GERMAN rSM.'^ 



157 



*' the life science " ? Christian evidences (see p. 155) are generally 

 too abstruse for the hard-worked " man in the street," not over- 

 trained to reason ; and such faculties as he has are too often para- 

 lyzed by conventional theology. 



Mr. Theodore Roberts : We must be careful that patriotism 

 does not bias our judgment ; but, after making every allowance for 

 this, I think it must be admitted that never since the civilised world 

 was Christianized, has there been such a lack of morality in the 

 conduct of any war. It must be remembered that in Germany 

 Professors hold a much more important place in public opinion than 

 they do in this country, and the dictum of a Professor is on a par 

 with the judgment of a High Court Judge here. It is recorded that 

 Lord Palmerston once outraged Queen Victoria's feelings by saying 

 that Prussia was a land of damned Professors, and I think that in 

 this, his blunt common-sense instinctively led him to aright judgment. 



In countries like Spain and France the priests have in the past 

 kept the Bible from the people, but it is a much more serious thing 

 to suggest that it is worthless — the outcome of the Higher Critical 

 method. One is to poison a man's food, while the other is merely 

 to keep it from him. If the authority of the Scriptures be destroyed 

 in the minds of the people, there is no restraint left, as it is only 

 by the Bible that we have any definite voice from God. 



The Rev. Prebendary Fox said that a peculiar feature of the men- 

 tality of German criticism, and that of those elsewhere who followed 

 it, was its one-sidedness. Too often facts which stood in the way of 

 their conclusions were ignored or " re-interpreted " to fit in with 

 the results said to be already assured. In illustration of the pseudo- 

 critical treatment of Deuteronomy, he referred to the disregard of 

 evidence given to its authority in the record of the Temptation of 

 Jesus Christ, the historic character of which is not seriously disputed 

 by any competent and impartial scholar. Had that book been a 

 pious fraud, as commonly asserted, no being on earth was less 

 likely to be ignorant of such a fact, or less likely to lose the advantage 

 of his knowledge, than the Tempter. The only escape of the hostile 

 critic from the dilemma is, to shut his eyes, as he is accustomed, 

 to the evidence which conflicts with his theories. 



