"It was at this point tliat Strauss conceived the auda- cious idea of applying the mythical theory to the whole structure of the evangelical history. All Germany has been more or less infected with the mytho-mania since the new school of archseologers have gone so deeply into the heathen mythology. "'A mythis omnis priscorum hominum cum historia turn philosophia procedit,' says Heyue; and Bauer asks, logically enough, 'if the early history of every people is mythical, why not the Hebrew?' The mere application of this theory to the sacred records ■was by no means original with Sti-auss : he himself points out a number of instances in which Eichhorn, Gabler, Va- ter, etc., had made use of it. His claim is to have given a comi)leteness to the theory, or rather to its appli^catiou, which former interpreters had not dreamed of; and, to tell the truth, he has made no halting work of it. That Jesus lived ; that he taught in Judsea ; that he gathered disciples, and so impressed them with his life and teach- ing that they believed him to be the Messiah — this is nearly the sum of historical truth contained in the evan- gelists, according to Strauss. Yet he ascribes no fraudu- lent desijins to the writers; his problem is, therefore, to account for the form in which the narratives appear : and this is the place for his theory to work. A Messiah was expected ; certain notions were attached to the Messianic character and office; and with these Christ was invested by his followers. ' Such and such a thing must happen to the Messiah ; Jesus was the Messiah ; therefore such and such a thing must have happened to him.' 'The expec- tation of a Messiah had flourished in Israel long before the time of Christ; and at the time of his appearance it had ripened into full bloom; not an indefinite longing, either, but an expectation defined by many prominent characteristics. Moses had promised (Dent, xviii, 15) "a prophet like unto himself," a passage applied, in Christ's time, to the Messiah (Acts iii, 22; vii, 37). The Messiah was to spring of David's line, and ascend his throne as a second David (Matt, xxii, 42 ; Luke i, 32); and therefore he was looked for, in Christ's time, to be born in the little town of Bethlehem (John vi, 42 ; Matt, ii, 5). In the old legends the most wonderful acts and destinies had been attributed to the prophets: could less be expected of the Messiah? Must not his life be illustrated by the most splendid and significant incidents from the lives of the prophets? Finally, the Messianic oera, as a whole, was expected to be a period of signs and wonders. The eyes of the blind were to be opened ; the deaf ears were to" be unstopped; the lame were to leap, etc. (Isa. xxxv, etc.). These expressions, part of which, at least, were purely figurative, came to be literally understood (Matt, xi, 5 ; Luke vii, 21 sq.) ; and thus, even before Christ's appear- ance, the image of Messiah was continually filling out with new features. And thus many of the legends respecting Jesus had not to be newly invented ; they existed ready- made in the Messianic hopes of the people, derived chiefly from the Old Testament, and only needed to be transferred to Christ and adapted to his character and teachings.'
"These extracts contain the substance of Strauss's the- ory; his book is little more than an application of it to the individual parts of the history of Christ as given in the evangelists. A few instances of his procedure will suffice. He finds the key to the mirandous conception in Matt, i, 22: 'All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,'
etc. ' The birth of Jesus, it was said, must correspond to this passage ; and what was to be, they concluded, really did occur, and so arose the myth.' The account of the star of the Maglans, and of their visit from the East, arose from a similar application of Numb, xxiv, IT ; Psa. Ixxii, 10 ; Isa. Ix, 1-6, etc. The temptation of Christ was sug- gested by the trials of Job ; its separate features helped out by Exod. xxxiv, 2S; Lev. xvi, S, 10; Dent, ix, 9, etc. The transfiguration finds a starting-point in Exod. xxxiv, 29-35. So we might go through the book.
"The appearance of the work, as we have said, produced a wonderful sensation in Germany ; greater, by far, than its merits would seem to have authorized. It was the heaviest blow that unbelief had ever struck against Chris- tianity ; and the question was, what should be done ? The Prussian government was disposed to utter its ban against the book ; and many evangelical theologians deemed this the proper course to pursue in regard to it. But Dr. Ne- ander deprecated such a procedure as calculated to give the work a spurious celebritj-, and as wearing, at least, the aspect of a confession that it was unanswerable. He advised that it should be met, not by authority, but by ar- gument, believing that the truth had nothing to fear in such a conflict. His counsel prevailed ; and the event has shown that he was right. Keplies to Strauss poured forth in a torrent; the Gospel histories were subjected to a closer criticism than ever ; and to-day the public mind of Germany is nearer to an orthodox and evangelical view of their contents than it has been for almost a century.