their origin, growth, and transmission. Often the testimony of the facts
differs as widely from the familiar inherited traditions as the
conclusions of modern science from the vague guesses of primitive man
regarding the riddles of existence. Neither may represent absolute and
final truth, and yet no serious-minded man can question which is really
the more authoritative. To-day one of the most vital issues before the
Christian. Church is whether it will follow the guidance of its Founder
and accept the testimony of the Bible itself or cling blindly to the
traditions of the rabbis and Church Fathers.

[Sidenote: _Historical significance of the modern movement_]

The student of history at once recognizes in the modern movement, of
which the watchword is, "Back to the testimony of the Bible," the direct
sequel to the Protestant Reformation. The early reformers took the
chains off the Bible and put it into the hands of men, with full
permission to study and search. Vested interests and dogmatism soon
began to dictate how it should be studied and interpreted, and thus it
was again placed practically under lock and key. It is an interesting
fact that a young Zulu chief, a pupil of Bishop Colenso of South Africa,
first aroused the Anglo-Saxon world to the careful, fearless, and
therefore truly reverential study of its Old Testament. With this new
impetus, the task of the Reformers was again taken up, and in the same
open, earnest spirit. For two generations it has commanded the
consecrated energies of the most thorough scholars of Christendom. Those
of England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland,
Norway, Sweden, America, and Canada have worked shoulder to shoulder,
dividing the work, carefully collecting and classifying the minutest
data, comparing results, and, on the basis of all this work, formulating
conclusions, some assured and some hypothetical, which best explain the