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THE KING’S BUSINESS
dation o f the Bible, we remember that the book is only a means to an end; and that its value is in opening to our knowledge the purpose o f Cod in His son so far as it has been accomplished, and preparing us to be His helpers in what remains to be done. To one whose eyes are steadily fixed upon the risen Lord, a great deal o f the current biblical criticism will seem trifling, if not wholly useless. In the multitude of details unity is lost, the goal is not seen; men’s hearts are set upon the past while God desires present action. Only one ques tion is o f supreme interest to u s: Is the Virgin’s Son, raised from the dead, now at Goa’s right hand, having all power in heaven and earth? I f the critic says, “He is not, He sleeps in some unknown grave,” o f what value are his laboured and weari some efforts to prove small contradictions or errors in a book which can have for us only an antiquarian interest? If the critic says, “He is now living and Lord o f all,” why trouble himself to refute what, in the nature o f the case, is o f very small import ance, and which the Lord may at any moment refute by His acts? Caii any one think that honest and earnest men will long remain in this state o f doubt as to the truthfulness o f . the Scriptures, or profess to believe what they do not in fact believe? Most will say: “ The Bible must' be taken as a whole, or rejected as a whole. W e will take it as the Church has received it, in its entirety, or we will cast it away altogether.” No pro testations o f biblical critics that they can tear out a page here and a page there, that they can substitute abstractions for Per sons, “Eternal Verities” for Father and Son and Spirit, legends for facts, speculations for prophecy, and still keep all that their spiritual needs demand, will satisfy him. who will have realities, not Idle words. He will say: “I will put the book away, I will not perplex and weary myself in attempting to separate the truth from the error. When biblical scholars have come to some fixed conclusion as to what the Bible isj and what it teaches, and the Church has put the filially ascertained truth
into her rewritten Creeds; then I can read it, with some assurance that I am not deceiving myself with empty beliefs.” No building can long stand when the foundation is undermined; the first rude shock makes it fall. Many, indeed, may continue to profess great reverence for the Scriptures, as did the ,Jews o f the Lord’s day, and study them much, simply because they interpret them in the spirit o f the time, and find in them what they wish to find. •And we have reason to believe that there are many who, like Mr. Arnold, sing the praises o f the Bible long after it has ceased to have for them any authority, or any theological value. They think that it has for the masses an ethical value, and fancy that, while scholars and cultivated people like themselves find much o f it out o f date, its ideas o f moral order and right will keep their hold upon the popular mind, and help to preserve social peace. THE FUTURE OUTLOOK Looking to the future, we may not attempt to conceal from ourselves the real character o f much o f the current biblical criticism. Formerly, accepting the Scrip tures as a revelation from God, showing His purpose in nature and man,' it limited itself to pointing out some discrepancies, or apparent contradictions; errors affecting particular points, historic or dogmatic, but leaving their general truthfulness unim peached. The special criticism o f our day is far more aggressive and destructive. It affirms on a priori grounds, philosophical and scientific, that very considerable parts of the Bible cannot be true. It would, o f course, be unjust to say that all, or even most, o f our biblical' critics go to this extent. Not a few attempt to stay the destructive work; but that this work goes steadily on, becoming more and more aggressive,, no one acquainted with the more recent critical literature can doubt. Nor can we doubt that it has more and more the tide o f popular feeling with it. One o f these critics, well qualified to judge, has very lately said: “W e rise from the survey o f this exegetical literature
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