I PROLOGUE 57 



At the same time, I laid stress upon the neces- 

 sity of placing such instruction in lay hands ; in 

 the hope and belief, that it would thus gradually 

 accommodate itself to the coming changes of 

 opinion ; that the theology and the legend would 

 drop more and more out of sight, while the peren- 

 nially interesting historical, literary, and ethical 

 contents would come more and more into view. 



I may add yet another claim of the Bible to the 

 respect and the attention of a democratic age. 

 Throughout the history of the western world, the 

 Scriptures, Jewish and Christian, have been the 

 great instigators of revolt against the worst forms 

 of clerical and political despotism. The Bible has 

 been the Magna, Charta of the poor and of the 

 oppressed ; down to modern times, no State has 

 had a constitution in which the interests of the 

 people are so largely taken into account, in which 

 the duties, so much more than the privileges, of 

 rulers are insisted upon, as that drawn up for 

 Israel in Deuteronomy and in Leviticus ; nowhere 

 is the fundamental truth that the welfare of the 

 State, in the long run, depends on the uprightness 

 of the citizen so strongly laid down. Assuredly, 

 the Bible talks no trash about the rights of man ; 

 but it insists on the equality of duties, on the 

 liberty to bring about that righteousness which is 

 somewhat different from struggling for " rights " ; 

 on the fraternity of taking thought for one's 

 neighbour as for one's self. 



