ent.
From him now came a third master key to the mystery; for he showed that
the true opening point for research into the history and literature of
Israel is to be found in the utterances of the great prophets of the
eighth century before our era. Starting from these, he opened new paths
into the periods preceding and following them. Recognising the fact
that the religion of Israel was, like other great world religions, a
development of higher ideas out of lower, he led men to bring deeper
thinking and wider research into the great problem. With ample learning
and irresistible logic he proved that Old Testament history is largely
mingled with myth and legend; that not only were the laws attributed
to Moses in the main a far later development, but that much of their
historical setting was an afterthought; also that Old Testament prophecy
was never supernaturally predictive, and least of all predictive of
events recorded in the New Testament. Thus it was that his genius gave
to the thinking world a new point of view, and a masterly exhibition of
the true method of study. Justly has one of the most eminent divines
of the contemporary Anglican Church indorsed the statement of another
eminent scholar, that "Kuenen stood upon his watch-tower, as it were
the conscience of Old Testament science"; that his work is characterized
"not merely by fine scholarship, critical insight, historical sense, and
a religious nature, but also by an incorruptible conscientiousness, and
a majestic devotion to the quest of truth."

Thus was established the science of biblical criticism. And now the
question was, whether the Church of northern Germany would accept
this great gift--the fruit of centuries of devoted toil and
self-sacrifice--and take the lead of Christendom in and by it.

The great curse of Theology and Ecclesiasticism has always been their
tendency to sacrifice large interests to small--Charity to Creed, Unity
to Uniformity, Fact to Tradition, Ethics to Dogma. And now there were
symptoms throughout the governing bodies of the Reformed churches
indicating a determination to sacrifice leadership in this new thought
to ease in orthodoxy. Every revelation of new knowledge encountered
outcry, opposition, and repression; and, what was worse, the ill-judged
declarations of some unwise workers in the critical field were seized
upon and used to discredit all fruitful research. Fortunately, a man now
appeared who both met all this opposition