the Bible is prepared to guaran
tee. For even a casual reading of the documents that
make up this wonderful collection shows that they were
not written by God, nor even by men who were speak
ing with supernatural and inerrant knowledge of God's
will. No error has ever resulted in greater discredit to""
the Scripture or injury to Christianity than that of
attributing to the Bible such a miraculous origin and
nature as to make it an infallible standard of morals and
religion. That it contains the word of God in a sense
in which that expression can be used of no other book
is true. But its finality and authority do not reside in
all of its utterances, but in those great characters and
messages which are easily discerned as the mountain

12

178 OUR BIBLE
peaks of its contents. Such portions are worthy to be
callgd the word of God to man.
•^ Various opinions have been held as to the seat
of authority in religion. By some it is placed in the
church. And it is not to be doubted that there is a
certain moral authority in an organization so revered
and efficient as the Church of Christ in the world. But
those who hold this view are usually at pains to insist
that the definition of the church that may thus be re
garded as possessing this special authority is to be
limited to the organization to which they happen to
belong. No advocate of the supreme right of the
Christian organization to the place of control would
concede that authority to the universal church. It is
rather some particular church that he has in mind.
Others have affirmed that the seat of authority is
to be found in the Bible. This was particularly the
contention of the later reformers, who felt the need
of some authority to oppose to the Roman Catholic
doctrine of the infallible church. And this led, as has
been shown, to fantastic claims for the Bible, such as
it never made for itself, nor was prepared to support.
The traditional authorships of the Bible were insisted
upon as essential to its validity. Some of the theolo
gians almost outdid the rabbinical apologists in their
extravagant claims for the Mosaic authorship of the
Pentateuch. One of their sayings was, "He who says
that; Moses wrote even one verse of his own knowledge

AUTHORITY OF THE BIBLE" 179
is a denier and despiser of the Word of God." Here
the doctrine of inspiration and authority was carried
to the limits of the grotesque. Hardly less fantastic
was the claim of some of the post-reformation divines
regarding the inerrant character of the text of Scrip
ture. Dr. John Owen boldly asserted that the vowel
points of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament were
inspired. This would be equal to the insistence that
the versification, paragraphing and punctuation of our
English Bible were determined in heaven.
LIMITATIONS OF AUTHORITY
The Bible, as a whole, is not an ultimate authority
to one who thoughtfully studies it. That is, it cannot
be taken as inerrant and final in all its parts. The
command of Samuel to Saul to exterminate the Amale
kites would not be regarded by anyone as a proper
order for our age. The conduct of David in war would
be reprehensible in the thought of our generation, just
as it was to the later prophets of Israel. The toleration
of polygamy, slavery and blood revenge, which were
wholly within the circle of permitted conduct in an
earlier time, would be impossible now. In other words,
the Bible is not an authority to us on all the questions
with which it deals. The anger of Paul at the high
priest who ordered him smitten in court, and his ad
vice to Timothy about taking a little wine, we do not
accept as examples for ourselves, though we see the

180 OUR BIBLE
naturalness of the manner in which they are mentioned.
Those who accept the Bible as the holiest and most
authoritative book we possess always reserve the right
to discriminate between those utterances which justify
themselves to the conscience and intelligence, and th6se
which fail to do so. It is inevitable that one who studies
the Scriptures should bring every statement and pre
cept to the bar of his own sense of right, and judge it
by that standard. We have to confess that even in
the New Testament the same discrimination is exer
cised by every thoughtful reader. The rabbinical argu
ments of Paul in the Epistle to the Galatians make no
such appeal to us as does his doctrine of justification
by faith. The summary punishment of Ananias and
his wife leaves us doubtful and questioning, while the
message of Peter to Cornelius and his household meets
our highest approval. And even in the life of Jesus
the same differences appear. So difficult are the nar
ratives of the demons sent into the swine and the
cursed fig tree that many who hold without hesitance
to the inspiration and authority of the Book wonder if
there has not been some error in the record at these
points. They seem inconsistent with all the other
things we are told concerning our Lord. This makes
it evident that the authority which we recognize as so
truly present in the biblical record does not inhere in
the book as such, nor in any particular portion of it.
But rather it is found in the appeal which the Scrip-

AUTHORITY OF THE BIBLE 181
ture as a whole makes to the moral sense within hu
manity, and in particular the urgency of the appeal
made by certain parts of the record, notably the Gos
pels and the Pauline epistles.
In the recognition of this fact is found the reason
for that controlling influence which the Bible, and par
ticularly the New Testament, has exercised upon the
mind and conscience of the world through the cen
turies. The Book asks nothing for itself in the way
of sovereignty over the minds of men. But it exercises
that power by the sheer force of its appeal to all that
is best within us. Its authority is not formal and
arbitrary. It consists rather in the outreaching of the
Spirit of God in the men who wrote its various parts
to the souls of those who study it. It is because the
men who speak through the pages of the Bible find
us at levels deeper than any other writers we know
that they possess for us the element of authority.
THE STANDARD OF AUTHORITY
And the creation of the standard of right within the
souls of the advancing generation is one of the achieve
ments of the Bible. The only standard of right think
ing and conduct possessed by anyone is the result of
his education in religion and morals. Barbarous peo
ples approve and practice customs which are revolting
to the moral sense of the enlightened, because such
practices are not inconsistent with the only standards

182 OUR BIBLE
of morals they possess. Their consciences are quite
undisturbed. The people of ancient Israel saw nothing
unusual or wrong in polygamy, slavery and cruel treat
ment of war prisoners. The teachings even of their
noblest teachers in the early ages of their history did
not disapprove such things. The authority of those
teachers was hospitable to the manners of such books
as Joshua and Judges. That authority does not reach
and convince us today. And the very men who followed
those first moral leaders of the nation helped to correct
those low standards of living. The prophets of one
age denounced and forbade conduct like that of their
predecessors. ' Through the centuries of history the
advancing groups of those who were sensitive to the
leadings of the divine Spirit pointed the upward way
of justice, mercy and humility. And the consummation
of that process was reached in the life and teachings
of our Lord.
It is the record of this progress that the Bible
presents. The great personalities of which it speaks
make their appeal to the moral sense of the world at
just the level they occupied. There are those today who
find nothing objectionable in the conduct of the patri
archs. They would be content with a social order in
which customs like theirs could prevail. Polygamy is
yet practiced in parts of the world, and even in our
own land, and is justified on biblical grounds. For
such justification, of course, its advocates have to go

AUTHORITY OF THE BIBLE 183
back to an age from which the enlightened portion of
the race has made long departures. And it is the Bible
itself which has been the chief instrument in that moral
progress. To those who rightly understand this Book,
by letting it offer its own explanation of its develop
ment and purpose, there is no longer the slightest au
thority found in it for polygamy. And the same thing
may be said in reference to slavery, blood revenge,
impurity, falsehood and every other evil thing. The
Book, through its noblest voices, and most of all through
the voice of Jesus, has made the low and partial stan
dards of the past increasingly unconvincing to those
who have seen the larger vision of the kingdom of
God. The authority of the Bible resides in its enlighten
ing and compelling power, which lays upon the soul the
imperatives of pure and sacrificial living. It is not an
authority which inheres in an institution or a book, but
in the sense of rightness created within the soul by
all gracious influences, and chiefly by the Bible itself.
The Book does not claim to be a carefully prepared
manual of conduct. It refuses to accept responsibility
for the claim that all of its utterances are rules to be
followed. Rather it records the story of the most
notable movement in history for the enfranchisement
of the human soul from the bondage of ignorance, super
stition, lust, hatred and pride, and it tells us something
of the men who were leaders in that movement which

184 OUR BIBLE
found its full expression in Jesus. It asks us to study
the lives and ideals of these great souls, and make them,
as far as they find us with their majestic appeal, our
friends and examples. In some of them, early in the
movement, we shall find little to admire or imitate. Yet
every one, in the measure of his knowledge and power,
was a pioneer in the great adventure of making a new
world. THE AUTHORITY OF CHRIST
The life of Jesus, which is exhibited only in this
literature, is the climax of this process. We do not
know very much about him, as compared with that
which we should like to know. All the records of his
life would not fill an issue of the morning paper. Fur
thermore, the only records we have of his life come
to us through the writings of men who did not them
selves fully understand the character they were seek
ing to make known. They could only do the best
they were able in making their contemporaries and
those who should follow them comprehend something
of that life that to them was past all language wonder
ful. In the final issue of facts, it is that life which
has become the authoritative norm of conduct for the
race. Imperfectly presented as it is, and not fully
understood either by its first interpreters or any of
later time, the life of Jesus is increasingly the disclosure
of the soul of God, the exhibition of a normal, perfect

AUTHORITY OF THE BIBLE 185
human character and the center of the world's desire.
The Book that can present a life like that, under
whatever limitations, is certain to have a unique note of
authority for all who have the least sensitiveness to
moral ideals. It finds us and holds us. It follows us
through all the ways in which we try to find rest in
our search for life abundant. It waits for us at the
partings of ways. It beckons to us when we turn into
bypaths where we think to find another sort of good.
It pursues us with swift insistent feet all the long day
of life. It will not let us go. It is this divine and
terrible authority which follows us with the whips and
scourges of the eternal love, until we dash ourselves
into the abysses of unreturning refusal, or take with
gladness the cup of life from the hand of God.
It is conceivable that we could have had a book of
rules, which would have been a final and infallible guide
to conduct. But the Bible is not that, though some
men have so claimed; and others have sought to com
pile from its contents such an anthology of thinking
and behavior. But this is futile. The first essential
of the holy life is the responsibility of a discriminating
choice among the options offered by life. If someone
could draw up for us such a schedule and guarantee
us salvation on terms of compliance with it, there would
be strong temptation to close with the proposal. So
strong, indeed, that some who claim the right have
offered just such a bargain in the name of the church.

186 OUR BIBLE
But salvation cannot be purchased upon any such cheap
and easy terms. Salvation is character. Character
can be gained only by the agony of deliberate and con
vinced choice, and the struggle to make that choice con
trolling in life. So in the end of the day, the authority
of the Bible is just the appeal which it makes to us to
close with the supreme opportunity, as Jesus did, and
live his life after him. The authority of the Bible is
the authority of the supreme Life of which it speaks.
And linked with it are all the other forceful lives in
that same group, in the measure in which they make
to us the appeal of character and teaching.
REAL SEAT OF" AUTHORITY
For this reason the authority of the Bible cannot
be formal, arbitrary or capricious. It cannot consist
in oracular words and phrases. It cannot inhere in
rules of living. These all may have value, but the
power of the Bible in human life lies in its ability to
inspire in those whom it really reaches a principle of
thought and life which makes them .a law unto them
selves. Out of the best that the prophets and apostles
have spoken one may organize a norm of living which
becomes compelling. To him the character and mes
sage of the Lord become final. He has in some com
petent measure the mind of Christ. Within the en
lightened and loyal soul itself there is set up a standard
of ethics and religion to which the appeal of every de-

AUTHORITY OF THE BIBLE 187
cision must be referred. Into the creation of this stan
dard many factors enter.- But it must be confessed
that the Bible is the most impressive. And in this fact,
and the control which issues from it into the lives of
the saints of all the years, lies its unique authority.
A few days ago a friend sent me a copy of a book
which had come into his hand, and which purported
to tell the truth about the Bible. The author assumed
that the church and the world have long been imposed
upon by a book which is, to say the least, very com
monplace, and at the worst very misleading and dan
gerous. The text of the volume was Mr. IngersoU's
saying, "Somebody ought to tell the truth about the
Bible." It devoted several chapters to the familiar facts
of the origin and literary character of the Bible, taking
it for granted that if one became aware that the book
possesses those features of human composition, which
are the commonplaces of all intelligent Bible study
today, and have been set forth at some length in the
studies in this series, he would at once abandon his
faith in the inspiration and authority of the Bible. Then
he presented a long list of quotations from Christian
writers, setting forth the evident marks of the process
by which the Bible came into being and has been trans
mitted to us, which he had carefully taken out of their
context, and exhibited as confessions and admissions
on the part of friends of the Bible that it was untrust
worthy and self-condemning. From this he proceeded

188 OUR BIBLE
to a minute examination of the book to discover errors
of historical or scientific statement. Still assuming that
the Bible makes claim to be an infallible and inerrant
authority upon all matters included in its pages, he
drew the conclusion that it was fraudulent and mislead
ing. But not content with this, he proceeded to cite
the instances of lying, cheating, stealing, murder, war,
bloody sacrifices, cannibalism, witchcraft, slavery, poly
gamy, lust, obscenity, intemperance, injustice to women,
tyranny and intolerance, and without attempting to dis
criminate between the many cases in which the types
of conduct are held up to scorn and condemnation, and
the few in which they exhibit the crude state of an
early social order, he insisted that all alike illustrated
the immoral and pernicious nature of the book, and the
reason why it should be banished from the world.
ATTACKS UPON THE BIBLE
There are circles, doubtless, in which a book of
this sort might find welcome and even applause. But
they would have to be among such as have only a be
lated idea of what the Bible really is and what it is
daily doing for the race. It is only a totally false
theory regarding the Bible that can give an instant's sig
nificance to such a book. Mr. Ingersoll was able to
succeed in his attacks upon the Bible because most of
the people in his audiences still held the mechanical,
obsolete view of the supernatural character of the book.

AUTHORITY OF THE BIBLE 189
and its infallible reliability on all matters which it dis
cusses. The breath of the fresh study of the Bible
which came with the critical method blew away all
chance of appeal in that manner to the outworn ideas
of the past, and today Mr. IngersoU's type of attack
upon the Bible is as dead as its author. Those who in
the manner of this writer follow that line of argument
are dealing with a generation which knows too much
as to the actual nature of the Bible and the claims made
for it by its interpreters to be misled or disturbed.
It is like ridiculing a man for the weaknesses, the
ignorance and the freakish behavior of his childhood.
The facts are all there if one wishes to spend the time
to compile them. But what is their value? It is like
visiting a hospital, not to learn of its remedial and in
spiring service to the community, but to take note only
of its sewage, to rake over its garbage, and to peer into
its repulsive evidences of the wastage wrought by medi
cation and surgery. Every intelligent person knows
that a hospital has this necessary and unpleasant side.
It is no discredit to its work. But such are the things
for which none but scavengers search. The Bible has
also these features. It has the evidences of the imma
ture and false ideas out of which it was the task of the
Spirit of God to lead the race. It has some terrible
chapters, proofs of the depths to which the race can
fall. But no true picture can be drawn of the long and
slow evolution of moral ideals without hints of the

190 OUR BIBLE
primitive life out of which escape was at last made.
The Bible reveals with a frankness which is at once
startling and undeniable the sins that war against the
soul and the low standards of morals prevailing in ages
when those sins were counted virtues. But no one with
power to discriminate between childhood and maturity
would betray himself into the disingenuous assertion
that all alike meet the approval of the Book.
A volume that made any such impression upon its
readers could not hold for a moment the place which
the Bible has in the regard of the race. Its overwhelm
ing vindication, its ground of right to reverence, are
found in its appeal to the intelligent and sensitive spirit,
its illustrious history as the guide of those movements
which are bringing in the new day, its ability to change
the current of history out of its former channels in the
direction pointed out by the Spirit of God, its power to
transform nations from savagery and superstition to
intelligence and virtue, and its daily record of trans
figured lives, the real "twice-born" men of our age. In
such fruits its best defense will ever be found. And
after all the superficial theories of its origin and nature
have faded from remembrance, and all assaults upon its
character have fallen by their own futility, it will still
continue on its beneficent way, the enlightener of the
nations, the record of the divine struggle in behalf of
the soul of man, the authoritative literature of the holy
life.

XV

The Beauty of the Bible
AMONG the books that make up the carefully gathered
libraries of real lovers of literature — from the hand
ful of prized volumes which our fathers were able
to secure, on through the sifted lists that comprise the
"five feet of the world's classics," to the vast stores of
treasured lore assembled in the famous libraries — the Bible
has taken an assured and unquestioned place. So impres
sive is the position which it holds among the world's great
books that men of eminent literary authority have not hesi
tated to affirm that if all the volumes now known to men
could be placed in one scale of a vast balance, and a copy
of the Bible in the other it would outweigh them ill; or
that if the hard choice were necessary between the destruc
tion of this book and .of the remainder of the literature
of the race, the decision, though reluctant, would be inevit
able. The world might get on without even the best of the
other books, but without the Bible, not at all.
For this supremacy of the Scriptures many reasons
have appeared in the course of these studies. But one
more deserves consideration. The Bible includes the most
beautiful of literature. Its books contain some of the
most unquestioned masterpieces of writing. Its charm of
poetry, narrative, spoken word and character study is un-

192 OUR BIBLE
escapable. In lyric beauty and solemn grandeur it sur
passes all other products of the pen of man. Those who
have attained familiarity with its hidden treasures of word
and line, and have surrendered themseves to its ever
growing attractiveness, know the sure bases on which its
literary supremacy rests. There is no volume so fasci
nating in all the cloistered libraries where, hidden away
from all but loving eyes, is kept the past's incalculable
hoard. IS THE BIBLE LITERATURE?
There are two classes of people who demur to the de
scription of the Bible as literature. The first is that sort
of literary connoisseurs whose limited acquaintance with
the Bible has never given them awareness of its wonderful
richness of prose and poetry. One occasionally meets such
people, and finds in them the real Philistine spirit of dis
sent from any appreciative estimate .of the Scriptures as
worthy of inclusion among the great literatures of the race.
For such people one can only feel the sympathy which is
merited by the unfortunate who have missed something of
the supreme joy of life. The second group is made up of
those who are so convinced of the religious values of the
Bible that any effort to bring to attention its literary beauty
seems to them an act of sacrilege. They say, "This book is
the Word of God. Why then reduce it to the level of your
Homers, Virgils and Shakespeares by regarding it as "a
mere masterpiece of literature?" Here also one must keep
a sympathetic mind. If the choice were really to be made

BEAUTY OF THE BIBLE 193
between the Bible on the one hand as the supreme work in
the field of morals and religion, and on the other as a
charming collection of ancient poems and narratives, then
the decision would be without question. But as matter of
fact, both values are found in this set of documents, and it
is no discredit to the inspiration and authority of the Bible
to find that it is also a collection of human documents some
of which possess imperishable beauty.
Anyone who is sensitive to the appeal of great litera
ture finds himself debtor to the great spirits of the past who
have left behind them songs that live and words that bum.
To enter through the gates of literature into the enchanted
world of Homer, .^schylus, Sophocles, Pindar, Sappho,
Virgil, Horace, Dante, Tasso, Goethe, Moliere, Chaucer,
Shakespeare, Tennyson, Longfellow, Whitman, and their
thousand companions of the magic pen is to touch spirits
with the immortals, and catch glimpses of that light that
never was on sea or land. It is even so with the Bible.
It sweeps the horizon of man's life. It sounds the deep
abysses of experience. In its voices are the great rolling
thunder tones of destiny. Over its uplands blows the
breath .of new-breaking days. Out of all its sorrows there
comes the calm assurance of a quenchless hope. These
qualities it shares with the master books of the race, and it
outreaches them all. In the field of the spirit's eternal
conflict for freedom and for life the Bible stands unique,
supreme. But there are quieter scenes, softer voices.
There are the love of nature, the charm of moving lights
13

194 OUR BIBLE
and shadows, the flocks pasturing on the hillside, and the
songs of shepherds on mountain paths. Music and poetry
are found in many of the modest places of this great litera
ture. And this variation of theme and tone invests the book
with an immortal beauty which the ages have not been slow
to discover. BIBLE STORIES
The stories of the Bible have become the prized
possession of the children of every race. Every people has
its narratives of adventure gathered about its cherished
heroes. But the stories of the Bible do service for the
universal childhood mind. In every generation Abraham
goes out from his country toward an unknown land ; Joseph
is sold by his envious brothers, and by the providence of
God becomes the viceroy of Egypt and the savior of his
people; Moses, saved from royal persecution by the
audacity of his mother, grows up to be the deliverer of his
brethren, leads them across the shallows of the sea amid
darkness and tempest, gives them oracles for their direc
tion, smites the rock for their refreshing, and leaves them
at last with his benediction within sight of the land on
whose soil he was never to stand; Absalom, the hand
some, wayward prince, rides through the streets with his
chariot and fifty men to run before him, or sits with calcu
lating friendship at his father's palace gates to win the
hearts of the men of Israel; and Elijah climbs the steep
sides of Carmel to confront the leagued opposition of the
land and overthrow the priests of Baal, and then girds

BEAUTY OF THE BIBLE 195
himself, sure of the coming storm, to run before the horses
of Ahab across the plain to the gates of Jezreel. "And
what shall one say more ? For time would fail to speak of
Gideon, of Barak, of Samson, of Jephthah; of David and
Samuel and the prophets ; who through faith subdued king
doms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped
the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped
the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong,
waxed mighty in war, turned to flight armies of heathen."
The stories of Jesus, which we know as the parables,
are the most perfect gems of thought and speech in litera
ture. Their perfection consists both in their penetration
into the secrets of character and their matchless beauty of
form. They are ideal materials for religious education.
Children at the impressionable age are made what one
wishes to make them, less by direct command than by the
power of great stories. In listening to a narrative of
courage, faithfulness, chivalry, virtue and sincerity the
child puts himself in the place of the hero, and invests him
self with his qualities. For this reason, as well as their
imperishable charm, the stories of the Bible have been the
chief material for the entertainment and the religious edu
cation of the race.
More attractive still is the poetry of the Bible. In
fragments it breaks out from the life of early Israel in
proverb and refrain, or takes more elaborate form in such
war chants as "The Song at the Sea" (Ex. 15), and the
"Song of Deborah" (Jud. 5). The Book of Job is one of

196 OUR BIBLE
the unchallenged masterpieces of universal literature. It
has been well said that no literary critic of any race or age
could fail to include this great poem among the six greatest
works of literature. Its stately prose prologue, with the
swift involvement of the hero in tragedy, and the rapid
hammer-strokes of fate that proclaim the four-fold dis
aster that befalls him ; the solemn curse upon the day that
betrayed him into life, (chap. 3) ; the shuttlelike weaving
of the argument in the three-fold cycle of debate between
Job and his friends (chaps. 4-30) ; Job's tremendous Oath
of Vindication (chap. 31) ; the Interruption of Elihu
(chaps. 32-37) ; the Voice of Jehovah out of the storm
(chaps. 38-41) ; and finally the prose epilogue (chap. 42),
all constitute a succession of chapters that search heaven
and earth for the rich materials of argument and illustra
tion which they lavish upon the reader. Single chapters,
like the Mine of Wisdom (28), the War Horse (39), and
the Sea Monster (41 ) are sufficient alone to place the book
in the company of the great poems of the world.
VOICES OF THE PSALMS
But in the Psalms the highest levels of lyric beauty are
reached. Here are the voices of poets to whom Palestine
was the most beautiful of lands, and they never tired of
singing its praise in their adoration of the God who made
it so lovely. The starry heavens at night were almost a
living wonder to poets like the men who composed Psalms
8 and 19. From the mountain tops of the long central

BEAUTY OF THE BIBLE 197
range they looked with awe upon the storm, which rose out
of the sea like the man's hand of Elijah's seaward look at
Carmel, swept onward along the mountain glens till the
very cedars of Lebanon fell crashing before it, and then
passed on its majestic way far out over the eastern up
lands (Psalm 29). Who that has read with attention the
104th Psalm can fail to be impressed with its delight in the
hills and valleys and far-stretching sea of Palestine. Not
less did the singers of this great collection, wtiich became
the hymn-b.ook of the later temple, delight in the great
moments of Israel's history. Imagination plays about the
arrival of the ark in Jerusalem to the singing of the 24th
Psalm; or the exultation of Jerusalem over the deliver
ance from Sennacherib, in Psalm 46; or the departure
of the exiles toward Babylon, as hinted in Psalm 42, in
which the very highest levels of lyric beauty are reached ; or
the heartbreak and anger of captivity in the 137th Psalm ; or
the bitterness of Maccabean martyrdom in the 74th. Nor
does one wonder that the 51st and 32nd Psalms have be
come the world's confessional, nor that the 90th is woven
into every liturgy for the dead ; nor that Luther made the
46th his own, and composed upon its lines the battle-hymn
of the Reformation, nor that Cromwell taught his troops
to charge to the strains of the 68th, "Let God arise, and let
his enemies be scattered."
But the Psalms were not composed alone for great oc
casions. They were the common vehicle of the religious
life. Theirs are the voices of simple lives, as well as of

198 OUR BIBLE
the great. All shades of experience are portrayed in this
collection. In going through this anthology one passes
homes where bitter sorrow has fallen; he hears the low
tones .of mothers hushing their children with a song of
quiet trust in God ; he finds saints bowed over baffling prob
lems of seeming mistake on the part of Providence ; or he
joins a band of pilgrims journeying in holy joy up to the
feast at the city of the great King. Psalms like these come
to us not only with the emotions of their first singers, but
laden as well with the gladness and sorrow of all the gen
erations of the light-hearted or weary travellers along the
roadway of the years.
"Such songs have power to quiet the restless pulse of care,
And come like the benediction that follows after prayer."
And other beautiful poetry there is in the Bible, such as
the Proverbs, jewels five words long, that on the stretched
fore-finger of all time sparkle forever; the lovely lyrics of
the Song of Songs, that panegyric of true love, rich with
scented winds from gardens of spices ; or the plaintive lines
of dirges, like the "Song of the Bow" (2 Sam. 1) and
Lamentations; or the holy gratitude of young and happy
mothers over their first-bom sons, as in Hannah's song of
praise and the Magnificat (Luke 1). The prophets, too,
have much impressive poetry. The solemn refrain of
Amos, "For three transgressions of Damascus, yea for
four" (chap. 1) ; the hopeful dialogue between Jahveh
and the wa)rward nation in Hosea (chap. 14) ; the glorious

BEAUTY OF THE BIBLE 199
picture of peace presented by Isaiah (chap. 11) ; the terri
fying oracles of Jeremiah regarding the approaching
Scythian invasion (chap. 4) ; and Ezekiel's somber vision
of the dead kings entering Sheol (chap. 32), are a few of
many fragments of poetry which are found all along the
way from the Hymn of Creation at the beginning of
Genesis, past the Hymn of the Suffering Servant (Isa. 52,
53) and Paul's Hynin of Love (1 Cor. 13) to the Hymn
of the River of Life at the end of Revelation.
BIBLICAL ELOQUENCE
Hardly less impressive from the artistic point of view
is the eloquence of the Bible. We are accustomed to speak
of men like Demosthenes, Cicero, Chrysostom, Burke,
Webster and Phillips Brooks as the masters of the spoken
word. Their orations and sermons have been studied by
seekers after the secret of persuasive public speech. Yet
judged by every canon of effectiveness, the orators of the
Bible stand in a place above all other public speakers. In
the orations of Moses as they are set down in the Book
of Deuteronomy, the sermons of Isaiah, the burning words
of John the Baptist, the addresses of the apostles Peter
and Paul, and most of all in the teachings of our Lord,
there are presented examples of effective eloquence which
outrival all others that we know. When it is remembered
that the masterpieces of oratory of which the world most
speaks have been preserved to us in practically unabbrevi
ated form, while we have to depend upon mere fragments

200 OUR BIBLE
of biblical sermons for our knowledge of their content and
movement, the contrast is still more effective.
What charm there is in the elaborate picture of the
choice of a wife for Isaac (Gen. 24), an incident that is
given larger space than any other in Genesis ; who that has
read the tender plea of Judah to the unrecognized Joseph
for his little brother Benjamin (Gen. 44) has been able to
keep back the tears? Is there not a .strange stirring of
the heart as Isaiah of Jerusalem falls into his solemn re
frain, "For all this his anger is not turned away, and his
hand is stretched out still," and proceeds to describe that
terrible onset of the Assyrian army that shall leave the
city desolate (chap. 5). The charm of the friendship of
David and Jonathan is undying ; the idyl of Ruth is unsur
passed in literature ; the portrait of the Perfect Woman in
Proverbs (chap. 31) is classic; and the seven songs of the
Book of Revelation are full of stately magnificence.
BIBLICAL CHARACTERS
Beyond all other beauty, however, which this Book of
books reveals, is that of character. Here in spite of all the
limitations of the age in which they lived, are shown the
most splendid characters in history. In sheer perfection
of spirit and behavior the lives of Joseph and Jonathan
excel all that we know of antiquity. As examples of
courage and high purposefulness in an age which at best
was far from enlightened, Abraham, Moses, Samuel,
David, Solomon, Hezekiah, Josiah and the great prophets

BEAUTY OF THE BIBLE 201
who have been named make up a galaxy of brilliant and
outstanding men. In the apostles and friends of Jesus
a similar greatness is discovered. They are not without
their limitations, but in comparison with any like number of
men in history they have the precedence. And in all these
regards their lives have the attractiveness which inheres in
great achievement. It would be difficult to think of the
world without these men. And it is in this book alone that
their lives are conveyed to us. This of itself might well
entitle it to the supreme place in literature. But beyond
all this the one Life before which all centuries stand with
uncovered head, the One whose words hang in the air like
banners, and whose sentences walk through all the earth
like spirits, is described only in this book. Such a life
makes the crown and consummation of this book. To
have spoken no other message than this would have been
enough. To have painted no other face would have con
ferred immortality.
It is doubtless desirable that as far as possible the
motive for the reading and study of the Bible should be
that ,of interest in its ethical and religious ideals. But it
must be confessed that there are many to whom these con
siderations make no appeal. They are not necessarily
without ethical and religious concern, but they may think
themselves sufficiently provided with such material from
other sources. In such cases one is glad to find that the
literary appreciation of the Bible provides an inducement
sufficient to lead to a study of its contents. It is often true

202 OUR BIBLE
that men and women who would not be sensitive to their
ignorance of the Bible as the supreme book of religion
would be ashamed to confess that they were unacquainted
with the greatest of literary masterpieces. It is greatly de
sirable therefore that by any and all means an increasing
number of intelligent people may be led to give to the Bible
some portion of the attention which it demands. And no
matter what the avenue of approach, whether that of liter
ature, or history, or archaeology, once in that domain of
biblical literature, they are sure to meet somewhere the
King face to face. For this reason it is possible to say
that any sincere effort at Bible study is an act of worship.
And so it is a satisfaction to insist that the greatest
of books is also the most attractive. Beyond all gratitude
to God for the volume itself, as it came from the hands of
its first writers, we ought to be grateful for that wealth of
loving and scholarly service rendered to it through the cen
turies in the progress of its translation and revision as an
English classic. Such passages as the Eulogy of Love
(Cant. 8:6, 7), or the Vow of Ruth (chap. 1 :16), or the
Last Sigh of the Departing Exile (Ps. 42), or Paul's im
mortal Hymn of Love are not only revelations of the mar
velous beauty of the Bible, but as well the disclosures
of the rich resources of our Anglo-Saxon mother tongue.
And this but illustrates what Macaulay has said of the
English Bible — "A book which if everything else in our
language should perish, would alone suffice to show the
whole extent of its beauty and power."

XVI
The Influence of the Bible
ONE of the most learned and eloquent of American
preachers of a former generation wrote of the
Bible in these words: "This wonderful collection
of works has taken such a hold upon the life of man as
no other. The literature of Greece, which goes up like
incense from the land of temples and heroic deeds, has not
half the influence of this book from a nation alike despised
in ancient and modem times. It is read on a Sabbath in
all the ten thousand pulpits of our land. In all the temples
of Christendom is its voice lifted up week by week. The
sun never sets on its gleaming page. It goes equally to
the cottage of the plain man and the palace of the king.
It is woven into the literature of the scholar and colors
the talk of the street. Some thousand famous writers come
up in this century to be forgotten in the next. But the
silver cord of the Bible is not loosed nor its golden bowl
broken as time chronicles his tens of centuries passed by.
Time sits as a refiner of metals. The dross is piled in
heaps, but the pure gold is reserved for use, passes into
the ages, and is current a thousand years hence as well as
today. Some of the greatest of human institutions seem
built on the Bible. Such things will not stand on heaps of
chaff, but on mountains of rock."

204 OUR BIBLE
The Bible is the most influential of books. Doubtless
within the circle of their devotees other books might claim
a more intense loyalty, as the Koran among the Moslems,
or the teachings of Confucius among the Chinese. But
in the breadth and significance of its influence, not only
upon its own adherents but upon the much wider world of
its outreaching control, the Bible leads all other holy books.
From the beginnings of its history, tribes and nations that
hardly knew of its existence were unconsciously brought
under its spell by contact with its interpreters. And out
into the regions far beyond the Christian frontiers today
its line is going and its words are repeated.
INFLUJENCE UPON LAW
Upon law and government it has exerted such an influ
ence as no other book. If the Laws of Hammurabi, com
piled in ancient Babylon, went far in their effect upon the
political institutions of later civilization, including the
Mosaic legislation, the institutes of Greece, and the Twelve
Tables of Rome, even more significant has been the influ
ence of biblical ethics and government upon the nations
that came within their reach. The first great recodifica
tion of Roman law was made by Justinian, and was shaped
throughout after the norm of biblical institutions. Upon
that foundation rests the constitution of nearly every
European state. The Puritans of England very nearly
approached what to them seemed the ideal political pro
gram — the substitution of the Htbrew codes for all exist-

INFLUENCE 'OF THE BIBLE 205
ing laws. When the fathers of the Massachusetts Bay
Colony organized their little state, they decided, naively
but quite seriously, to take the Bible as their constitution,
"until they had time to frame a better one." And no one
need be told of the influence which the teachings of the
prophets and of Jesus are exerting upon governmental
policies in progressive lands on both sides of the oceans.
The passion for social righteousness, democracy, industrial
liberty, universal education, equal suffrage, child welfare,
civic purity and international brotherhood are all inspired
by the Bible. The reformatory movements, which have
removed much of the blight of inhumanity to children,
women, criminals, and animals, of intemperance, and the
social vices that gnaw at the vitals of the world, owe their
inception and progress to the same book.
INFLUENCES UPON ART
In the domain of art the Bible, is likewise the most
influential of books. It erected the temples which were
the glory of the Hebrew race and the pride of every Jewish
heart. It changed Roman basilicas into Christian churches,
and set a new type of architecture, which prevailed for a
thousand years. It inspired the gothic cathedral, whose
ascending arches and spires are symbols in stone of the
heavenward-climbing spirit of worship. And it is taxing
the resources of designers and builders at this moment to
keep pace with the advancing needs of churches for suit
able sanctuaries.

206 OUR BIBLE
The best sculpture of the ages has been the product
of genius inspired by the Bible. From Michael Angelo's
"Moses" to Thorwaldeij's "Christ" the noblest creations
in marble and bronze have celebrated the supreme char
acters of the Scriptures. The masterpiece of non-
Christian art was the Laocoon group of the old Rhodean
sculptors, buried for centuries on the sides of the Esquiline
Hill, and now the pride of the Capitoline at Rome. It tells
the story of the priest of Apollo who with his sons was
crushed in the folds of the two serpents that came up from
the deep. It is the symbol of the suffering race, caught
in the embraces of the twin monsters, sin and suffering.
It is the picture of the heathen world, without the hope
which the Bible has brought. It is the portrayal of the
long struggle, the sublime despair, the wild and weary
agony oi man. Christian sculpture depicts no such
tragedies. Its master figures are the heroes who win, the
saints who minister, and the little children -who rejoice.
To the painters of all the centuries the Bible has
furnished the subjects of a thousand canvasses. This was
in part due to the fact that the churches were the chief
patrons of art in its first days. It was also true that
both the artists and their audiences were more familiar
with biblical scenes and incidents than with those drawn
from any other literature. But this was not the chief
reason. The greatest artists have always been interpreters
of the moral life. No one can be a really great artist who
lacks the fundamental quahty of moral and religious

INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE 207
earnestness. And such men have always found the best
material for their messages in the biblical narratives. If it
is true that the earliest painters, like Cimabue, Fra
Angelico and Raphael, were limited in their subjects by
the religious conventions of their age, those limitations
have long since passed away. And still the great artists
find their inspiration in the Bible, as one is assured by
Munkaczy's "Christ Before Pilate," Bougereau's "Ma
donna,'' and Sargent's "Prophets."
And for the best music of the ages, it can hardly be
questioned that it has found its suggestions and impulses
in the Scriptures. The great hymns have been for the
most part transcripts of biblical utterances. The majestic
music of the church, with its rolling anthems and its
Gregorian chants, has been the work of the Christian spirit.
The oratorios like Haydn's "Creation," Handel's "EHjah"
and "Messiah" are musical paraphrases of biblical themes.
And even the best of the operas are profoundly religious,
though their subjects may be secular, as witness Saint
Saens' "Samson," and Wagner's "Parsifal."
INFLUENCES UPON LITERATURE
But more than in any other manner, the Bible has
spread its influence through the common speech of the
world, and has shaped both the ideas and the phrasing of
the greatest literature. In whatever lands versions of the
Scriptures have been possessed, they have become to large
extent the standard of literary expression. We are best

208 OUR BIBLE
able to appreciate this fact in the field of our English
tongue. The greatest works in the language reveal the
influence of the Bible. Chaucer, at the dawn of the day
of English letters, shows the profound effect which the
Bible had upon his thinking and poetry. Spenser's "Faery
Queene" is really a biblical allegory. Everyone is familiar
with the extent to which Shakespeare employs the Bible
in the plays. This is well set forth in Bishop Wordsworth's
volume on "Shakespeare and the Bible," where citations
are given at length, and the statement is made that his
works contain more than five hundred and fifty biblical
allusions, and that not one of the thirty-seven plays is- with
out some such reference. One recalls many passages, like
the words of Adam to Orlando in "As You Like It" :
"He that doth the ravens feed,
Yea, providently caters for the sparrow,
Be comfort to my age."
Many times in "The Merchant of Venice" the reader is
reminded of the poet's familiarity with the Scriptures.
And the speech of the king in the opening of "Henry IV"
is an example of scores of references. Henry wishes to go
on the crusade, "To chase the pagans in those holy fields.
Oyer whose acres walked those blessed feet,
'Which fourteen hundred years ago were nailed
For our advantage to the bitter cross.''
Milton's majestic poems, both the "Paradise Lost" and
its great sequel, are but the artistic transcript of Old and

INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE 209
New Testaments respectively, and so constant is the biblical
and classical reference and phrasing that they seem like
some gorgeous fabric elaborately embroidered with the
literary wealth of the ages. Byron, although he was one
of the apostles of revolt against the conventions of a
Christian order, yet shows frequently the influence of the
Bible upon his writing, not alone in the beautiful "Hebrew
Melodies," which cover so many episodes of biblical story,
but as well in much else that he wrote. And even Shelley,
who proudly subscribed himself an atheist, could not avoid
the forms of biblical speech, as when he says of some of
the literary men of the past: "Their errors have been
weighed and found to have been dust in the balance; if
their sins were as scarlet, they are now white as snow;
they have been washed in the blood of the mediator and
redeemer. Time."
Wordsworth's writings are saturated with biblical
ideas and expressions. Matthew Arnold shares with
Swinburne and Rossetti the impress of the Bible. Long
fellow, Lowell and Whittier make evident the place the
same book had in their education. R. L. Stevenson, Kip
ling and Stephen Phillips display a like acquaintance with
Scripture. Readers of George Eliot's "Adam Bede,"
Thackeray's "Newcomes" and Dickens' "Tale of Two
Cities" need not be told that these authors knew their
Bibles. Scott, Ha-wthorae and Walt Whitman, strangers
in all else, meet on the common ground of the Hebrew
writings. Ruskin, the acknowledged master of English
14

210 OUR BIBLE
prose style, says, "Whatever I have done in my life has
simply been due to the fact that when I was a child my
mother daily read with me a part of the Bible, and daily
made me learn a part of it by heart." And with this Daniel
Webster agrees when he says, "If there be anything in
my style or thought to be commended, the credit is due
to my kind parents in instilling into my mind an early love
of the Scriptures." GREAT WRITERS
Emerson, both in his essays and poetry, makes fre
quent use of biblical ideas and sentences. And his great
contemporary and friend, Carlyle, shows the same influ
ence. For example, in "Past and Present" there is an
extended simile dra-wU from the story of Gideon in the
Book of Judges: "In very truth, for every noble work
the possibilities will lie diffused through Immensity; in
articulate, undiscoverable except to faith. Like Gideon
thou shalt spread out thy fleece at the door of thy tent;
see whether under the wide arch of Heaven there be any
bounteous moisture, or none. Thy heart and life-purpose
shall be a miraculous Gideon's fleece, spread out in silent
appeal to Heaven; and from the kind Immensities, what
from the poor unkind Localities and town and country
Parishes there never could, blessed dew-moisture to suffice
thee shall have fallen." Lord Macaulay may well be
ranked among the most distinguished of English writers,
and great numbers of Scriptural allusions might be chosen

INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE 211
from his writing, of which the following may be given :
"If the English Jews really felt a deadly hatred to England,
if the weekly prayer of their synagogues were that all the
curses denounced by Ezekiel on Tyre and Egypt might fall
on London, if, in their solemn feasts, they called down
blessings on those who should dash our children to pieces on
the stones, still, we say, their hatred to their countrymen
would not be more intense than that which sects of Christians
have often borne to each other." (Civil Disabilities of the
Jews.) "He did not perceive that, though St. Paul had been
scourged, no number of whippings however severe, will of
themselves entitle a man to be considered as an apostle."
(Sadler's Refutation Refuted.)
"'We laughed at some doggerel verses which he cited, and
which we, never having seen them before, suspected to be his
own. We are now sure that, if the principle on which Solomon
decided a famous case of filiation were correct, there can be
no doubt, as to the justice of our suspicion." (Idem.)
The frequent use of Scripture words and illustrations
by Tennyson is familiar to all students of this favorite
among the poets of our language. Professor Cook has
compiled a volume of nearly a hundred pages filled with
biblical allusions and phrases from Tennyson. These run
all the way from brief allusions, like "Aramathean Joseph"
in the "Holy Grail," to such passages as this from
"Locksley Hall" :
"Follow light and do the right — for man can half control his
doom —
Till you find the deathless angel seated in the vacant tomb."
Hardly less sensitive to the Bible, though less given to

212 OUR BIBLE
quotation, was Browning. But in many beautiful lines his
knowledge of the Book is shown, as in these from "By
the Fireside": "Think, when our one soul understands
The great 'Word which makes all things new.
When earth breaks up, and heaven expands.
How will the change strike me and you
In the house not made with hands?"
INFLUENCE UPON CHARACTER
The supreme influence of the Bible, however, has been
exerted upon character. As Coleridge says:
"In the Bible there is more that finds me than I have
experienced in all other books put together; the words of the
Bible find me at greater depths of my being; and whatever
finds me brings with it an irresistible evidence of its having
proceeded from the Holy Spirit."
John Selden, an illustrious English publicist, wrote :
"I have surveyed most of the learning that is among the
sons of men, yet at this moment I can recall nothing in them
on which to rest my soul, save one from the sacred scriptures,
which rises much on my mind. It is this: 'The grace of God,
which bringeth salvation, hath appeared unto all men.' "
And William Wilberforce, the emancipator, has said:
"I never knew happiness until I found Christ as a savior.
Read the Bible. Read the Bible. Through all my perplexities
and distresses I never read any other book, I never knew the ,
want of any other."
To this sentiment our own great liberator adds his testi
mony. Lincoln writes:

INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE 213
"Take all of this Book upon reason that you can and the
balance on faith, and you will live and die a better man."
The four men who stood nearest to the outgoings of
human liberty and progress were John Wyclif, the
translator of the Bible ; John Hus, the martyr who died to
vindicate its right to be studied ; Johannes Gutenburg, who
first printed it, and Martin Luther, who made it the theme
of his preaching. The Bible is the Magna Charta of human
liberty ; the Declaration of Independence from the oppres
sion of ignorance and superstition ; the Emancipation Pro
clamation of the soul of man. John Stuart Mill says : "The
most important point in the history of liberty was the cross
of Christ." Queen Victoria said of the Bible, to a visitor
from across the sea: "That Book is the secret of Eng
land's greatness"; and Andrew Jackson pointed to a copy
of the Scriptures as he remarked to a European states
man, "That Book, sir, is the rock on which the republic
rests." William- Henry Seward uttered only a mild state
ment of the tmth when he said: "The whole hope of
human progress is suspended on the ever-growing influ
ence of the Bible." And John Marshall, our first great
chief justice, affirms :
"If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible our
country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we and
our posterity neglect its instructions and authority no man
can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and
bury all our glory in profound obscurity."

XVII
Misuses of the Bible
THE Bible has had varied and strange experiences. It
has run the gauntlet of every sort of hostility, from the
persecutions of Antiochian and Roman tyrants to the
ribald calumnies of the latest scepticism. But these attacks
are of small moment. The Scriptures have never been en
dangered by even the most envenomed assaults. After all
the centuries in which they have endured both open offense
and secret detraction, they occupy today a position of im
pregnable strength, and take their place by the side of the
race of weary and troubled spirits "like a strong man,
ready to run his course."
But the Bible has suffered in the house of its friends.
Indifferent to the assaults of external opposition, and un-
marred by the clumsy handling of morbid-minded per-
verters of its contents and purpose, it is yet sensitive to
the manifold misinterpretations of its spirit and meaning
which ignorant piety has persisted in practicing through all
the ages of the Christian society. No book has ever been
subjected to such torturing manipulation in order to make
it fit the Procrustian bed of erroneous systems of thinking
and conduct. No document has ever been put to such
painful rearrangement to make it an aid in the prop^a-
tion of fantastic schemes.

MISUSES OF THE BIBLE 215
The reasons for this experience are easy to trace. The
Bible is the most impressive work in the world's literature.
In regions where the Christian faith prevails, it is the au
thoritative manual of the holy life. Its assistance in the
propagation of ideas or plans of activity is a leading con
sideration with the promoters of such plans. To enUst it
as an ally is to have already half won the campaign. In
this manner numberless customs, practices, institutions,
notions and guesses have attempted to gear themselves
into the machinery of the Scriptures in order that they
might secure the power afforded in no other way. If a total
catalogue of these various forms of propaganda could be
given, it would more than occupy this study. One must
be content with a few examples, and a word of comment
upon each. From a few it is possible to judge of all.
"citing scripture" for a PURPOSE
The myriad-minded Shakespeare was an amused ob
server of this tendency to bring erratic and unsubstantial
schemes under the protecting wings of the Bible for popular
recommendation. In the "Merchant of Venice" he puts
into the mouth of Bassanio a dissertation upon the tricks
men employ in various areas of human interest to promote
their selfish devices, and adds:
"In religion, what damned error,
But some sober brow will bless it, and approve it with a
text;
Hiding the grossness with fair ornament."

216 OUR BIBLE
In the same play, in commenting upon Shylock's appeal to
the story of Jacob for vindication of his own shrewd prac
tices, one of the characters says:
"The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
An evil soul, producing holy witness
Is like a villain wath a smiling cheek —
A goodly apple, rotten at the heart."
The cases in which the Bible is deliberately employed
to recommend known errors are few in comparison with
those in which well-meaning but superficial people attempt
to use it in defense of enterprises in which they are sin
cerely interested. Occasionally, as in the temptation of
our Lord^ resort is had to the words of the Bible with
malicious intent. But such instances are usually fairly
apparent and self-correcting. It is rather the wrong ideas
and institutions in which good men have enlisted, that
work havoc by appropriating biblical words as their de
fense. No institution is a better illustration of this principle
than the once-defended practice of human slavery. From
the times of imperial Rome it was everywhere recognized
as a part of the established order of society. It came by
inheritance into our modem world. It was practiced
among Christian nations without consciousness of its un
social character. When the mind of the American people
became sensitive to the subject through the addresses of
Wendell PhilUps, the sermons of Henry War^ Beecher

MISUSES OF THE BIBLE 217
and the pages of Harriet Beecher Stowe, the inheritors of
the system turned to the Bible for defense. No one could
question the fact that the Old Testament recognized slavery
as a legitimate social institution in ancient Israel. On the
doctrine of a level Bible, all portions of which are of equal
authority at all times, the defenders of slavery had a clear
case. And perhaps no experience of modem times did
more to disclose the progressive character of the Bible
than the contest over slavery. It became apparent that it
is not enough to discover that a fine of conduct or an in
stitution is approved in the Bible. One has to go further
and inquire, When — in what period of bibUcal teaching —
did it have that approval, and can it maintain itself in the
Hght of the highest and fullest utterances of the Scripture?
Most of all must one ask. How does it stand in the light of
the teachings of Jesus? By that standard alone can any
system finally vindicate itself.
the DEFENSE OF POLYGAMY
Another ancient abuse, which takes its way with re
luctance into the limbo of discarded social custom is
polygamy. Once it was a clearly recognized and tolerated
stage on the road to progress from primitive practice to
complete monc^amy. Among the Hebrews it was every
where accepted as permissible. There is no word in the
Old Testament that forbids it. If a man could afford
more than one wife, he was free to take as many as he
chose. In spite of this fact, it is highly probable that the

218 OUR BIBLE
usual practice was monogamy. Economic reasons usually
put their own limitations upon the size of the household.
Judaism was a higher stage. There polygamy was all but
unknown. And such, without explicit injunction, was the
practice in the early church. Probably good taste by that
time regulated the marital habits of the Christian com
munities. None the less, the apostohc advice limits the
offices of elder and deacon to such as were husbands of one
wife. And very early in the history of the church polygamy
ceased to be recognized as in any manner permissible.
Yet through the centuries sporadic efforts have been
made in isolated communities to revive polygamy under
sanction of Scripture. The total number of such efforts
would run to some length. Some of them, by reason of
contiguity of location, were influenced by Mohammedan
practice. Some of them, in instances where the community
was isolated and small, were led to the practice for pur
poses of rapid enlargement of the group, an early and
widely recognized motive for the practices of exogamy
and polygamy. In a few instances, and these strangely
enough usually found in the heart of older and more pro
gressive communities, the motive has, without doubt, been
some form of moral perversion. The most conspicuous
example of this practice in recent times has been the
Mormon community. No one motive led to the adoption
of polygamy in this case. There were many reasons why
it seemed to the founders of this vigorous and persistent
sect that the patriarchal practice of plural marriage was a

MISUSES OF THE BIBLE 219
useful device. And there is no question that it has been
deemed essential to the growth and strength of that com
munity. Placed under ban of the law, and publicly pro
claimed as no longer the practice of the body of believers,
there are clear evidences that it has never been disapproved
in instances where it is able to escape detection.
And what is the defense of this system? The Bible.
Its apologists recall the stories of Abraham, Jacob, David
and Solomon, and place themselves under the protection of
these worthy names of the past. To any plea that poly
gamy was a stage in the social progress of the race, they
are deaf. God approved it, they say, in the times of these
men of faith. A social system which was right in one age
cannot be wrong in another. There is not the least hos
pitality to the idea of an unfolding or developing order of
tmth. The Bible is the Word of God, and all its utter- -
ances are final. Here is a view at once naive and useful. -
It requires no mental exertion to comprehend it, and no
moral discipline to put it in practice. Wherever it is pos- n
sible to assemble a company of men and women whose
intelligence is limited to a mere capacity to understand the
language of the Bible without the power to comprehend
its larger meaning, coupled with a moral sense sufficiently
primitive to be undisturbed by a practice which the intelli
gent portion of the race has long since left behind, it is
still possible to propagate ?uch views and to organize such
groups of people. These are examples of that intellectual
and moral atavism which leaves significant manifestations

220 OUR BIBLE
on the surface of even the most progressive periods.
In precisely the same manner one might record other
survivals of the early ethics of the race in the defenses of
the war spirit ; the lust of conquest ; the practice of cmelty
such as we might have supposed belonged to the dark ages
of Assyrian and Tartar savagery ; the perpetuation of the
blood-feud; the humiliation and torture of prisoners of
war; the depopulation of provinces and expatriation of
their people ; the defense of the drink traffic and of personal
indulgence in strong drink, and other abuses too many to
be named at this time. Let it be clearly understood that
every one of these crimes against the social order of our
time can be defended from the examples given in the Bible,
provided one does not care how he uses the Bible. All
these perversions of the spirit of Jesus and the ethics of
our holy faith can be found in the pages of this marvelous
book. And why are they there ? Either as express warn
ings against the cruel and inhuman conduct which is por
trayed, or as equally impressive illustrations of primitive
morals, which it is the recognized task of the Bible to cor
rect. Any use of the Scripture in apology for any of
these abuses is due either to ignorance of their meaning
or wilful perversion of their purpose.
But after all, these are minor dangers. The moral
sense of the world, educated by many centuries of Christian
teaching, warns away from most of these aberrations.
People cannot go permanently wrong when they have in
their hands the corrective instructions of Jesus and his

MISUSES OF THE BIBLE ' 221
interpreters. There is, however, another sort of error in
the use of the Bible which is more subtle, and to that ex
tent more damaging. This is the employment of the Book
as in some sense a magical or wonder-working volume,
capable of performing strange and astonishing tricks in
its uncanny manipulation of historical events, or its ability
to forecast the future. There are people who appear quite
unsatisfied with a Bible that sets forth in the convincing
terms of great human experiences the mind and will of
God for us, but insist that it must also show its divine origin
and nature by performances like those of the fortune-teller
and the clairvoyant. And so opulent is the book in its rec
ord of the hopes of troubled spirits in the past, as well as
its definite insistencies upon the great verities of the faith,
that even the manipulators of the marvelous and the spec
ulators in the erratic stock of prediction, find in the corners
and along the margins of this sublime literature materials
on which to satisfy their craving for portent and marvel.
A few examples of this sort of misuse of the Bible
must suffice. Formerly there was a discipline in the field
of biblical study known as "typology." Its classic example
is that massive three-volume work of Patrick Fairbaim's
called "Biblical Typology." The task of this sort of study
was to prove that all the events and institutions of the Old
Covenant were laboriously prearranged by God to illus
trate the Christian system. The warrant for this was be
lieved to be found in the New Testament itself. The writ
ers of that literature, particularly Paul and the author of

222 OUR BIBLE
the Epistle to the Hebrews, lived in the midst of a society
whose outstanding interest was the temple and its ritual.
They wrote their messages to men and women more or less
familiar with the same sort of thing. Whatever analogies,
therefore, they discovered between the ancient eultus and
the new faith were to that extent useful as suggestions for
belief and conduct. It is one thing to perceive this truth
and its pedagogical value. It is quite another thing to
assert that the ancient practices of the sanctuary were de
vised of God for the purpose of becoming school-room
apparatus for (Christian education.
The serious student of history and of the Bible has
only to ask himself and his sources. Where did the ancient
Hebrew obtain these forms of architecture, these priestly
rites and these ceremonial institutions ? When he answers,
as he must, if he is honest with the facts, that these forms
and services were inherited or borrowed from other people,
and that they can be traced almost to the last detail in these
older and contemporary civilizations, his card house of
"typology" tumbles into ruin. Then if he sets himself to
find the real significance of this relationship of the Hebrews
with older and often richer cultures, he comes to see that
it is never the task of a spiritual religion to invent forms
of worship. Of these the world has enough and quite
enough. It is rather the work of great moral leaders to
select from the wealth of older ritual and form the few
customs that have permanent value for the holy life. This
is what Moses and his successors did. This is what Jesus

MISUSES OF THE BIBLE 223
and the apostles did. Herein lies their leadership.
If the sanctuary, the altar, the priesthood, the sacri
fices, the feasts and the other elements of the Hebrew
eultus were devised of God to teach men the great re
demptive lessons of the later Christian faith, what shall
be said of the origin and purpose of those identical struc
tures, offices, and observances among nations much older
than Israel? Doubtless there was a value in many of
these forms as illustrations of features in the (Christian
message. But one will wish to examine well his ground
before affirming that they were divinely ordered for that
purpose. ¦ This has grown clearer as the facts of ancient
Hebrew life and its relations with other Semitic custom
have become known. And today men no longer search for
deep theological meanings in the sacrifice of Abel, the
crimson cord of Rahab, the boards and coverings of the
tabernacle, or the scape-goat sent into the desert. Intelli
gent study of the Bible has thrown light upon these and a
hundred other features of the older national experience as
interesting, and useful for purposes of instruction, but in
no sense divinely ordered or magical.
MISUSES OF APOCALYPSE
But the most fruitful field of erratic speculation is -
biblical prediction. In a former study attention has been
given to the great forward-looking ideals of the Bible, and
their realization in the advancing kingdom of God. Mes
sianic prophecy is now understood and appreciated as ne-ver

224 OUR BIBLE
before. But apparently this does not satisfy some of those
who affirm their faith in the Word of God. Somerning
more is needed. The Bible is believed to be a mysterious
compendium of prediction, in which not only the events
of the Christian dispensation were clearly foreseen and
outlined, but a scheme of world history to the end of the
ages was unfolded. Since the true books of prophetic
character give little aid or comfort to this method of
biblical interpretation, resort is usually taken to the
apocalyptic works, such as Daniel and the Book of Reve
lation, in order to make good the effort.
Now it is precisely these books for which the church,
both Jewish and Christian, has had the least use. The
Jews rightly excluded the former from the list of prophetic
documents, both because it was of too late an origin to be
recognized in that group, and because it revealed an en
tirely different spirit. And the Book of Revelation, as
we have seen, was excluded from most of the early collec
tions of Christian documents, or received with question
and misgiving. The reason for this is apparent to all
careful students of biblical and contemporary literature
today. Neither book is prophetic. But both, after the
manner of that class of writings' to which they belong,
employ freely the devices of prediction for purposes of
affording encouragement to the believers in the terrible
days of Antiochian and Roman persecution. Their au
thors believed, and rightly, that deliverance was soon to
come in the struggle of the saints against oppression. And

MISUSES OF THE BIBLE 225
they exhausted the vocabulary of picturesque description
in the effort to make clear that comforting tmth. Soon,
said the author of Daniel, Antiochus, the madman, would
perish and the saints of the Most High God come to their
own. Soon, said the writer of Revelation, would the
Empire of Rome, lately believed by Paul to be the friend
and defender of the church, but now seen to be its most
dreaded foe, perish in a ruin which would be the wonder
of the world. Both were pleas for constancy in the light
of a deliverance near at hand.
FUTURIST EXPLANATIONS
Yet no such simple and obvious explanation satisfies
those who demand of the Bible the exhibition of portent
and wonder. We are told that in these mysterious books
the history of the ages is tmfolded. Then begins at once
the search for the characters who have played or are play
ing their part in the drama of the world. Here the freest
fancy can be indulged. There is no scheme of interpreta
tion so erratic that it cannot find sober-faced exponents.
The fathers of the church indulged the same childish habit.
They looked through the gallery of -vivid pictures in which
the scenes of late Hebrew and early Christian experience
were displayed, and professed their ability to find there
the visible likenesses of Mohammed, Timurlane, and the
various heretics of the mediaeval age. The reformers were
persuaded that one after another the popes and the enemies
of the Reformation were represented by the Man of Sin
15

226 OUR BIBLE
and the Little Horn. The Roman Catholic ecclesiastics of
the same period returned the compliment by naming the
beasts of these lurid volumes after the reformers, with
Martin Luther as unquestionably the Little Horn. The
commentaries on these apocalypses teem with the names
of kings and cardinals, popes and emperors, generals and
statesmen, philosophers and sceptics, who have been clearly
recognized by one and another in the pages of these long-
suffering works.
It might seem that this diversion is sufficiently harm
less to pass without comment. It is certainly self-cor
rective and in the end self-annihilating. A few hours of
real study of the Bible in the light of history and literature
blows away all these vagaries like the fine dust of the bal
ance. When once the reader of the Scriptures is willing
to pay the price of sane and sober investigation of their
contents, he perceives that they have other and higher pur
poses than to map out schemes of future events for those
whose curiosity makes them willing to exchange the sim
ple duties of the Christian life for the fantastic guesses of
futuristic speculation. The authors of Daniel and Reve
lation deal with their o-wn respective ages and with no
other. They were not peering into any distant future.
They were attempting to aid their tortured and wavering
brethren to live through a present full of bitterest anguish.
The speedy triumph of the right was their one hope and
assurance. In this they were not mistaken. Upon that
one confident utterance they lavished the treasures of

MISUSES OF THE BIBLE 227
apocalyptic eloquence. And in the glowing language of
hope which they thus employed, the saints of all the cen
turies have found comfort ; not because the experiences of
their own times were foreseen and described, but because
that first earlier conquest of evil by good, of the world
powers by the King of Saints, was the prelude and token
of all future -victories of the faith.
This misuse of the Bible by the attempt to read into
its pages the events of our own time is sure to recur as long
as the world endures. Particularly - does it find its re
crudescence in days of war and commotion like our own.
Those who eagerly search these vivid pages of the
apocalypses for descriptions of the great struggle in Eu
rope, and for portraits of some of its chief figures, are
harmlessly and happily ignorant of the fact that in every
great convulsion of human society in the past there have
been those who in the same spirit searched the same pages,
and with the same success. There is no corrective for
this waste of time except a more intelligent view of the
Bible as a whole. And as this comes with the recognition
of those helpful principles which are now at the disposal
of every well-informed person, there will be seen less of
the unprofitable search for the marvelous and fantastic,
and more satisfaction in the deeper and abiding truths
made known to us by our Lord and those prophets and
apostles who stood nearest him in spirit and purpose.

XVIII
Our Bible and Other Bibles
THE city of Amritsar in northern India is one of the
famous shrines of that land of holy places. It is the
capital and sanctuary of the Sikhs, that interesting
race which so long held out against English domination of
their land, fought two bloody wars for freedom, and when
finally subdued, was recognized by the British as a gallant
and fearless enemy, and has ever since been accorded a
high place among the native fighting forces in India in the
service of Great Britain. Amritsar is the holy city of the
Sikhs. To them it is as sacred as Benares to the Hindus,
Sarnath to the Buddhists, or Mecca to the Moslems.
One of the gurus, or holy men of the Sikh faith,
named Arjan, completed the great tank or sacred lake at
Amritsar, and began the erection of the Golden Temple.
He was the fourth guru in succession to Nanak, the
founder of the movement. This man was born near La
hore about 1470, and organized a reformation of the
popular Hinduism, Mohammedanism and Buddhism of his
time. At his death he passed on his mission, and as he
believed, his inspiration, to a successor, and the process was
continued through ten such masters, the last of whom,
Gobind Singh, appointed no successor, but bequeathed his
authority to the Granth, the Sikh Bible.

OUR BIBLE AND OTHER BIBLES 229
In the midst of the Golden Temple, built on a little
island in the sacred lake, on an ottoman, covered with a
cloth, and guarded by priests, lies this volume. It was
written by Arjan, who was a poet and mystic. He col
lected the extant hjmins of Nanak and the other gurus of
the order, as well as certain of the writings of Kabir and
other saintly men, and adding his own contributions, he
published the whole in a volume which became known
among the Sikhs as "Granth Sahib," the "Noble Book."
This work is, therefore, the Bible of a religious com
munity numbering more than three millions. Probably it
represents in a manner nowhere else approached the prac
tice of bibliolatry. For the volume is not merely the in
spired and revered literature of a race. It is literally their
deity. To it have been conveyed by express stipulation the
inspiration and authority of a line of heaven-sent teachers.
It has become by specific and unquestionable command the
visible embodiment of the divine. It is worshiped with a
set and invariable ritual, which includes the rendering of
selections from the hymns of Nanak, and offerings of
flowers and fire sacrifices.
This is a pathetic and yet illuminating illustration of
the misuses to which a sacred book may be subjected.
Nanak endeavored to lead his people away from the ex
ternals of religion to a living experience of God. His
followers have taken his words and those of other holy
men, and made of them a god to be worshiped, not a
message to be obeyed. The result is that thousands who

230 OUR BIBLE
visit the Golden Temple and pour out their offerings for
the good of their souls at the feet of the covetous priests,
are as ignorant of the contents of the Granth and as in
different to its high ideals as are the beggars that line the
causeway that brings them across the lake to the shrine.
This is ever the danger of the Bible, that it may be held
sacred and regarded as of well-nigh magical virtue by
people who could not pass the simplest examination upon
its contents, and who are sure both to misunderstand and
misrepresent its spirit and its purpose. The Granth is
not the only victim of an erring and vicious bibliolatry.
RELIGIOUS LITERATURE
But whether wisely or unwisely employed, there is
almost sure to be a body of literature related to each of
the great religions. This fact has been the subject of
frequent comment in the preceding chapters. Most of the
systems of ethical and religious teaching that have made
their impress upon particular ethnic groups have found
expression in hymns, ritual formulas, priestly instructions
and injunctions to the faithful, and these have been
gathered into an increasing collection of classic writings.
Most of the ancient beliefs had something of the sort,
though in certain instances the sacred literature was frag
mentary and limited, and did not reach the status of
canonical books.
This was the case in Egypt. As early as the fifth and
sixth dynasties, two and a half millenniums before Christ,

OUR BIBLE AND OTHER BIBLES 231
the post-mortem fortunes of the pyramid-building kings
were deemed of sufficient importance to demand the cover
ing of the tomb walls and galleries with hieroglyphic texts
which include the ritual for burial, specifications for the
offerings at the tomb, magical formulae, ritual of worship,
hymns, fragments of myth, and prayers for the welfare
of the dead monarch. The care taken to provide the dead
with the proper credentials for their safe passage through
the varied experiences of the under-world led to the com
pilation of several different collections of magical texts
and directions, among them "The Book of Him Who Is
in the Under- Worid," the "Book of Portals," and most
important of all, the so-called "Book of the Dead," which
was enlarged from time to time until it required a papyrus
roll seventy feet in length for its transcription. These and
other writings were regarded as classic and essential to
the welfare of the soul in the future life, but were never
organized into a canon of religious instruction.
The Babylonians had a large body of priestly writings,
chiefly employed in the efforts to avert evil by the proper
mles of magic and liturgical directions for temple usage.
The nearest approach which they made, however, to re
ligious books was in the two great epics, the Cosmogonic
Story, sometimes called the Epic of Creation, and the
Gilgamish Epic. The fortunate survival of fragments of
these two poems makes clear the fact that they deal with
the creation of the world by Marduk, the god of Babylon,
the deluge experiences of Utnapishtim, the survivor of the

232 OUR BIBLE
world-flood and the Descent of Ishtar into Hades. The
close relationship of these- narratives to the creation and
deluge narratives of the Book of Genesis is familiar to all
students of Semitic literature. In addition there are
numerous litanies, lamentations over the anger of the gods,
penitential psalms, and the like. Yet here again is no
suggestion of a canon of religious material for popular use.
The earlier poetry of Greece was much of it deeply
religious in spirit. The two great Homeric epics display
a dignified and reverent attitude toward ethical and reli
gious interests which is impressive. In the Iliad and the
Odyssey alike the gods are pictured as upholders of justice
and morality, though not without certain human weak
nesses of temper and behavior. The same is true of the
great dramas of Aeschylus and Sophocles. In these splen
did writings the lofty sentiments of the classic Greek mind
came to their best expression. Nor can one fail to recog
nize the truly religious note in the teachings of Socrates
and Plato. But there was no selected list of writings that
assumed to speak with authority regarding the religious
life. There was no canon of holy literature.
SACRED WRITINGS OF INDIA
With the Aryans of India there is found what may be
regarded as the most ancient writings that attained the
sanctity of an inspired collection. When these Aryans
entered India from the northwest some thousands of years
before the Christian era, they were already possessed of

OUR BIBLE AND OTHER BIBLES 233
a body of hymns addressed to Indra, the cloud god, Agni,
the fire god, and other nature deities. The Rig-veda, the
most venerable of their collections, is dated by scholars
somewhere between 2(X)0 and 1500 B. C. It consists of
some 1,030 hymns, in more than ten thousand verses, and
makes a book equal in size to the Iliad and Odyssey com
bined. Closely associated with the Rig-veda in the venera
tion of the Hindu, though not so widely employed, are
the Sama-veda, a collection of sacred chants for temple
usage ; the Yajur-veda, a book of ritual for sacrifices, and
the Atharva-veda, an anthology of magical formulae for
the avoidance of evil. The word Veda means knowledge,
and the Vedas have been, from time immemorial, re
garded as the completely inspired literature of Hinduism.
Intimately related to the Vedas in sanctity are the
Upanishads, a body of writings speculative and meta
physical in character, professing to be based upon the utter
ances of the Atharva-veda. They are 170 in number, and
from them, offering as they do such ample opportunities
for mystical and philosophic meditation, the long line of
Indian poets, from the writer of the Bhagavad Gita to
Tagore have drawn their inspiration. From this liter
ature were selected the mantras, or sacred texts for popular
instmction, and upon it were founded the sutras, or rules
and aphorisms to be stored in the minds of the devout.
In the fullest sense the Vedas and the Upanishads are be
lieved to be in,spired. The Brahmins have ever taught
that the truths uttered in these holy books were revealed

234 OUR BIBLE
to ancient Aryan seers. At the same time it must be un
derstood that the theories of inspiration varied almost as
much among the Hindu sages as among the Jews. Some
of them affirmed that the Vedas were eternal, and consti
tuted the unique and unapproachable body of divine words.
Others inclined to the opinion that inspiration never really
ceased, and that the later classics shared this quality.
Between the two extremes there is found the usual ortho
dox view that the Vedas and the Upanishads possess the
quality of divine inspiration in a manner not to be found
in other writings. They seem to express the hopes and
speculations of the early Brahmins, sunk in those vast and
austere conceptions of life which by the vanished stream
of the Saraswati first allured the human soul.
THE bhagavad GITA
But the most widely known and popular of the reli
gious books of India is the Bhagavad Gita, the "divine
song," which Krishna sang to the warrior Arjuna before
the great battle of Kumkshetra. In a very real sense it
is the gospel of India, the story of the union of the soul
with God. Of it an informed writer. Prof. Howells, says :
"It is a living book, devoutly read and studied by tens
of thousands of Hindus throughout the length and breadth
of India. All men of light and leading in India are thor
oughly familiar with its contents, and no man of culture,
whether that culture be native or foreign, and whether he
lives in village, town or city, neglects the study of it."

OUR BIBLE AND OTHER BIBLES 235
Allowing for possible exaggeration on the part of the
author of "The Soul of India" in this statement, it is at
least an impressive comment upon the fundamentally reli
gious character of the Hindus, and is in sufficient contrast
with popular acquaintance with the Bible among Chris
tians. Nor must one forget the Ramayana, the epic of
Rama and Sita, written by Tulsi Das about 1600, in which
Rama is pictured as the complete incarnation of the divine ;
or the Homeric character of the Mahabharata, with its
stories of the conflicts in which the gods have their part,
and in which Krishna is the hero.
Closely related to the Aryan Indians were the ancient
Iranians, among whom appeared one of the earliest pro
phetic reformers of Asia, Zoroaster. His date has been vari
ously placed from 1000 to 650 B. C. A small group of
hymns was left by this teacher, and the Gathas, a series
of metrical texts, which probably also come from the
founder of the new faith, who went about as a wanderer
and reformer among his people. The sacred scriptures,
which were gathered about these fragments, and were
augmented by prophetic utterances, liturgy and ceremonial,
hymns, cosmogony and tradition, were gradually assem
bled in a collection known as the Avesta. The date of this
body of writings is assumed to be about 240 A. D. Ac
cording to the tradition of the Parsees, the modem rep
resentatives of the Zoroastrian faith, the Avesta formerly
contained twenty-one books. Of these but one now sur-
¦vives. It consists of five parts; a liturgy, the rules of

236 OUR BIBLE
clean and unclean, hymns of various age and merit, and a
collection of prayers for daily use. The Gathas are the
nucleus of the first ,of these sections. The divine origin,
character and inspiration of Zoroaster were confidently
affirmed by his followers. The divine nature of the liter
ature which bears his name is not questioned by the faith
ful. Few of the Parsees are able to read the classic Zend
language in which the Avesta is written. But they repeat,
as an act of merit, the sacred Gathas, whose meaning they
do not know. Most of the essentials of that religion which
proclaimed Ahura Mazda as the ever-living Lord of Light,
and which was professed by the great Cyrus and his suc
cessors, have passed away. The creed of the modem Par-
see is merely a recognition of the obligation to cultivate
"good thoughts, good words and good deeds." The vener
able figure of the reformer himself has all but vanished,
and the formula: "Thus saith Zarathustra" has but a
phantom of meaning. THE BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES
Perhaps the most conspicuous of the non-Christian
faiths, the earliest to transcend the limits of ,a race and
become international in its influence, is Buddhism.
Like Christianity and Mohammedanism it has always
been a missionary religion, having been carried by zeal
ous representatives from its original home in India to
Ceylon, Burmah, Siam, China, Japan, Mongolia, Tibet,
and in lesser degree to other parts of Asia. The founder

OUR BIBLE AND OTHER BIBLES 237
of Buddhism was Siddhartha, or Gotama, a member of
the Sakiya clan, born at Kapilavastu, the chief town of
the clan, on what is now the border between British
India and Nepal, about 560 B. C. Renouncing family
and comfort for the life of a wanderer and devotee, he
endeavored for seven years by the usual practices of the
mendicant holy men to attain satisfaction of soul, but
in vain. At the age of thirty-six, sitting under a tree
at Buddh Gaya, he came upon the great secret, the
"illumination," in virtue of which he became henceforth
the Buddha, the "enlightened." At Sarnath, a few
miles from Benares, are shown the remains of the deer
park in which he taught his followers. He spent more
than forty years, journeying from place to place, in
structing the increasing numbers of his disciples, and
organizing the order that was to interpret his "way of
deliverance" to the world. He died at Kusinara, about
480 B. C. among his friends and devoted adherents,
and his ashes were divided among the families who
claimed the right to share the honor.
The teachings of the Buddha were treasured by
his disciples, transmitted orally, and finally committed
to writing in the early portion of the first century B. C.
They are contained in a triple collection known as the
Tripitika, or "Three Baskets." They are written in the
Pali language, a dialect derived from the Sanskrit, and
make a body of literature about twice the size of the
Bible. The three Pitakas are called respectively the

238 OUR BIBLE
Vinaya Pitika, the Suta Pitika, and the Abhidhamma
Pitika. The first is a body of ritual and rules for the
early Buddhist monastic communities, and includes the
commission given by the Master to his friends to go
out and preach his message to mankind. The second
is composed of five Nikayas, or Collections, constitut
ing a large number of discourses and dialogues, words
of the Buddha and expositions of Buddhist doctrine.
These sustain to the rest of the literature much the
same relation as the Gospels do to the remainder of the
New Testament. The last of these Nikayas consists
of fifteen sections, and includes the Dhammapada or
Path of the Law, in 423 verses; the Udinas, 82 short
lyrics, ecstatic utterances, or "songs of exultation,"
supposed to have been uttered by the Buddha at im
portant crises of his experience; the Sutta Nipata, 70
lyrics on the secret of peace ; the Gathas, psalms of the
brethren and sisters of the order ; the Jatakas, the most
popular of Buddhist literature, a collection of birth
stories, folk-lore and tradition, telling of the previous
lives of the Buddha, and the merit he acquired by kind
ness to men and animals. The third is the philosophi
cal elaboration of Buddhism in terms of psychology
and ethics. Of these documents the Dhammapada gives
the most intelligible statement of the Buddha, the Law,
and the Order, the three supreme objects of reverence,
celebrated in the daily confession or "Refuge," which is
recited by every pious Buddhist.

OUR BIBLE AND OTHER BIBLES 239
These Pali books constitute the classic canon of
this religion. In them are found, many times and va
riously repeated, the essentials of Gotama's teaching:
The Four Noble Truths, — life is suffering; suffering
is the result of desire; cessation of desire ends life and
suffering; and this is attained by following the in
structions of the Master. These instructions are given
in The Noble Eight-Fold Path. This includes right
belief, aspiration, speech, action, livelihood, effort,
mindfulness, and contemplation. Each of these is of
course properly defined in the sources. A high level
of morality was inculcated, indicated in the Five Gen
eral Commandments, prohibiting the taking of life,
theft, adultery, untruth, and the use of intoxicants. To
these were added five more prohibitions for the mem
bers of the monastic brotherhood, — eating at forbidden
times, worldly amusements, scents and ornaments, use
of a luxurious bed, and taking silver or gold.
To this Pali canon, which is now preserved in the
palm-leaf manuscripts of Burmah, Ceylon and Siam,
many other books have been added, including a Sanskrit
canon, which was chiefly a revision of the classic books
in the interests of the Mahayana or liberal movement
of the north, and the literature of translation and ex
pansion which has taken form in the various lands to
which Buddhism was taken from India, its original
home, from which it has all but completely disap
peared. The Pitikas are revered by all Buddhists,

240 OUR BIBLE
though few of them have access to the original Pali
classics. But they are not regarded as inspired in any
such manner as the sacred books of several of the other
faiths. They have by no means the same position in
Buddhism that the Vedas have in Hinduism, the Koran
in Islam, or the Bible in the Christian church. Cu
riously enough, although a large percentage of the fol
lowers of the Buddhist religion regard the Buddha
himself as a god, and adore his innumerable statues
with an idolatrous reverence, his words are held authori
tative only in the sense in which those of Euclid or
Plato are regarded by the learned of all the centuries
since that time ; they have not the sanctity of those of
the Rishis to the Hindus, of those of Mohammed to
the Moslems, of those of Moses to Jews, or of the utter
ances of Jesus and the Apostles to Christians.' In
Buddhism the Founder and the Order have proved much
more significant than the Law.
THE CHINESE CLASSICS
Much the same is true of the canonical books of
the Chinese. For centuries that run far back into an
tiquity, certain documents have been received as classic
and regulative for public and private conduct. It may
be said with emphasis that the political and religious
life of China has been based upon the five canonical
books, which grew out of the life and service of Con
fucius, and were by him transmitted to the Chinese

OUR BIBLE AND OTHER BIBLES 241
people. They are not regarded as inspired; they make
no claim to have been revealed by any deity. But so
great is the veneration of the people of that land for all
that is ancient, and so conspicuous is the place which
Confucius holds in their regard, that these volumes
lack little of the sanction which in other lands attaches
to the most authentic scripture.
Probably none of the great teachers who have taken
the place of chief veneration in the regard of their peo
ple has ever exercised so profound and widespread an
influence as Confucius. When one takes into account
the enormous numbers of the Chinese, and the unnum
bered centuries in which they have flourished in that
far-extended seat of empire'where they still abide, and
recalls the fact that in all this time, and by practically
all these people one name has held the pre-eminent
place, it is not to be doubted that the influence of this
man has carried further than that of any other who has
undertaken to speak on the fundamental themes of
human life.
Confucius, or K'ung-futze, i. e., "Master K'ung,"
was born in the small state of Lu, in what is now the
province of Shan-tung, in 551 B. C, Most of his life was
spent in the work of teaching, though at times he was
called upon to serve as an official. He was possessed
of an extraordinary reverence for antiquity. The state,
with its immemorial history, its order and its glory,
filled him with veneration. Back in the remote past
16

242 OUR BIBLE
lay the golden age. To restore customs and sanctions
that seemed in danger of neglect was his ambition.
He counted himself in no sense a founder of a new sys
tem of ethics, much less of a religion. Indeed he ex
pressly disclaimed any concern for religious questions,
and advised his friends to leave out of their circle of
intellectual concern all matters of a speculative and
transcendental nature.
The five canonical books, which Confucius collected
out of the wisdom of the past, are the Shu-king, or book
of historical documents; the Shi-king, or book of odes;
the Yi-king, or book of changes, or permutations, a
manual of divination; the Hsiao-king, or book of filial
piety, and the Li-ki, or book of rites. In addition there
are the four books of classics, which include the Lung-
yu, the conversations of Confucius, sometimes called the
Confucian Analects; the Ta-hioh, or the Great Teach
ing; the Chang-yung, or Doctrine of the Mean; and the
Meng-tsze, the instructions of the philosopher Men-"
cius (372-289 B. C). The latter was the greatest of
the successors of Confucius. These books are all more
or less associated with the name of China's great sage
and teacher. The emperor Shi-huang-ri (246-210 B. C.)
who thought the veneration for the past inculcated in
these works was a danger to the state, made an effort
to destroy them. But the success of this attempt was
only partial, and they came to a more exalted place in
popular regard in consequence. Since that time they

OUR BIBLE AND OTHER BIBLES 243
have possessed full canonical character and authority.
The sacred book of Judaism is the Talmud. It is
of course based upon the teachings of the Old Testa
ment, and embodies the traditions of the scribes from
the third century of the Christian era onward. It is in
two parts, the Mishnah, the first attempt to write down
the scribal instructions, which had been hitherto cher
ished in oral form; and the Gamara, containing the
later formulation of Jewish theory in the schools of
Palestine and Babylonia. Space fails to permit account of
several other venerable collections which in one race or
another have taken their place as canonical and inspired.
THE KORAN
But the most impressive example of an authoritative,
inspired and canonical literature, aside from the Bible, to
be found in the world today, is the Koran, the scripture
of the Mohammedan world. The story of the rise of
Islam is familiar to the student of history. Mohammed
was a merchant of Mecca, who became possessed of a
passion for the emancipation of the Arab race from the
superstitions of the idolatrous past. He knew something
,of the rather low type of Jewish and Christian belief and
practice about him in the Arabian cities. He had a certain
familiarity with the Bible from these sources. As the
result of strife with his own clan, growing out of his
claims to religious inspiration and leadership, he was com
pelled to save himself by flight with a few followers from

244 OUR BIBLE
Mecca to Medina. This was in 622 A. D., the year which
became the beginning of the Mohammedan era. The
career of conquest upon which the prophet and his fol
lowers soon entered laid the entire Levant at their feet,
and even threatened Europe.
In the course of his life as prophet and defender of
the faith in one God, Mohammed wrote a considerable
number of prayers, directions to his followers, commenta
tions upon incidents in the Hebrew and Christian Scrip
tures, and other utterances, which were gathered into a
collection, and today constitute the classic literature of
Islam. They are in the form of suras, or chapters, and
collectively are called the Koran, or "The Reading." They
are most diffusive and various. They deal with all man
ner of matters, historical, theological, traditional, legendary
and ritualistic. They are all at the level of one mind, and
were written within a comparatively brief period. Yet they
are the basis for all the theology, ethics, jurisprudence and
ritual of Mohammedanism. The Koran is the text-book
in every Mohammedan school. It is believed not only to
be inspired, as the work of the prophet's hand and brain,
but as well to be the utterance of the divine wisdom, of
which the prophet was made the oracle and vehicle to earth.
Perhaps the theory of verbal and plenary inspiration was
never carried to greater lengths than in the Mohammedan
view of the Koran. To the book is ascribed every pos
sible perfection of form and spirit. The diligence with
which it is studied, and the zeal with which its teachings

OUR BIBLE AND OTHER BIBLES 245
are propagated are among the most astonishing features
of Islam. Doubtless the glamor of the prophet's own
career is cast over it in the thought of the "true believers,"
as Mohammedans like to call themselves. Nor can any
fair estimate of the invaluable services of the prophet to
his people fail to yield a high meed of praise to the entire
movement for the reform of the Arabs. But one needs
this background of romantic achievement to relieve the
feeling of disillusionment which results from the effort to
become interested in the arid and trivial pages which make
up no small part of the Koran. The man and the move
ment remain greater than the literature they produced.
These are examples of the volumes which for various
reasons have become classic and venerable among the chief
religious bodies of the non-Christian world. No one of
them is without its distinct merits. Each gathers to itself
traditions of great souls who have wrought nobly in behalf
of their people. In all of them can be discerned some
thing of the breath of the divine, which assures us that
God has never left himself without witness among any
people. To the men w'ho have poured their hearts into
these hymns of the faith, and these directions for the holy
life, one must accord honor and gratitude. Yet the more
they are studied, and the more their writings are compared
with those of our Bible, the more are we impressed with
the unique character of the Scriptures which have issued
from the hands of Hebrew and Christian prophets, and
which find their highest levels in the utterances of our

246 OUR BIBLE
Lord. One need not dispraise the other holy writings to
perceive the greatness of our own. In fact, the more at
tention is given to the world literatures of religion, the
more impressive becomes the character of the Bible. They
are the high and purposeful aspirations of ethnic teachers
who saw the truth as they were able and made it known to
their people. But in the Bible there is a universal note
nowhere else discovered. It is proving itself to be the
message of God to the race. The Christianity of which it
is the exponent is winning its way in the very lands of the
non-Christian world. Their bibles are for particular peo
ples and limited eras. Our Bible is for every age and all
mankind.

XIX

Our Faith in the Bible
THE Bible is the supreme classic of the race. It has
for all mankind the value which the epic of Homer
had for the Greeks, the Aeneid for the Romans, the
Niebelungenlied for the people of Northern Europe, or
the Mahabharata for the Hindus. If the New Testa
ment is the Christian Odyssey, the sublime record of the
soul's home coming after long wanderings, not less is
the Old Testament the Iliad of the race, the epic of the
long and not unsuccessful struggle against the triple-
walled stronghold whose conquest alone could end the
strife. In the one the hero journeys far on many seas,
hears the seven voices of temptation, tarries in the lotus
isles of pleasure, beholds the horrors wrought on his
companions by the necromancy of sin, rouses himself
to the supreme task, braves the storm, the shipwreck
and the fight, goes down into the deeps of death, and
comes home at last to love and glory like a king re
turning from his wars. In the other the field is full of
fighting figures, the air is rent with shouting, the noise
of battle lingers all day long among the mountains by
the western sea, and the eye looks upon waving ban
ners, charging squadrons, the flashing armor oi the war
riors, and the garments dipoed in blood.

248 OUR BIBLE
The New Testament is the story of the soul's
achievement of freedom and of life through the power
of the Highest. The Old Testament has not discovered
the individual as yet, but concerns itself with the na
tion in its struggle for self-realization, expansion and
knowledge. It is the earlier section of the volume
which discloses the account of the world's spiritual
education. Its utterances are preliminary, tentative,
partial. Its morality is not final, its ideals are confused,
its heroes are men of passion and fierce zeal. In its
vivid narratives of moral struggle beasts at first are
slaying men. It is only after many days that man be
gins to slay the beast. In the New Testament larger
visions of life are secured. There one begins to catch
glimpses of warriors of the faith, men close to perfec
tion ; and there is the promise of a race worthy to hold
friendship with Jesus.
The Bible is thus the record of the greatest relig
ious experience of history. It is not a revelation, in
the sense of a divine deposit, placed in human hands.
It is the record of an attainment of life through friend
ship with God. It is the history of the Word made
flesh, — at first in partial and imperfect manner in the
lives of prophets and sages, and later in the life of our
Lord. In him that disclosure became complete, so far
as human life can express it. For the Word was made
-flesh in a unique and final manner, and dwelt among
us, full of grace and truth. The idea that the gods

OUR FAITH IN THE BIBLE 249
could assume the human form and conduct themselves
as men was very familiar to the people of the classic
age. But in the Hfe of Jesus that world-old myth be
came a reality.
It is this fact which furnishes the ground of our
faith in the Bible. In it there is revealed a life which
is found nowhere else in history. And the wonder of
that life is its adaptability for imitation. When sub
mitted to the test of experience, the ideal of Jesus
works, in this age and every age. It is this life and its
practicability for a program of imitation that makes
the Bible the indispensable book of the ages. There
are many questions on which it does not speak. It is
not a theological encyclopedia. It is not a scrap-book
of religious information. When one goes to it to asTc
of it trivial questions it is quite dumb and disappoint
ing. But if one wishes to know how to find God, how
to escape from sin, how to secure the friendship of
Jesus, how to understand something of the mystery of
suffering, and how to attain the life eternal, its pages
glow with the light of divine truth. It does not publish
any minute program of the Christian life, nor of the
life that is to be., But it leads us to One who is the
Way, the Truth and the Life. This is the ground of
our faith in its trustworthiness and finality.
There is no book in any language that is so completely
saturated with a single life as is the Bible with that of
Jesus. His is its central figure, and its compelling theme.

2.50 OUR BIBLE
This would be sufficient to make it the most remarkable of
hooks. But greater still is its power to produce lives like
his, the crown and glory of the race.
There is both truth and error in Chillingworth's af
firmation that "the Bible and the Bible alone is the religion
of Protestantism." The truth lies in the fact that Christi
anity, as interpreted by Protestant testimony, is revealed
in a book, and its fortunes are indissolubly joined with
those of that book; the error consists in the identification
of our holy faith with one of its instmments, although that
instrument is the one most honored of all. There is little
danger, however, that the Bible will usurp undue dignity.
Christianity and the Scriptures go ever hand in hand. Even
the prophet of Islam, whose followers have become notable
for their devotion to the Koran, spoke usually of the
Christians as the "People of the Book," expressing thus his
knowledge of their fidelity to the Scriptures.
The Bible exhibits the striking paradox of a prod
uct greater than its producer. Historically it is the
creation of the church. The Old Testament was
wrought out by the Hebrew people and is the record
of their religious progress from the days when polygamy,
slavery and blood revenge were the common practices of
the time, to the age when the highest morality of antiquity
was reached. It is their religious autobiography. Ye|
the Old Testament is greater than the Hebrew people,
for it is the product of the Spirit of God, working through
choice and elect souls in that history, and is the record of

OUR FAITH IN THE BIBLE 251
an experience which was itself, in some true sense, the
manifestation of the life of God.
Viewed as a literary product the New Testament
was given form and fashion by the early church. The
church existed before the Book, and in a sense might
be conceived as independent of it. Though the Bible
had perished in early Christian persecutions, the church
would have remained and its testimony to its Master
would have been carried to the end of the world. Yet
the New Testament is greater than the apostolic church,
for it records not only the lives and words of those
forceful personalities who first interpreted the gospel,
but it reveals in all his glorious perfection him who
was made of the seed of David according to the flesh,
but was declared to be the Son of God with power by
the resurrection from the dead. It is the product of
the Spirit of God working in the noblest souls of that
apostolic church to bring forth a record which should
be the trustworthy narrative of apostolic ministries
and the authoritative literature of the Christian faith.
The Holy Scriptures are the supreme instrument
by which Christ is revealed to men and his work di
rected throughout the world. Successive generations
of children, readers and students advance through the
experience revealed in the Book, and going on from
strength to strength, appear at last before God, in
Zion. Missionaries, inspired by the messages of the
Kble, count not their lives dear, that they may finish

252 OUR BIBLE
their course with joy and the testimony which they
have received of the Lord. And these words of life,
once more incarnate in flesh and blood, are by them
re-translated into the strange speech of distant peoples,
through whom the power of God is yet to be revealed.
PERILS BY THE ROAD
The perils through which the Bible has come, and
out of which it has emerged with undiminished luster
and augmented power, point to the divine nature of
the book and the providential forces which have
wrought for its preservation. The persecutions of im
perial power, which threatened to sweep the church
out of existence, and with it the Scriptures; the re
pressive measures of ecclesiastical power, which with
held the Bible from popular possession, and restricted
its use to monastic seclusion; the derisive laughter of
brilliant and scoffing apostles of materialism, preaching
unbelief and predicting the downfall of Christian faith;
and the employment of the instruments of the coldest
and most remorseless criticism, whether trained and
scientific, or only fantastic and reckless, have alike re
vealed the imperishable nature of these documents and
their ability to rise phoenix-like from the ashes of every
immolation. Not less wonderful is the variety of verdicts which
have been rendered regarding the origin and nature of
the Holy Scriptures, verdicts which still consist with

OUR FAITH IN THE BIBLE 253
deepening faith in their divine character and inspiration.
No book has ever enjoyed, suffered and survived so
many definitions as the Bible. The earliest generation
of Christians received the Old Testament as a sacred
heritage, safeguarded as with walls of fire by the Jew
ish people; the books of the New Testament were as
yet regarded rather as the writings of the friends of
the Lord than as Holy Scripture. The third century
saw the development of canonical theory, and the ele
vation of the completed Bible to the seat of authority.
The middle ages regarded the book as the very Wordj^
of God, and yet subjected it to such fantastic and mys
tical interpretations as left it but scanty fragments of
reality. The reformers discovered it afresh, searched
it with the passion of seekers after hidden treasure,
and fearlessly pronounced upon the relative value of
its different parts. The post-reformation divines, con
fronted with the claim of an infallible church, fell back
for defense upon the dogma of an infallible Book, and
unhappily in many instances, carried that dogma to ex
treme and untenable lengths. The critical movement
has reasserted the position of the reformers as to the
right of free inquiry, and has revealed the groundless
ness of the fears formerly expressed regarding the dis
astrous results of such investigation. Yet in all these
periods and by all these varying interpreters the Bible
has held its place as the Word of God in the unique
and authoritative sense in which the claim can be made

254 OUR BIBLE
for no other book. And today, within the ranks of
evangelical Christianity several attitudes of mind are
maintained toward the Scriptures, from the definite
and precise claims of complete historical and scientific
inerrancy and verbal inspiration on the one hand, to
the less easily defined but no less reverent acceptance
of the Scriptures as the record of divine revelation to
the world, a complex of documents with evident signs
of human workmanship and imperfection, but marked
by such spiritual unity and such divine passion as to
be worthy of no lesser title than the Word of God.
Men of all types within these rather wide limits find
in the Scriptures ample attestation to their sufficiency
as the instrument of revelation, and ample proof of the
impregnable nature of the truths which they disclose.
THE GROUND OF OUR FAITH IN THE SCRIPTURES
Our faith in the Holy Scriptures rests upon their
inspiration. That claim they make for themselves.
Yet our belief in their inspiration rests less upon their
claim than upon the appeal which they make to con
science and life. Most sacred books claim inspiration;
the Bible manifests it. Of this spiritual and compelling
quahty resident in these documents it is not easy to
summon words to form an adequate definition. Some
there are who encounter no difficulty in the effort.
Others stand hesitant where definition is so constantly
outrun by fact. The marvelous vitality of the Scrip-

OUR FAITH IN THE BIBLE 255
ture renders obsolete the statement of yesterday and
compels the reverent to stand with uncovered head in
the presence of a living power.
It is fitting that a message of such character and
urgency should have an adequate embodiment. The
Bible makes no claim to literary primacy among the
writings of the ages, and yet its charm is imperishable.
But our faith in the Holy Scriptures does not depend
upon their literary excellence, though that yields never-
ceasing satisfaction. It is the deeper fountains that refresh
the thirsty world. Further down lie the cool waters,
beyond the reach of even the masters of literature. They
have not always the instruments to draw with ; and the well
is deep. The living water has been lifted from the depths
by the hands of the prophets and apostles who speak
through this Book. Into every land its streams have gone.
Its ethical and spiritual influence upon the race has been
beyond conception great. In every land it has been the in
spiration of effort toward justice, freedom, knowledge,
progress, uprightness, purity, and the fear and love of God.
"the SUPREME AND COMPELLING VOICE"
Such and a hundred other proofs confirm our faith
in the Holy Scriptures. Our most imperative task is
not their defense but their study. They are less in
need of apologetic than of appropriation. The greatest
peril which the Bible faces today is neither persecution,
suppression, ridicule or criticism. It is neglect.

256 OUR BIBLE
Our faith in the Holy Scriptures is in the last issue
the result of our faith in him of whom they speak. He
is their central and commanding figure; his their su
preme and compelling voice. Many teachers speak
through these pages, but he excels them all. Many
men have part in the drama of redemption; one alone
is the Son of Man. Many have wrought as servants of
God ; only one as the Strong Son of God. In this book
there are mingled voices of triumph and defeat, but
above them all sounds one clear word, "Fear not, I
have overcome." Beyond all other conquests is his vic
tory over sin and death through which his followers are
already more than conquerors. Beyond all love is his
that seeks and yearns and wins at last through sheer in
sistence. Beyond all comfort his that tarries all the
night until the day be cool and the shadows flee away.
Many reasons there are why the Holy Scriptures
should have chief place in the reverence, affection and
confidence of men, but the chief is that they testify of
him. The Father of whom he spoke is disclosed in
perfection only in him. And something of that eter
nity, that timeless life, which he had with the Father
before the world was, abides in the Book. It rends the
heavens to reveal the endless life. It sets a ladder
from earth to heaven. It speaks of life with God as
of a treasure on which the hand of death can never fall.
For centuries the Bible has stood as the revela
tion of the life and will of God. For centuries and

OUR FAITH IN THE BIBLE 257
milleniums yet to come it will endure, as the priceless
possession of the race, the inspiration of all holy living,
the imperishable record of the human life of God, and
the divine possibilities of man. From generation to
generation it is destined to guide the church and in
spire the nations. In every age new light will break
out from its pages. Searching study will only reveal
deeper levels of truth and richer treasures of knowledge.
"Age cannot wither it, nor custom stale its infinite
variety." "All flesh is grass and all the goodllness there
of is as the flower of the field. The grass withers, and
the flower fades. But the Word of our God shall
abide forever."

17

BIBLIOGRAPHY, REFERENCES AND
INDEXES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Chapter I
King, The Development of Religion; Ames, The
Psychology of Religious Experience; Gordon, The Re
ligions of the World; Moore, History of Religions; Dods,
The Bible, Its Origin and Nature; Peake, The Bible, Its
Origin, Its Significance, and Its Abiding Worth.
Chapter II
King, Development of Religion; W. R. Smith, The
Religion of the Semites; Kent, The Wise Men of Ancient
Israel, and Their Proverbs; Fowler, A History of the
Literature of Ancient Israel; Willett, The Moral Leaders
of Israel.
Chapter III
Gordon, The Poets of the Old Testament; Fowler,
A History of the Literature of Ancient Israel; McFadyen,
Introduction to the Old Testament; Kent, The Student's
Old Testament; Moore, The Literature of the Old Testa
ment; Goodspeed, The Story of the New Testament; Von
Soden, The History of Early Christian Literature ; Kent
and Sanders, Messages of the Bible.
Chapter IV
Briggs, General Introduction to the Study of Holy
Scripture; Driver, Introduction to the Literature of the

BIBLIOGRAPHY 261
Old Testament; W. R. Smith, The Old Testament in the
lewish Church; Fowler, A History of the Literature of
Ancienf Israel; Cornill, The Prophets of Israel; Willett,
The Moral Leaders of Israel; Kent and Sanders, Mes
sages of the Bible; Bacon, An Introduction to the New
Testament; Goodspeed, The Story of the New Testament.
Chapter V
Goodspeed, The Story of the New Testament; Bacon,
An Introduction to the New Testament; Von Soden, The
History of Early Christian Literature; Moffatt, Introduc
tion to the Literature of the New Testament; Holtzman,
The Life of Christ; Bousset, lesus; Case, The Evolution
of Early Christianity; McGiffert, A History of Christianity
in the Apostolic Age.
Chapter VI
W. R. Smith, The Old Testament in the lewish
Church; Ryle, The Canon of the Old Testament ; Kirk
patrick, The Divine Library of the Old Testament; Wilde-
boer. The Origin of the Canon of the Old Testament;
P'owler, A History of the Literature of Ancient Israel.
Chapter VII
Souter, The Text and Canon of the New Testament;
Moore, The New Testament in the Christian Church;
Gregory, The Canon and Text of the New Testament ;
Westcott, A General Survey of the History of the Canon
of the Neiif Testament.

262 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Chapter VIII
Price, The Ancestory of Our English Bible; Hunting,
The Story of Our Bible; Sunderland, The Origin and
Character of the Bible; Articles on "Bible" and "Text and
Versions" in the various Encyclopedias and Bible Dic
tionaries. Chapter IX
Geden, Outlines of Introduction to the Hebrew Bible;
Buhl, Canon and Text of the Old Testament; Weir, A
Short History of the Hebrew Text of the Old Testament;
Kenyan, Handbook to the Textual Criticism of the New
Testament; Gregory, The Canon and Text of the New
Testament; Vincent, A History of Textual Criticism;
Lake, The Text of the New Testament.
Chapter X
Briggs, General Introduction to the Study of Holy
Scripture; Driver, An Introduction to the Literature of
the Old Testament ; Gray, A Critical Introduction to the
Old Testament; Kent, The Historical Bible; Moore, The
Literature of the Old Testament; Batten, The Old Testa
ment from the Modern Point of View; Bade, The Old
Testament in the Light of Today; Jordan, Biblical Crit
icism and Modern Thought; G. A. Smith, Modern Criticism
and the Preaching of the Old Testament; Jtilicher, An
Introduction to the New Testament; Bacon, The Making
of the New Testament; Moffatt, Introduction to the Literor-
ture of the New Testament; Nash, The Higher Criticism

BIBLIOGRAPHY 263
of the New Testament; Gilbert, The Interpretation of the
Bible.
Chapter XI
Barton, Archaeology and the Bible; Driver, Modern
Research as Illustrating the Bible; Price, Monuments and
the Old Testament; Handcock, The Latest Light on Bible
Lands; Jeremias, The Old Testament in the Light of the
Ancient East; Bliss, The Development of Palestine Ex
ploration; Bliss and Macalister, Excavations in Palestine;
Hilprecht, Recent Research in Bible Lands; Johns, The
Oldest Code of Laws in the World; Harper, The Code of
Hammurabi.
Chapter XII
Toy, Quotations in the New Testament; Johnson, The
Quotations of the New Testament from the Old; Ladd,
The Doctrine of Sacred Scripture; Briggs, Messianic
Prophecy; Orelli, Old Testament Prophecy; Dehtzsch,
Messianic Prophecy; Woods, The Hope of Israel; Adeney,
The Hebrew Utopia; Smith, The Prophet and His Prob
lems.
Chapter XIII
Dods, The Bible, Its Origin and Nature; Peake, The
Bible, Its Origin, Its Significance, and Its Abiding Worth;
Smythe, How God Inspired the Bible; Sanday, Inspiration.
Articles on "Inspiration" in the Encyclopedias and Bible
Dictionaries.

264 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Chapter XIV
Dods, The Bible, Its Origin and Nature; Clarke, Sixty
Years with the Bible; Bade, The Old Testament in the
Light of Today; Ladd, The Doctrine of Sacred Scripture;
Smith, The Old Testament in the Jewish Church; Moore,
The New Testament in the Christian Church; Sabatier,
Religions of Authority and the Religion of the Spirit.
Chapter XV
Gardner, The Bible as Literature; Wood and Grant,
The Bible as Literature; Moulton, The Literary Study of
the Bible, and The Bible as Literature ; Gordon, The Poets
of the Old Testament ; Moore, The Literature of the Old
Testament ; Houghton, Hebrew Life and Thought.
Chapter XVI
Selleck, The New Appreciation of the Bible; Gilbert,
The Interpretation of the Bible; Moulton, The Bible as
Literature; Wordsworth, Shakespeare and the Bible.
Chapter XVII
Clarke, Sixty Years with the Bible; Crooker, The
New Bible and Its New Uses; Gilbert, The Interpretation
of the Bible; Kent, The Origin and Permanent Value of
the Old Testament; Vernon, The Religious Value of the
Old Testament; Batten, The Old Testament from the
Modern Point of View; Bade, The Old Testament in the
Light of Today; Jordan, Biblical Criticism and Modern

BIBLIOGRAPHY 265
Thought; Smith, Modem Criticism and the Preaching of
the Old Testament; Sabatier, Religions of Authority and
the Religion of the Spirit.
Chapter XVIII
Moore, History of Religions; Jastrow, Introduction to
the Study of Religion; Barton, The Religions of the World;
Toy, Introduction to the History of Religion; Menzies,
History of Religion; Clark, Ten Great Religions of the
World; Hall, Jesus Christ and the Human Race; Sabatier,
Religions of Authority and the Religion of the Spirit.
Chapter XIX
Peake, The Bible, Its Origin, Its Significance, and Its
Abiding Worth; Dods, The Bible, Its Origin and Nature;
Selleck, The New Appreciation of the Bible; Crooker, The
New Bible and Its New Uses; Bowne, The Essence of
Religion; Crooker, The Supremacy of Jesus; Cook, Chris
tian Faith for Men of Today.

BIBLICAL REFERENCES

Chapter II
Samson's riddles, Jud. 14:14, 18; 15:16. Parable of
the trees, Jud. 9:6-15. Sayings of Zebah and Zalmunna,
Jud. 8:21. Sword Song of Lamech, Gen. 4:23. Song by
the Sea, Ex. 15:1-21. Song of Deborah, Jud. 5. Song of
David's victory, 1 Sam. 18 :7. Dirge of David for Saul and
Jonathan, 2 Sam. 1 :17-27. David's Lament for Abner,
2 Sam. 3:33, 34. Book of Jashar, Josh. 10:13, 2 Sam.
1:18. Book of the Wars of Jahveh, Num. 21:14. Ten
Commandments, Ex. 34:10-28; 20:1-17; Deut. 5:6-21.
Prophetic Story of Creation, Gen. 2:4-25. Priestly Story
of Creation, Gen. 1 :l-2:3. Chapter III
Peter's Discourse, Acts 2:14-36. Paul's Sermon, Acts
13:16-41. Book of the Covenant, Ex. Chaps. 20-23, 34.
Priest Code, found in Leviticus, Numbers, and later chap
ters of Exodus. Jeremiah's Roll, Jer. 36. Jeremiah's reso
lution, Jer. 20:7-9. Samuel's Law for the King, 1 Sam.
10:25. Elijah's letter, 2 Chron. 21 :12-15. Jeremiah's let
ter, Jer. 29:1-23. Chapter IV
Jesus' reference to the Old Testament, Luke 24:44.
Solomon's wisdom, 1 Kings 4:29-34. Song of the Bow,

BIBLICAL REFERENCES 267
2 Sam. 1:17-27. Lament of David for Abner, 2 Sam.
3:33, 34. Chapter XII
Paul's Euthanasia, 1 Cor. 15:55. John the Baptist,
Matt. 3 :3, Mk. 1 :3. Israel's Departure from Egypt, Hos.
11 :1, Matt. 2 :15. Deliverance of Galilee, Isa. 9 :l-3, Matt.
4:15, 16. Permanence of Jesus' words. Matt. 24:35.
Chapter XIII
Jahvist narrative of Creation, Gen. 2:4-25. Priestly
narrative of Creation, Gen. 1:1-2:3.
Chapter XIV
Paul's advice to Timothy, 1 Tim. 5 :23. Ananias and
Sapphira, Acts 5:lf. Cornelius, Acts 10. Demons and
swine, Mark 5 :lf. Fig tree, Mark 11 :12-21.
Chapter XV
Abraham's migration. Gen. 12:lf. Joseph's exaltation.
Gen. Chaps. 37-50. Moses' leadership, Ex. 2:lf. Absa
lom's plot, 2 Sam. 15 :lf : Elijah's challenge, 1 Kings 18 :lf.
Summary of Old Testament heroes, Heb. 11. Hannah's
Song, 1 Sam. 2:1-10. David and Jonathan, 1 Sam., Chaps.
19, 20. Paul's Hymn of Love, 1 Cor. 13.

INDEX OF BIBLICAL REFERENCES

Genesis pace
1:1-3:3  26
3:4-25  36
4:33, 24  34
14:18  159
21:1-12  159
24  300
44  200
Exodus
14:13  151
15  195
15:1-31  34
20:1-17  25
34:10-28  25
34:29-35  159
Leviticus
17-36  73, 128
Numbers
21:14  24
25:9  152
Deuteronomy
5:6-21  25
6:13  150
Joshua
10:13  24
Judges
5  24, 195
6:36-40  210
8:31  24

9:6-21  24
14:14, 18  24

Ruth

1:16

.302

1 Samuel
7:15-17  36
10:35  43
18:7  24
19:18  36
21:11  24
2 Samuel
1  198
1:17-27  52
1:18  24
1:19-27  34
3:33, 34  24, 52
7:14  158
22  107
1 Kings
3:16-28  311
4:29-34  51
14:35-38  140, 141
18:17-39  37
3 Kings
3:4-27  143
18, 19  138
22, 33  71
2 Chronicles
21:12-15  42

268

INDEX TO BIBLICAL REFERENCES

269

Ezra
7:lf  72
7:14  .. 72
7:25  72
Nehemiah
2:1-16  72
Job
3  196
4-30  196
38  196
31  196
33-37  196
38-41  196
39  196
41  196
43  196
Psalms
8  196
8:4  158
16  157
18  107
19  196
22  161
24  197
29  197
33  197
43  197
46  197
51  197
68  197
69  161
74  197
90  197
97:7  158

104  197
104:4  153
110:4  158
137  197
137:9  311
Proverbs
31  200
Song of Songs
8:6, 7  303
Isaiah
1:18  209
5  300
9, 11  161
9:1, 3  151
11  199
35:8  150
28:11  151
40-55  161
40:lf  151
40:3  151, 153
40:6, 7  257
52, 53  199
52:13-53:12  161
61:lf  161
Jeremiah
4  199
20:7-9  41
39:1-23  42
36  40, 42
31, 32  161
38:1-13  40
Ezekiel
32  199

270

INDEX TO BIBLICAL REFERENCES

Daniel
5:27  309
7:8  226
8:9  336
Hosea
1:10-11  151
6:2  162
6:6  150
11:1  153, 155
13:14  153
14  198
Joel
2:38-31  151
Amos
1  198
1:1  37
7:14  37
Micah
3  37
Malachi
3:1  151
Matthe-w
2:15  155
2:33  151
3:3  154
4:12-16  155, 156
4:14-16  151
6:25, 26  208
9:13  150
17:21  115
88:2-7  311

Mark
1:2, 3  151
1:3  154
5:1-20  180
11:12-20  180
16:9-20  115
Luke
1  198
3:4-6  151
4:4  150
4:16-21  161
18:31-34  162
34:35-49  163
34:44  47, 77
John
5:39  163
7:53-8:11  115
Acts
2:14-36  38
3:17  151
2:25f  157
5:1-11  180
7:16  152
7:16f  150
8:37  115
10  40, 180
13:13-41  38
13:16  150
Romans
1:4  351
9:15  151
9:35  151
13:19  158
16  61

INDEX TO BIBLICAL REFERENCES

271

1 Corinthians
10:4  159
10:18  152
13  199, 202
14:21  151
15:54  153
2 Corinthians
1-9  60
3:7-16  159
5:1  212
10-13  60
11:34, 35  211
Galatians
3:6  159
4:21-31  159
Colossians
4:16  61
2 Thessalonians
2:3  235
Hebrews
1:4  153

1:5  158
1:6  158
1:13  158
2:6  158
7:lf  159
8, 9  159
9:4  152
10:30  152
11  150
13:29  149
13:2  149
1 Peter
1:20  156
2:4  150
2:10  150
2:22  150
3:21  159
1 John
5, 7  115
Revelation
33:18, 19  166

GENERAL INDEX

Abraham, 26, 194, 200.
Acts, Book of, 48, 63, 83, 83, 84,
85, 112, 115, 150, 151, 153, 157,
180.
Acts of Paul, 84.
Ahab, 139, 145, 195.
Alexandria, 93.
Amos, 37, 46, 127, 174, 198.
Apocalyptic Ideas, 34, 54, 67,
334, 227.
Apocalypse, 47, 53, 64, 223.
Apocalypse of Peter, 82, 83, 84.
Apocrypha, 31, 70, 79, 83, 86, 88,
93, 168.
Apostolical Constitutions, 85.
Arabic Versions, 95.
Aramaic, 29, 94, 105.
Archaeology, 102, 134ff.
Armenian Version, 94.
Art and Architecture, 205.
Asia Minor, 134.
Assyria, Assyriology, 135, 137,
145, 155, 200.
Athanasius, 84.
Augustine, 85, 86.
Authority, 15, 70, 72, 79, 83,
177ff, 217, 229, 240, 243, 251,
353.
Avesta, 14, 69, 165, 235, 236.
Baal, 37.

Babylonia, Babylonian, 30, 53,
69, 105, 134, 135, 136, 141, 142,
161, 197, 204, 231.
Babylonian narratives, 36, 331.
Barnabas, 83, 84, 91.
Baruch, 86.
Beauty of the Bible, 19lff.
Bede, 97.
Behistun Inscription, 136
Ben Sirach (see Wisdom of
Jesus ben Sirach).
Bhagavad Gita, 233, 234.
Bible Societies, 95, 176.
Biblical Criticism, 89, 105ff,
118ff.
Book of the Covenant (see
Covenant, Book of).
Book of the Dead, 231.
Browning, 212.
Buddha (Gotama), 237, 238,
239.
Buddhism, Buddhists, 13, 236,
238, 240.
Calvin, 88.
Canaan (see Palestine).
Canon, Canonical, 67, 68, 72, 73,
74, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 85,
86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 330, 331, 232,
239, 240, 243.
Canticles (see Song of Songs).

GENERAL INDEX

273

Carlyle, 210.
China, 231, 240, 241, 243.
Christianity (early), 31, 33, 37,
45, 53, 56, 57, 61, 63, 64, 66, 69,
79, 89, 108, 121, 143, 159, 218,
251.
Christian Communities, 33, 80,
218.
Chronicles, Books of, 74, 107.
Chrysostom, 85.
Clement of Alexandria, 83.
Clement of Rome, 83, 85.
Coleridge, 212.
Colossians, Epistle to, 61, 80,
148.
Confucius, 13, 16, 25, 45, 204,
240, 241, 242.
Constantinople, 84, 85, 143, 144.
Coptic Versions, 94.
Corinth, 59, 60.
Corinthians, Epistles to, 59, 60,
148, 151, 153, 153, 159.
Covenant, Book of the, 39, 50,
71, 127.
Coverdale, 100.
Crete, 135.
Cromwell, 197.
Cyprus, 135.
Cyril of Jerusalem, 84.
Daniel, Book of, 50, 53, 75, 92,
121, 124, 334, 225.
David, 35, 52, 130, 134, 150, 174,
179, 300.
Deuteronomic Law, 38, 39, 50,
71, 72, 128, 150.
18

Diatessaron (see Tatian).
Dirge (see Lament).
Documents (of the Hexa
teuch), 122, 124, 126, 129, 130,
131.
Ecclesiastes, 52, 75, 76, 77, 130,
131.
Eck, 70.
Education, 181, 194, 195, 310,
222, 223, 333, 248.
Egypt, Egyptology, 69, 76, 92,
94, 95, 135, 139, 140, 141, 143,
144, 155, 230.
Elijah, 36, 37, 43, 127, 194.
Enoch, Book of, 67.
Ephesians, Epistle to, 61, 80,
86.
Ephesus, 59, 60, 61, 64, 66.
Epiphanius, 84.
Epistle of Jeremiah, 86.
Erasmus, 87, 113.
Esther, 54, 75, 76.
Ethiopic Version, 94.
Eusebius, 83, 84.
Excavation, 134, 145.
Exile, 128.
Exodus, 151, 195.
Ezekiel, 40, 54, 73, 128, 174, 199.
Ezra, 39, 50, 51, 72, 74, 75, 77,
93.
Fables, 34, 47.
Galatians, Epistle to, 59, 80, 88,
148, 159, 180.

274

GENERAL INDEX

Gates of Cities, 35.
Gath, 135, 145.
Genesis, 51, 122, 199, 200, 232.
Gezer, 135, 141, 144, 145.
Gladstone, 133.
Gospel of the Hebrews, 84.
Gospels, 57, 58, 80, 81, 82, 83,
84, 85, 97, 112, 134, 181.
Granth, 165, 338, 339, 330.
Greek Language, 29, 63, 76, 77,
91, 92, 100, 111, 113, 140, 144,
145.
Greeks, Greece, 69, 133, 134,
145, 304, 233, 247.
Hammurabi, 165, 304.
Hebrew Language, 39, 30, 77,
92, 100, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109,
143, 145, 151, 179.
Hebrews, Epistle to, 65, 68, 81,
82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 125,
148, 149, 150, 152, 153, 159,
222.
Hebrews, Gospel of the, 84.
Hebrews (people), 29, 30, 31,
33, 45, 47, 51, 78, 92, 136, 138,
133, 146, 174, 183, 205, 333,
250.
Hermas (see Shepherd of Her
mas).
Hexateuch, 51, 122, 124.
Hezekiah, 138, 139, 143, 200.
Hindus, Hinduism, 13, 15, 233,
234, 235, 240.
Holiness Code, 128.
Holy Spirit, 88.

Homer, Homeric poems, 23,
147, 193, 193, 332, 247.
Hosea, 41, 74, 137, ISO, 151, 153,
155, 162, 174, 198.
India, 232, 234, 235, 236, 239.
Influence of the Bible, 204ff.
Ingersoll, 187, 188, 189.
Inscriptions, 136, 137, 139, 140,
142, 143, 145.
Inspiration, 15, 16, 17, 18, 33,
45, 55, 79, 122, 164fl, 177, 179,
180, 186, 187, 193, 228, 229,
233, 333, 234, 240, 241, 243,
244, 245, 253, 254.
Irenius, 81, 112.
Isaiah, 37, 150, 155, 171, 174,
200.
Isaiah, Book of, 50, 74, 120, 124,
129, 150, 151, 153, 161, 199.
Islam (see Mohammedanism).
James, 65, 82, 83, 84, 86, 88, 125.
Jamnia, 77.
Jashar, Book of, 34, 53.
Jehu, 135, 137.
Jeremiah, 40, 41, 53, 74, 93, 139,
161, 171, 174, 199.
Jeremiah, Epistle of, 86.
Jericho, 144.
Jerome, 85, 93, 109.
Jerusalem, 37, 40, 56, 58, 60, 61,
63, 64, 66, 72, 73, 138, 139, 141,
143, 155, 197.
Jesus, 17, 31, 38, 41, 43, 44, 46,
56, 63, 63, 65, 66, 75, 77, 130,

GENERAL INDEX

275

131, 149, 150, 155, 159, 161,
163, 173, 174, 183, 183, 184,
186, 199, 201, 220, 240, 246,
249, 256.
Jewish People, 63, 63, 66, 105,
109, 120, 148, 158, 159.
Job, 39, 53, 75, 195.
Joel, 54, 151.
John (apostle), 87.
John, Epistles of, 66, 67, 83, 83,
84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 115, 148.
John, Gospel of, 66, 83, 88, 97,
115, 135, 148.
Jonah, 54.
Josephus, 77.
Joshua, 51, 74, 134, 183.
Josiah, 37, 73, 128, 200.
Judaism, 39, 53, 54, 65, 218, 343.
Jude, 54, 67, 83, 83, 84, 87, 88.
Judges, Book of, 74, 182, 195,
210.
Judith, 98.
Justinian, 204.
Justin Martyr, 80.
King Alfred, 97.
King James Version, 96, 103,
104, 109, 113.
Kings, Books of, 74, 94, 107,
141, 143.
Koran, 14, 15, 16, 43, 45, 106,
165, 169, 170, 204, 240, 243,
244, 245, 350.
Lamentations, Book of, 53, 75,
198.

Laments, 36, 52, 198.
Latin Versions, 93, 97, 99, 113.
Law (see Torah).
Leviticus, 73.
Lincoln, 212, 213.
Logia, 142.
Luke, 35, 63, 81, 82, 87, 148, 151,
161, 163, 171.
Luther, 70, 87, 132, 197, 213,
336.
Macaulay, 147, 303, 310, 311.
Maccabees, 30, 53, 70, 76, 83,
98, 144, 197.
Malachi, 74, 151.
Marcion, 81.
Mark, 62, 83, 115, 151.
Massorah, Massoretic, Masso
retes, 106, 107, 108, 109.
Matthew, 62, 63, 115, 125, 148.
Megiddo, 135, 145.
Mencius, 13, 242.
Mernephtah, 141.
Mesha, 105, 143.
Messiah, Messianic, 79, 160,
162, 163, 223.
Micah, 37, 174.
Milton, 147, 208.
Miracle, 172, 173, 177, 180.
Moabite Stone, 143, 143, 145.
Mohammed, Mohammedanism,
14, 16, 170, 304, 318, 335, 236,
340, 243, 344, 245, 250.
Monastery of St. Catherine, 91.
Monuments, 134ff.
Moses, 17, 35, 36, 38, 50, 69, 72,

276

GENERAL INDEX

73, 74, 91, 120, 124, 128, 150,
159, 170, 174, 178, 194, 199,
300, 322, 240.
Muratorian Canon, 83, 83.
Mythology, 47.
Nehemiah, 72, 125.
New Testament, 15, 19, 31, 34,
47, 57, 58, 67, 68, 77, 83, 85,
86, 88, 91, 93, 107, 109, 110,
111, 114, 115, 147ff, 181, 251.
Nineveh, 137, 139.
Numbers, Book of, 153.
Old Testament, 16, 39, 30, 36,
37, 47, 54, 68, 76, 79, 80, 83,
86, 88, 92, 105, 107, 120, 136,
129, 130, 147f, 152, 168, 217,
243.
Origin, 83.
Palestine, 30, 41, 126, 135, 141,
142, 143, 145, 173, 196, 197.
Palimpsest, 92, 113.
Parables, 195.
Pastoral Epistles, 81, 83, 135.
Paul, 35, 38, 40, 57, 58, 59, 60,
61, 63, 64, 67, 80, 81, 83, 83,
84, 85, 87, 88, 125, 149, 150,
159, 168, 174, 179, 199, 221.
Pentateuch, 88, 124.
Persepolis, 136, 137.
Peter, 37, 40, 63, 64, 157, 174,
180, 199.
Peter, Epistles of, 65, 67, 80, 82,

83, 84, 85, 87, 88, 148, 150, 156,
159.
Petrie, 140, 141.
Philemon, 61, 148.
Philippians, Epistle to, 61, 80,
148.
Philo, 77.
Phoenicia, Phoenician, 105, 134,
138.
Pitikas, 14, 165, 237, 238, 239.
Polygamy, 179, 182, 183, 188,
217, 218, 219, 250.
Prediction, 154, 155, 156, 161,
163, 163, 172, 331, 333, 334.
Priest Code, 39, 50, 73, 129.
Priestly Literature, 50, 129.
Priests, 16, 23, 37, 38, 54, 127,
138.
Prophecy, 48, 49, 154, 163, 173.
Prophetic Literature, 46, 49, 50,
71, 74, 75, 77, 80, 83, 130, 126,
127, 129, 224.
Prophets, 16, 36, 27, 36, 37, 41,
54, 137, 183.
Prophets, Schools of, 26, 27, 42,
43, 136.
Protestant, Protestantism, 69,
89, 131, 168, 350.
Proverbs, 34, 35, 47.
Proverbs, Book of, 52, 75, 130,
198.
Psalms, 36, 48, 52, 71.
Psalms, Book of, 46, 53, 54, 75,
76, 79, 97, 98, 107, 130, 124,
139, 153, 158, 161, 196, 197,
303.

GENERAL INDEX

277

Rabbinic Methods, 158, 159,
175, 178, 180.
Rameses, 135, 141.
Rawlinson, 136, 137.
Reformation, 86, 87, 98, 99, 121,
138, 197.
Reformers, 38, 131, 132, 178,
335, 326, 253.
Religion, Greatness of, 11.
Revelation, Book of, 34, 43, 48,
53, 64, 83, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87,
88, 135, 166, 169, 224, 225.
Revised Versions, 101, 103, 104,
109, 114, 115, 116.
Roman Catholic, 69, 70, 71, 87,
88, 89, 93, 102, 131, 168, 178,
226.
Romans, Epistle to, 60, 80, 88,
148, 149, 151, 152.
Rome, Roman Empire, 60, 61,
64, 65, 69, 83, 111, 134, 304,
306, 316, 225, 247.
Rosetta Stone, 140.
Ruth, 54, 75, 200, 203.
Sages, 26, 35, 54.
Samaria, 56, 74, 144, 145.
Samson's Riddles, 24.
Samuel, 26, 36, 43, 74, 107, 130,
135, 127, 158,, 174, 179, 198,
200.
Scribes, 27, 121.
Schools of the Prophets (see
Prophets, Schools of).
Selden, 212.
Semitic Languages, 30, 105, 137.

Sennacherib, 135, 138, 197.
Septuagint (LXX), 76, 79, 80,
92, 93, 107, 151, 152.
Shakespeare, 48, 164, 193, 193,
208, 315, 316.
Shepherd of Hermas, 83, 83, 84,
91.
Shishak, 140.
Sibylline Oracles, 83.
Siloam Inscription, 105, 143.
Sinai, Mt., Ill, 159.
Slavery, 179, 182, 183, 188, 217,
350.
Slavonic Version, 94.
Socrates, 16, 35, 232.
Solomon, 120, 124, 144, 200.
Song of Songs, 54, 75, 76, 77,
121, 125, 198, 303.
Spirit of God, 55, 165, 181, 183,
189, 190, 351.
Stories, 194.
Synagogue, 79, 311.
Synoptic Gospels, 38, 48, 62, 80.
Syriac, 93, 93.
Talmud, 14, 15, 45, 131, 343.
Targums, 94, 107.
Tatian, 81.
Teachings of the Twelve Apos
tles, 84.
Temple, 52, 197, 305, 233, 323.
Tennyson, 193, 211.
Ten Commandments, 25, 97.
Tertullian, 147.

278

GENERAL INDEX

Thebes, 140, 141.
Thessalonians, Epistles to, 58,
59, 80, 148.
Timothy, Epistles to, 67, 166,
179.
Tischendorf, 91, 111, 113, 114.
Titus, 67, 148.
Torah, 17, 27, 38, 39, 46, 48, 50,
71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 120,
130, 170, 175, 204, 205.
Translations, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96,
97, 98, 99, 100, 101.
Trent, Council of, 70, 88.
Tripitikas (see Pitikas).
Tyndale, 97, 99, 100, 101.
Typology, 331, 222.
Ulfilas, 94.
Upanishads, 333, 234.

Vedas, Vedic Hymns, 13, 45,
69, 165, 333, 334, 240.
Vowel Points, 106, 107.
Vulgate, 86, 88, 93, 98, 109.
Warning Stone, 144.
Wars of Jahveh, Book of, 24.
Wilberforce, 213.
Wisdom of Jesus ben Sirach,
75, 76, 77, 85.
Wisdom of Solomon, 30, 77, 82.
Wisdom Writings, 51, 71, 75.
Wise Men (see Sages).
Writings (third section of 0.
T.), 46, 50, 76, 77, 88, 120.
Wyclif, 96, 98, 99, 101, 103, 213.
Zarathustra (Zoroaster), 14, 16,
35, 335, 236.
Zechariah, 54, 75, 130, 130.

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"These sermons display a remarkable union of intellectual boldness
and spiritual warmth. I know of nothing else in print that brings out
quite so clearly the positive religious values that can be reached by a
rigorous application to Christian dogmas of the functional and valuational
point of view. Even readers who cannot accept Professor Ames* position
at all times must agree that such a book helps to clear the air, and to
focus attention at thp right point." — Prof. George A. Coe, of Union Theo
logical Seminary.

BURRIS A. JENKINS, D.D.

The Man in the Street and Religion
$1.35 net.
The author, who is pastor of a church of nearly two
thousand adult members, an enthusiast on men's sports, and
who recently spent six months preaching to British soldiers at
the front, believes that everyone, rich or poor, is at heart
deeply religious. He seeks to show, and does show, that men
who claim they are not religious, who deny all forms of faith,
who have not been in a church in twenty years, are never
theless prompted in much of their thinking and acting by their
religious impulses. Further, he sets forth the type of statement
that expresses this more or less unconscious faith, and puts
into clear and concrete terms illustrated by many modern
instances, the religion that he believes can reach the average
man of the Twentieth Century.

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

3 9002 05047 3355

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