The Interdependence of Literature | Page 5

that these discoveries of modern times have been a
distinct gain to Christianity, as well as to the older Hebrew literature,
for it confirms (if confirmation is needed), the history of the creation, to
find it was believed by the ancient peoples, whom we have seen were a
learned and cultivated race.
In the present day the great College of St. Etienne in Jerusalem,
founded by the Dominicans expressly for the study of the Scriptures,
carries on a never ending and widely extended perusal of the subject.
Parties of students are taken over the Holy Places to study the
inscriptions and evidences of Christianity, and the most learned and
brilliant members of the Order are engaged in research and study that
fits them to combat the errors of the Higher Criticism. Their work,
which is of a very superior order, has attracted attention among
scholars of every country in Europe.
In the ancient development of the world there came a time when there
was danger of truth being corrupted and mingled with fable among
those who did not follow the guidance of God, as did Abraham and the
patriarchs; then the great lawgiver, Moses, was given the divine
commission to make a written record of the creation of the world and of
man and to transmit it to later ages; and because he was thus
commanded and inspired by God, his literature represents the most
perfect and trustworthy expression of the primitive revelations. From
the very beginning, therefore, we trace this interdependence of
literature. Moses, authorized by God, turns to all that is best in the older

Babylonian, Egyptian and Indic literature, and uses it to regenerate and
uplift the Hebrew race, so that we see the things contained in the Bible
remained the same truths that God had been teaching from the
beginning of time. The older Egyptian and Babylonian literature
became lost to the world for thousands of years until in the nineteenth
century modern research in the Pyramids and elsewhere, brought it to
light; but the Hebrew literature was passed down to the Christian era,
and thence to our own times, intact. It excels in beauty,
comprehensiveness, and a true religious spirit, any other writing prior
to the advent of Christ. Its poetry, which ranges from the most extreme
simplicity and clearness, to the loftiest majesty of expression, depicts
the pastoral life of the Patriarchs, the marvellous history of the Hebrew
nation, the beautiful scenery in which they lived and moved, the stately
ceremonial of their liturgy, and the promise of a Messiah. Its chief
strength and charm is that it personifies inanimate objects, as in the
sixty-fourth Psalm, where David says:
"The beautiful places of the wilderness shall grow fat; and the hills
shall be girded about with joy. The rams of the flock are clothed, and
the vales shall abound with corn they shall shout, yea they shall sing a
hymn."
And again in the seventeenth Psalm, he says:
He bowed the Heavens and came down . . . and He flew upon the wings
of the winds . . . He made darkness His covert, His pavilion round
about Him: dark waters in the clouds of the air."
In time the Hebrew language began to be influenced by others,
although, as a people, they rank with the Greeks and Spaniards as being
very little moulded by any outside influence on their literature. From
the time of Abraham to the age of Moses the old stock was changed by
the intermarriage of some of their race with the Egyptians and Arabians.
During this period their literature was influenced by Zoroaster, and by
the Platonist and Pythagorean schools. This is especially noticeable in
the work of Philo of Alexandria, who was born a few years B.C.
Josephus, who first saw the light in A.D. 37; and Numenius, who lived
in the second century, were Jews, who as such remained, while
adopting Greek philosophy. The learned writings of the Rabbis became
known as Rabbinical literature. It is written in a language that has its
roots in the Hebrew and Chaldaic; though it has also borrowed largely

from the Arabian, Greek and Latin. In the sixteenth century Christian
scholars began to make an extensive study of Hebrew and Rabbinical
literature, and they were not slow to discover the value of these
Oriental works. These writings, however, are subject to change, and it
is in the Bible alone that we find the fundamental teaching of Hebrew
literature. Differing entirely from the Mythological and Oriental
Nations, it taught, as its cardinal principle, the unity of God. Its
historical worth has been recognized by the greatest scholars in all ages,
and it has influenced not only the ancient world, but also the literature
and poetry of the Middle Ages and of modern times.