The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1878-11-17

soevcr. repent NJ II with thoughts. words. and
works. Forgive" Passing to the sacred records
Of China. wo ind that when a disciple asked
Confucius to define benevolcnce no said: ." II
Is love to MI men" md elscwhere. Ny doc
trine consists only in having tho heart right
and In loving ones neghbor as ones self"
| When he was asked: " Ia there one word which
may serve rs a complete rule Of living ?" he an
| swered: Is not reciprocity such word
! What you do not like when done 10 yourself. do
not do that 10 oth0rs." With this may he com-
parod sentence from tho other Chinese book
that OF Laou-Tsze-" Recompense enmity by
doing good" From the Koran we need not cite
at any longth. because its ethics mar be held
fairly enough to be deriyativo in large measure
from Christian source. But the following
Injunction will be observed to perfectly accord
with the passages just quoted None OF you"
says Mohammed to his followers. " can be called
true believer till he loves for his brother what
he loves for himself" In general, says Mr..
Sunderland. we find that neither faith.
nor love. nor truth, nor dislnterestedness
nor forgiveness. nor patience. nor peace.
nor equality. nor education. nor missionary
efforts. nor prayer. nor honesty. nor the sem
| timent OF brotherhood nor reverence for
woman. nor the spirit Of humility. nor tho
fact OF martyrdom. nor any other good thing Is
altogether monopolized by any form Of faith
All religions. on tho contrary. recognize moro
or less remotely these principles: all do some
thing to exempify. all. II may perhaps be added.
with tho exception Of tho New Testament do
something to dishonor them.
We are not. OF course. to understand-and no
such inference will be drawn by tho reader OF
Mr. Sundsrland's little volume-that all the
great sacred books OF the world stand on an
ethical level. or are identical in all their teach
49,. n
10 be found in the various Bibles OF the so called
heather. whose contents range all the way from
doctrines OF like elevated tone down to the
basest superstitons and tho most childish fol-
lies. II seems thatthe afirmations OF the broad
est and best scholarship 60 no further than this.
viz. that while all the great books ac-
counted holy by mankind have enough in CON-
mon OF things trivial and superficial II not
erroneous. SO that no one OF them can say to the
rest. Il am wholly OF God" II Is also true
that all have enough In common OF things that
are deep and high and eternaly true 80
that no one OF them. looking down from tho
vantage ground Of its own ethical injunc-
tons can say to any OF them. You are wholly
Of man. or OF the devil" To the question,
therefore. which serves as title to this treatise
the authors first answer would be. that II is one
Enthusiastically the highest and bost-but still
only one OF the seven or eight great sacred
volumes OF the world.
In another chapter the writer describes sue
| cincty the formation and final settlement Of our
Scripture canon. He points out the men who
wrote $50 far IA scholarship enables us 10 solve
that question: the several parts OF the Jewish
and Christian Scriptures. the dates and motives
OF composition. the changes which those writ
inRs underwent in the course Of transmission
from age TO age, and the gradual process OF ele-
walton 10 the rank OF sacrednass. or course the
notion formerly held that the first five books OF
the Old Testament were written by Moses sub
stantialy as we have them. nearly 1900 years
before Christ. is no longer tenable In the light
OF modern critical and pathological research.
Few OF the most competent authorities
among the Dutch Protestant Investigators.
who approach the study OF the ques-
ton not from an aggressive but
conservative stanipoint-now put the date
OF those COMPOSITIONS In their present form ear
lier than the reign Of Manassah (696-6ii d. c.
or OF Josiah 1886 900 Is. C.l. Indeed. Il seems
difficult TO eyade the arguments adduced by the
Dutch scholar Kuenen TO show that some pas
sagos relating 10 the ceremonial law must have
been indited ~ late rs the Babyonish captivity.
Probably the Oldest complete books OF the Bible
are the prophecies OF Amos. Hosea. and Micah
which are thought to have been written in the
tlkfliu century DtlNfc ANFlht. me origin the
Book Of Job. as 10 author. time. and place. ia
one Of the great Bible riddles but. according to
the weight Of opinion. It came into existence
about tho time Of Josiahs reiormation-a little
before GOO II. C. As for the remaining parts Of
the Old Testament. they werO produced at much
later dates. fixed by different authorities any
where between tho epoch Of the Peloponne-
sian war and the time OF Marius and
Sulla As regards the propriety OF ascrib-
ing books TO particular authors. II may
he said that even Protestant scholars accept tho
evidence rs conclusive against the names at
tached by popular opinion 10 most otthe Old Tes-
lament writings. There is some reason 10 think
that tho books OF Joshua. Judges samuel and
Kings wero put in thoIr present form by the
anonymous writer OF Deuteronomy in other
words. not much earlier than the time Of
Scion. So. too. Chronicles. Ezra. and Ne
heminh seem to have been originally writ
| ten as one book about 400 b. c.: that
| Il 10 say. while Plato was teaching phil
osophy at Athens. And finally Just rs laws
are ascribcd 10 Moses which had their origin
many centuries later than that legislator. so II
is certain that few OF the Psalms were composed
by David. few Of the Proverbs by Solomon. and
that only n part OF the prophecies attributed 10
Isaiah and jeremiah really emanated from those
prophets.
Turning 10 the books Of tho New Testament.
We find a somewhat similar condition Of uncor-
tainty regarding date and authorship. We are
reminded that oral tradition preceded any
written Gospel record. and that the first trace
OF the latter's existence is n statement by one Of
the early fathers that the apostle Matthew had
inditsd collection of Sayings OF tho Lord In
Hebrew. The obscurlty which hangs over tho
question OF Gospel authorship will be- ntelli-
gible enough when wo consider that at least
three out Of the four Gospels can have had no
real authors at all in tho proper sense OF that
word. They are the work Of editors they are
! compilations. mosaics. their material COM
prisng renl utteranccs Of Jesus and real events
OF his life. together with more or less Of leRen-
dairy elements. and dHyiations from historic
facts occasioned by the lapse OF years and
| the necessary imperiection Of the human
memory. Our first two Gospels show on their
faces the marks Of moro than one revision but
the third. whose writer says. In his preface. that
many had undertaken to put together narrn-
tive before him appears to proceed from
/ coll honh