Thus, that which we thought was dead has risen, and lives again to
inspire us to noble thought and deed and service.




II

THE REAL NATURE AND PURPOSE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

[Sidenote: _A large and complex library_]

Turning from the Jewish and mediaeval traditions and theories which so
easily beset us, we ask, What is the real nature of the Old Testament as
it is revealed in this new and clearer light? The first conclusion is
that it is a library containing a large and complex literature,
recording the varied experiences, political, social, ethical, and
religious, of the Israelitish race. The fact that it is a library
consisting of many different books is recognized by the common
designation of the two testaments. As is well known, our English word
_Bible_ came originally from the Papyrus or Byblus reed, the pith of
which was widely used in antiquity as the material from which books were
made. It was natural, therefore, that in the Greek a little book should
be designated as a _biblion_. About the middle of the second Christian
century the Greek Christians (first in the so-called Second Epistle of
Clement xlv. 2) began to call their sacred scriptures, _Ta Biblia_, the
books. When this title was transferred to the Latin it was, by reason of
a natural and yet significant error, treated as a feminine singular,
_Biblia_, which, reappears In English as _Bible_. This most appropriate
name emphasizes the fact that the books thus described are a unit and