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lasting glory.* Truly a new world was disclosed by the Greek language, and the literature of the New Testament, as the Hebrew and the Aramaic and the Greek combined their energies and capacities in the grasp of the Divine creating and shaping Spirit, who transformed the Greek language and created a new and holy Greek literature, as the earth heaves and subsides into new forms and shapes under the energy of the great forces of its advancing epochs.

The especial literary development of the New Testament is in the sermon and the theological tract. We trace these from the first beginning on the day of Pentecost through the discourses of the book of Acts, and parallel therewith the epistles of Peter and Paul and John. Looking at the sermons we observe that they are no longer on the Aramaic model as are the discourses of our Lord, but we see the Greek orator as well as the Aramaic rabbin. So with the epistles, especially of Paul, although he reminds us of the rabbinical schools in his use of the halacha and haggada methods,t yet they exhibit rather the dialectic methods of the Greek philosopher. Thus the Greek orator and philosopher prepared the language and style of Paul the preacher and theologian no less than the Hebrew prophet and wise man gave him the fundamental principles of his wisdom and experience. And although the Greek literature of the New Testament has no Demosthenes' "On the crown," or Plato's Republic, as it has no Iliad or Prometheus; yet it lays the foundation of the sermon and the tract, which have been the literary

* Bleek, Einleitung, p. 71; Immer, Hermeneutik, p. 105; Am. ed., Andover, 1877, pp. 129-131; Cremer, Bib. Theol. Wörterbuch der Neu-Testament. Gräcität and Trench, New Testament Synonyms under the respective words. + Gal. iv. 22, seq.; Rom. iii. 1, seq., etc.

means of a world-transforming power, as, from the pulpit and the chair, Christian ministers have stirred the hearts and minds of mankind, and lead the van of progress of the Christian world-for the sermon combines the prophetic message of the Hebrew with the oratorical force of the Greek, as it not only fires the heart, but strives in the council-chamber of the intellect and pleads at the bar of the conscience; while the epistle combines the sententious wisdom of the Hebrew with the dialectic philosophy of the Greek, in order to mould and fashion the souls of men and of nations, by great vital and comprehensive principles that constitute the invincible forces of Christian history.

CHAPTER IV.

THE BIBLE AND CRITICISM.

THE Bible is composed of a great variety of writings of holy men under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, in a long series extending through many centuries, preserved to us in three different original languages, the Hebrew, the Chaldee, and the Greek, besides numerous versions. These languages were themselves the products of three different civilizations, which having accomplished their purpose passed away, the languages no longer being used as living speech, but preserved only in written documents. They present to us a great variety of literature, as the various literary styles and the various literary forms of these three languages have combined in this one sacred book of the Christian church, making it as remarkable for its literary variety as for its religious unity.

The Bible is the sacred canon of the church of Christ, the infallible authority in all matters of worship, faith, and practice. From this point of view it has been studied for centuries by Jew and Christian. Principles of interpretation have been established and employed in building up systems of religion, doctrine, and morals. The divine element, which is ever the principal thing, has been justly emphasized; and the doctrine of inspiration has been extended by many dogmatic divines so as to

cover the external letter, the literary form and style, in the theory of verbal inspiration. The fact has been too often overlooked, that it has not seemed best to God to create a holy language for the exclusive vehicle of His Word, or to constitute peculiar literary forms and styles for the expression of His revelation, or to commit the keeping of the text of this Word to infallible guardians. But on the other hand, as He employed men rather than angels as the channels of His revelation, so He used three human languages with all the varieties of literature that had been developed in the various nations, using these languages in order that He might approach mankind in a more familiar way in the human forms with which they were acquainted and which they could readily understand, and He permitted the sacred text to depend for its accuracy upon the attention and care of the successive generations of His people. Hence the necessity of biblical criticism to determine the true canon, the correct text, and the position and character of the vari ous writings.

These sacred writings might be studied from the historical point of view under the title, History of Biblical Literature, or from the dogmatic point of view as Biblical Introduction; but both of these methods of treating biblical literature, unless they depend entirely upon traditional opinions, presuppose the work of criticism. The dogmatic method of Biblical Introduction is contrary to the genius of biblical study. The Biblical Introductions constructed on this plan have gathered a vast amount of material in a dry, scholastic, pedantic, and ill-adjusted mass, so as to prejudice the student against the Scriptures when he should be introduced by the best methods into the sacred halls of its literature. The addition of the attributes "historical," and "histori

co-critical," to "introduction" has been accompanied by a corresponding internal improvement through the introduction of the critical and the historical methods, but they have been kept in too subordinate a place even in the works most characterized by freedom of criticism. Through the influence of Reuss and Hupfeld the historical method came into use as the dominant one.* But such a history of biblical literature can be constructed only after criticism has accomplished its work of destruction and of construction, and it will be shaped and controlled by criticism. Hermann Strack thinks that such a history is at present impossible on account of the great diversity of opinion among critics. It is true that any such history will represent the subjective opinions of the historian and his school. The works of Fürst and Reuss are built upon theoretical considerations rather than established facts. But a history of biblical literature might be constructed which would distinguish between facts and theories, and though it might be imperfect and not altogether satisfactory, it might prepare the way for something better, and it would certainly present the material in a most attractive form. But the dominant method in all biblical studies should be the inductive and not the historical. The construction of a history of biblical literature would not dispense with a system of biblical literature as a part of Exegetical Theology. In the construction of this system criticism will prove the most important method.

* Reuss, die Gesch. d. heil. Schriften N. T., 1842, 5te Aufl., 1874; Hupfeld, Begriff und Method d. sogenan, bib. Einleit., 1844; Fürst, Gesch. d. biʊ. Lit. eratur historisch und kritisch behandelt, 1867-70; Zahn, Einleitung in das N. T., in Herzog, Real Encyk. ii. Aufl. iv., p. 147, 1879; Reuss, Gesch. d. heil, Schriften Alten Test. 1881.

+ Zöckler, Handbuch der theologischen Wissenschaften, I., 1882, p. 122.

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