Biblical criticism includes within its scope all inquiries in regard to the original text of the books which make up the Bible, their authors, the dates of their composition, their historical reliability and their literary characteristics. It is distributed into various branches corresponding to these various inquiries, as textual criticism, which is concerned with questions about errors which may have crept into the original text since the autographs were composed; historical criticism, which is concerned with questions of credibility, authorship and dates; and literary criticism, which is concerned about matters of style and diction. Of these, textual criticism, which came into existence as a science in the early part of the eighteenth century, its first great product being Mill's "Critical Greek Testament," published in 1707, was the first to obtain a distinct title. For a time indeed it bore the name "Biblical Criticism," until other branches of this science were developed, when the latter title assumed its present broader significance. The other branches of the larger subject came at length to be known under the title of "Higher Criticism," this title having been proposed first by Eichhorn, near the close of the last century, to distinguish it from "Textual Criticism."

      Though the title, "Higher Criticism," is new, the work which belongs to it is not. That work began when the first attempt was made by Hebrew scholars to collect and preserve the writings of inspired men, and to make up the canon of the Old Testament. It was continued by Christian scholars when the same work was undertaken for the books of the New Testament, and every [5] inquiry instituted since that time, of the kinds which make up the introductions to our various commentaries, belongs to the same branch of Biblical science. Horne's Introduction, well known to our readers, published in 1818, is a conspicuous example of this kind of literature.

      It is scarcely needful to add that higher criticism is a perfectly legitimate branch of study, the disrepute into which it has fallen of late in many minds having grown out of the illegitimate methods which have been adopted by many critics, and the destructive conclusions to which they have thereby led themselves and their followers. Its pursuit must lead to the truth concerning the Bible when conducted in accordance with right principles, and when these are applied by sound judgment and competent learning.

[SEBC 5-6]