New-York tribune., 1895-12-11
from, the scuptured stones which were once the
..I..aid abbey established by st. Patrick.


Professor Goldwin Smiths article entitled Chris
,,an,,v.s Millstone" in ''The North American Re-
,,ou. for December. expresses In popular FORM the
v,eu Of the Old Testament which many Biphcai
scholars and Christian theologians are coming 10
,ake The peg on which he hangs his argument
,s the noteworthy address made by PROFESSOR
Ronney. canon OF Manchester, at the Engish
church Congress recently held at Norwich Il can
M, deny" said this ecclesiastic that the increase
NJ scientific knowledge has deprived parts OF ."e
earlier books Of the Bible OF the historical 'a'u'
which was generally attributed to them by our
,orefa,bers The story OF the creation In Genesis
unless we play fast and loose either with worus VI
With science cannot be brought into harmony WIN
what we have learned from geology. It's ethho-
logical statements imperfect. II not sometimes
,raccurate The stories OF the Flood and OF the
Tower OF Babel incredible In their present
form Some historical element may underhe "a"!
NJ the traditions In the irst eleven chapters Oh
that book but this cannot nope 10 recover
II NAV possibly be urged that Canon Bonney IL
a Rroad Churchman, who is infected with the
poison OF the German school OF BIBLICAL cr,.icsn''
Put az Professor Smith shows, substantially the
same view was taken In one OF the essays OF A"N
Mundi" edited by so good High Churchman as
Canon Gore principal OF Pusey House. In that
essay 1t is declared in speaking OF the Oid Iesta
ment that very little of the early record can
be securely traced to period near the events
The author does not admit that the unknown
writer's OF the Old Testament books were guilty
of conscious perversion." but he sees many EVIL
dences OF unconscious ideaiZing, which is only
q pleasant way of saying that their records are
NOT historical Professor Smiths argument. there
fore is first that the Old Testament is inherently
incredible as a divine and historical record and
secondly that the Christian scholarship OF the
world is beginning to this, even If 1t does not
formally admit 1t.
Whether or not the Old Testament is unhstori-
IN be "A
journal: but It Is proper to say that those who ac-
cent the Old Testament as an inspired record are
finding II harder every year to maintain their po-
sion. When the question was first raised they
denied every conclusion OF the critics Men are
vet living who have heard Christian preachers
maintain that the creation days were literal days
of twenty-four hours as against the theory OF
science that 1t must have taken myrlads OF years
for the earth to be evolved out or chaos. Wheh
geologists. years ago, showed that there were
remains OF life of period long anterior to the
supposed creation OF the world according to Gene
sis theologans met the assertion by saying that
God created those fossil remains and placed them
i'm the rocks in order to confound the wisdom or
the wise. But that sort or argument soon De-
came untenabe. and the conservatives are now
striving TO accommodate their old beners 10 the
conclusions OF scientific investigation. In the
opinion OF Professor Smith. however that Is In
herently impossible. The creation days OF Gene
sis he SAYS are true days OF twenty-four hours
each The stories OF the earlier patriarchs bear
every evidence OF being myths. The mention or
Kings in Israel in Genesis, stamps that book as
post Mosaic. Tho conceptions Of God In the Old
Testament are childish and anthropomorphc, as.
for instance when He is represented as wrestling
with Jacob. In all the earlier books OF the Old
Testament God is conceived OF simply as tribal
deity and in His character and acts He rehects
the low and barbarous notions of morality held by
the Jews at that time II is but patering with the
truth saws Professor Smith. to set up a theory
of sem-inspration. THE believers in verbal In
spiration OF whom some still remain. desperate as
are the difficulties with which they have to contend,
stand comparatively firm ground" But when
once the door of investigation is opened there Is.
he thinks no possibility OF maintaining the old
theory that the Old Testament Is divinely inspired
and literally