The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-03-31

these allowance must be made as their in
fuence Is recognized.
Effect of the
"Higher Criticism"
The effect of these studies, even of what
Is called the higher criticism" has not
lessened the authority of the Bible or
changed the character of Christianity as "a
religion of the book: but their tendency
has been to vindicate the unique and essen
tial place of the Bible in literature as con-
tanning the veritable record of a divine
revelation. Some things, indeed, have been
changed: The order in which the books of
the Bible were written is not the order in
which they stand; some of them are of
composite authorship. whose various parts
were written at different times; the tradi-
tional chronology, known as Ussher's 1855
has been abandoned. nor is there anything
IN the Bible which places 1t In opposition to
the teachings of geology relative to the
length of time during which man has occu-
pied the earth; the historical order of priest
and prophet has been reversed, so that the
voice of prophecy comes before the decline
Into ritual. (Wellhausen and others.) Pop
ular misapprehensions tend to vanish in the
light of a true insight and Interpretation,
such as that the first chapter of Genesis
was intended TO be an infallible record of
the divine order in the creation of the
world. That a similar account of the crea-
ton Is found in Babylonian literature only
shows that the Bible writer was illustrating
by the best scientific knowledge of the times
the vastly higher spiritual truth with which
the Bible opens, that the creation is the
work OF God. thus leading man to the wor-
snip OF God and away from the lower wor-
ships OF sun and moon and all the hosts of
heaven.
A new department has been added to re-
lfpfnfIc fnn,,fr1y tr r-,.-,-
winch aims at an impartial Investigation
and free from prejudice, and is also moved
py the sentiment of a common humanity
70 respect all ~utterances of religious feeling
IN the soul Of man. How widely the Nine
teenth Century has advanced in this respect
Is seen by recalling a statement of Doctor
Johnson: There are two objects of curl
osity-the Christian world and the Moham-
medan world. All the rest may be consid-
cred as ~barbarous." One of the most repre-
sentative monuments Of religious scholar
snip IN the last century Is Professor Max
Mueller's Sacred Books of the East"
Some tnduirers in this unfamiliar depart
ment nave worked under the impression
that these ancient religions were equal in
value to the Christian revelation: others
even have thought them to be in some re-
spects superior. And, in general, the first
effect Of the discovery that there was truth
In other religions had a tendency to weaken
the claim OF Christianity to be the absolute
religion. But as the results of the study
have been placed in their normal perspec-
tive. 1t becomes evident that they only con-
firm the words Of st. Paul, that God has at
no time left himself without witnesses in
the world. Revelation also is seen to have
been a universal process; and profound
spiritual motives are to be discerned be-
meath the diverse manifestations of the re-
ligious instincts. Yet, on the whole. the
preponderating judgment leads to the con-
clusion that Christianity contains the
larger. even the absolute, truth; that while
1t confirms some features in these religions
as true. 1t condemns others as false: that
Christianity also has for one of its essen |
tial characteristics an assimilative power. !
which not only enables. but forces. is to an.