THE PENTATEUCH

HOLY SCRIPTURE

SCRIPTURE, ypaon, is the name by which we designate that collection of writings which stand on a different footing from any other writings in the world, because they are ОEÓTVEVσTOι, "inspired of God," or, as the word is rendered in the Authorised Version, "given by inspiration of God" (2 Tim. iii. 16). Speaking of the Old Testament only, we know for certain which are the books to which this peculiar, this sacred character belongs; because the Canon, as it is called, of Holy Scripture is identically the same to-day as it was in the days of our Lord and His Apostles, and they always speak of Holy Scripture as possessing a Divine authority. To quote but one of many of the sayings of Jesus Christ, He says: "The Scripture cannot be broken" (John x. 35); and He quotes it with the distinctive formula, "It is written" (Matt. iv. 4, 9, 10, &c.); and the Apostles everywhere refer to the same Holy Scriptures as an authority from which there is no appeal.

The books contained in the Canon were divided by the Jews into three portions-the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa; a division acknowledged by our Lord, who in Luke xxiv. 44 speaks of "the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms," the Psalms being the chief book comprised in the Hagiographa. Of these the "Law" comprised the five Books of Moses, commonly called the Pentateuch; the "Prophets" comprised, besides what we commonly mean by the Prophets, the historical books, because they were justly considered as having been under the special

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care and direction of the Prophets from age to age; the Hagiographa comprised all the other books which were not included in either of the previous portions. This collection, in its historical part, embraces outlines of the history of mankind from the Creation to about B.C. 400, together with a full history of the Israelitish people, detailed biographies of certain representative men, and copious accounts of a few leading events; and in its other portions contains original poems, oratorical addresses, and ethical treatises, composed in various ages, separated from one another by many hundreds of years; and yet it possesses the truly marvellous feature of a perfect unity of teaching throughout. Patriarchs in the remotest ages, poets of all ranks from kings to herdsmen, the great law-giver of the Hebrew people, warriors and statesmen, prophets and priests, all concur in identical views of Almighty God, of His government of the world, and of the duty of men to God and to one another. And not only so, but the views of the character of God and of the proper attitude of the mind of man towards God, which is given in these various writings, have that simplicity and sublimity, and breadth and height, which are worthy of the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth, and have never been surpassed by all the wisdom and culture of succeeding ages. At the close of this nineteenth century of the Christian era, when we would speak worthily of God's glory, or approach Him in suitable words of adoration, supplication, or praise, the language of Moses, David, or Isaiah is the most suitable which we can find.

But besides this feature of Holy Scripture it is worthy of preliminary remark that in its long course of history not one single historical blunder has ever been detected by the keen eye of criticism or of unbelief. Epochs upon which no historical light, except that of the Old Testament, had shined fifty years ago, have, by the discoveries made since then from Egyptian hieroglyphics and Assyrian cuneiform inscriptions, come into the light of history, and in every instance the Biblical statements have been signally confirmed. Whole nations, of whose existence profane history