LETTERS
To A. V. R.
Brislington Hill, Bristol: September 24, 1890.
… I have been persuaded to try the Semitic Languages Tripos. I have been learning German and Syriac a little this Long with that aim in view.… I don't really know what to do. I am trying to do what will best fit me for my future work. It is hard to know what is right.
… The only thing I want is not to develop into a mere bookworm.… The atmosphere of Cambridge so tends to deaden one, and to make one unsympathetic with humanity; and yet the Church today does so need men who know something, men who can express with no uncertain sound the truth of Old Testament and New Testament criticism. I want so to find out what the Old Testament is, and how far we can believe in it, in its essential truth, in its historical accuracy. The question can only be settled by scholars—by scholars filled with the spirit of humility and understanding. It cannot be settled by the so-called spiritual faculty alone, but only by the intellect guided by the Spirit of Truth.
I have been reading St. John's Gospel in Greek and Syriac, and more and more I become convinced that what it says is truth: zoe—life—anything worth calling life—anything that can last—anything that is of use here and hereafter—is to be gained alone by actually eating and drinking the Body of the Son of Man. The expression is awfully strong—the expression in itself. I am not talking of all sorts of modern explanations of the expression. Take it as it stands in the original: 'You have no life, unless you eat and drink.…'
[Transcriber's note: The word zoe in the above paragraph was transliterated from the Greek letters zeta, omega, eta.]
I wish there could be a small Greek Testament reading in the College for considering what the New Testament really means, apart from modern interpretations. Is it possible to find out the true, original meaning of that book, and to understand its problems a little and its solutions? 'Quid importat scientia sine timore Dei?'
To T. H. M.
Aldeburgh House, Blackheath: March 20, 1891.