II.

What has been said respecting the use of the Old Testament in the New is after all only introductory to the main subject under consideration in the present lecture. Our aim is to ascertain if possible the present value and permanent function of the Old Testament in the Christian Church, especially in view of those critical conclusions which have so largely modified traditional opinions respecting the character of the ancient Scriptures.

First however, in view of these conclusions, there is yet a final word to be said bearing upon the historical character of the Old Testament records, and upon the existence of a so-called 'mystical' sense in Scripture.

We have already dealt at some length with the historical element in the Old Testament, its nature and its extent. But the point now to be insisted on is that we must recognize frankly the impossibility of precisely determining the historical value of the narratives in which Israel's history is contained. When the character of the different materials is carefully sifted, and when ordinary historical tests are employed, it is manifest that elements are present in the Old Testament which are historical only in form, and that the history has been in part coloured by a poetical imagination, in part interspersed with semi-historical matter, with legal precedents in narrative shape, and even with free creations of fancy1. The modern historical spirit arrives on different grounds at general conclusions which were already reached by a somewhat more subjective process in early times. In the fourth book of the de Principiis Origen defends his theory

1 The caution conveyed in some wise words of Prof. Valeton is important: A historico-critical verdict upon a narrative is not equivalent to a decision upon the historical character of the events narrated. Even though all the accounts relating to the foundation of Rome are relegated to the sphere of legend, yet none the less Rome was founded.' from an Academical address in Christus und das A. T. p. 40.)

D d

(Quoted

of the spiritual sense of Scripture by a free criticism. of the Old Testament narratives. It may be worth while to illustrate his position by a few quotations. 'The Scripture,' he says, has interwoven in the history what did not actually happen; in some places what could not possibly have happened; in others what might possibly have happened, but certainly did not happen1.' In a subsequent passage Origen points out that the narrative of the fall is purely figurative. It conveys spiritual truths under the appearance of history 2. It is true that the strictly historical narratives are more numerous than the figurative3; but a fruitful cause of error is the temper which refuses to penetrate beneath the letter to the inner mystical sense of Scripture, beneath the corporeal or fleshly husk to the spiritual kernel. It is clear that Origen attached no special value to the purely historical study of Scripture, though he does not by any means overlook the literal sense. What is chiefly to be noticed is his readiness to acknowledge the presence of a non-historical element in the Old Testament. recognizes, however, that even the semi-historical portions of Scripture are full of inspired teaching, and that their very existence in the Old Testament proves that the purpose of the Bible is not to impart natural knowledge that may be otherwise acquired, but to teach spiritual truth. Now modern criticism is chiefly concerned to determine the character and value of the literary materials contained in the Old Testament;

He

1 de Princ. iv. 15. Cp. similar statements in chh. 19, 20, and a strong passage on the ceremonial law in hom. vii. ad Levit. § 5.

2 Ibid. 16 διὰ δοκούσης ἱστορίας καὶ οὐ σωματικῶς γεγενημμένης.

s Ibid. 19 πολλῶ γὰρ πλείονά ἐστι τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἱστορίαν ἀληθευόμενα, τῶν προσυφανθέντων γυμνῶν πνευματικῶν.

4 Ibid. 9.

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5 Ibid. 11 (σὰρξ τῆς γραφῆς); 14 (τὸ σωματικὸν τῆς γραφῆς).

Orig. in Gen. hom. xv. I describes Scripture as 'secundum disciplinam divinae eruditionis aptatam, neque tantum historicis narrationibus quantum rebus et sensibus mysticis servientem.' Cp. in Jerem. hom. xxxix : οὐκ ἔστιν ἰῶτα ἓν ἢ μία κεραία γεγραμμένη ἐν τῇ γραφῇ ἥτις τοῖς ἐπισταμένοις χρῆσθαι τῇ δυνάμει τῶν γραμμάτων οὐκ ἐργάζεται τὸ ἑαυτῆς ἔργον. Cp. Aug. de util. cred. 9 s. fin.

it considers indications of date and authorship; it estimates the time that separates the origin of a document from the events recorded therein; it examines the inner consistency of the narrative, and its harmony with facts otherwise ascertained: and no Christian student of the present day can afford to neglect the ascertained conclusions of critical science. But on the other hand, when he has frankly recognized the distinction between what is historical and what is semi-historical or imaginative, he will place himself on a level with ancient Christianity in his endeavour to ascertain the spiritual and personal bearing of what he reads. Augustine had little or no opportunity of acquiring linguistic or critical knowledge, but there is something strangely modern in the tone of the following passage taken from the first chapter of the de Genesi ad literam. 'In all the sacred books,' he says, 'our duty is to examine what eternal truths are intimated therein, what facts are narrated, what future events foretold, what duties we are commanded or advised to perform. Accordingly in the narrative of actual facts inquiry is made whether all things are to be accepted only in a figurative sense, or whether they are also to be maintained and defended as having literally occurred. For that there are not things which must be figuratively understood, no Christian will venture to affirm, if at least he pays heed to the apostle's words Now all these things happened unto them in a figure (1 Cor. x. II); and to the text in Genesis, and they twain shall be one flesh-a text which presents to us the great mystery of Christ and of the Church 1.' Here Augustine recognizes the need of discrimination between what is historical and what is merely figurative. From a different startingpoint the modern Christian student arrives at a similar point of view. In detail the conclusions of the ancient and of the modern student would differ. But both, in so far as they were true to the limitations of their knowledge, would surely admit that it is not only a great

1 de Gen. ad lit. i. I.

blunder, but a serious failure in truthfulness, to insișt overmuch on the historical element in the Old Testament, and to build indiscriminately on narratives which have been conclusively shown to be utterly different in literary quality and in historic worth. This cautious position is entirely consistent on the one hand with a profound and reverent sense of the spiritual preciousness of all, even of what is only apparently and not really historical, and on the other with a frank suspense of judgment in regard to details. We have already pointed out that it is possible to overrate the importance of certainty on many points of criticism; indeed, it appears probable that some questions now in dispute will practically prove to be beyond the range of satisfactory solution. It is enough that we can use the Old Testament narratives for purposes of moral illustration; while those which are true to fact teach us what Almighty God has actually wrought or allowed, those which are parabolic or imaginative reveal sometimes the anticipations and ventures of faith, sometimes the thoughts of the inspiring Spirit. Like the parables of our Lord, they illustrate the dealings of God with men, or the progress of man's spiritual education, or the workings of divine providence, or the judgments that fall on sin and the blessings which crown righteousness. It is a priori probable that in the literature of a religion of which prophecy is the characteristic feature, there should be a considerable element of what is simply parabolic and figurative. If we follow the method of the New Testament writers we shall use the Old Testament stories mainly for the purpose of spiritual and moral edification, considering (to use Augustine's phrase) quae ibi aeterna intimentur; the spiritual depth and sublimity of such narratives as that of Jacob's dream at Bethel, or that of the heavenly feast and vision by which the divine covenant with Israel was sealed, is practically unaffected by considerations as to their precise character. It suffices that they convey intimations of God's character, His

discriminating providence, His purposes for mankind, His ways of dealing with the individual soul, which have formed an integral element in the spiritual education of our race. These and such-like things are written for our admonition, and as Augustine elsewhere says, we must diligently ponder their meaning 'until the interpretation is brought to bear upon the kingdom of love 1. For the end of God's ways is the sanctification of man through a saving knowledge of Him.

3

The existence and rationale of a secondary' or 'mystical' sense in Scripture next claims attention. This is a question forced upon us not only by the universal habit and tradition of the Catholic Churcha fact which it would be supremely foolish and presumptuous to ignore-but also by the express teaching of Scripture itself 2. In their vindication of the claims of biblical criticism and exegesis the humanists and the early reformers insisted upon the principle that 'Scripture should be its own interpreter, and that it was not to be interpreted by tradition or external authority 3.' Now it is this very principle that justifies the recognition of a mystical sense in the Old Testament. It is not merely the case that the New Testament writers habitually treat the ancient Scriptures as symbolic and prophetic in the widest sense. There is a certain constancy in the employment of imagery derived from nature or from Israel's history which implies that both are sacramental, that is, that they embody in local, visible, and material forms and incidents the realities which belong to a spiritual and eternal order. We have already noticed that the spiritual sense of Scripture is practically its own proof, but it is desirable to indicate

1 de doc. iii. 15: 'Servabitur ergo in locutionibus figuratis regula huiusmodi, ut tam diu versetur diligenti consideratione quod legitur, donec ad regnum caritatis interpretatio perducatur.'

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2 See an article on 'The mystical interpretation of Holy Scripture,' in the Church Quarterly Review, no. 43 (April, 1886); the Bampton Lectures for 1824, by the Rev. J. J. Conybeare, on The history and limitations of the secondary and spiritual sense of Scripture'; Stanton, The Jewish and the Christian Messiah, pp. 184 foll.

3 Briggs, Biblical Study, p. 331.