And yet, as we now look back, it is easy to see that even in
that hour of its triumph it was doomed.
The reason why the Church has so fully accepted the
conclusions of science which have destroyed the sacred theory is
instructive. The study of languages has been, since the Revival
of Learning and the Reformation, a favourite study with the whole
Western Church, Catholic and Protestant. The importance of
understanding the ancient tongues in which our sacred books are
preserved first stimulated the study, and Church missionary
efforts have contributed nobly to supply the material for
extending it, and for the application of that comparative method
which, in philology as in other sciences, has been so fruitful.
Hence it is that so many leading theologians have come to know at
first hand the truths given by this science, and to recognise its
fundamental principles. What the conclusions which they, as well
as all other scholars in this field, have been absolutely forced
to accept, I shall now endeavour to show.
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