5 qo THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and historical, entered upon that astonishing career of discovery 

 whose rich promise for the future we have but begun to anticipate. 1 



To the impetus given by Wolf, and to the new-born spirit of sci- 

 ence which he carried into the sphere of philology, we owe among 

 other valuable results the beginnings of a more critical inquiry into 

 the records of ancient Hebrew religion. Indeed, the author of the 

 "Prolegomena" himself clearly foresaw the influence which his book 

 was destined to exert on Hebrew studies. In a letter, from which we 

 have already quoted above, he says: "The demonstration that the 

 Pentateuch is made up of unequal portions, that these are the prod- 

 ucts of different centuries, and that they were put together shortly 

 after the time of Solomon, may, ere long, be confidently expected. I 

 should myself be willing to undertake such an argument without fear, 

 for nowhere do we find any ancient witness to guarantee the author- 

 ship of the Pentateuch to Moses himself." 2 



The prediction embodied in these words soon came true. A host 

 of competent scholars took up the study of the Hebrew T Bible, and, 

 profiting by Wolf's example and suggestions, applied to its elucida- 

 tion the same careful methods, the same scrupulous honesty of in- 

 terpretation, that had proved so successful in the realm of classical 

 philology. Theologians by profession, they set aside their predilec- 

 tions, and placed the ascertainment of the truth above all other in- 

 terests. They believed in the indestructible vitality of religion, and 

 were willing to admit the full light of criticism upon the scriptural 

 page, confident that any loss would be temporary only, the gain per- 

 manent. In the course of their researches they arrived, among others, 

 at the following important conclusions : 



That the editor of the Pentateuch had admitted into his volume 

 several accounts touching the main facts of early Hebrew history ; 

 that these accounts are often mutually at variance ; that minute analy- 

 sis and careful comparison alone can lead to an approximately true 

 estimate of their comparative value ; and, lastly, that the transmission 

 of historical information had in no wise been the object of the Hebrew 

 writers. The history of their people served, it is true, to illustrate 

 certain of their doctrines concerning the divine government of the 

 world, and especially the peculiar relations of the Deity to the chosen 

 race ; but it was employed much in the sense of a moral tale, being 

 designed, not to convey facts, but to enforce lessons. Had the accept- 



1 Scientific pursuits are distinguished from others, not by the material, but by the 

 method of knowledge. The mere collection of data, however multiplied in detail, how- 

 ever abstruse the subjects to which they may refer, does not of itself deserve the name 

 of science. The term properly applies only when phenomena are placed in causal 

 relation, and the laws which govern their development are traced. Measured by this 

 standard, every attempt to explain the growth of human thought and institutions, and to 

 elucidate the laws which have acted in the process of their evolution, has a just claim to 

 be classed under the head of scientific inquiry, 



2 Letter in Korte's " Leben und Studien F. A. Wolf's," i., p. 309. 



