f religion, including the literature and
religion of the Hebrews. Men are laying to-day the entire Hebrew
literature, history, and religion alongside of the literatures,
histories, and religions of other {161} nations, testing them by the
same methods and applying to them the same rules.

What should be the attitude of the Christian toward this method of
study? When the science of comparative philology first asserted itself
many good Christians set themselves against it, because one of its
claims was that Hebrew is not the original language given by God to
men. Comparative philology has won its way, and Bible students are
truly grateful for the light it has shed upon sacred scripture. When
the comparative study of the Scriptures was first advocated there were
many timid souls who felt that this method of study was an attack upon
the Bible, which could only issue in such an overturning of belief that
the Church would remain helpless with a worthless Bible. Hence they
set themselves with all their might against the new study as an enemy
of Christianity. Is this the proper attitude? In the first place, it
is well to remember that the Bible has withstood all attacks for
thousands of years. Its great river of truth has flowed serenely on,
watering the whole earth with its life-giving streams, and refusing to
be dammed up by any foe. Surely, history teaches that there need be no
fear that any new method of study will bring about an end of the
Bible's reign. On the other hand, history teaches the folly of
resisting the progress of science along any line of investigation.
{162} True science will win its way just as surely as the teaching of
the Bible will win its way into the hearts of men. Hence it would seem
the part of wisdom to encourage rather than to discourage the efforts
of the comparative student of the Old Testament.

As a matter of fact, we cannot do anything else unless we would
stultify ourselves. We have said to the adherents of every other
religion: "You say your sacred books are divine, prove it; lay your
books open before the jury of the world, let the critics scrutinize
them, analyze them, criticize them, according to the canons of modern
criticism by which they criticize all books." And can we refuse to
open our Bible before the jury of the world and bid it scrutinize,
analyze, and criticize it according to the same canons which it applies
to the Veda, the Koran, and other so-called holy books?