The Collapse of the Faith [pp. 339-360]

THE PRi?A'CE TON RE VIEW.
fidence of the Christian Church in the Hebrew and Christian
miracles has been gradually giving way before the searching
scrutiny of scientific criticism until less of it than ever remains
among leading scholars, and the little that survives is asserted
in propositions of more indefinite vagueness and feebler energy
than ever before? While it may be true that supernaturalism
as a possible theory is coming more into fashion and not
always to its honor-are not Moses and Jesus fast becoming
thoroughly naturalized, and by critical tendencies which cannot
be resisted?
Of these assertions and the facts on which they rest the fol —
lowing maybe taken as a truthful estimate. It is doubtless true that within the present century scientific criticism has beers
applied to every description of history as never before, and from
this scrutiny sacred history could not and ought not to escape..
While it is by no means true that sacred and critical learning were previously unknown, and while it perhaps might be shown
that every one of the newest destructive theories had been
broached and defended by earlier critics, it will not be denied
that the learning of the last three generations, especially in his tory and philosophy, has become more exact and scientific, and
consequently more trustworthy than ever before. A keener his torical discernment, a more just and vivid imagination, and a
more penetrating insight into causes and principles have cer tainly been applied to all historical conclusions whether the sub —
ject is sacred or secular. As a consequence, the old admiring
credulity with which ancient life and ancient men and ancient
institutions were almost worshipped, as something grandiose
if not superhuman, has been abandoned if not shamed out of'
sight. The old legends have been read into common if not into
vulgar prose, the ancient myths have lost their gorgeous coloring and their imposing drapery, and the most venerated personages have come down from the lofty pedestals on which they
stood like statues, and been forced to try the common, and at
times the awkward, gait of ordinary mortals. From this severe
ordeal the ancient religions have in one sense suffered most,
while in another sense they have suffered least. They are no,
longer any of them accounted for by deliberate knavery and
conscious fraud as their sole or chief originators, but are largely
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