76 THE REV. CHANCELLOR J. J. LIAS, M.A., ON 



unproniising material possible, and at a period of Jewish history 

 the most unlikely to give an opportunity of such " evolution " as 

 could well be imagined. The most glorious poet-moralist that 

 ever appeared in this world, every chapter of whose prophecy is 

 stamped with the characteristics of his unique personality, is 

 split up, to the edification of youthful pupils in " Colleges and 

 Schools," • into eleven or twelve different individualities of 

 different dates and divergent mental characteristics. The 

 wonderful passages in which the history of the Coming Messiah 

 was foreshadowed, first vaguely in the Pentateuch, then more 

 definitely in the Psalms, in the four greater prophets and in 

 some of the minor ones, are with extraordinary insistency and 

 ingenuity assigned to persons who have never existed, or declared 

 to refer to events wdiich never occurred. It was only natural 

 that the superstructures erected on so sandy a foundation would 

 prove very unsafe, and, as Mr. Harold Wiener has lately 

 shown, the critics had reckoned without their host. They 

 neglected textual criticism ; they built their imposing critical 

 structures on the Massoretic text, and lo ! it has deserted them 

 in their need. Even the author of the Commentary on Isaiah to 

 which I have adverted has, as I understand, admitted lately 

 that some, at least, of the critical work must be done over 

 again. Thus the edifice, which has been constructed with such 

 infinite care and pains, will have to be taken down, and 

 some equally insecure fabric, we may be pretty sure, erected in 

 its stead. 



It could not be otherwise. True scientific investigation does 

 not start on assumptions of infallibility ; nor does it decline to 

 recognize the labours of men in a far distant past. It does not 

 scornfully refuse to be criticized ; on the contrary, it recognizes 

 the criticism of the critic to be a necessary mode of arrival at 

 truth. It does not ignore the discoveries of others : it examines 

 them, and, when fully established, incorporates them into its 

 system. The " traditional " critic, who is often in these days 

 laughed out of court, has made discoveries recently, as well as 

 others, and he is quite as anxious to arrive at truth as anyone 

 else can be. We shall never advance swiftly and securely in the 

 criticism of Scripture until critics of all schools make endeavours 

 to understand one another, and are willing, in a spirit of 

 brotherly emulation, freely to exchange opinions on all questions 

 which tend, directly or indirectly, to increase our knowledge of 

 the Divine Scheme for the education of the world. 



V. — I cannot refrain from adding a very few w^ords on the 

 general effect of such criticism, as I have been describing, on 



