tures, there is not that breach between the older scholarship and the new which some have been pleased to emphasize. It would be impossible to mention in a single chapter all the good books which help to establish this thesis; indeed, some books that most deserve a place here have appeared since these "rambles" were written; but it is hoped that enough has been said to show that the work of the new school of criticism is based upon facts, and that it aims not to destroy faith, but to rescue a faith that was fast passing away of its own accord, because its growth was hampered and its life smothered. Leisurely rambles through Old Testament subjects with such works as have been named in this chapter, or with such books as W. R. Smith's "Prophets of Israel," G. A. Smith's "Book of Isaiah," R. A. Watson's "Book of Job," or R. F. Horton's "Proverbs" cannot fail to inspire and uplift. If I mistake not the reader who loves his conservatism may rise from the reading of such books as these with the comment, that this new gospel is, after all, only the old gospel permeated through and through with a love that casts out fear. "Much of the attraction is due, of course, to the variety and picturesqueness of the Old Testament, to its lyric elements, to the gallant and heroic in it, and to the warm patriotism in which its religion is so often incarnate. But apart from these, the modern mind is especially drawn to the Old Testament, by its portraiture of character, its ideals of social righteousness, its vision of history as the tribunal of God, its treatment of speculative questions, and its treatment of the prudential aspects of life neither of which last two is treated by the New Testament in detail. Above all, it is the Old Testament's inimitable portraiture of character upon which our great preachers have combined." PROF. G. A. SMITH. "The Bible was written so long ago that its taste is not that of our refined age. It abounds in bad language and bad utterances. There should be a holy book made out of its pages - a book not only for children but for all of us. What a glorious book might be made out of that vast mass of wisdom and beauty!" DAVID SWING. CHAPTER XIII. HINTS FOR THE PULPIT AND DEVOTIONAL USE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. I. IT has been said that Schleiermacher alone, of the great preachers, ignored the Old Testament, and it has further been said that his involved and inornate style is partly due to this neglect. Certainly any study of the great preachers of the world should begin, not with Chrysostom or Peter the Hermit, but with the great preachers of the Old Testament, Samuel and Elijah, Amos and Hosea, Isaiah and Jeremiah. Prof. G. A. Smith has published a very interesting list of great preachers who were helped to greatness by the great preachers of the Old Testament, and thus helped because "the foundation of Old Testament preaching is the passion to win men." They were in dead earnest, to them the vital questions of religion and morals were life and death questions. For truth they would sacrifice anything, even their very lives. And to the preacher who will take the trouble to understand the Biblical prophets all this is contagious. It proved its power to uplift and inspire to Chrysostom and Savonarola, to Kingsley, Maurice and Robertson. The Old Testament is the book of liberty. It teaches and inspires freedom alike in church and state. As Professor Smith truly says, the prophets of the Old Testament 1 Prof. G. A. Smith's Inaugural Address, p. 44. were citizens and patriots, the apostles of the New were sojourners and pilgrims. It is to be expected, then, that New Testament scholars will warn Old Testament scholars not to move ahead too fast for them.1 And meanwhile let all alike take encouragement from the fact that the so-called destructive parts of criticism but remove difficulties "which have always been an embarrassment to conscientious preachers." When they remove more than this the Christian conscience will cry out with a voice that will be heard and obeyed. On the other hand, when the Church reaches the point where it can put faith in the Christian critics that it has itself produced, then we may hope to see the Old Testament taking the place which it deserves in our pulpit and devotional readings. 2. One of the boons needed to bring this about is an expurgated Bible, to use a somewhat harsh and unsuitable term. There has long been a silent, or but half expressed, longing for just such a Bible. But the reason this longing has not been more pronounced and importunate has been the fact that people have been taught that the Bible is a unit, all equally inspired and equally valuable. It is because this old way of stating our belief in the Bible is fast becoming a thing of the past, that the expurgated Bible is not only a possibility, but (may we not hope ?) an assured fact.2 For the general reader some such Scriptures as these should be in great demand. It is worse than useless 1 W. Sanday's Two Present-Day Questions, p. 31, passim. 2 Scriptures, Hebrew and Christian, published by the Putnams, are not quite free from a traditionalism that enslaves the thought of the original. |