August ii, 192 i] 



NATURE 



739 



the men who wrote the Bible is no proof what- 

 ever that they had not a real and living message 

 irom God to the people for whom they wrote — 

 and for us, if we. will take the trouble to under- 

 ;stand it." 



Mr. Grubb is a believing Christian, and 

 •writes for Christians with a breadth of view 

 that is a tribute to the writer's common- 

 sense and humanity (in the higher sense of the 

 word). One wishes one could say as much for 

 many so-called " Rationalistic " writers, some of 

 whom have been more bigoted and more intoler- 

 ant, more narrow and uninformed, than the worst 

 Roman "cagot" or Calvinistic heresy -hunter that 

 ever lived. However, these professional anti- 

 Christian fanatics are nowadays almost a thing of 

 the past. h. few who still survive here and there 

 are mere relics of the mid-Victorian age who do 

 not count. We are talking of Britain, of course; 

 in France the species still lives and flourishes. 



Nothing has contributed more to the rout of the 

 old-fashioned Freethinkers than the discoveries 

 that have been made since the 'seventies in the 

 realm of ancient Oriental history and anthro- 

 pology, which have shown that the Old Testament 

 Avas not, as those of our grandfathers who con- 

 sidered themselves enlightened supposed, a col- 

 lection of baseless fables, but real history, some- 

 times in the guise of legend, but more often in 

 that of genuine copies of ancient annals. The 

 cuneiform discoveries of Rawlinson and George 

 Smith, the recovery of the ancient history of Egypt 

 to the confusion of the supposedly intelligent but 

 really extremely credulous Sir George Cornewall 

 Lewis, the finding of the Moabite Stone, and the 

 critical study of the text of the historical books 

 of the Old Testament, have all shown that in the 

 Bible we are dealing with real history and with 

 tradition based upon facts. They show also that, 

 in the obvious myths, such as those of the Crea- 

 tion and the Deluge, we have before us extra- 

 ordinarily interesting accounts akin to the cosmo- 

 gonical myths of the Babylonians, pointing to the 

 origin of Hebrew civilisation. But in the relief 

 which these discoveries gave to those Christians 

 who demanded " belief in" the Bible (a phrase that 

 meant everything to them, though to the more in- 

 structed it might mean anything or nothing) as a 

 condition of their faith in Christianity, and in the 

 triumph which the godly felt had been vouch- 

 safed to them over the vain imaginings of the un- 

 godly, the new discoveries were hailed as "prov- 

 ing the Bible " — as showing irrefragably that the 

 Biblical books were all "inspired" truth, and that 

 Moses wrote the Pentateuch after all. One sees 

 that this would be of great interest and import- 

 NO. 2702, VOL. 107] 



ance to a professing Jew, but one is puzzled to 

 know how, even if Moses did not "write the 

 Pentateuch," the fact could affect the faith of a 

 Christian. .\ ne-w law was given to the world 

 by Our Lord, based, indeed, on the traditional 

 beliefs and teachings of His people, the Jews, but 

 owing nothing of its authority to them. Some 

 Christians, however, of the Reformed Churches 

 have always been more Jew than Christian ! 



There is, indeed, little fact behind the idea which 

 one often meets that archaeological discovery 

 has "proved" the literal truth of the whole of the 

 Old Testament, and incidentally " shown that 

 Darwin was all wrong " (a very prevalent idea). 

 Similarly, as little fact supports the idea of the old- 

 fashioned Rationalists that the Bible was from 

 beginning to end an invention of designing priests. 

 Archaeological discovery has certainly "proved the 

 truth " of the Old Testament, but not in the literal 

 sense which alone is comprehended by the simple- 

 minded. Both the Tale of Troy and the Arthurian 

 Legend are doubtless " true " in that they are in- 

 dubitably based on fact, and that is what archaeo- 

 logical discovery shows us with regard, for ex- 

 ample, to the books of Joshua and Judges. 

 "Kings" and "Chronicles" are annals; they are 

 (as we can see by comparison with contemporary 

 historical documents, Egyptian and Assyrian, as 

 well as from internal evidence) more trustworthy 

 than the others, as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle may 

 be more trustworthy than Giraldus Cambrensis or 

 Geoffrey of Monmouth; they are on the same 

 level as such chroniclers, no less, but also no more. 

 The Bible must be looked at as objectively as any 

 other scripture ; and if we study it so, and also with 

 reverence as the foundation of Christ's teaching, 

 and as a Holy Book inspired by the Spirit of God, 

 because it is the work of man, we shall understand 

 many things that hitherto have been hid from us, 

 and see clearly where formerly we were blind. 



This is the position that Mr. Grubb holds in 

 common with all enlightened Christians of to-day, 

 whether English Catholic, Presbyterian, or Free. 

 Rome still seems to aflirm " verbal " inspiration 

 officially. The English reformed branch of the 

 Western Catholic Church, with its freedom won 

 bv the Reformation from the dead hand of ancient 

 official pronouncements made in the days of ignor- 

 ance, has during the last fifty years obtained for 

 itself a reputation for freedom of discussion and 

 scientific criticism of Biblical matters on the part 

 of its learned divines even more honourable than 

 that of its fellow Protestant Churches. Many of 

 the greatest lights of the " Higher Criticism " 

 have been English Churchmen, and obscurantist 

 circles have often been scandalised bv the fact. 



