The Old Testament in the light of modern research

Front matter

I!

hiiii

i 5

Introduction

Modern research has vastly extended our knowledge. — Greater even than this gain is the new temper in which knowledge is approached. — The accuracy and thoroughness of the modern scientific method. — Universal application of this method, as a test of Truth, to Theology amongst the rest, and even to the Bible. — The moral spirit of the age is opposed to thinking of the Bible as literally as our fathers did. — Religious unrest is due to increase of God's light in men's hearts leading to a challenging of antiquated creeds. — Religion, as a living organism, must ever grow. — Faith is not impaired thereby; Truth and Faith can be trusted to hold their own. — In Israel, e.g., Mosaism, the religion of the Prophets, and Christianity are illustrations of this religious evolution. — In all theology, in the Bible itself, there is an element which is ever dying, and there is one which never dies. — Christ's saying : " new wine must be put into new bottles that both may be preserved," explained. — Criticism only voices the needs of the age. — Thoroughness and conscientiousness of modern criticism. — Its conclusions have proved an immense gain to Faith, and opened our eyes to the intrinsic value of the Bible message. — Distinction between historical accuracy and spiritual truths. — Summary

CHAPTER I. TJie Growth of Religions

Influence of Israel on the history and civilization of the world, — The three monotheistic religions of mankind all viii Conte7its.

sprung from Judaism, which was itself of a very gradual growth. — Necessity of modern comparative study of religions, for no creed can be really studied by itself. — Myths form the roots of all religions, and this human element survives to the last. — Several instances quoted of these myths, or " survivals " of older creeds, in religion of Israel. — We cannot strictly speak of religions as one true, all others false ; each, in its way, is a " seeking after God, if haply it may find Him." — Malachi and S. Paul endorse this view. — All religion is an evolution. — Why some religions have remained stationary, some even retrograded, while others have advanced, and One has reached its goal. — God's election of Israel as His chosen people not an act of favouritism. — Israel's religion cannot be understood without a consideration of its three factors, the " human " element, the Semitic element, the purely Hebrew element, for Hebrews are a branch of the Semitic group of the large family of mankind - Pages 21 — 35

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CHAPTER II. Primitive Mati's Religion

The origin of man, the Creation, and the Fall quoted as examples of "human" myths in Genesis. — These myths are to be found among all primitive peoples all the world over; examples given of primitive legends of origin of man, sin, death, and world-creation. — Early man lived in fellowship with nature, beUeving that all things which moved or changed had minds anil bodies exactly like his own : every brook and tree, the sun and wind were persons, not things. — In all religions there is a sensible and a senseless element. — Three stages in religious evolution: (i) animism, (2) anthropomorphism, (3) monotheism : (i) is mainly magical and demonic; (2) pos-

Contents. ix sesses man's virtues and vices ; (3) pre-eminently ethical and spiritual. Even in (3) traces of (i) and (2) survive.— Every religion also has two sides, its religious ideas and its religious acts, its dogma and its ritual, and these are seldom well balanced. — Why Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity claim the title of '' world-religions." — How they have superseded their predecessors by assimilating their better and still living elements.— Eden innocence and simplicity, a parable : primitive man far from moral : illustrations of this truth

CHAPTER III. Semitic and Babylonian Influence on Israel

Semitic origin of the Hebrews proved on Biblical and ethnological evidences. — The Semites originally an Arabian race of hardy nomadic shepherds, like the Bedouin Arabs. — Semitic character, the outcome of their prolonged desert-life under hard conditions.- — Their virtues and vices; their religion, a belief in spirits, oracles, and charms ; their sacrifices at sacred trees or stones ; but no developed priesthood. — In matters of thought they are practical rather than speculative : their literature is lyrical, the glowing utterance of emotional minds. — Brinton's sketch of their physique. — Babylonians : our knowledge of Babylon and its institutions vastly extended by modern excavations and research. — The Euphrates valley settlement. — Babylonian empire from 2250 b.c — 689 B.C. — Babylonian religion described and Babylonian and Hebrew religions compared : strong indications of Babylonian influence in Judaism : ten instances specially mentioned. — The more clearly we grasp this fact, the loftier will be our con-

Contents, ception of God's guiding Hand and progressive revelation as witnessed in Israel's after-history.— Traces of Babylonian influence on the Mosaic code, and on the angelic and demonic hierarchy which we hnd in Israel's rehgion after the Exile; but the latter is mainly due to Persian influences.— Both Babylon and Persia suggested ideas to Israel, but, under God's guidance, the Hebrews turned this borrowed clay into pure gold Pages 54—76

Chapter IV

The Mosaic Books— A Composite Work. To Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy must be added Joshua, for they form one literary whole.— These six books (Hexateuch) naturally fall into three clearly-defined groups : Genesis and Joshua are purely historical, but history idealized ; religious prose poems : Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers are Law-books, with an artificial framework of history to prop up their law : Deuteronomy is also a law-book but of a sublimely spiritual and moral tone. — These three groups were composed at three different stages in Israel's history, widely apart in date (loth, 7th, 5th centuries b.c.).— Mosaic authorship of parts of Pentateuch doubted even three hundred years ago.— First real clue supplied by Astruc (i753) by discovery of use made of different titles of God in Hexateuch.— Further important clues from internal evidence discovered by de Wette, and especially by Graf and Kuenen : these clues examined. — 2 Kings xxii. gives the key to the problem.— Genesis and Joshua composed when altars and shrines existed all over the land ; Deuteronomy when attempt was being made to abolish these local shrines and centralize worship in Jerusalem : Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers were written when this

Contents. xi

centralization of worship was an accomplished fact. Grafs solution now generally accepted. — Ascription of Mosaic Books to Moses, however, not a literary forgery

CHAPTER V. TJie Mosaic Books {coittinued)

Further application of Astruc's, de Wette's, and Graf's clues to the Hexateuch by recent scholars. — Critical considerations on internal evidence for a belief in the composite authorship of the Mosaic Books, viz. (i) Differences in style and language evident in the three groups ; (2) Different titles of God ; (3) Different and inconsistent religious views and conceptions of God to be found in the Hexateuch; (4) The moral and social conditions portrayed belong to at least three different periods ; (5) A lack of continuity in the Hexateuch ; frequent unnecessary repetitions ; many glaring inconsistencies and contradictions. — Modern conclusions summarized, shewing that there are four main and easily distinguishable groups in the Hexateuch, and that the books are not contemporary records. — The historical value of these Books. — The probable dates of the composition of the four groups. — Subsequent revisions and alterations up to the third century i;.c. Pages 91 — 105 chaptp:r VI.

Folk-lore and Legend in Genesis.

Genesis and Babylonian versions of the Flood compared. — Ten points of remarkable resemblance ; but striking points of dissimilarity where the Hebrew version is far xii Contents.

superior and shows Divine inspiration. —Historicity of the Flood examined. — Creation story: primitive myths on this subject : Genesis and Babylonian versions of the Creation compared : here again there are clear parallels but equally striking points of contrast. — Prc-detuj^e giants : their evident mythological origin, and how myths of the huge size of men in prehistoric days may be accounted for. — Patriarchal longevity : also a popular myth : Prof. Kyle's explanation of these pre-deluge patriarchs and their phenomenal ages. — Popular idea of date of Creation as 4004 B.C. accounted for - - Pages 106 — 126

chaptp:r VII.

spiritual Teaching of Genesis.

If the Holy Spirit inspires the writers of Genesis with a faculty of wise and judicious selection in unearthing the gems that lie hidden in the Babylonian legends of the Creation and the Flood ; if the stories of the Fall and of Eden are only parables ; if God spoke in these narratives to early men in the only way they could understand : this does not rob Genesis of its immense value to the human heart and soul, or in the least impair its deep spiritual value. — Christ has shown us the intensely spiritual value of Parables. — Truth of idea is in every way as important as truth of fact. — Story of the Fall analysed ; a divinely inspired parable. — Genesis is written with a moral and religious, rather than historical aim - Pages 127 — 133

CHAPTER VIII.

The Historical Value of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Are these patriarchs individuals or tribes ? — The narrative

Contents. xiii stands on the border-line of history, being based on floating legends put into the form of a record 2,000 years after the events. — The value of the patriarchal biographies lies in their description of spiritually perfect types. — Ewald sees in Abram, Israel, Ishmael, Edom, Ammon, &c., and in their biographies, imaginary names and stories written with a purpose. — Instances, in Genesis, of the actual blending of tribal a.nd individual names. — Tendency, in ancient days, to invent myths to account for existing conditions, institutions, customs and names of places. — Examples of these picturesque legends. — Prof. Driver's view, however, is that these patriarchs are real personalities, but here worked up dramatically into ideal types

CHxAPTER IX.

Moses.

The great national hero, Moses, a real personality of the first importance. — Condition of the Hebrews at the time of the Exodus ; Moses, a born leader of men, welds Israel into a compact nation, uniting a heterogeneous mass on the basis of a firm faith in a Jehovah Who is Israel's own God, and they Jehovah's own people. — The sojourn near Sinai an epoch-making crisis ; it was there that the foundation of all Israel's political, moral and religious after-development was laid. — Revelation of God to Moses at Sinai. — Ratification of solemn Covenant between Jehovah and Israel ; meaning of the awe-inspiring rites and blood-sprinkling ceremony accompanying this covenant. — The Decalogue, Israel's Magna Charta : how far Moses' work - - - Pages \\s—^S\ xiv Contents.

CHAPTER X.

Religious and Moral State of Society at the time of the Hexatench.

Genesis, and the Hexateuch generally, a good picture of the customs, ideas, &c., prevalent in the writers' own day, but an imperfect record of the period portrayed.— How far prehistoric Israel can be reconstructed from actual Bible data, supplemented by a comparison with Semitic and other primitive customs and institutions. — Merits of this comparative method, and its snares. — Do our available data justify the assumption that the primitive Hebrews were spirit- and ancestor-worshippers ? — Inferences drawn from sacred trees, stones, and springs in patriarchal days, and from funeral customs, in support of this view.— Fallacies involved in such reasoning. — Although arguments may be advanced from the Bible to prove that the early Hebrews were spirit-worshippers and addicted to magic, it must be remembered that in Christian England the popular belief in witchcraft and magic was common up to recent days, and is even now not extinct. — Explanation of the common practice of worshipping Jehovah in the shape of a bull

CHAPTER XI.

Religious and other Institutions of Israel at the time of the Hexateuch.

In the Mosaic period, Israel's moral and religious ideas were very crude and materialistic, but the monotheistic idea was there. — Priesthood : very little is heard of priests then ; anyone could offer sacrifice ; tlie priest was not a sacrificer, but a custodian of sacred things, and an interpreter of oracles. — Sacrifices: The original idea of

Contents. xv sacrifice is that man's offering is a " gift " to God ; a sacrificial meal was generally associated with the offering; its meaning. — Human sacrifices down to a late date in Israel. — The ban., a war custom of devoting an enemy to wholesale destruction ; a relic of primitive taboo. — Blood-revenge and retaliation, survivals of an age when there was no law or oider. — Efforts of Old Testament legislators to humanize these customs. — Leviraie, or law of marriage with a childless brother's widow ; its explanation.— Low moral and religious standard in Mosaic days. — Custom and "rights," ?iot morality or conscience, governed conduct then. — The Ark was then identified with Jehovah Himself, and was not a mere symbol of Him, still less a chest containing the Book of the Law

CHAPTER XIL Period of the Judges.

Examination of the nature and value of the historical records dealing with this period, as given us in Judges, Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. — The editors of Judges and Samuel had at their disposal two very old and independent documents of the highest rank and value. — The writer of Kings also gives us facts of great historical value, but he professedly writes from a pronounced religious standpoint. — Chronicles is a later composition, with a decidedly ecclesiastical bias, but useful as a supplement to the other books. — The Hebrew mind strangely lacking in the sense of organic unity ; examples given. — The period of the Judges covers the time when Israel was settling in Canaan. — It is a period of disorder, anarchy and license. — Dangers accruing to Israel from the adoption of Canaanite civilization. — Tendency to split up xvi Contents.

again into tribes, and also to join in Baal-worship. — Religious and patriotic revival after Philistine defeat at Aphek.— Rise of prophets. — Samuel sees Israel's need of a king and discovers Saul - - /'a^^x 185—197

CHAPTER XIII.

TJie Early Monarcliy.

Inconsistent pictures of Samuel in the Bible sketch ; account of their origin, and how far they can be harmonized.— Advance in the spiritual conception of God : the idea of a Jehovah visible to men in bodily form is beginning to be repellent. — Jehovah is still, however, regarded as purely Israel's God and no other nation's. — Images of Jehovah are still quite common ; the explanation.— Altars and local shrines are found everywhere.— Belief in Baal has greatly decreased but still exists. — Priesthood : expansion of their power but not yet a separate caste. — Prophets: great national teachers and religious reformers; their patriotic spirit. — Kiftgs : a national necessity ; they rule by divine right, and act as chief sacrificing priests. — Socially, the condition of Israel was one of comfort and prosperity and happy family life ; towns had multiplied, agriculture and trade prospered ; but wealth brought its usual train of evils, and there was great oppression of the weak and poor

CHAPTER XIV.

The Canonical PropJiets.

The older prophetical schools had degenerated into a professional caste.— Sudden special " call " of the new prophets, direct from God ; for the strong hand of the

Contents. xvii

Lord was upon them, compelling them to denounce Israel's shortcomings. — Experience of Amos fully quoted as typical of the new prophetic school. — God had opened their eyes to see in the world's history His guiding Hand ; and in Assyria now knocking at Israel's gate they see the nation's impending doom. — But as patriots they fully trust in God's Covenant promises, and believe that He will again one day restore the kingdom to Israel here on earth. — Jehovah to them is no longer the God merely of Israel but the moral Governor of all the world, and the God of the heathen. — Their lofty conception of God and ideal moral and spiritual views. — Jeremiah the first to catch a glimpse of the individual personal side of religion. — Messianic prophecy : None strictly in these prophets, though their pictures of a golden year coming, with a perfect God - inspired Davidic King, clearly bear a Messianic interpretation. — Anthropomorphisvi : They knew well God was not like a man, but thus only could they convey to the human heart a portrait of our Heavenly Father. — Sheol : The cheerless phantom existence beyond the grave still remains. The prophets merged the individual in the family and nation. — Prof. Driver's list of canonical prophets, with dates - - - Pages 214 — 236

CHAPTER XV.

PropJiets of the Period of the Captivity and after.

The period of slavish adherence to minute rules ; good and bad points of the Priestly Code ; rules of holy living possibly a snare, but also a great boon. — Breaking down of the barriers of the old local and national religion, especially in the second Isaiah. — How Isaiah unwittingly paved the way for the later ecclesiastical community with its Priestly Code by encouraging Hezekiah's worship-reforms ; the

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subsequent prosperity was believed by the Jews to be due to these external reforms, and Jeremiah in vain tries to stem this impression. — External reforms continue, and Israel goes into Captivity in 586 B.C. — The lot of the Jews in their Captivity not so bad, for many prefer to stay there, even when allowed to return. — Return from Captivity under Ezra and Nehemiah. — Great solemn assembly in Jerusalem and the Priestly Code introduced into the Hexateuch. — This Code the outcome of deep religious zeal ; its purely ecclesiastical character ; promulgated through the synagogues ; and the ideal princij^le underlying it. — The psalmists, living under its law, are a witness to the good influence of this Code. — Its extremely high conception of God.— The nation was gone, and personal religion alone was now possible. — Expiry of prophecy. — Rise of Apocalyptic literature (e.g. Daniel)

CHAPTER XVI.

HagiograpJia or " Holy Writings^

List of " Holy Writings," wiih dates. — The 6th century B.C., a great crisis in Israel's history ; therefore produces an outburst of literary activity, e.g. prophets, psalmists, &c. - Reflective and meditative works of this period due to an intensity of personal religion. — Problems of suffering, and of the prosperity of the wicked and misery of the righteous, had to be dealt with. — Hebrews survey life from a practical point of view. — Explanation of tendency of Hebrews to ascribe anonymous writings to Moses, David, Solomon, Isaiah, &c. — Review of the Hagiographa : Fsahns (only about ten Davidic), Temple Hymn-Books echoing every experience of the human soul ; explanation of so-

Contents. xix called imprecatory, Messianic and eschatological psalms. — Proverbs^ a collection of wise popular maxims of practical, moral and religious educational value. — Job, with problem of retribution reverently and philosophically treated ; eschatology of Job examined. — Ecclesiastes^ the work of a pessimist. — Lainentations, five dirges, artistically perfect, possibly composed for a solemn act of mourning. — Ruth, a graceful prose idyll. — Esther, a patriotic historical romance.— Canticles, an exquisite love-song, not allegorical

CHAPTER XVII.

Fignrativeness of Bible Language.

The Semitic character is intensely sensuous and emotional, and Semitic literature is, therefore, full of word-pictures and imagery, delighting in play of fancy and emotion. — Semites naturally burst into impassioned lyric strains. — Hebrews see the world through a poet's eyes, therefore their word-pictures and imagery are a snare to a modern prosy matter-of-fact age. — Christ's word -pictures, or parables. — Many Bible books are poetry pure and simple and must be interpreted accordingly. — Illustrations of this

CHAPTER XVIII.

Old Testament View of Life after Death.

No conception of an individual resurrection to be found in the Old Testament till its latest days. — Five stages in the evolution of the idea of personal immortality. — In early Hebrew days, up to early monarchy, the Jews merely believed in an underground Sheol, a magnified tomb,

XX Co7itents.

like Homer's Hades. — Dread of non-burial.— Occasional glimpses of higher aspirations, but really no idea of personal resurrection till two centuries n.c. — Till 600 b.c. the nation and family were regarded as the units, and the individual did not exist : a man's hope of continued existence lay in living on in his nation or family, not in his own person. — Annihilation of the nation gave this national view its death-blow in thinking minds ; but for very long after, in the people's hearts, the old patriotic national hope was fostered by the belief that God must restore the kingdom to Israel here on earth. — On the other hand the conception of personal religion since Jeremiah's day, and the dark mysteries of life, encouraged the idea of a real life after death as the only possible solution of God's Providence (cf. Eccl. xii.). — Still men even in 2nd and I St centuries b.c. clung to the old popular interpretation of prophecy and its earthly national idea (e.g. Daniel). — But as time went on, and no earthly saviour-king came, many began to look for a Divine Messiah and a hcaveti/y kingdom ; and, in the two centuries B.C., apocalyptic literature is full of this Divine Messiah with the advent of " The Day of the Lord," followed by a great Day of Judgment, the establishment of a glorious kingdom, antl a general resurrection of the dead. — Sheol is now transfigured, and is divided into compartments of bliss and woe. — Then, too, we hear of Paradise, Gehenna, Abraham's bosom. — Paradise is a restored garden of Eden, a far-off place of perfect delight. — Gehenna is a place of punishment for the wicked in the presence of the righteous, while Abraham's bosom is the place of honour in Paradise. — Christ's eschatological language is expressed in popular, figurative word-pictures, and is mainly practical in its aim. — It does not sanction the literal meaning often pressed into it ; He teaches that

Contents. xxi there is a real active life of close communion with God into which men pass after death, and there we reap as we have sown here. — Theologians often speak where Christ is dumb . . . . Pages 2 g6 — 325

CHAPTER XIX.

Inspiration.

Examination of the old idea of the Bible as verbally inspired, with every syllable dictated by God to the writers, who were, at the time, in a state of passive ecstatic unconsciousness.— Two modern extreme schools of thought on this subject. — General consensus of opinion nowadays opposed to verbal inspiration as irreconcilable with man's freedom of action. — How the idea of the prophet's passive unconsciousness under inspiration arose. — Pagan soothsayers were supposed to be god-possessed, and temporarily in a state of ecstasy, frenzy or mania, and this idea has been transferred to j ewish prophecy. — Some early Jewish " seers " were so intensely excited that they appeared to others to be similarly "God-possessed." — Not so, however, the canonical or Bible-writing prophets : with them there was still excitation, but self-consciousness was not lost. — Exceptional "visions" and "trances" explained. — The message came through men, (" we have this treasure in earthen vessels "), men tinged with the limited views of their day ; hence the weak human element so often peeping through the pages of Holy Scripture. — But the wondrous unity and sublimity of the Bible proves its undoubted Divine Inspiration - Pages 324—342.

xxii Contents.

CHAPTER XX.

Revelation.

Inspiration is the tlaslilight : Revelation is the picture unveiled by it : Scripture is the collection of these divine pictures. — Why Israel was chosen as the special medium of God's Revelation of Himself to mankind. — Homer and Shakespeare not inspired as Bible-writers are, because Inspiration, in the Bible sense, means a revelation straight from God and leading us straight to God ; while great works of human genius may be inspiring yet not lead us Godward. — Reason why this supernatural Inspiration ends with the New Testament. — The unfolding of Revealed Truth the work of the Holy Spirit since New Testament days ----- J\,ges 343—349

CHAPTER XXI.

Canon of Holy Scripture.

Foundation of the Canon of Holy Scripture laid by Ezra (440 B.C.). — The political annihilation of the nation, the dearth of prophecy, the existing misery of Israel, and its deification of the Law called into existence a new class of men, Scribes, who collected and studied the Sacred Books. — The Law of Moses (Pentateuch or Hexateuch) first canonized as the most Divine. — Next were included the canonical prophets and their historical works as well ; this division was highly esteemed, though it did not take equal rank with the Law. — Lastly the Hagiographa, though always regarded as inferior to the other two. — The expression " this book defiles the hand " explained. — No

Contents. xxiii hard and fast line between canonical and apocryphal books among Jews, Christians, or apparently even in New Testament writers. — The sanction for this Canon is human and not divine ; it was spiritually guided intelligence that formed it, and its value and finality must be judged at the same bar. — On the whole, the Canon is so well formed as to appear the outcome of a "providential inspiration," but the human formation of the Canon does not justify our forcing into it a supernatural guarantee of inspiration for the books included therein - - Pages 350 — 360

INTRODUCTION.

TO write upon the Old Testament may seem to many a comparatively easy task, and there are others who may think that long since the last word has been said on the subject. There was a time when theologians alone were thought competent to study Holy Writ ; there was a time also, and this not long ago, when it was held that the Bible could be intelligibly understood without any aid from outside sources : a patient, earnest study of God's own Word was all that was needed, and all light from 'profane' learning was considered altogether superfluous and almost wrong.

Thoueht has travelled far since then : the last sixty, or even forty years have brought many and important changes, and the age in which we live abounds in new needs. Our extension of knowledge in every direction, and of the methods of arriving at it, has been immense, and our intellectual horizon has greatly widened. Science has made many discoveries, if it has also manufactured a few theories ; it has proved to us that the universe is far larger and older than we had dreamed : everywhere it has found unbroken order, unchanging law, continuous development. We owe a heavy debt, too, to the new

B hitrodnction historical method which has robbed history possibly of much of its artistic, romantic, reflective setting of classical days, but which has made of it something infinitely more exact, more intolerant of loose statement or careless conjecture. In every field of knowledge we see clear tokens of the spirit of the age, a spirit characterized by sincerity and reality, a zeal for truth, a passion for accurate, methodical, painstaking research. The spade of the excavator has unearthed monuments restoring to us the forgotten history of antiquity as far back as four thousand years before the Christian era. The ethnologist no longer regards myths, folk-lore, primitive customs, savage instincts, as so much useless lumber, as so many baneful weeds, but carefully collects, sorts, studies them historically and scientifically as precious ' survivals ' of a remote age, the wreckage of ancient beliefs, giving us a key to the mysteries of the past, enabling us to reconstruct prehistoric days.

Greater even than the gain in extension of knowledge is the new temper in which knowledge itself is now approached. A marked change for the better is everywhere visible in the modern zeal for truth. In every department the spirit of the age is characterized by a fearless honesty and sincerity : it is impatient of superficial half-truths, preferring to suspend its judgment where no solid basis of evidence is to be found, to wait patiently till new light comes, rather than indulge in plausible guesses or

Introduction.

generalize without positive data. It is now felt that truthfulness of mind is of vital importance not only to knowledge but to character, that to fear investigation even in matters of faith, to conceal difficulties, to slur over inconsistencies, or to overstate convictions, to become, in short, an advocate instead of a truth-seeker, are faults which darken and degrade the soul.

In every other department the bases of our knowledge have been tested and scientifically overhauled, scientific and historical methods have been severely applied, and have taught the world that guesswork will not do : that truth is not to be won by throttling liberty of thought, by authoritative dogmatizing, nor again by branding all who insist on rational proof as heretics, agnostics or worse. The very foundations of knowledge in its every branch have been laid bare and subjected to a fierce search-light so as to discover the real state of things, to test and examine the knowledge of facts each several department professes to give us so as to see if this profession is borne out and verified by the facts themselves. Naturally, then, when our knowledge in other spheres was so rigorously tested, theology could no longer reasonably be held exempt from the same rigorous course of analysis. Its historical basis must be tried by the same strict standards which were employed elsewhere.