WHAT I THINK OF THE BIBLE.

Bush Advocate, Issue 351, 9 August 1890, Page 8

WHAT I THINK OF THE BIBLE.

By He. Gladstone:. (beview of reviews.) Mr. Gladstone's inexhaustible activity is once laork strikingly illustrated by tho new series of articles which he has begun in Good Words uudor tho title "Tho Impregnable Kock of Holy Scripture." The serie« will be road by every one, especially by all engaged in teaching or in attacking: Chvistiunit,!', Hildas thoy number many thousands, the circulation of Good Words bids fair to run up to tho highest figure yot recorded. The first article is somewhat awkwardly put together. Mr. G-Lulstono states hia general plan at tho end instead of at the beginning-. Iv the following ooudensid summary I have disregarded his arrangement, a~d recast his article in what seems to bo the more natural order. WHY THH AimCXE 18 WBITTBV. Mr. Gladstone explains that there is a general aud not altogether unfounded impression that in this and other countries the operative classes have at tho great centres of p rpulutiou 1-st their hold ou the Christian Craed. ho far, at least, that their positive and distinct acceptance of the articles i oi iho Creed and their sense of the dignity and value of the Sacred Record are bluutod or effaced. Mr. Gladstono, therefore, proposes to deal with one of tho causes uf this deplorable phenomenon, viz., "the wide disparagement of tho Holy Scriptures recently observable in the surface currents of prevalent opinion, as regards their title to supply in a supreme degree food for tho religious thought of man, and authoritative guidance for his life." HIS QtTAUFICATIOZfa FOB THE WORK. Mr. Gladstone says that, although lie is ignorant of Hebrew, uud has uo regular practice in the study and explanation of the text of the Old Testament, he may oicuee his intrusionin this field on the following pleas : — The first is that there is a very Jarge portion of tho community whose opportunities of judgment have been materially smaller tha n his own. The second is that though ho is greatly wanting in the valuable qualifications growing out of special study in this field, he has, for more than forty years (believing that change oi labour is to a great extent the healthiest form of recreation), devoted the larger part of all Ruch time as ho could properly withdraw from political duties to another, and in several respects a similar, field of specialism — namely, the earnest study of prehistoric antiquity aud of its documents in regard to the Groek race, whose destinies havo been, after those of the Hebrews, the most wonderful in themselves, and tho most fertile of results for us, among all the races of mankind. As between this fiold, which has for its central point the fltudy of Homer, and that ot the early Scriptures, which may in the mass bo roughly called contemporary with the Homeric period, much light is, and with tho progress of research more can hardly fail to be, given and received. WHY ?HB BIBLB 19 DISPABAOSD. Mr. Gladstone sums up the following- cix suppositions which tend to produce the dis- ! parageraent of the Bible against which he oontends : — i " I. That the conclusions of science as to : natural objects have shaken or destroyed the j assertions of the early Scriptures with respect j to tho origin and history of the world and of I man, its principal inhabitant. 44 11. That thair contents are in many cases offensive to the moral sense, and unworthy of an enlightened age. " 111. That man made his appearance in the world in a condition but one degree above that of the brute creation, and by slow and painful but eontumal progress has brought himself up to the present level of his existence. " IV. That he has accomplished this by the exercise of his natural powers, and has never received tho special teaching and ( authoritative guidance which is signified under the name of Divine revelation. " V. That the more considerable among tho different raeea and nations of the •world have established from time to time their respective religions, and have in many cases accepted tho promulgation of sacred books, which are to be considered as essentially of of the same character with the Bible. "VI. That tho books of the Bible, in many most important instances, and especially those books of the Old Testament which purport to be the earliest, so far from being contemporary with tho events which they record, or with the authors to whom they are ascribed, are comparatively recent compilations from uncertain sources, and therefore without authority." There are wider propositions on which agnosticism is based, striking against all religion, but Mr. Gladstone will confine himself to the endeavour to present an opposing view of the spiritual field under each of the foregoing six heads. HIS I'LAX OP CAMPAIGN. Mr. Gladstone sets forth the general idea of his plan of campaign, when ho appeals to his roadera to look broadly aud largely at the subject, to look at the Old Testament as they would look at the British Constitution or at tho poetry of Shakespeare. He will strive to show, at least by specimens, that science and research havo done much to sustain the historical credit of tho Old Testament ; that iv doing this they havo added strength to the argument which contends that in them wo find a Divino revelation ; and that the evidence, rationally viewed, both of contents and of results, binds us to stand whoro our forefathers havo stood, upon the impregnable rock of Holy Scripture. TXtE SCOPE OP THE OPERATIONS OP CRITICISM. Beginning with tho last supposition first, Mr. Gladstone addresses himself to tho question as to how far the operations of criticism which deal with tho literary form of tho books ol ! tho Bible affect (ho question of history, miracle, and revelation. "If we are iv any measure to grasp tho office, dignity, and authority of the Scriptures, we muat not supposo we aro dealing adequately with that lolly subject by exhausting thought and timo in examining whether Mosos edited or wrote tho Pentateuch, as ifc stands, or what was tho book of the law found in tho times of Josiah, or whothor it is possible or likely that changes of addition or omission may havo crept into the text. If tho most greedily destructive among all the theories of the modern critics (so seriously at variance with one another) were established as truo, it would not avail to impair tho great facts of the history of man with respect to tho Jews and to the nations of the woi-hl ; nor to di.-iguJHe tho light which (hose facts throw upon the pages of tho Snored Volume ; nor to abate the commanding force with which, bathed, ro to speak, iv ihe flood of that light, the Biblo invites, attracts, and commands the adhesion of mankind. We may , without touching the domain < f the critic, contend for them as corresponding by their contents to tho idea of a Diviao re vela, -

tion to man. AlUhe assertions involved in the challeu^f, " The Impregnable Rock of Holy Scripture," lie within the moral and spiritual preoiri'ii. No one of them begs any literary question of Old Testament erif-is-i.'jn. They leave absolutely open exory i;;sue that has been or ccn be raised i'eHj;i?::iinjy the origin, date, authorship, and texv. of the sacred books, which for the pro'- jut purpose wo do not require even to cull s'icved. Indeed it may bo that this ileatr.r.: live criticism, if entirely roado good, would, in tho view of an inquiry really searching, comprehensive, and philosophical, loaves .13 its result not less but greater reason for admiring the hidden inodea by which the great Artificer works out His designs. THE MARGIN OF EEEOR IK THE BIBLE. Mr. Gladstone thinks that the Sacred Canon "i» liko to wear out the storms and the sunshine, and all tho wayward aberrations of humanity, not merely lor a term us long, but until time shall be no more ;" but he admits ! that error may have been obtruded into the voaicle of Divino Revelation by at least seven methods. There may possibly have been — 1. Imperfect comprehension of that which was communicated. 2. Imperfect expression of wha-t had been comprehended. 3. Lapse of memory in oral transmission. 4. Errors of copyists iv written transmission. 5. Changes with (he lapse of time in the sense of words. (i. Variations arising from rendering's into different tongues, especially as betweeu the Hebrew text aud the fspntuagint, which was probably baaed upon M.S. older than the compilers of the Hebrew text could have had at their command. 7. That, thero are three variant chronologies of the Old Testament according to the Hebrew, the Septuagii.it, and the Samaritan Pentateuch, and that'it would be hazardous to olaim for any one of them the sanction of a Divine revelation ; while iv historical argument may bo deducible, on the other hand, from the fact that their variations lie within certain limits.