The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-04-24
THE BIBLE IN THE HIGH COURT OF
MODERN CRITICISM.
BY j. P. MACLEAN, PHI. D.

No book has ever caused so much
controver as that collection of writ
ings which we call "The Bible" AS
saults have been made upon it which
were brutal, both in inception and
method. In recent times we have
been invited to listen to what is known
as The Higher Criticism, which in its
nature may be either constructive or
destructive. But looking over the
field, it may be safely affirmed that no
harm has been done the Bible. If old
interpretations have been abandoned
and new ones formed, the effect has
been to make it more precious to us.
Nor is the freedom of investigation
something new. AS early as the fif
teenth century Cardinal Nicholas
held, as have thousands of others
since his day, that the Scriptures are
to be studied and interpreted just the
same as any other book, and what
ever may be the ascertained fact, that
must be accepted.
There are questions that enter into
the investigation of ancient writings
peculiar to themselves. The pursuit
of one line, however plausibly it may
be arrayed by fact on fact, may be set
at naughtIby an unforeseen truth al
most wholly apart from the line OF
criticism.
Let us take the Iliad of Homer.
Less than generation ago, contro
versy loud and fierce was waged over
it. The world has not produced a
greater Homeric scholar than Glad
stone. In his "Juventus Mundi' he
reaffirms the grounds he had formerly
taken that Homer was really his
torical person, and the Ilaid and
Odyssey are emphatically historical
poems, and the poet probably gath
cred his information from those who
had fought lin the Trojan war. Of
the text Mr.. Gladstone states that
1--WE may, as general rule, proceed
to handle it with a reasonable conf
dence that the ground is firm under
our feet"
The views held by Mr.. Gladstone
and Mr.. Blackie have been generally
accepted. But Sir George Cox pro-
ceeds to demolish the plain interpre-
tation of Mr.. Gladstone, and he would
resolve the whole Iliad into a myth,
as he has done with the whole of Ar
yam Mythology. Mr.. Paley grows
strong in his historical criticism, and
argues that the Greek Lyric, Tragic
and Comic poets either knew moth
ing or next to nothing of our
laid and Odyssey. And further,
that Greek art, down to time
later that that of Pericles, exhibits
precisely the same phenomena. On
the surface of the discussion it would
appear that the destructive critics
had the better of the argument. Still
the Iliad continued to be the same
matchless poem; the sophomore con-
tinued to pore over its wonderful con-
struction, and the Greek scholar still
admired it's intrinsic power of express
sion. The Iliad was not removed one
little from its position in the litera-
ture of classic art.
However, during this controversy
DIR. Schliemann was carefully study
ing Homer, and following the des-
cription as given in the Iliad, located
the site of Troy and unearthed its
treasures. The battle of the critics
had entirely overlooked the import
ance of what might be revealed from
the supposed site of the ancient city.
Perhaps today all would admit that
the Ilaid contains firm ground upon
which we may gather historical facts.
The methods adopted by Biblical
critics are various. The critics them
selves have been classified as friendly
and hostile, or as constructive and de-
structive. In some instan ces the lat
ter have been overthrown by modern
discoveries; but, equal to the emer-
gencies, have changed their position.
By some we are blandly informed
that the accounts of the Creation and
the Deluge are remnants of Chaldean
lore; that the story of Joseph is de-
rived in part from an Egyptian ro-
nance; that the story of David and
Goliath is poetry; that Sampson is
sun-myth; that Jonah and Balaam are
only quaint stories used to inculcate
sense of high duty; that the book
of Job is poem; the book of Daniel
an impudent forgery; the book of
Isaiah really constitutes two books
written by two different Isaiahs and
afterwards welded or pieced together;
that st. Johns Gospel was written
after the death of the last of the Apos-
ties. This array might be further ex-
tended. Also the warfare between
science and religion might be mar