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 LFRED WILLIAMS ANTHONY 
 
 Professor in Cobb Divinity School 
 
 PRIGE, /O GENTS 
 

THE 
 
 
 Higher Criticism 
 
 IN THE 
 
 New Testament 
 
 BY 
 
 ALFRED WILLIAMS 'ANTHONY 
 Professor in Cobb Divinity School 
 
 BOSTON, MASS.: 
 
 Morning Star Publishing House 
 
 457 Shawmut Avenue 
 
u 
 
 Copyright, 1901, by 
 
 MORNING STAR PUBLISHING HOUSE, 
 
 457 Shawmut Avenue, 
 
 Boston, Mass, 
 
NOTE 
 
 This address was delivered before the 
 Pastors' Union of Lewiston and Auburn 
 and is now printed in response to requests 
 then made. 
 
 Lewiston, Me. A. W. A. 
 
THE HIGHER CRITICISM 
 
 DEFINITION 
 
 This designation is unfortunate. Neither 
 member of the term is free from objection. 
 The word " criticism " is so commonly used 
 to indicate fault-finding, that the first sug- 
 gestion is that of censure and destructive- 
 ness. And the word *' higher" carries at 
 the outset to many minds the assumption of 
 superiority, if not of arrogance. But the 
 study is neither destructive nor arrogant. 
 
 The better designation is : The Histori- 
 cal Method of Biblical Study. 
 
 The name " Higher Criticism " originated 
 in Germany. There it is used in distinction 
 to ** Lower Criticism." There criticism is 
 thought of as the calm, impartial act of 
 judging. The Lower Criticism is concerned 
 wholly with the task of determining, among 
 many variations in reading, what is the cor- 
 rect text of a document. It seeks nothing 
 but to ascertain from a comparison of manu- 
 scripts the correct reading. That involves 
 
the patient, painstaking task of examining, 
 noting, judging each word and each letter 
 and each mark. That is Lower Criticism. 
 The Higher Criticism is of no greater im- 
 portance. It simply deals with questions 
 of a wider scope and broader application. 
 When a text has been determined, then the 
 Higher Criticism undertakes to answer the 
 questions : Who wrote it ? When and 
 where did he write ? For whom did he 
 write ? What is his meaning and message ? 
 and subjects of a similar import. 
 
 WHAT IT INVOLVES 
 
 The Higher Criticism includes within its 
 province the following subordinate branches 
 of Biblical study. 
 
 I. Canonicity. 
 
 Canonicity inquires into the times, pro- 
 cesses, and reasons for the collection into a 
 single volume of the books which we know 
 as the Old Testament and the New Testa- 
 ment. When were the thirty-nine docu- 
 ments in the Old Testament and the twenty- 
 seven in the New Testament brought to- 
 gether ? Was the process gradual or in- 
 stantaneous } By what authority was the 
 
inclusion of some books and the exclusion 
 of others allowed ? What were the reasons 
 for selection? — the recognition of apostolic 
 authorship ? or the perception of moral and 
 spiritual excellence ? or some other reason ? 
 
 Roman Catholics have received into their 
 canon of Scripture certain books between 
 the Old Testament and the New. which 
 Protestants term apocryphal and do not 
 accept. Which is right ? This is for Higher 
 Criticism to determine. 
 
 Some scholars object to the presence in 
 the canon of some books now acknowledged 
 canonical by Protestants. Martin Luther 
 called the Epistle of James " a right strawy " 
 epistle, because it did not teach Christ to 
 his satisfaction. Some scholars object nota- 
 bly to the Second Epistle of Peter ; others 
 to the three Pastoral Epistles of Paul, and 
 others raise objections to the Fourth Gospel. 
 These are problems for the Higher Criti- 
 cism. 
 
 II. Introduction, 
 
 The term ''Introduction," in the techni- 
 cal sense of a theological discipline, is of 
 German importation. It applies to a thor- 
 ough-going investigation of all that needs to 
 
8 
 
 be known for the complete understanding of 
 a book. It is not superficial, as the word in 
 the popular sense might imply. It includes 
 a treatment of the following subjects : 
 
 I. The genuineness of the book. Gen- 
 uineness relates to authorship, and investi- 
 gates the question, Did the person, whose 
 name the book bears, really write the book ? 
 For illustration the Epistle to the Hebrews 
 may be cited. For many centuries this has 
 been ascribed to Paul ; but modern scholars 
 are convinced that Paul could not have 
 written it, the structure, style, and teaching 
 differ so widely from the other epistles which 
 were undoubtedly written by Paul. Then, 
 too, it is found that the Christians of the 
 second and third centuries did not know 
 surely who wrote the book. Origen de- 
 clared, ''Who -wrote the book, God only 
 knows." 
 
 But the question of genuineness is dis- 
 tinct from the question of canonicity. 
 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Barnabas, or 
 Luke, or Clement, or some unknown person 
 wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews, — even Pris- 
 cilla, as recently suggested by Professor 
 Harnack, — it remains in the canon. 
 
2. The. author of the book. When the 
 authorship has been determined, then the 
 life of the author needs to be known. From 
 his ancestry, his training and education, his 
 social, political, and religious environment, 
 facts may be gleaned which will explain the 
 meaning of the author's writing. Paul's 
 home at Tarsus, his tuition at the feet of 
 Gamaliel, his strict Phariseeism, and his 
 firmly inculcated rabbinical rules of reason- 
 ing must be borne in mind in order to under- 
 stand the man and his message. 
 
 3. The date and place of composition. 
 In the case of an epistle allusions to past 
 movements and experiences and to prospec- 
 tive plans cannot be understood unless the 
 circumstances are known in the midst of 
 which the author writes. Recognizing that 
 Paul wrote the Epistle to the Romans from 
 Corinth, the student can then understand 
 the references to the benevolence of " them 
 of Macedonia and Achaia," and the apostle's 
 purpose to go unto Jerusalem, and subse- 
 quently visit Rome on his way to Spain. 
 The historical setting of any document as- 
 sists in making plain its meaning, and in 
 some instances without this historical set- 
 ting the meaning is wholly lost. 
 
10 
 
 4- The readers of the book. Most au- 
 thors address a definite constituency. Let- 
 ter writers particularly have in mind definite 
 readers in specific circumstances, and appeal 
 to clearly recognized conceptions and con- 
 ditions. The epistles to the Corinthians 
 and to the Galatians differ widely because 
 the persons addressed differ widely. When 
 one considers that the Thessalonian Chris- 
 tians were simple, humble folk recently con- 
 verted from heathenism, one will be kept 
 from the ridiculous folly of supposing that 
 in writing to them about a *' man of sin," 
 for a time ''restrained" and then to ''be 
 revealed," Paul referred to Napoleon Bona- 
 parte, or to a profligate woman apotheosized 
 in the French Revolution, or to the Pope, or 
 to Martin Luther himself, as Roman Catho- 
 lics have sometimes maintained. A docu- 
 ment is framed, usually, within the scope 
 of the readers' comprehension. 
 
 5. An analysis of the contents of the 
 book. Under the head of Introduction it is 
 legitimate to inquire : What is the author 
 writing about ? What is his object in writ- 
 ing ? What peculiarities of style, or state- 
 ment, or teaching does he indulge in ? In 
 
II 
 
 this connection, however, the investigation 
 relates chiefly to Hterary form, or historical 
 allusion. 
 
 6. A historical review of the criticism of 
 the book is, also, frequently presented in 
 works on Introduction. The science of 
 criticism is a growth. Slowly have its prob- 
 lems been discovered, and still more slowly 
 are solutions worked out. No one man pro- 
 fesses to have attained the final goal. He 
 builds on others ; he interprets others ; often 
 he differs from others ; usually he acknowl- 
 edges that he is contributing, though but a 
 little, to the opportunities of others who 
 will accomplish more than he. And, so, he 
 puts his work in line with what has been 
 done before and may be done after him. 
 
 These are directions in which the histori- 
 cal method of Biblical study, using the tech- 
 nical department of Introduction, makes in- 
 vestigations. 
 
 III. 'Biblical Theology. 
 
 Many Christians, who have read their 
 Bibles for years, do not know that differ- 
 ences exist within the compass of the New 
 Testament books, — differences in conception, 
 differences in doctrine, and differences in the 
 
12 
 
 delineation of the one common Lord, the 
 Christ. But the differences are there, and 
 careful scholarship has long taken note of 
 them. Based on this recognition of charac- 
 teristic differences in the point of view and 
 the doctrinal conclusions of the writers of 
 the New Testament, an entirely separate 
 department of theological learning has be- 
 come known in recent years, the depart- 
 ment of Biblical Theology. 
 
 We are familiar with Systematic Theology 
 and Dogmatic Theology. We do not always 
 make a distinction between the terms, but a 
 distinction properly exists. Systematic The- 
 ology takes its point of view with God, 
 with external, outside truth, to see the parts 
 and the whole in mutual relations ; it em- 
 ploys as sources all knowledge, both from 
 science and revelation. Dogmatic Theology 
 uses the same materials but takes its stand 
 more by the side of the church, to vindicate 
 and justify what she believes and|proclaims ; 
 it is more explanatory and apologetic ]Jn 
 character. 
 
 Biblical Theology resorts wholly to the 
 Bible, not to cite and quote specific texts, not 
 with any assumption that the Bible^ is the 
 
13 
 
 only source of information and the only 
 court of appeal, but to discover what it 
 teaches part by part, book by book, author 
 by author. It recognizes personalities ; it 
 acknowledges distinctions, individualities, 
 peculiarities both of men and periods and 
 circumstances ; it gives heed to times of 
 composition, to chronological arrangements 
 and relations, and to stages of development 
 and growth. 
 
 Biblical Theology recognizes distinct types 
 of doctrine and teaching within the compass 
 of the two Testaments, and speaks confi- 
 dently of a Pauline theology and a Johan- 
 nine theology, and of '* the teaching of Je- 
 sus" as distinct from all. 
 
 The Higher Criticism has prompted the 
 careful scholarship which has detected these 
 minute yet actual differences. 
 
 IV. Comparative Religion, 
 
 The historical method of Biblical study 
 attemps to put all religions into their proper 
 relations. Christianity is the flower of 
 Judaism ; Jesus was the Jewish Messiah 
 and has become the world's Saviour. But 
 Judaism was not an isolated faith, as many 
 of us have so long and so erroneously sup- 
 
M 
 
 posed. The history of Israel was not cut 
 off from all other history. The Hebrews 
 were a small people, occupying a minor 
 place in the world's commerce and politics, 
 but they were a religious people ; and all 
 about them were greater and more powerful 
 peoples, each with its religion. These 
 great peoples and these powerful religions 
 influenced Israel. When from excavations 
 and explorations, from tablets and inscrip- 
 tions, we learn what the Egyptians, the Hit- 
 tites, the Phoenicians, the Assyrians, the 
 Babylonians, and the Persians believed and 
 taught and accomplished, then we the better 
 know the origin, the meaning, and the dis- 
 tinctiveness of Israel's faith and Israel's 
 Messiah. 
 
 The story of creation, the narrative of 
 the flood, accounts of Semitic migrations 
 and movements are found in the literature 
 of more than one people ; to understand the 
 story in one we must know it in all. Then, 
 too, interpretation must often wait upon this 
 comparative study of religion, before it can 
 intelligently accomplish its tasks. Notably 
 is this necessary in such subjects as demonol- 
 ogy, diabology, angelology, and eschatology. 
 
15 
 
 V. Archeology. 
 
 The pick and the spade are rendering 
 great service to the critical study of the 
 Bible. Centers of dense population and of 
 peculiar associations have undergone radical 
 changes during the lapse of centuries. 
 While the peoples and the customs of ori- 
 ental countries do not change rapidly, while 
 the mountains and the valleys in most in- 
 stances remain unaltered, yet cities rise and 
 fall, sites of towns and villages disappear, 
 buildings crumble, localities are abandoned, 
 and geography, so far as occupation and no- 
 menclature are concerned, entirely changes 
 many times within the compass of twenty 
 centuries. 
 
 Jerusalem, the Holy City, does not exist 
 as in David's day, nor as in the time of 
 Christ. No city in the world has been bat- 
 tered by seige and assault more than this. 
 Jesus predicted that of the fair stones in the 
 temple walls not one would be left upon 
 another. Within forty years of the time 
 when the words were spoken the city was 
 destroyed by the Romans, and then for 
 half a century was given over to bats and 
 beasts. It has .been rebuilt and repeatedly 
 
i6 
 
 destroyed. The surface of the ground of 
 Jesus' day is in some places fifty feet be- 
 neath the surface to-day, buried by the 
 ruins and the rubbish of the centuries. And 
 in a similar way have other cities suffered, 
 while some of them have never been rebuilt 
 and their very sites are totally forgotten 
 and unknown. 
 
 Patiently the explorer and excavator pick 
 up clue after clue, here a stone, an inscrip- 
 tion, a piece of pottery ; then a wall, a col- 
 umn, a corner ; there an outline, and then an 
 entire foundation ; and at length we learn 
 the location of towns and edifices, and are 
 enabled in consequence to understand the 
 record of journeys and movements and bat- 
 tles with which the story of Scripture is 
 burdened. 
 
 Most of these archeological enterprises are 
 inspired by the Higher Criticism, and the 
 results are seized, systematized, and assimi- 
 lated by that same Higher Criticism for the 
 historical understanding and the historical 
 interpretation of the Bible. 
 
17 
 
 DOCTRINES AFFECTED BY THE HIGHER 
 
 CRITICISM 
 
 I. The Inspiration of Scripture. 
 
 I think it fair to say plainly that under the 
 influence of the historical method of Bibli- 
 cal study the old extravagant doctrine of 
 inspiration has gone, never to return. So 
 soon as we inquire respecting the author of 
 a book of the Bible, his nativity, his educa- 
 tion, his theological conceptions, or any of 
 his peculiarities and idiosyncrasies, we have 
 necessarily abandoned the view that God is 
 the only, or even the responsible, author of 
 the book ; we recognize the fact that a man 
 wrote it and that in writing it his human 
 qualities were not extinguished or held in 
 abeyance. We treat the book as a human 
 document ; we study it as we study other 
 human documents ; we subject it to the 
 same literary and historical tests which we 
 apply to other books. Our historical method 
 is really a study of the human element, — 
 not of the divine, — and a recognition that the 
 human element persists. 
 
 And yet the Higher Criticism recognizes 
 inspiration. It is only the old theory of 
 mechanical inspiration which is shattered. 
 
i8 
 
 Scripture, when compared with other books, 
 is found to rise incomparably superior to 
 them all ; when tested as other books are 
 tested, it reveals qualities which they, do 
 not possess ; when the human element alone 
 is studied, yet there remains a residuum 
 which is not found in other writings ; when 
 subjected to the regimen of the historical 
 discipline, its permanent and, 1 may say, 
 almost eternal qualities appear. 
 
 Though Inspiration be recognized as exist- 
 ing, yet the difficulty of defining it remains. 
 Higher Criticism does not define Inspiration 
 categorically ; it defines it only descriptively. 
 That deo^ree of difference which marks the 
 Bible off from other books, that is Inspira- 
 tion ; that overplus of excellence, of power, 
 of ethical and spiritual import, thai is Inspi- 
 ration. 
 
 Such a definition will not satisfy many 
 people ; but this, I think, is all that the 
 Higher Criticism is at present prepared to 
 give. The critics themselves are not satis- 
 fied. They recognize the inadequacy, but 
 up to the present time they have arrived at 
 no unanimity of definition. Upon this task 
 
19 
 
 they still are working, trying to so limit the 
 term as to be inclusive of, and consistent 
 with, all the known facts. 
 
 11. The Inerrancy of Scripture. 
 
 In the past, antagonists have contended 
 bitterly respecting the errancy or inerrancy 
 of Scripture. With the Higher Critics there 
 is no such controversy. They confess at 
 once that there are many inaccuracies of 
 statement in the Bible. 
 
 According to the best text, Mark begins 
 his Gospel with a quotation from, as he says, 
 the Prophet Isaiah,—** as it is written in the 
 prophet Isaiah," — but the first third of his 
 quotation is from Malachi and not from 
 Isaiah at all ; the remaining two-thirds are 
 from Isaiah. Matthew states that the Holy 
 Family, returning from Egypt, went and 
 lived in Nazareth, "that it might be ful- 
 filled which was spoken by the prophets, 
 that he should be called a Nazarene." But 
 there is no place in any prophet, so far as 
 known to us, where this was spoken. Luke 
 refers to the enrolment, which took place at 
 the time of the birth of Jesus, as taking 
 place when Quirinius was governor of Syria* 
 But according to secular annalists Quirinius 
 
20 
 
 was governor ten years later. Which is 
 right, Luke, unsupported, or the other au- 
 thorities ? 
 
 It is not needful to multiply instances. 
 The difficulty of reconciling statements 
 and of harmonizing parallel passages has 
 been long recognized and is at length frankly 
 acknowledged. But with this acknowledg- 
 ment the Higher Criticism has but the more 
 •obviously emphasized the distinctive char- 
 acter of the Bible : it is not a text-book on 
 science, nor a treatise on grammatical and 
 rhetorical precision ; it is not characterized 
 with mathematical and statistical concise- 
 ness nor inflexible accuracy ; it is a book 
 of religious revelation, with a message of 
 ethical and spiritual warning and appeal. 
 Men need not go to it for their science, their 
 history, their politics, nor their literature, 
 — though, within proper limits, they may find 
 something of all, — but they must go to it 
 alone for instruction in religious faith and 
 practice, an instruction to be drawn from the 
 ethical and spiritual qualities of the record 
 which will speak to their souls. 
 
21 
 
 III. The Seat of Authority in Religion has 
 been Shifted. 
 
 Three sources of authority in religion 
 have usually been recognized : the Church, 
 the Bible, and Reason. Protestants have 
 accepted the second, for three obvious con- 
 siderations : 
 
 1 . They thought this was Martin Luther's 
 conclusion. But in this they were mistaken. 
 Luther, while not professing the Higher 
 Criticism, was nevertheless an independent 
 critic. He did not accept all of the books 
 of the Bible, nor all of the statements of the 
 Bible as binding upon him or upon the 
 church which he would lead out to liberty. 
 He knew there were laws of life and con- 
 science greater than mere statement. By 
 these laws he would test the letter. If the 
 letter and the statement did not reveal to 
 him Christ, he argued that they belonged to 
 some past time and were not for him. So 
 reason, back of the Bible, tested the Bible 
 and was the ultimate authority for him. 
 
 2. In the reaction from an infallible pope 
 the pendulum swung naturally enough to 
 another extreme, that of an infallible book. 
 But-reactions are always liable to exaggera- 
 
22 
 
 tion. To make a book, which is the prod- 
 uct of men, infallible, is but to shift the 
 dogma of infallibility back to those men 
 who wrote the book. 
 
 3. Without the study which has now 
 been put upon the Bible the former theory 
 of inspiration held, and with this theory it 
 was but logical to exalt the phrase to the 
 throne of authority, it was not then seen, 
 as history has since proven, that this could 
 be but a theory merely and never be real- 
 ized in practice. The experience of Prot- 
 estantism, divided into its many sects, amply 
 proves that the Bible is not an authority, 
 however much revered, for men interpret 
 for themselves and think for themselves, 
 and thereby make ttieir own reason the 
 source of appeal in determining what the 
 Bible says. 
 
 The Higher Criticism consistently recog- 
 nizes the supremacy of Reason. It does 
 not surrender to Rationalism, — that would 
 be to deny the supernatural and the mirac- 
 ulous, — but it affirms that all these declara- 
 tions and claims concerning supernatural 
 occurrences must be investigated by histori- 
 cal tests in an open-minded, judicial spirit. 
 
23 
 
 But when called upon to pronounce finally 
 upon authority, it is perplexed whether to 
 make private judgment the sole authority, 
 or that judgment confirmed by the common 
 opinion of others, or the consensus of Chris- 
 tian scholarship, which sometimes is prop- 
 erly called ''the Christian Consciousness." 
 But in some form, Reason more and more 
 is recognized, under the direction of the 
 Higher Criticism, as occupying the authori- 
 tative place in the final court of appeal. 
 
 THE GAINS RESULTING FROM THE HIGHER 
 
 CRITICISM. 
 
 In the midst of the transitions involved in 
 this method of study, to many observers 
 losses alone appear. But there are gains 
 no less real, among which I name the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 I. Reverence for Fact. 
 
 Mere opinion, whether it be the hasty 
 conclusions of unenlightened ignorance or 
 the declarations of a reverent and venera- 
 ble antiquity, is no longer accepted with cre- 
 dence. Men seek fact as an aid and guide 
 to truth. This is the present animus and 
 motive of the entire historical method of 
 
24 
 
 study. So soon as the facts have been as- 
 certained, then men are ready to rewrite 
 their books and reconstruct their theologies. 
 
 When haste is carefully guarded against, 
 when crude conclusions are sedulously 
 avoided, when indeed the facts have fully 
 and finally been ascertained, then surely 
 allegiance to facts, hearty and complete, is 
 the bounden duty of every intelligent and 
 conscientious man. 
 
 The Higher Criticism by its very genius 
 is developing this reverence for fact. I 
 make the statement, although aware that 
 one school of theological thought to-day, 
 known as the Ritschlian, — itself including 
 many of the most eminent Higher Critics, — 
 yet teaches its disciples to be content with 
 subjective impressions and experiences, de- 
 claring, in substance, '' We know things 
 not as they are in themselves, but as they 
 are for us." This school of thought, how- 
 ever, while attractive to many, who find the 
 search for truth baffling, does not represent 
 the legitimate result of the historical method 
 of Bible study. That method, however 
 much perplexed and baffled, nevertheless 
 logically and consistently points to and 
 
25 
 
 prophesies of the goal, the ascertainment 
 of fact, and the recognition of truth. 
 
 11. 7he Doctrine of the Immanence of God. 
 
 The historical method of Biblical study 
 emphasizes the doctrine, set in motion by 
 modern evolutionary science as accepted by 
 theists, that God is now and always has 
 been actually present in the world, by his 
 presence and power sustaining all things that 
 exist. 
 
 The Higher Criticism in its legitimate con- 
 clusions declares that as God has been in 
 relation to men so is he to-day ; that we 
 may understand the present by the past, 
 and likewise interpret past processes and 
 experiences through an understanding of 
 the processes and experiences of to-day ; 
 that revelation has not ceased ; that God 
 is still near his people seeking to guide, 
 enlighten, and bless. In past times he may 
 have used kindergarten methods, — though 
 this is the question for historical investiga- 
 tion and testing, whether his methods varied, 
 or the people then were but kindergarten 
 pupils with the comprehension which would 
 objectify and externalize the more spiritual 
 methods which we to-day observe. 
 
26 
 
 God is with us to-day; God's methods 
 are uniform and consistent : this is one of 
 the conclusions of the Higher Criticism. 
 
 III. The Fact of Development among God's 
 People is Taught by the Higher Criticism. 
 
 In this modern spirit a man may write of 
 " the spiritual development of Paul." We 
 recognize that the apostles grew, expanded, 
 unfolded under the influence of their Master, 
 and after his departure, by frequent accre- 
 tions, became at length transformed from 
 narrow, provincial Jews into conscious lov- 
 ers of the race, into reformers and propa- 
 gandists whose stage of action was the 
 world. 
 
 We have long seen obviously that there 
 was a vast progress in doctrine and spirit 
 among the Jews from the time of Moses 
 until the time of the later prophets, and a 
 still greater difference between the religious 
 conceptions of the Old Testament and those 
 of the New, but now we are prepared to 
 behold this process of development in finer 
 details, in limited periods, in individuals, 
 and, also, continuing consecutively from 
 Biblical times down to our own day. 
 
 There may be a danger in applying the 
 
27 
 
 principle too rigidly, men may err in think- 
 ing the evolutionary principle will prevail 
 without any manifestations of extraordinary 
 power and advancement, but yet the recog- 
 nition of the principle is a gain for the proper 
 understanding of God's dealings with men, 
 both in the past and the present day. 
 
 IV. To speak now of the modijied view 
 of the supernatural, which the Higher Criti- 
 cism has introduced, is not to name a dis- 
 tinct gain, so much as one already involved. 
 A recognition of the divine presence amongst 
 men is a recognition that the supernatural is 
 so near at hand that those occurrences 
 which we account natural are really mani- 
 festations of the supernatural ; the natural 
 and the supernatural tend to blend. If the 
 supernatural be reduced to the level of the 
 natural, then, too, is the natural elevated to 
 the level of the supernatural ; the two be- 
 come one. 
 
 Even if some of those experiences of the 
 race which we have been in the habit of 
 calling "miracles" be explained upon a 
 naturalistic basis, still will there be gain, 
 for God, in whom we must believe, will be 
 but the more naturally present with us. 
 
2^ 
 
 V. The Incomparahleness of Christ. 
 
 Under the light of modern study and 
 research the person of Jesus Christ, his 
 teaching and his life, have been examined as 
 never before. He has been compared with 
 all religious teachers and reformers. His 
 words have been weighed beside those of 
 Confucius and Buddha and Zoroaster. His 
 influence has been measured with that of 
 Moses and Mahomet. His system of truth 
 has been tested almost word by word with 
 the philosophies, of Greece and Germany. 
 But in all of these comparisons and investi- 
 gations Jesus and the religion which he so 
 simply enunciated stand forth supreme, un- 
 approached. 
 
 Perhaps in some quarters, under the im- 
 pulse and inspiration of the Higher Criti- 
 cism, the deity of Christ has been some- 
 what impaired, — it has not in my mind ; I 
 mention it for the sake of fairness, — but 
 even in those quarters the incomparable 
 character of Jesus Christ as man and teacher 
 remains unchallenged. The Higher Criti- 
 cism but makes the uniqueness of Christ 
 more apparent than ever before. And to 
 
29 
 
 this conclusion the scholarship of the world 
 renders a verdict intelligent, because of its 
 research. 
 
 VI. A Unity of the Church which is Ap- 
 proaching through a Unity of Scholarship. 
 
 The Higher Critics become impatient 
 sometimes with those who, though ignorant 
 of their methods and spirit, yet denounce 
 them, but toward each other these same 
 critics are courteous, patient, and teachable. 
 They will listen to any one who has used 
 the historical method and can furnish even a 
 fragment of information or of explanation. 
 Such men are found now in increasing num- 
 bers in every land and in every church. 
 They constitute a kind of brotherhood of 
 sympathy and respect. 
 
 No scholarly man to-day — scarcely an 
 intelligent man — counts that he or the 
 denomination with which he is connected 
 has attained to the entire body of truth ; 
 other men and other denominations have at 
 least a part ; and all are ready to learn of 
 the others. This in fact is the spirit of the 
 historical method carried from the study of 
 problems past into a recognition of problems 
 and conditions present. Truth is^now known 
 
30 
 
 to be too large to fit into a single phrase, or 
 to be framed within the compass of a single 
 creed. With this method, yet without final 
 formulated conclusions and without an or- 
 ganization, there exists in every communion 
 members of this universal brotherhood — 
 the order of the Higher Criticism. 
 
 And what now shall be said of those 
 critics who, employing the same methods, 
 destroy the foundations of faith and over- 
 throw structures of conviction and confi- 
 dence most precious, with nothing to offer 
 for the places thus devastated ? There are 
 such. But there are always persons who 
 use the most serviceable instrument for 
 harm and hurt. Such persons must not be 
 allowed to bring discredit upon those who 
 act wisely and render valuable service to 
 men. The method may be abused but, 
 despite wrong use and still worse misunder- 
 standings and misrepresentations, it has 
 vindicated its value by its contributions 
 already made to vital faith and vital piety. 
 While it may reconstruct, it also establishes 
 and defends. 
 

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