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because more sensible form , but which has subsequently been received in a literal sense . It cannot be denied , however , that both the opponents and adversaries of mythical interpretation sometimes understand the word as including all supernatural embellishments of a fact , whether symbolically significant or not . To the antisupernaturalist every miracle is a mythus .
The sarcastic reflection at the beginning of the fourth paragraph of the following extract , on " the higher criticism , " may require explanation for those to whom this p hrase is not familiar . Eichhorn and the critics of his school , who are particularly aimed at , distinguish two kinds of criticism , the lower- of which the office is to settle the true reading of ancient authors , by
the tangible and ponderable evidence of manuscripts , versions , quotations , &c ; and the higher 9 which , after its "younger sister" has performed her task , and furnished us with the most correct text as far as these authorities can decide it , consults the internal evidence of style , diction , conformity with other works of the alleged author and his age , with his known or presumable circumstances , opinions , and attainments , to determine whether the production which bears his name be wholly or even in part his . Thus the
question respecting the authenticity of 1 John v . 7 , is one entirely of the lower criticism , which , without hesitation , pronounces a passage to be spurious , which is found in no Greek manuscript older than the invention of printing . On the other hand , the question respecting the authenticity of the introductory chapters of Matthew and Luke belongs to the higher criticism , because all manuscript authority is in their favour , and the reasons for rejecting them are derived from their inconsistence with chronology and the
subsequent history of Christ , and the intrinsic improbability and even absurdity of some of the circumstances . Perhaps the most brilliant example of the successful exercise of the higher criticism , though unknown by name in those days , is Bentley ' s work on the Epistles of Phalaris . The external evidence was all against him ; yet , by shewing that they were written in a dialect of the Greek language not formed when the real Phalaris lived , that they alluded to events and customs , and supposed a state of manners , which had no existence till ages after his time , and that their vapid and yet
extravagant sentiments were characteristic of a sophist dreaming over his desk , not of a statesman and a general , he succeeded in convincing most scholars of his own generation , and all who have lived since , that they were a worthless forgery . But the higher criticism has achieved few similar triumphs , though many an adventurous critic has been stimulated by Bentley ' s success to make inroads on the ancient domain of literary faith . Markland ' s attack on the authenticity of the four orations of Cicero ( Post Reditum in Senatu and the three following ) has by no means obtained the unanimous suffrage of critics ; and Wolf ' s attempt to include the oration for Marcellus in the same
sentence of forgery has met with very general reprobation . The last-mentioned author , who was fond of being considered as the living representative of Bentley ' s criticism , prided himself especially on the possession of that intuitive perception of all the delicate shades of style which is necessary to the exercise of the higher criticism ; and his Prolegomena to Homer , his great work in this department , made a very considerable impression at their first apiu mis ucpaituicui , 111 due u very vuuaiu . fsra . uiv iuiutvsihuii at meir nrst
appearance . The scepticism thus temporarily produced has since yielded to a belief that the ancient opinion had been abandoned without reason . Indeed , Wolf himself was led by the self-confidence which deformed both his liteirary and moral character to subject the higher criticism to a dangerous test , when , b y its aid , he ex cathedrd demonstrated the Manuscrit de Saint Heldne to have been dictated by Bonaparte . Within the last few years it has been
Untitled Article
€ 36 On the Mythical Interpretation of the Bible ,
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1827, page 636, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1800/page/4/
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