SCIENTIFIC METHOD AND THE BIBLE. 297 



How far is scientific method applicable to the investigation of 

 the Bible? Is there any department of human knowledge to which 

 scientific method of investigation is not applicable? If scientific 

 method is what we defined it to be, that method of dealing with 

 phenomena which reason declares and experience has shown to in- 

 sure the greatest accuracy in results, then there is obviously no 

 department of knowledge to which that method is not applicable, 

 for it means simply the method which will bring us nearest to the 

 truth. When we are dealing with the highest spiritual verities we 

 use that method which will bring us nearest to the truth; we are 

 bound to use it in the interest of truth! That does not mean that 

 we are to look for material causes for spiritual phenomena; nor does 

 it mean that those things which in their nature appeal to the sen- 

 sibilities, or have to do with conduct, or require an exercise of faith, 

 must, in order for us to find out the truth, be removed from the do- 

 main of sensibility, conduct, faith. That would be a most unsci- 

 entific method of investigation. The very first canon of scientific 

 method is that it be appropriate to the matter in hand. And so in 

 investigating the truths which are distinctly taught in the Bible 

 truths which are of the nature of a revelation of God's will and 

 which are designed to reach and affect the whole nature of man to 

 take no account of other faculties in a man besides his power of 

 apprehending intellectually, and of reasoning logically, would be 

 unscientific beyond hope of pardon. 



But what I wish especially to consider is a different kind of in- 

 vestigation of the Bible one not concerned with the truths taught 

 in the Bible, but with the Bible itself, as a collection of writings that 

 has come down to us from the past. What is the nature of these 

 writings? Who are their authors? Are there any of them which 

 have more than one author? Are there any which are compilations 

 from several different sources? What is the age in which these 

 works were written or compiled? All of those, and similar questions, 

 are not only the appropriate but the necessary inquiries of a truth- 

 loving mind. They will continue to be asked until they are satis- 

 factorily answered. With reference to other writings, the persist- 

 ence of such inquiries will depend, except in cases of pure curiosity, 

 upon the importance of such writings to the world. On that prin- 

 1 ciple there will be no cessation of inquiries concerning the Bible until 

 they are, as I said, satisfactorily answered, for no other writings are 

 to be compared, in their importance to the world, with the writings 

 of the Bible. How can such answers be given? Where does com- 

 petency to give answer lie? Does it lie in the authority of the 

 Church ? Not to lay any stress upon the fact, one way or the other, 

 that the Church, except in certain localities, has never declared on 



VOL. LV. 23 



