Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 14.djvu/156

136 With the classics Mr. Scott cherished a great fondness for ancient history, not only that of Greece and Rome but particularly of the older nations. He followed assiduously everything that was written about Egypt and the works of the great modern Egyptologists will be found among his books. Like many superior readers, he was keenly interested in the progress of Assyriology. The decipherment of the cuneiform inscriptions filled him with wonder and he eagerly followed every new discovery in that cryptic field. Closely allied to this was his fondness for Biblical studies. Very little has ever been brought to light by the Higher Criticism which Mr. Scott did not master. Naturally of an investigative turn of mind, he found endless delight in those marvelous interpretations of the Old Testament tales which criticism has provided. The miraculous in itself made but a slight appeal to him but the scientific explanation of a reported miracle gave him unqualified pleasure. Among his books will be found the best critical works of his time both upon the Old Testament and the New. The Life of Paul was one of the subjects which interested him deeply. In one of his best editorials he explained elaborately the use which Paul made of the Roman principle of adoption in propagating early Christianity. Referring to the famous text, "If children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ," he showed how the apostle bent the concept of the Roman law to his purpose and made his religion acceptable to the rulers of the world by assimilating it to their legal preconceptions. The purport of the editorial was that Paul had most skilfully applied his own theory that a good propagandist ought to be all things to all men.

Mr. Scott's editorials betray everywhere his wide reading in the publicists. The abstract theory of law and speculations on the basis of government occupied his mind a great deal. Burke was his favorite author in this field but he read many others. Burke's "Reflections on the Revolution in France" was one of the many books which he seemed to have by heart and its doctrines pervaded all he wrote. Next to Burke, Mr. Scott probably revered the political authority of Alexander