he Church today
does so need men who know something, men who can express with no
uncertain sound the truth of Old Testament and New Testament criticism.
I want so to find out what the Old Testament is, and how far we can
believe in it, in its essential truth, in its historical accuracy. The
question can only be settled by scholars--by scholars filled with the
spirit of humility and understanding. It cannot be settled by the
so-called spiritual faculty alone, but only by the intellect guided by
the Spirit of Truth.

I have been reading St. John's Gospel in Greek and Syriac, and more and
more I become convinced {55} that what it says is truth:
_zoe_--life--anything worth calling life--anything that can
last--anything that is of use here and hereafter--is to be gained alone
by actually eating and drinking the Body of the Son of Man. The
expression is awfully strong--the expression in itself. I am not
talking of all sorts of modern explanations of the expression. Take it
as it stands in the original: 'You have no life, unless you eat and
drink. . . .'

[Transcriber's note: The word _zoe_ in the above paragraph was
transliterated from the Greek letters zeta, omega, eta.]

I wish there could be a small Greek Testament reading in the College
for considering what the New Testament really means, apart from modern
interpretations. Is it possible to find out the true, original meaning
of that book, and to understand its problems a little and its
solutions? 'Quid importat scientia sine timore Dei?'

_To T. H. M._

Aldeburgh House, Blackheath: March 20, 1891.

I am gradually finding out how ignorant I am of the meaning of the New
Testament, and how miserably I have read my own miserable notions and
glosses into the words of St. Paul. I am sure that the solution of the
greatest problems which concern humanity is to be found in his
Epistles, if we could only approach them without bias and with more
childishness. I feel certain that the Incarnation is the great fact of
the world's, and probably of the universe's, history. 'The Word was
made flesh.'

And so the Word had breath, and wrought
With human hands the creed of creeds
In loveliness of perfect deeds,
More strong than all poetic thought.

{56}

The death on Calvary must have had effects far beyond this particular
world. 'He descended into hell.' He claimed His power over all parts
of His universe. The Good _has_ conquered. The Bad _is_