before His own coming. ... In referring to the Flood He
certainly suggests that He is treating it as typical, for He
introduces circumstances--"eating and drinking, marrying and
giving in marriage "--which have no counterpart in the original
narrative" (pp. 358-9).


While insisting on the flow of inspiration through the whole of
the Old Testament, the essayist does not admit its universality.
Here, also, the new apologetic demands a partial flood:


But does the inspiration of the recorder guarantee the exact
historical truth of what he records? And, in matter of fact, can
the record with due regard to legitimate historical criticism,
be pronounced true? Now, to the latter of these two questions
(and they are quite distinct questions) we may reply that there
is nothing to prevent our believing, as our faith strongly
disposes us to believe, that the record from Abraham downward
is, in substance, in the strict sense historical (p. 351).


It would appear, therefore, that there is nothing to prevent our
believing that the record, from Abraham upward, consists of
stories in the strict sense unhistorical, and that the pre-
Abrahamic narratives are mere moral and religious "types"
and parables.

I confess I soon lose my way when I try to follow those who walk
delicately among "types" and allegories. A certain passion for